The laugh of yesterday came as I drove into the Clyde Tunnel when I spied in the opposite side a pink haired girl in a pink open topped beetle car sitting with a red face as the man tried to get his tow-truck attached to her car. A picture would have told the thousand word tale rather well. At least she knew the daftness of it all as we shared a grin.
The other girl in pink I met this week, I don't know if she'll ever catch up with her daftness. She was babysitting me as I worked on the front door of her sisters house (floor 5 of 15) with two cats in it; one gregarious the other wouldn't say boo to a mouse. So she came up to me while I was unloading after collecting a certain bit of something at ground level telling me that one of the cats had got away, it would have been tricky for the adventurous one to get through multiple doors in a quiet building but it was the timid ginger one (Sebastion, who it turned out is actually a girl). She refused my reality check! (forget empathising first) She had already checked every one of the 15 floors and asked all the workmen at ground level. I think it was the big saucers of indoor sunglasses that had tipped me off, or was it the pink jogging trouser getup? She was in hysterics and fear at what her sister would say. This went on for ages with the implication it was my fault for working on her front door. She wanted her sister to come home to look for it and the boyfriend couldn't be contacted, so Mum got all the hysterics. It was all over when we looked under a nest of tables, Sebastion sitting scared as ever, probably hadn't moved an inch all morning.
Now it was the way she resolved never to get in this predicament again that impressed me the most. Not something like 'I will not panic so quickly again' or 'Cats can hide' or 'I will be a little teeny weeny more thoughtful about reality' - no - she was never going to help her sister again.
The power of pink? I have a wee rule of thumb, men who wear pink shirts are without exception to be treated with great caution. In my grumpy old state this is a rule that I have tried to find the exception to but have given up trying.
So yes indeed the power of wearing a certain colour can be quite overpowering for some people. Its not the clothes that make the man or woman, its their colour.
Saturday 14 June 2008
Saturday 7 June 2008
Glasgow to Edinburgh by bike
Kenny and me cycled through to Edinburgh today from Glasgow via the towpath at the side of the canal that links the two big cities of Scotland. We had previosly attempted it but got stopped by intensely heavy showers that were so bad the oil on my chain set was completly washed off. It was amazingly six years since we had done this. The weather was much kinder with sunshine helping us along.
The canal is quite an interesting place if you were to analyse some of the persons on it. It is to a fair extent a very friendly place. However without too much thought there did seem to be three or four sorts of persons using it. I think we must have passed at least 50 guys out with their floats or spinners in the water trying to catch the Perch and whatever other fish lurk in the still depths of the canal waters. These men do not communicate with cyclists. Its as if the two are a mirage to the other living out lives that are in parallel universes but somehow merge together on the canal and the other appear as ghosts to be treated as wisps of a different sort of existance but not fully comprehended. There is also the sort of person that is generally walking but didn't have much to do with either the fisherlads or cyclists and was somewhat intimidated by both.
The waters seemed to be alive with lots of small fish and plenty of insect life, much of it trying to get into my mouth. One young woman was seen to be uncoothly spitting as she approached me on her bike, but she made it clear for everyone to know that she was extruding an unfortunate bug. There was a long stretch where some blue damselflies were in abundant numbers, I had thought that these were uncommon.
About £84.5 million had been spent rejuvinating the canal route. It has been done well and today it was being used a lot. The Falkirk Wheel is unique in the world and a world class tourist attraction. I saw it carrying barges today up about 115 feet from one canal to another, hugely impressive and all done with the power of a washing machine motor thanks to the physics of Archimedes Principal of displacement. Its funny how there are so few facilities on the canal route. Possibly 3 cafes/pubs for its entire length. I did manage to get a free dram by a man very well versed on his whiskys from Belguim as he gave out promotinal samples at the centre for the Wheel, I wished I could have talked to him longer and sampled all his wares.
It has 3 or 5 viaducts where the canal is on a bridge. A particularly surprising experience was the tunnel that went on for about 300 yards. It was dimly lit with a poor surface at the side with water dripping down, very much like a cave with some limestone deposits of the odd slatactite. I was really glad to get back out into the sunlight. Genuinely quite spooky and unsettling.
I mention this next instant because I don't want to always gloss over things. We approached a bridge with a female of mid twenties perhaps who appeared to be not wearing much. As we passed we realised that she was actually sitting naked covering herself up with a very upset look on her face with an intimidating guy opposite her. I'm really disappointed in myself that we didn't stop to see if she was OK. The shock and bizarreness of it all and the nakedness too was a bit much to take in. In a small way for myself I did get a chance to redeem myself a little when coming out of the subway near home a girl was seeing to another girl sitting who looked like she had passed out but she had been sick and just needed something to mop up the vomit which someone else nearby was getting. However I'm still annoyed I didn't do something for that woman.
So onto Edinburgh. For all the praises Glasgow gets for its growth into a city of culture, the capital of Scotland is a very cosmopolitan and European city. We weren't very impressed with the 'beaty' music from the tents at one of the greens but the architecture around the canal and the pedestrian and cycle routes were wonderful. Kenny was a bit more tired than myself so we just caught the next train back (free to take your bike) in time to see the football.
All in all a good wee adventure.
Wednesday 4 June 2008
Let's get ready to grumble
One of those things that annoys me is people overclothed. I'm out riding around the streets a lot during the day for my work and cycling too.
You see it a lot in Scotland. People don't have a clue how warm it is outside so they just pile on a few layers and then a winter coat. But when they cross that threshold do they go back inside and change? Of course not.
Maybe its the Scottish weather too, with our 4 seasons in half an hour, better to be too warm than shivering with pnemonia I suppose. It does annoy me though when you see someone happily wearing a t-shirt passing a dark coat clad walking ball of insulation. Aren't they uncomfortable. And they are always done up, never with the zip or duffle coat buttons undone.
Another thing that gets up my goat are cyclists doing either of two things and frequently both at the same time.
First is when their seat is too low and their knees are sticking out and they are having to put a massive amount of effort to move forward. Equally annoying is when they put the gears into such an easy stroke that they are going like the clappers with their legs while inching forward up some hill. Its an insult to Grannys to call it the Granny gear. Most grannys have more sense.
The glass of wine I am drinking I am conviced has continued to ferment in the bottle. I'm all spoken out and ready for bed.
Sadly I won't get a picture of that library around the throne in the previous post as he has sacked me. He phoned me to say how he hadn't seen me working on the job for a while and then admitted he was just taking it out on me then texted to say send the bill. This might sound a bit off the tone of what's gone before however I get this feeling occasionally lately about how a lot of men have missed out on having a good Dad. I got that feeling a lot from this guy. There aren't many cures for that one, in all honesty I can agree with U2, and say I too still haven't found what I'm looking for, well not entirely anyway, a bit but more to come I hope and really do pray.
You see it a lot in Scotland. People don't have a clue how warm it is outside so they just pile on a few layers and then a winter coat. But when they cross that threshold do they go back inside and change? Of course not.
Maybe its the Scottish weather too, with our 4 seasons in half an hour, better to be too warm than shivering with pnemonia I suppose. It does annoy me though when you see someone happily wearing a t-shirt passing a dark coat clad walking ball of insulation. Aren't they uncomfortable. And they are always done up, never with the zip or duffle coat buttons undone.
Another thing that gets up my goat are cyclists doing either of two things and frequently both at the same time.
First is when their seat is too low and their knees are sticking out and they are having to put a massive amount of effort to move forward. Equally annoying is when they put the gears into such an easy stroke that they are going like the clappers with their legs while inching forward up some hill. Its an insult to Grannys to call it the Granny gear. Most grannys have more sense.
The glass of wine I am drinking I am conviced has continued to ferment in the bottle. I'm all spoken out and ready for bed.
Sadly I won't get a picture of that library around the throne in the previous post as he has sacked me. He phoned me to say how he hadn't seen me working on the job for a while and then admitted he was just taking it out on me then texted to say send the bill. This might sound a bit off the tone of what's gone before however I get this feeling occasionally lately about how a lot of men have missed out on having a good Dad. I got that feeling a lot from this guy. There aren't many cures for that one, in all honesty I can agree with U2, and say I too still haven't found what I'm looking for, well not entirely anyway, a bit but more to come I hope and really do pray.
Monday 2 June 2008
There's even a dedicated book series
Get your wits about you and get ready for another chinwag from/with me.
I'd like to say after my last post I am writing while listening to the Pink Floyd album 'Animals' which has got the production style that I do like, much more stripped back to the songs unlike 'Dark Side of the Moon'.
I'd like to discuss the issue of reading on the loo. My inspiration comes from a customers' house I was in recently who has turned his throne into a mini-library. (I will try to get a photo to illustrate my point this week). He seemed to have quite an interest in history.
His habits are at one end of the extreme. I think my friend JW lies at the other as I clearly recall his disgust at the habit. He is quite a particlar person, for instance I wouldn't object to re-using my tea cup for a second time or thrice but this wasn't in his lexacon of good habits. Neither too was squashing the rubbish down to let some more in the top! The fact that I have noticed that probably says more about me than him I will quite happily admit.
Another friend thought it would be cool to wallpaper his loo with pages from a book, I forget which one. I think he got rid of it when doing up his bathroom but I'm not 100% certain as he had varnished over them and it was a problem wall with condensation, it might still be there.
In some ways it is like listening to music while driving. What I mean is that there are natural moments in a day where we are alone and can catch up on our thoughts and feelings on some things, like while driving alone or on the loo. So if we fill these moments with distractions perhaps we need to try to 'be still' a little more. I do think my life would be improved with a little bit more time to be quiet and listen to myself. But perhaps reading is one of those things that is good for the soul and more enjoyable done in quiet.
Having said that I also think that it can be a fantastic chance to get some relatively good reading done before ones attention span has faded (making certain assumptions here).
My own practices recently have been to have a couple of easy reading books - which I like to keep off the floor on the edge of the radiator for hygeine reasons.
This is a massive topic but isn't for polite conversation.
I wonder if we'll ever get an e-book built into a loo, that would be my kind of gadget.
I'd like to say after my last post I am writing while listening to the Pink Floyd album 'Animals' which has got the production style that I do like, much more stripped back to the songs unlike 'Dark Side of the Moon'.
I'd like to discuss the issue of reading on the loo. My inspiration comes from a customers' house I was in recently who has turned his throne into a mini-library. (I will try to get a photo to illustrate my point this week). He seemed to have quite an interest in history.
His habits are at one end of the extreme. I think my friend JW lies at the other as I clearly recall his disgust at the habit. He is quite a particlar person, for instance I wouldn't object to re-using my tea cup for a second time or thrice but this wasn't in his lexacon of good habits. Neither too was squashing the rubbish down to let some more in the top! The fact that I have noticed that probably says more about me than him I will quite happily admit.
Another friend thought it would be cool to wallpaper his loo with pages from a book, I forget which one. I think he got rid of it when doing up his bathroom but I'm not 100% certain as he had varnished over them and it was a problem wall with condensation, it might still be there.
In some ways it is like listening to music while driving. What I mean is that there are natural moments in a day where we are alone and can catch up on our thoughts and feelings on some things, like while driving alone or on the loo. So if we fill these moments with distractions perhaps we need to try to 'be still' a little more. I do think my life would be improved with a little bit more time to be quiet and listen to myself. But perhaps reading is one of those things that is good for the soul and more enjoyable done in quiet.
Having said that I also think that it can be a fantastic chance to get some relatively good reading done before ones attention span has faded (making certain assumptions here).
My own practices recently have been to have a couple of easy reading books - which I like to keep off the floor on the edge of the radiator for hygeine reasons.
This is a massive topic but isn't for polite conversation.
I wonder if we'll ever get an e-book built into a loo, that would be my kind of gadget.
Sunday 1 June 2008
Sailing again but no wind
It was a treat to be out on the water again today. I left my sheets flapping in the wind to dry on the line as I left the house but an hour or so later at Loch Lomond the wind had just died. And the rain had started. It was so calm I was able to lie out on the edge of the deck - maybe its the waterbed effect (which is maybe the calming effect of being in the womb??) but I love to do it.
Yesterday was spent tracking down a new bed. I was at one point all set to get the rolls royce equivalent but I tried one last shop and came to realise that my foam mattress needs a firm base - it had a sprung one, so one sheet of plywood later it feels much firmer and comfier.
I was watching a Making Of of The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd this week. I do like most of Pink Floyds music but I've been particularly indifferent to what is one of the most significant albums of all time. Listening to the songs played on the guitar and stripped right back I realised what amazing songs they are. I think that songs come through all sorts of filters before they really reach the listener. There is something in the atmosphere of the production that I find very difficult to get past. I need to find an unplugged version of it!
A new artist that I have found is Karine Polwart. She's Scottish and of about the same age as myself - have a look at this bit from her website about her honest appraisal of her musical roots http://www.karinepolwart.com/about/verywee.php and you can have a listen at http://www.myspace.com/karinepolwart if your fancy is tickled.
Another week at the saw and nailgun beckons. Its one of those that I will be glad to have put behind me as I feel under a bit of pressure after one job has been added and added to and others are backing up.
Yesterday was spent tracking down a new bed. I was at one point all set to get the rolls royce equivalent but I tried one last shop and came to realise that my foam mattress needs a firm base - it had a sprung one, so one sheet of plywood later it feels much firmer and comfier.
I was watching a Making Of of The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd this week. I do like most of Pink Floyds music but I've been particularly indifferent to what is one of the most significant albums of all time. Listening to the songs played on the guitar and stripped right back I realised what amazing songs they are. I think that songs come through all sorts of filters before they really reach the listener. There is something in the atmosphere of the production that I find very difficult to get past. I need to find an unplugged version of it!
A new artist that I have found is Karine Polwart. She's Scottish and of about the same age as myself - have a look at this bit from her website about her honest appraisal of her musical roots http://www.karinepolwart.com/about/verywee.php and you can have a listen at http://www.myspace.com/karinepolwart if your fancy is tickled.
Another week at the saw and nailgun beckons. Its one of those that I will be glad to have put behind me as I feel under a bit of pressure after one job has been added and added to and others are backing up.
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