Been to see the men again...

We've been down to Crosby with my mum, for a walk on the prom and a look at the men. The prom at Crosby is built up with the rubble removed from Liverpool when the bomb sites were being cleared in the 50s and 60s. My mum says you can still find nice pieces of 30s tiles laying amongst it.


It was a bit misty and drizzly (I can't think of an english word for dreich), but the cloud lifted just enough to see the Wirral and the windmills on the docks and in the bay.

Mither Tap

A couple of weekends ago we went for a run around Bennachie. Bennachie is a range of tops and a plateau, with walks and bikeable trails all around it. I took this picture (phone camera) from the top of Craigshannoch looking towards Mither Tap. Mither Tap is an ancient descriptive hill name. Mither is a local word for mother, I'll leave you to look at the shape of the hill to figure the rest out. There's a fort and a tor on the top, and the views over Aberdeenshire are spectacular on a clear day.

While I should be working...

Messers Magpie and Blackbird are disputing ownership of the front garden. The dispute takes the form of turns of walking purposefully about the frozen lawn.
Mr Magpie has the edge, in regal pose and stride length...

New Bird

One of these just flew into our patio door. T'internet confirms it's a female Blackcap, who have brown caps. I've never seen one before. She flew away after a minute, so I think it was only her pride that was hurt...

The photo is from the British Trust for Ornithology website and was taken in Newmachar, which is just a few miles up the road from me. So maybe I should keep my eyes peeled for some more. And my other half swears blind he saw a lesser spotted woodpecker on the telegraph post yesterday. However, he has trouble telling a bluetit from a sparrow, so I'm not sure if I should believe him.

Edit: 15/12/09 The BTO link to the pic broke, so I've inserted a random flickr one.

Kelpies at Falkirk

I'm still not convinced that having a pair of enormous kelpie heads operating a lock on the Forth-Clyde canal is a good idea. I always thought kelpies were malevolent beings, with a taste for drowning and eating people. Perhaps people don't believe any more, or, I suspect more likely, just don't know their own folklore. The photo is of the maquettes currently on display (from Falkirk Council website).

Stonehead made me think about this the other day with his tale of an each uisge and now the story in the Guardian reports on the next phase of the sculpture work.

It seems that the idea of a water horse spirit - in varied guises from downright evil to a bit mischevious, slightly different for each cultural group - is (or was) a widespread northern european belief. Some of the differences appear to be driven by the location of the people. For example the Kelpie of the Scottish lowlands prefers rivers, while the Each Uisge, the northern Gaelic variety, haunts lochs. Coastal peoples, such as the Manx and Cornish, have salt water versions. The Ceffyl Dwr of Wales appears in both fresh and salt water - it also doesn't appear to eat people, but will kill them.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. The idea that so many of the Norse and Celtic cultures have such a similar belief intrigues me. I like it. I don't like the kelpies on the canal. That worries me.

Self Unemployment

Things take a while to set up, don't they? It turns out I can't register as self employed until I begin working as such, which seems a little odd, but who am I to question the wisdom of the Inland Revenue?

I opened a business bank account today, but won't get an account number for a few days - which I need to fill in the forms to pay my National Insurance when I do register with the IR. Mind you, Class 2 NI for self employed people is considerably cheaper than Class 1 Employers contributions (11% of salary). I wonder what that'll do to my pension (if pensions exist in 40 years time...).

Then there's the business insurance and professional indemnity, for which I have to fill in a 6 page form just to get a quote. I'm a little worried that they might then refuse me because I'm not qualified by any particular professional body.

Nothing's easy, is it? But I was expecting it to be worse. I don't know how, but just worse.

Oh, and we still have no heating. But the plumber is coming in the morning, so fingers crossed...

What have I been doing since August?

Well, I thought I'd blogged more recently than August, but apparently not.
So, since then I have

had a sort of unofficial blogmeet at Ben Nevis with Mr Uhdd
run in the Comrie Relays
run at Morven (and wasn't last)
been made redundant (construction always goes first in a recession)
got part time contract work in building conservation with some one who'll help me with my MSc thesis (so may be the redundancy will turn out to be a good thing)

(edited for spelling 24-11-08)

OMM 2008

So, I'm willing to bet that the conditions at the OMM were not quite as bad as the media are making out. I'll get the story later when my other half gets home - he and his sister spent the night in her car having made it back to the car parks. It must have been bad for the event to be called off for the first time in its history, but the competitors are required to be prepared for spending a night out in wild country at the end of October.
(See also UpHillDownDale for Mr Uhdd's version of events).

Dufftown Highland Games

On 26th July we went over to Dufftown for the Highland Games, mainly because he wanted to run the Ben Rinnes race but also because we'd not been to a games before. I wasn't daft enough to try to run this one, so opted for tea and strawberries and watching the heavyweight and lightweight events in the games field.

The race takes about 2 hours for the winner. There was quite a collection of hillrunners other halves waiting for the winner - we'd all spotted that there were 4 guys up from Bowland and Calder Valley and I was wondering how good they must be to make the trip up. It turned out that one of them was rather good. As we were waiting in came reports of Sean Bolland, who held his lead to win. Last year's winner, Brian Marshall, came in third.

That night we went to Tomintoul. We stopped at the A'anside Studio and bought some prints then went to The Clockhouse for dinner. It was really nice food - I think we should go back.

On Sunday we went mountain biking from Cock Bridge to Fords of Avon. It was a 35 mile round trip, but wasn't too bad as we took our time. We had a lovely big portion of chips at the pub and watched the baby housemartins in the herb pots.

Glamaig

Right, I’ve finally got round to writing about Glamaig.

It was the first weekend in July and several (mad) Cosmics, including me, went off to Skye to run up and down a stupidly steep hill. Actually, there wasn’t much running done on the way up. As soon as you hit the bottom of the hill you’re walking. By half way up you’ve hit the scree and rocks and are mostly on all fours.

After the false summit, there’s a grassy rib then a path through the scree to the top. At the top were some nice chaps with water and a wee dram. Then there was the question of how to get down.

I took the immediately safer option and went back down the path and the rib. Unfortunately the rib ended in some rather steep crags and I really should have turned left on to the scree sooner. Once I was on the scree it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought and was the quicker way down. Earlier in the morning I’d picked out a big boulder and a couple of lochans as landmarks to aim for to get back towards the hotel from the bottom of the hill. I passed close to the boulder and ran into one of the lochans (lovely and cool). Eventually I picked up the path back to the road and ran as fast as I could to make my target time – with 40 seconds to spare.

After finishing we went back to the bunkhouse to celebrate a Cosmic’s birthday and then for the food and ceilidh included in the £3 (!) entry.

On the Sunday I went up Pinnacle Ridge to Sgurr nan Gillean with five other Cosmics. It was a really good scramble and I did my first proper abseil. Probably not the place to learn, but no one died…

Fledglings Part 2

The sparrows have won the battle of the seed feeder. By force of numbers - they have produced a second brood. The magpies broke the tree in their attempt to join in.

On Friday evening I tried to write about Glamaig, but Blogger ate my post.

Fledglings

Procrastinating while I should writing my thesis, I've been watching the new occupants of the front garden. The Great Tit and Sparrow families have fledged and are busy battling for control of the peanut feeder. So far the Great Tits seem to winning, but the sparrows nested in the back garden so maybe they have control of the neighbours feeder...
I wonder what will happen if fill the seed feeder as well. I've given up on the fat balls as the magpies have learned that they are strong (heavy) enough to rip the plastic netting and make off with whole ball.

Meme

I saw this on GeePeeMum and thought I'd have a go. You're supposed highlight in bold the ones that apply to you, see how privileged your childhood was.

1. Father went to college.
He went to the College of Building in Liverpool after leaving sixth form when his headmaster refused to support his application to the University to study architecture.
2.Father finished college.
Not really. He started on the RIBA part 1, which was then removed from part time courses to be by degree only. He then started on the RICS courses to have the same happen. Then he got a full time job. So he actually has no formal qualification.
3.Mother went to college.
My mum went to University when she was in her mid forties, to study Environmental Science with QTS.
4.Mother finished college.
Yes. She graduated on the day of one of my A level Maths exams.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
My sister in law is a med student. We’re mostly engineers of one sort or another.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
Middle class? Probably.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
Easily.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
I should think so. Books were the source of all knowledge. Don’t know something – look it up and learn for yourself.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
I’m fairly sure my parents taught me to read before I started school. I was lucky to be the eldest child.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11.Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
I went to ballet until I was 9, and then to gym (when it became clear to everyone else that I was no good at and hated ballet). I also didn’t enjoy gym (mean girls).
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
Yes, most average middle class white people are.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
I thought you had to be 18 to get a credit card. I didn’t have a bank account I could have a card of any sort for until I was 19.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
No. I had some help, but I had the full means tested loan.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
Comprehensive ex-grammar. Doesn’t exist anymore.
17. Went to summer camp
Does Guide camp count?
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Holidays were occasionally in rented cottages, but most often at my Nain and Taid’s house in Snowdonia.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
I had hand me downs from cousins, friends, all and sundry. Some stuff was new, from catalogues with spread payments. My mum had a sewing machine and a knitting machine. My parents had four kids to clothe. The only things bought new were shoes – one pair school black, one pair black plimsolls (white running shoes and hockey boots later), one pair playing out trainers, one pair wellies - and some school uniform.
As I got older (14+) I was given access to a savings account and could buy my own clothes, on the strict understanding that the money was mine to look after – once it was gone it was gone. I still have £150 in that account.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
Absolutely not. I didn’t even get driving lessons until I was 23 and could afford them myself. My first car was my husband’s.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
A landscape by J. Williams. My Nain has a couple too, I think he was a friend of the family. My Dad painted a mural on my bedroom wall when I was born. A rural idyll, with cottages with roses, sheep in the fields, a smiley sun and a red bus for a radiator complete with self-portrait as a cheeky school boy on the back row.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parents owned their own house or apartment before you left home
My parents bought a wreck – it was all they could afford – in the early 70s. My Dad still lives in it and there’s still work to be done.
25. You had your own room as a child
After the age of 6 or 7 I think. My brothers then got the attic conversion my Dad did to share. My sister was in a corner of my parents’ room until her room was converted.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18
Did British children ever have their own phone before mobiles? I didn’t have my own phone until I got a mobile in my 3rd year at Uni.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
I had the old black and white TV that we used as a monitor for the BBC Master computer we had when I was in Sixth Form.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
I had a Capital Bond bought by my Nain and Taid when I was born. That's not really a Fund, is it? It paid for me to go to Mexico with the Scouts.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.
My first flight was to Mexico for the World Scout Moot in 2000. I was 21.
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
Yes. Loads. Everywhere new we went there were museums, galleries, castles, National Trust properties etc. I grew up with trips to Steamport, the Maritime Museum, the Science Museum, Rufford Old Hall, Conwy and Caernarfon as regular events.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family
As a child I never knew how poorly off we were. I knew we couldn’t have new stuff and that we would never have hundreds of pounds spent on us at Christmas and birthdays like other kids, but I never figured out what that meant really – I just thought it was because there was four of us. It’s only now that my Dad is letting little bits slip out. He raised four kids on the same sort of salary I'm on now, I'm perpetually amazed.
Anyway, our heating bills weren’t the same as other people’s. We had a multi fuel boiler and solar panels from the early 80s.

So, I don't think I was under or over privileged. Just sort of normal, in comparison to my peers.

Birds

Off work today, with a poorly throat and inability to control my temperature, so I'm watching the shenanigans of the bird world outside my window.
Three Messers Blackbird are squabling over something, presumably the future Mrs Blackbird. All I can see them achieving is damage to the newly emerging blossom on my poor cherry tree - no lady blackbirds in sight.
There's a pair of Bluetits in the forsythia as I write and Mr and Mrs Magpie are looking like they're laying claim to the same tree as last year. Do magpies stay together? Or would it be the same male with a different female? Last year's baby magpies were adorable - playing together in the garden after they fledged - it would nice to have some more.
I can't see the Robins but I can hear them cursing each through the medium of song.

It didn't snow for very long...

After being so excited about the snow, it didn't last. In fact there has been hardly any on the hills. We did manage to get out for a week with the Scouts around Cairngorm, but the poor snow and high wind weren't in our favour. There a few really nice days, but the sunshine was melting the surface of the neve.
We're going skiing in a couple of weeks to Morgins on the Swiss/French border. Hopefully they've had a more wintry winter.

Yesterday was St David's day and, as I'd predicted, the weather has been so warm we have daffodils in flower.

Exciting news of the moment! My sister has produced me a nephew!

And now I'm off to the bathstore to buy taps in the vague hope that his Dad has plumbing skills and we might have a functioning (if not finished) bathroom by the end of the week.

Snow!

It's SNOWING!!!

What did I do next?

After my brother's wedding, which was lovely, we headed back up to Scotland. We spent a night with our friends in Partick, then headed to Arrochar and Loch Fyne. The plan was to go up Beinn Bhuidhe above Glen Fyne, but we didn't leave Glasgow early enough and were beaten by the daylight.
Failing in the mountain climbing plan we went to Inveraray instead. Had a wander around and bought some very nice soap and candles from Purdies. We then got a phone call from his sister to tell us she didn't need picking up in the morning because she'd broken her arm falling off a mountain and was going home. We decided to go too and caught with her and the friends she'd been walking with on the Colintraive ferry.

We spent Hogmamay with his parents on Bute - their flat is now almost complete...

On the 2nd we went for a walk above Colintraive. We then went back to Cairndow to have dinner at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, but found it shut. After some toing and froing, we settled on pitching for the night at Butterbridge to go up Beinn Ime the next day. It was pretty cloudy all day and was starting to snow as we set off to go home. There was a lot of snow in Stirlingshire, but disappointingly little as we got nearer to home.

Having seen the snow, the following day we got up very early and set off to Braemar to ski at Glenshee. However, the road was shut. We took a turn round the Queen's Drive on our nordics, a large proportion of which I spent laying in the snow.

And that was our holiday.