Off Far Away

We are going to Nepal tomorrow!  We're going for the Everest Marathon - he's competing, I'm marshalling.  Wish us luck!

(Especially with the Heathrow security queue)

WBN 2012

The new World Book Night list is out, so time to count off how many we've read again.

So, blue I've read.  Purple I've heard as an audio book or seen as film/tv adaptation.

It seems that these lists always evolve in my favour.  Perhaps my reading habits are becoming more populist.

1 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Read at school, and bought for myself after I left uni.
2 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
I think I read this, but can't remember clearly.  I may be confused by the film/tv adaptations I've seen.  Anyway, Jane Austen doesn't do it for me, but I'd choose her over any of the Brontes.
3 The Book Thief Markus Zusak
4 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Seen more than one film/tv version.
5 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger
6 The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien
I've now seen two of the three films, and still don't want to try to read it.
7 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
Love this, still funny many times over.
8 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
Found this very very dull as a teenager.  May be I should try it again?
9 Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
10 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
Have this as an audio book.
11 American Gods Neil Gaiman
12 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
13 Harry Potter Adult Hardback Boxed Set J. K. Rowling
I have the standard versions though.
14 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
15 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien
Made me decide never to read any more Tolkien.
16 One Day David Nicholls
17 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks
18 The Help Kathryn Stockett
Heard this on the radio then read it.
19 Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
Scary stuff.
20 Good Omens Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
21 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks
22 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
23 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
I liked it, but don't see the reason for the fuss about it.
24 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Should try this again.
25 Little Women Louisa M. Alcott
26 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
27 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
28 Atonement Ian McEwan
Better than the film, but hard to follow.
29 Room Emma Donoghue
30 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
Have to concentrate on this when you read it.  Another I should read again.
31 We Need to Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver
Heard it adapted for Radio 4.
32 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
33 Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis De Bernieres
Some one borrowed my copy and never gave it back, otherwise I probably read it again, but don't want to so much that I'd buy a new one.  Awful film.
34 The Island Victoria Hislop
35 Neverwhere Neil Gaiman
Was on tv when I was a teenager.
36 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
37 The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger
I don't think I've ever quite figured this one out.  Holden Caulfield confuses and annoys me.
38 Chocolat Joanne Harris
39 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
40 The Five People You Meet in Heaven Mitch Albom
41 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
42 Animal Farm George Orwell
43 The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett
44 The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde
45 Tess of the D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
I have no desire to read more Hardy, but glad I did read some.
46 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
Loved Roald Dahl as child, still like the wicked humour.  I really dislike all the film adaptations of his books.
47 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith
48 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks
49 Life of Pi Yann Martel
50 The Road Cormac McCarthy
51 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
52 Dracula Bram Stoker
53 The Secret History Donna Tartt
54 Small Island Andrea Levy
55 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
56 Lord of the Flies William Golding
Scarier left to imagination than on film.
57 Persuasion Jane Austen
58 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
Heard it adapted for Radio 4.
59 Notes from a Small Island Bill Bryson
Funny enough not to read in public for fear of giggling.
60 Watership Down Richard Adams
Quite scary.
61 Night Watch Terry Pratchett
62 Brave New World Aldous Huxley
63 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon
Must read this again.
64 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke
65 The Color Purple Alice Walker
66 My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult
67 The Stand Stephen King
I know I read this, but can't remember it.
68 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
69 The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov
70 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
Heard it adapted for Radio 4. I think.
71 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons
72 Frankenstein Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
73 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer
74 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
75 Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
76 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman
77 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
78 The Princess Bride William Goldman
79 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth
80 Perfume Patrick Suskind
81 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
82 The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy
83 Middlemarch George Eliot
Same as for Hardy.
84 Dune Frank Herbert
85 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel
86 Stardust Neil Gaiman
87 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
88 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie
89 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling
90 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts
91 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
92 Possession: A Romance A. S. Byatt
93 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin
94 Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami
95 The Magus John Fowles
96 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne
97 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
98 Alias Grace Margaret Atwood
99 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami
100 The Wind-up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami

Hackley Bay

A lucky break in the weather in July for the annual Cosmic BBQ at Hackley Bay. The bay is on the coast at Forvie, a National Nature Reserve with a lost village.

Celebrity cycling

I wonder how many how many of the red top reading types swooning over Pippa Middleton's rear view would be dismayed to realise how she got it?

By Order of Me

I went to see this a few weeks back (as you can tell, by the weather) on the way home from work.  It's an installation on Broad Hill, by the beach in Aberdeen.  Embiggen the first photo to read about the project.

Training

I've been sent on a training course at Glenmore Lodge to learn about products distributed by Lyon Equipment.

These include the brands in the pics below and some others - Petzl, Ortlieb, Jetboil, Julbo, Aquapac, Exped, Light my Fire, Beal and La Sportiva are supplied to my work.

I got to play with some kit that I haven't had chance to in the shop - we just don't have the facilities to, for example, take the Jetboils to bits or light them, dangle from ropes to see if harnesses fit properly or try out ascenders.

I learned some new stuff, and refreshed some old stuff. I now have had a go at ascending and descending ropes using some of the Petzl "brown box" products. I've made fire with a steel and tindersticks. I've got a list of what the different Julbo lenses actually do.  I've seen the new Jetboils that are smaller and lighter (good) and found out that the new ones come with pot supports as standard - so you can use them as a stove (also good).

I've been fed incredibly well, had a nice pint of Trade Winds in the bar and managed to get two runs in.

Obituary

These are, were, my Jamboree shoes. They came with the uniform package given to UK IST members going to the World Scout Jamboree in Thailand in over the New Year 2002/2003.

They are Salomon Exits and I have used, abused and loved them for the past nine years. They have walked, run and scrambled through various bits of England and Scotland, town and country. They have been fab. I have decided that I will not be replacing them - the current Exit model isn't a patch on them and I haven't found anything else I like sufficiently. Well, maybe the Mammut Redburn or the Berghaus Cuesta II , if I can find them for cheap...

In terms of hillwalking footwear, I will miss them - there is kind of a gap between my running shoes and my boots. What finished off the Jamboree shoes was leading hillwalking groups for a week on Red Rose last summer. They were perfect for the walks over the likes of Loughrigg and Wansfell. And scrambling wise, that rand on the toe and heel used to be really sticky, perished now though and going brittle at the joint with the sole unit.

Sadly, these lovely shoes are now consigned to the bin. In the battle against the moth invasion my wardrobe has had a cleaning and dead shoes have no place in its future.

Mammut!

Spring has sprung

Winter flowering pansies

Rockery

All of sudden in the last week or so of warm weather the garden has burst into life. It's all I can do to try to keep up with the weeds...

Scouting

Guardian: Brega, Libya: A crowd watches as a victim of the fighting is buried

Being thankful for the good our young people get from Scouting, and that they will never have to do this.

These days I are

drawing this

Bit chilly...

Our traditional winter visitors are back.  Devouring the hebe (under the mound of snow).

The fennel is making frosty christmas stars.

And I am learning the joys of ironing for warmth and typing in gloves.

Snow

So, yes, it's snowed some.  And now it's frozen.

Dinnet

Top of the field at home

Home

Coal shed icicles

To my neighbour

...shovelling the snow off your shed roof on to my flower beds is not what I consider nice behaviour. Helping to clear the lane does not entirely make up for the squashed plants.

On a nicer note, food is now so scarce the bluetits are more hungry than they are scared of cameras.

To the woman

riding a bike round the highlands for Children in Need on De a Nis just now:

Get a bike that fits you! You're folded double and hanging off the back of it!

GMC

No, not the american cars. This

81 people entered, maps gone to printers, beer delivery arranged...

Winter?

So, it appears the weather has skipped directly to winter, without passing autumn...

That's not frost, folks.

Things I have done this year and failed to blog: Part 6

August: To Cork for a Wedding

After being married for six years I finally met the Irish half of his family. There are a lot of them. His aunt was getting married, which was the excuse for a family gathering.

We flew from Aberdeen to Dublin and drove down to Cork on the newly completed motorway. It's kind of like a Scottish motorway, you know, only two lanes each way, but with toll barriers. Can anyone tell me why it's cheaper to leave Dublin than arrive in Cork?

We arrived in Innishannon after 11 to find a large part of the family leaving the hotel bar. Which was lucky as we had no idea how to find the B&B and had to follow his parents along the little windy roads - the surfacing of which made Aberdeenshire look good...

The wedding was on the Friday afternoon so we went into Kinsale in the morning for a look around.

The wedding was held at the Innishannon Hotel, which is quite pretty and right on the River Bandon.

Are civil marriages new in Ireland? I heard quite a few of the cousins saying that they had never been to one before.

There was quite a lot of football talk, one of his cousins is a sports writer in Mayo, the groom (if I remember correctly) is related to a former Kerry manager and played for them himself, but the family is Cork. (Yes, we have one of the Cork names).

We were also reminded that my other half is the last of the male line... No pressure there then.

On the day after the wedding we went with his parents to Glengarriff, where his paternal grandfather was born. We stopped in Bantry to buy a picnic lunch, then visited his great uncle who still lives in the family house at the top of the glen, and went up to Barley Lake.

There was then a detour to see the tunnels on the Kerry road and a stop for fish and chips which left me in a state of stress as we were meant to be going into Cork in the evening to the bride and groom's house party. We were late.

Things I have done this year and failed to blog: Part 5

August: Sailing to Campbeltown

Another trip in the boat. Long weekend.

Friday Port Bannatyne - Lamlash (Arran). Some wind.

Holy Isle, Lamlash Bay

Saturday Lamlash - Campbeltown. No wind. Saw Eleonora. Realised how near Northern Ireland is.

Attempted to anchor, but failed due to very soft mud and large quantities of weed. Provided amusement for Sailing Club. Gave up and used the pontoon.

Campeltown

Eleonora, Campeltown Bay

Sunday Campbeltown - Millport. No wind.

Millport Bay

Arran skyline from Millport

Monday Millport - Port Bannatyne. No wind. Mainland dominated by Hunterston power stations.

Arran in the morning

Hunterston

Things I have done this year and failed to blog: Part 4

June: LAMM

My other half's partner injured himself, so we went and did the LAMM together. He was meant to be doing the A class, we did the C "for fun".

This year the event was in the Arrochar area, from a field just by the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, across the river from Fyne Ales (who supplied the beer).

The C course started from the Rest and Be Thankful Car Park and took in Ben Ime and Ben Vane on the first day. The mid camp was in upper Glen Fyne above the Lochan Shira reservoir, and was quite nice on the saturday evening, but a wet midgy drizzle fest on the sunday morning. The second day included Beinn Bhuidhe and finished back at the base camp.

Mid Camp Sunday Morning - pic from LAMM Photo Competition

We completed the course. That is about all there is to say about it. I had a very sore hip and my first experience of catching a toenail in the end of my shoe (disproportionately sore). Long live ibuprofen. We also made a bad navigational error in the clag on the second day and I can clearly understand how someone came to fall badly on the crags in the same area (above Glenfyne Lodge, control point on Newton Hill 422 coming down SE from Beinn Bhuidhe). We were probably on course, but got confused as to how far down we were and contoured around eventually relocating off a control 200m higher than and 1km west of ours.

Still, at least we got our beer for finishing.