Daily Life

January in Scotland this year is a bit on the grim side. No big high pressure to bring the temperatures down below freezing and more importantly keep clouds at bay. The weather is important because it can cause heartbreak with life or it can leave it as tolerable. It does tease, like a person with all the sex appeal can raise ones hopes, however unlikely or realistic, but with enough substance to avoid dismissal should a serious wave of thought ever reside in control for a period of time for a new Bill to become an Act. Though even then such legislation would be talked away and would usually stand no chance of becoming a firm policy. So maybe we like the weather tease, after all there is still bound to be a beautiful sunny day some day, or a deep sunny chill, or a wild windy day - whichever would be a perfect day.
My hands are becoming a big wrinkly at the thumb side. I don't really like it but there is a part of me that does, its a fine line (ha ha) but there is a certain beauty to what lies behind the wrinkle, namely age. and hopefully maturity. Its impossible to do a good time lapse sequence with ones own memories of the age changes. Personally I think it can add to a woman s looks and I think that anyone with a true sense of genuine beauty would agree. Maybe it just goes in hand(ha) with me getting old(er) myself.
I have separated the speakers in my hi-fi system by an extra few inches. I am getting better at educating myself at how to listen to mucic. Like a magic eye drawing one has to look into the sound and merge the two sources of sound together. Did you know that forked tongued lizards can smell in 3d and assess the direction a prey went in. The wider speaker arrangement I imagine in my head as like one big massive speaker the size of the end of my room and with the extra space it sounds more stable, though for Massive Attack Heligioland, what I think is the best sounding vinyl I have, it remains to be seen if the effect holds up for lesser reproductions.
I found myself dreaming of owning a flat in the west end of Glasgow outright today. A flat that is dilapidated is going to a closing date this Thursday. I dream of not having a mortgage on a flat which would give me an income into my retirement. Doubtless I will be outbid again as I am limited on my cash offer but I will try and attempt again, I have nothing to lose on making an offer. There is something wonderfully rebellious and liberating about that. Pipe dream no doubt but maybe it is a very small flat and my finances in cash terms can more than coincide with its valuation. 

Movies

I'm back. One of my favourite questions to ask recently has been, 'if you were a character in a disaster movie what would you be?' Well I've only asked a few folks actually. I liked Donald's answer, the one that survives. Some people are definitely focussed on being the ones that don't survive though. If evolution is true then why is there so many Movie Distaster losers? The Disaster Movie has moved on a bit recently, they seem more real and imminent. And world-wide bigger.

Movies tell us a lot about what's going on in our heads. The Revenge movie, step forth Clint, tells us a lot of us feel victimised or bullied. The horror movie maybe helps us to reconcile the enormous rage that is kept variously under the bonnet.

I wonder what the deeper motive behind the new disaster movie is all about. Is it the guilt we feel knowing that we are all personally screwing with our planet? Do we want to see what's coming. There is no doubt it must be catharctic in some way, why else woule people watch big modern Noah's arks with people dying and getting mutilated.

I love Tom McRae, the atomsphere and lyrics are apocolyptical and Donnie Darko. Yet they are strangely uplifiting. Reminds me of something I read about needing to get through the negative emotions to feel the positive ones.

Science throws up crazy numbers that are even worse than the recent bank bail-out for comprehending. On BBC four tonight there is a performance for people who claim to be non-religious to celebrate christmas with science and music and humour. They showed the view of the night sky and what a five pence piece sized space would look like if you held it up at a distance of 75 feet. Nothing is visible by the naked eye, but as it focussed in on the spot it was a journey through space that went on and on, then there was a view of hundreds of galaxies each with millions or billions of stars in each one. And Wow the universe is massive. Life is great.

I think I'd be one of the characters who would die one way or another, so maybe that makes me a glass half-full sort of person, or maybe I need to watch more cathartic movies - Horror, Disaster and real life dramas, sadly there are just not enough hours in the day.

The fashions of supermarkets

I was struck (almost literally) when in the recently opened Aldi in Knightswood at the trolley ethos and aisle attitude. Why do manners depend on the status of the shop that one is in. It was like a raging bull mentallity.
We all know that supermarkets are engineered in every possible way to get as much money changing hands at the counter. So in these German ultra-basic supermarkets, the logic must be that they work it so that in a banal atmosphere we lose our individualtiy and a sense of ourselves and become like machines and in an effort to fill the emptyness we fill up our trolleys. Maybe not a bad thing, I'm not a massive German supermarket shopper, I need a little more quality across the range, but, at least in their satsumas they bowled over Sainsburys like a tenpin bowl the size of a car squashing, well a sastuma. The surprise at bill at the German check-out is like that of a cheshire cat at the start of a month of Sundays.
I have a bit of a disdain for the people in sainsburys that stand all important discussing things that are something to do with the layout of aisles or something. Their occupations are all about constantly trying to justify their own existance or job role. Self-importance is along the lines of one doth protest too loudly.
Have you seen the google street pictures - some poor driver has to drive every street the length and breadth of the world. Its quite an unsettling experience to visit ones neighbourhood captured forever in a way that is wierdly life-like but the way an alien might scan our planet to instigate a nerdy scheme to take it over in an instant.
I hate the car industry. They have all the scams and guilt inducing manipulations there is in the book. Mind you, one of the greatest characters from my childhood, who popped into a dream sometime in the last couple of years was Mr Jack Paton of the petrol station in Aberlour. He was in a way like a one line person in my life, I never really knew him, but possibly of all the adults I met in then, he stands out in a quiet dignified way as being the best example of a human being from that important part of my life. I was probably only filling up a can of two stroke but apparantly in my dream world, somehow he imparted more to me than anyone else. I think he is dead now, he sold up his garage decades ago now. Its funny how in a world of people who want their pound of flesh, of people constantly trying to take liberties, how there are those who stand head and shoulders above that.
Its hard being human.

Letter to a joiner

-Ad--
i thought id give you a wee update on oz here since my last email was all too brief.
there are a lot of boy racing driving round about where i am staying - my new bike is fantastically light - i want one at home if i can't get this one home with me - i paid about 100 quid for it which isn't cheap i guess but boy it goes like the clappers - had it up to 40 mph on a hill - it came with a cycle computer and helmet and other bits too - i reckon i can get up to 50 on it once i get the higher gears accessable - the cars don't seem to know how to pass a cyclist here either(why i am going so fast so they don't overtake me) but there are plenty of cycle lanes and quiet parallel roads to use instead - i heard on the radio that in one city in oz one in thirty random motorists stopped were over the drink drive limit. The driving is bad if what i ahve seen is representative - incl a head on crash on a quiet suburban road - a motorcyclist getting cut across and lots of honking of horns. So much for the laid back ozzy style.
The malls are focal points for the women to go to during the day. There are ones spotted about all over the city. Most of the stuff in them isn't all that great but prices are quite high. It is nice to see an Ozzzy way of doing christmas with the decorations taking on an ozzy style - and some of the malls decorations are lovely - big christmas tree with angels circling above - and I saw the Santa in the mall too - he was a bit skinny and I thought a big massive burly guy with a real white beard passing by would have been better for the job if he had been a bit friendlier looking. It was a bit of a regular thing to see my cousins picture taken with Santa at my Grannies when i was growing up.
the painting started in earnest today - cool day only about 24 but still got a bit red on my arm - only slightly - but its quite an impressive watch strap tide mark -the painting , it should be straigt forward and there is some joinery work to do too - plywood just doesn't seem to be that popular here - but the hardboard that was used in the porch has sagged and buckled - silly and predictable!
i bought a fishing rod - a ten foot spinning rod - best times to go are sunrise and sunset as the fish come in to feed then - plan is to take it with me on my multiday walks and see if i can't supplement my dry food diet. I bought some dried food the other day, they do a very spicy pee from China I think - there is a lot of food in the shops from China - got some strange berries too that i'd never seen before from there - i might try and do some drop sconne baking on the trail - i don't want to walk really hard - though on one of the tracks the distances seem tiny - ten miles many days, though of course they use kilometres here - shame the exchange rate didn't stay as static as the conversion between miles and kilomotres
the beeches are pretty amazing - the whole of the coast is just beech really apart from the odd rock here and there - lots of kite-surfers and wind-sufers - i had my zoom lens on one yesterday as he was powering back to shore and just as he was getting closer i ran out of memory - there will be other opportunities i am sure
the beer and wine are pretty good here too - i got given $100 when my bags were not on my flight - so i bought some wine and beer with half of it - the warm air is good to drink it in too enhancing the flavour perhaps
its strange having had a Saturday and the football games in Scotland won't be kicking off for another 3 hours almost - takes the agony out of it though when you wake up in the morning to check the scores
i did a tiny bit of snorkelling yesterday - saw one fish - quite a nice one - the water was a tad cold - required a bit of heavy breathing but after the initial shock was quite pleasant - bit different to my snorkelling on isaly last summer when my head was freezing up as i moved slowly through the water
the kite surfing looks terrific too - its suppsed to be quite easy to learn - but it ain't cheap - i'd like to do a dive too - in fact it would be good to take the next course up from the basic one - but you need to get another medical done i think. Its not all that expensive relatively and you get a few dives out of it too.
So the cloning process meets with a temporary glitch - i look forward to comparing the festool plunge saw to the dewalt - i have a feeling that there isnt a great deal of difference in them - it can't be a trademark design by festool but when i compard them in the shop they seemed the same.
My friend matt tends his garden a lot - its like an oasis amongst brown gardens - his runner beans were lovely tonight with chili and there is a steady supply of strawberrys. He's also got a pumpkin on the way - a triumph of his fertilising the pumpkin as there aren't enough bees around here - there are about 50 seeds in it that all need some male input - i think it will grow quite fast.
My friends two kids are real characters - zoe graduated from kindergartem this week and was given a portfolio of her work and a report, which she did very well in. Some of the names of the class were funny like Mango and Tiahsha. Hughie is 2 and a lovely wee cheeky boy.
Folks are quite ignorant of the way the different accents and places fit in to the british isles - i keep getting asked if i am english - and someone had the cheek to ask when did england take over scotland - i should have said england has a scottish prime minister,its more the other way round.
keep fending off the cops please - they will eventually give up i hope!

What you going to do with your time off? Let me know what its like to have an mri scan! I don't think I know of anyone who has undergone one. I hope it heals up well if it is a break - was it left or right hand?

Enough from me!

Have a great Christmas and happy new year.

S

Ozzy Christmas Day Temp of 38 looms

Arrived safely at Perth after an overdose on airport stress. Tight connections and missing luggage as a result but in the end it worked out all right.I even made $100 in beer and wine profit.
The summer temps are starting to pump up the mercury here - sadly Scotland tuggs back at me with the remnants of a chest infection so I had to go see a Doctor. Its been on me for ages but what is it about men - we just soldier on without complaining!
I bought a great wee bike - very old but in its prime it would have been an expensive bike - its been well looked after. Very light and perfect for the great cycling here. However i have become the bike repair man with my hosts bike needing a new tube as well as mine as it popped off as i tried to pump it up.
Down By The Sea was amazing yesterday. Australia is very different outdoors to a walk up a subzero hill in Scotland! I'm struggling to say how great it is to be at the beach here. Its very hot, 33 yesterday and bright and the water is warm. And its gorgeous. What more could you ask for.
I met Mr Apocalypse on the beach - Dave bemoaning the poorer attitude and parochial outlook on the west compared to his native east coast. His real points were all about sinking cities as they suck up the water beneath, rising sea levels driving mass exodus from Indonesia to Australia. However I did manage to outdo him at a few points.
Well i better go i don't want to spend my holiday blogging dood.
I was highly amused btw at the doctors receptionists advice about antibiotics; she stops taking them as soon as she starts feeling better. I wonder if the east coast receptionists are as clever.

Man v Fly

I love to have a nice fresh bed to sleep in, so I always leave my windows wide open to let in plenty of fresh air - one of the fringe benefits of living on the third floor. It would be an invitation to burglers at any other lower height. It does mean that the odd fly can get in though (it can't be quite as fresh as I think).

To get rid of them isn't a problem, usually they are drawn to the window so I open it wide but they still get trapped in the corner so I have to open it untill its almsot done a 360 turn. I don't really like killing any life because even a wee fly is a miracle of life but having said that I do enjoy it when its a frotsy night and I know their metabolism is about to freeze up.

I do consider myself an excellant fly swatter too. The trick is to slowly come up on them and then a flick of the wrist is enought to despatch them or at least stun them. A stun is usually preferable to a squash of course! I don't want to get too gory as I am drinking a cup of tea.
Last night though I met my greatest adversory of the fly variety.

It was a big whopper that seemed to be particularly disgusting and annoying. I think he was in my kitchen when I had come in from work. I hope they don't like butter as the lid was off. I chased him a bit firstly in my living room with a newspaper to no avail. At bedtime he was really starting to annoy me and I particularly didn't want him in my room as I read, let alone sleep. But he seemed to be able to buzz around and then disappear as my eye lost him. I was starting to get really annoyed, but I had a certain admiration of him (or her). The only glee I could muster was the probable fact that he'd be dead long before me! But even that I couldn't be certain of. His sanity was going to last longer than mine at that present rate. So I was back in bed giving up a little when I couldn't find him then out again even more determined, yet still he was able to land without me seeing him which is usually a flies fatal mistake. But this one made the kamakaze error of crossing in front of me and wallop, I got him mid-air with a rolled up copy of the Christian Aid News still in its clear wrapper. I found him on the ground unable to get airborne, so I opened up the wrapper of said publicaiton and wrapped him gently in it - and the rest is history.

I feel a little sad today at his passing - he was a worthy adversory and will be sadly missed.

Its all about the light

The weather forecasters kept saying that today was the best day of the week and with no work lined up why not go for a hillwalk. I did try to climb this one before together with Ben Vorlich but the weather forced me back at the first summit.

It wasn't wall to wall sunshine today and as I drove up I feared another boring gray day but it turned out great as a yellow sun showed lots of variety all afternoon as the clouds came and went and it sank lower in the sky bathing tracts of land. I suppose a subtelty is meant to be subtle but oxymoronically (!) it can make a bigger impression if you are open to it. I am thinking about the way the light can in a fairly subtle way be totally beautiful such as when on one side of me I had the white snows while above the light orange sky was sumptious.

I was caught unawares by the wildness of the area I walked through. I kept thinking how amazing it is to find it so near Glasgow and with the only footprints belonging to deer. I had expected the usual overgrazing and a boggy fairly featureless landscape. It got better as I climbed too when the chasm below Ben Vorlich was revelaed which would have looked good in a Lord of the Rings scene. In the distance the winter snows and mists were giving the west coast mountains an untamed and wild mantle (that makes me want to visit them soon).

A bit of wildlife was enjoyed too - the barking of a deer is the stuff of dinasuars Jurassic era. There is no way any sound could ever be more primordial. Some non-mallard ducks on the river and a diver of some kind on a reservoir promised some possible future fishing casts. A raven isn't that special but out in the wilds it takes on an added resonance, just as the sound of a thin ribbon stream rushing downwards is so lovely as I pass over it walking home and hear its rushing drift into the silence.

So that's my fourth Munro of the year (hills over 3000 feet high), I aim to do ten a year so I will have to get cracking if I am to reach that this year. Watch this space.

Stuc a'Chroin - good hill, but great approach from the south than the slightly shorter but far far steeper northerly approach.