The music I mentioned previously has gone well so far, and now there remains only the midnight service and the one on Christmas morning.
The Glasgow Chamber Choir concert in Hyndland went well, and the 70 primary school kids were surprisingly well behaved and more importantly stayed out of my way!
The New Quartet's public debut in the Royal Bank of Scotland on Monday afternoon seemed well received and I think it made a pound or two for charity, which was the whole point.
Glasgow Chamber Choir's involvement in the Raymond Gubbay Carol Spectaculars, while inevitably a bit shouty, were a success and it seems we'll likely be asked to do them again next year. Interestingly, on the Sunday the Edinburgh area of the National Youth Choir of Scotland also performed a few pieces and on the Monday it was their Falkirk area counterparts, and both choirs were directed by ex Glasgow Chamber Choir members, Mark Evans and Kirsty Yeoman respectively (except I think Kirsty may have a new married name now, but I didn't catch it). Small world this musical choiry-stuff lark! The Sunday was a long day which ended with spectacular real deep crunchy crisp snow on the streets of Edinburgh as the last four of us battled through it from the pub across the road from the Usher Hall (All Bar One if you must know), where we'd indulged in a post concert fluid replacement session, to the Chinatown Restaurant in Atholl Place (near Haymarket Station) where we had a very tasty meal before catching the train back to Glasgow. I got back in the door a few minutes before midnight, having left to catch the bus a little after 7am. Long day.
The Monday concert in Glasgow was followed by a few drinks in La Bonne Auberge, across the road from the Royal Concert Hall. A bit pricy, but quiet unlike most of the other city centre Glasgow pubs this close to Christmas. This time I didn't get the bus home from the city centre until almost half past midnight, so it was another long day albeit not as bad as the previous one.
So just the two to go now.
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The great north east trip
Ahhh, what a good weekend that was.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I've recently spent a weekend up in the north east of Scotland, doing a bit of sightseeing, a bit of chilling, a bit of photography, and a bit of socialising with friends.
We set off on Saturday morning (18th July) around 8am, and travelled up to Perth and then onto the A9 northbound towards Inverness. This is a road I haven't been on for years, and I'd like to say it was very picturesque, but the heavy rain prevented us seeing much beyond the immediate surroundings for a lot of the time.
We were heading initially for Nairn, where we were due to meet a friend of RE for lunch, and because of a mixture of roadworks and weather we were over half an hour late. Bad show. On the way we were following the directions the Sat Nav gave (although we could easily have followed the signposts and read a map, but why have the technology and not use it!) and at Carrbridge it took us off the A9 and onto some local roads for a shortcut across country. As a result of not following the obvious main road through Grantown on Spey therefore we found ourselves on a really interesting, slightly twisty, very scenic (the rain was intermittent at this point) B road, which was I think the B9007 which goes left off the A938 less then two miles outside Carrbridge, and joins the A939 at Ferness about 8 miles outside Nairn. Anyway, if you're going up that way, try the B road.
We went for lunch in a place called the Classroom which is in the centre of Nairn. Classy looking decor, and excellent food. The burger I had was obviously made on the premises, and was as good a burger as I've had in years. The chips (fries to anyone from beyond the UK) were just right - crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. All in all good food and good company.
Leaving Nairn and saying farewell to RE's friend who was heading off to start a lateshift at work, we travelled the few miles further east along the A96 to Forres where our destination was Sueno's Stone, a monstrous 7m tall ancient standing stone which we managed to miss completely despite it turning out to be enormous, and right next to the main road we were on! A couple of u-turns and diversions later (which set the theme for the weekend) and we found it, standing proudly and protected by a huge glass case. Which we weren't, so got soaked while looking at it. Bloody rain!
So onwards to Elgin, and by this time the rain was bouncing off the ground and coming back up to hit the windscreen, or so it seemed anyway! We had a walk past the Cathedral, and then went into the town centre to find the Gordon and MacPhail shop, which has the most wonderful selection of malt whisky imaginable! Not just whisky though, they also have a great selection of other spirits, wine, and delicatessen food. We found some wine from a winery very close to RE's home town in New Zealand, and as an added bonus it was reduced in price from about £19 a bottle to about £12, so RE bought some which we later consumed in the B&B.
On the subject of the B&B, we found it via Alastair Sawday's excellent Special Places to Stay website, which lists unusual places which might be well off the beaten path, be run by very friendly people, offer locally sourced food, or be in some other way unusual or unique. The place we found was Balwarren Croft, near Cornhill (pretty much due south of Portsoy) which is a 30 acre working croft at the end of a long (and very bumpy) farm track and is run by Hazel and James Watt who were very friendly and nice people.
It only has two rooms for let, a double and a twin in a beautifully converted cow byre, and there's a sitting room for use of guests which has a wonderful wood burning stove in it. We were lucky in that the people who had booked the other room didn't turn up so we had the place to ourselves. Lucky for us, although not so good for Hazel and James because the missing guests had also booked an evening meal which I believe Hazel and James ended up eating themselves, at presumably a net financial loss. Also rather strangely the couple just didn't turn up. No telephone call of apology, just a no show, which I consider very rude indeed, although I suppose it's possible that something untoward happened to them when enroute. But I'll never know!
Anyway, if you're in that area and looking for somewhere to stay, you could certainly do a hell of a lot worse than try to book a room at Balwarren, and I have to single out the delicious breakfast as worthy of particular praise. Full traditional cooked including bacon, sausage, egg, tomato etc, and very little fat or grease (pretty well none in fact). Yum! Watch out for the farm track though, because unless you're in a 4x4 the bottom of your car will be making constant and fairly noisy (although probably harmless) contact with the grass in the middle of the track on the way in and out. Ours certainly was.
We later went out for a drive around on Saturday evening, going up to Cullen (home of the thick creamy fish soup Cullen Skink) and marvelling at the heavy seas pounding the seafront, then spent an hour travelling around looking for a fish and chip shop to get something to eat. For a part of the country which is so closely linked to the fishing industry, fish and chip shops were remarkably thin on the ground, and having set our hearts on that choice of food we roved between Cullen, Portsoy, Banff and Macduff to no avail, constantly retracing our route in case we had missed something obvious.
Eventually we spotted a tiny wee shop in Banff which turned out to be the only place open apart from a kebab/chicken/pizza place. A temporary shock when I went in and saw a handwritten notice saying "sorry for the lack of fish, please try some delicious chicken" soon disappeared when they accepted my order for haddock and chips without comment. Then down to the waterside to sit in the car with the windows tightly closed and share the food while watching the waves crash a few feet away. Having been looking forward to it, particularly knowing we were in fishing country, I have to say it was OK but certainly no better than you'd get in any average chip shop in the rest of the country. Oh well.
We then headed back to Balwarren, to make some inroads into the bottle of NZ wine before crashing out for the night, both of us being tired after a pretty long day.
Sunday dawned with bright sunshine creeping through a crack in the curtains, which was a surprise after the heavy rain we'd endured for the whole of the previous day. One delicious breakfast later (one each I mean!) and we headed out into the now visible scenery to do some sightseeing. Back again to Cullen as our starting point, where we each took a few photos of the scenery, then onwards to look at the 17th century harbour at Portsoy, and Findlater Castle and the 16th century beehive type dovecote nearby.
The ruins of the castle sit on an outcrop of rock, some 50 feet up on a cliff, and access is gained by a grassy path on a very steep descent. Left to my own devices I would have happily looked at the castle from above at the viewpoint and left it at that, but RE was having none of it (I'm glad to say)! Pausing briefly to read the sign saying that the castle was dangerous, so if you were going to go to it you'd bloody better be careful, down we went, then up onto the outcrop itself, taking lots of photos as we did so. We explored what was left of the castle (not much) and then climbed back up to the viewpoint, past the dovecote, and back to the car.
I think it's time for a brief flashback.
A bit over a year ago RE and I were on a car trip into the Scottish Borders when we stopped at the Grey Mare's Tail near Moffat. This tourist attraction is a waterfall tumbling down a steep valley, and there's a short path up to a viewpoint where you can see the water. We went up that short path, which is not much more than a stroll, and by the time we were no more than a few feet up I was having trouble breathing properly, and by the time we got to the top I thought my end had come. Unable to speak properly I could only communicate with gasps through a rasping, breathless, death rattle, leaving RE genuinely fearful that the noise she was hearing was indeed the initial death throes of a very unfit, and by now very sweaty man. It was probably 10 minutes after we made it back to the car before I could string a proper sentence together, and I felt ill for much of the rest of the day.
Flashback over, so wind forward to Findlater Castle last weekend, and I happily climbed down the hill and up the slope to the castle, and then climbed back up the hill to the viewpoint, and while I wouldn't claim not to have been a bit puffed I could have a conversation all the way there and back, and my breathing returned to a normal rate within a minute or so after getting back up the hill. And I wasn't particularly sweating either. The wonders of regular exercise! My new, and frankly enjoyable, regime is doing wonders for my health, fitness, happiness, and hopefully lifespan. RE said she was very impressed, and while, being a man, I find it difficult to accept compliments so sort of shrugged it off, secretly I was so chuffed with myself, and thankful to RE for the encouragement which has led me to this point.
Onwards then and after a brief stop at the Spotty Bag Shop in Banff, which sells everything, and all at very cheap prices, we headed further east to Pennan which was one of the locations used in the 1983 Burt Lancaster film Local Hero, and the famous red phone box used in the film is still there. Or at least there is a red phone box there but the original in the film was a prop and the box was only installed later after public demand! Pennan is a single street at the bottom of a steep curving road, right on the waterfront. Go there.
From Pennan we travelled about 10 miles further east to the fishing port of Fraserburgh, largely because the fuel warning light came on in the car and I knew there'd be a petrol station there! After a brief and unsuccessful visit to the lighthouse museum, unsuccessful because we could see no tearoom and we were only there looking for a refreshment, we found a cafe next to the beach where we enjoyed delicious coffee. As an aside I have just found out, when looking for the link to the museum, that there is indeed a cafe at the lighthouse museum! D'oh! Although I guess we'd have had to pay for admission to the museum to access it. In fact I now realise that it was the Heritage Centre we looked at, which is right next to the lighthouse place.
Anyway the cafe overlooking the beach served good coffee, albeit in uninspiring surroundings reminiscent of a bus station. The view was good though, overlooking the beach which had a fair number of surfers taking advantage of what the North Sea was throwing at them.
Off then to Turriff, a market town about ten miles inland, for the barbecue hosted by a couple of friends, SC and MC, and their young son CC. I used to visit SC regularly in Turriff a number of years ago, when she was called SP, but haven't seen all that much of her in the past 10 years apart from one or two meetings when she's been in the Glasgow area. The barbecue was very good, and although the rain started again, it just meant we all adjourned indoors to play with their Wii and give me a chance to make a tit of myself and show how crap I am at such games! But despite being crap, I enjoyed trying! The hospitality was good, and so was the craic.
After the BBQ, we headed the 10 miles back to Balwarren, which is when we found out that the other folks hadn't turned up so we had the sitting room to ourselves for a second night. Hazel kindly lit the wood burning stove for us, and we connected my MP3 player to my wee set of external speakers and ruminated about how the other guests wouldn't have enjoyed listening to our choral music anyway, as RE finished off the wine from the previous night and I opened the bottle of 10 year old Aberlour malt whisky I'd bought earlier in the day and made some inroads into it. A tranquil end to a very enjoyable day.
So Monday dawned bright and sunny, and after a repeat performance of the delicious breakfast, we settled our bill, which was very reasonable, and packed the car for the trip home. But we weren't heading straight home. No, we were already in the area so felt that some more sightseeing was in order.
Our first port of call was another tiny harbour similar and near to Pennan, called Crovie (pronounced Crivvie, apparently). At Pennan there's a road which you can drive along, at Crovie there isn't! There's a carpark at one end and the rest is pedestrian access only. Well I say there's a carpark, but it's for residents only. Visitors park about half a mile before the village, before the descent down to the village, and walk. So as you may gather, it's a walk back up as well. A steep walk. A lung burstingly steep walk. But again I managed it without undue distress. Yay!
Next we headed generally south, having exhausted everything we wanted to do and see along the north coast, and we had decided on a few things beforehand we wanted to get to.
We headed first to try to find a stone circle called Loudon Wood near Mintlaw and Old Deer, but after following the signposts for it, there was no obvious way to it and the trail went cold so instead we went to the ruins of Deer Abbey, which was a real find, as we were the only people there in glorious sunshine!
Just so we could say we'd been, we then drove east to Peterhead, which has a reputation for being one of the most unlovely towns in the north of Scotland (and probably in all of Scotland) but there were some nice looking buildings there as we drove through. A quick stop at a Tesco in Ellon, and we headed to our lunch destination of Pitmedden Gardens where we'd planned to eat our sandwiches and have a relaxing look around. But no. In their wisdom the National Trust for Scotland have decided that not only will they charge you £5.50 to get into the gardens, they will charge you for parking your car, and will not let you bring your own food or drink in, trying to force you to use their tearoom. Bollocks to that, we both thought, we'll go elsewhere.
A couple of miles away, and run by the much more user friendly Historic Scotland, is Tolquhon Castle which for a fairly small series of ruined buildings manages to pack in a hell of a lot of interesting features and many almost complete rooms. And they seemed happy enough for us to eat our sandwiches at a picnic table in the grounds. I'd recommend this as a destination, without doubt.
This isn't the only example, but suffice to say that my general impression is that the National Trust for Scotland are shit, and Historic Scotland are good. An oversimplification maybe, but there is a lot of truth in it.
And so home. From there we just headed south via Aberdeen and onto the main road. At the end of it we'd travelled just under 660 miles in two and a bit very enjoyable days, and RE was more familiar with pretty much the only bit of Scotland she hadn't previously visited.
A good trip.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I've recently spent a weekend up in the north east of Scotland, doing a bit of sightseeing, a bit of chilling, a bit of photography, and a bit of socialising with friends.
We set off on Saturday morning (18th July) around 8am, and travelled up to Perth and then onto the A9 northbound towards Inverness. This is a road I haven't been on for years, and I'd like to say it was very picturesque, but the heavy rain prevented us seeing much beyond the immediate surroundings for a lot of the time.
We were heading initially for Nairn, where we were due to meet a friend of RE for lunch, and because of a mixture of roadworks and weather we were over half an hour late. Bad show. On the way we were following the directions the Sat Nav gave (although we could easily have followed the signposts and read a map, but why have the technology and not use it!) and at Carrbridge it took us off the A9 and onto some local roads for a shortcut across country. As a result of not following the obvious main road through Grantown on Spey therefore we found ourselves on a really interesting, slightly twisty, very scenic (the rain was intermittent at this point) B road, which was I think the B9007 which goes left off the A938 less then two miles outside Carrbridge, and joins the A939 at Ferness about 8 miles outside Nairn. Anyway, if you're going up that way, try the B road.
We went for lunch in a place called the Classroom which is in the centre of Nairn. Classy looking decor, and excellent food. The burger I had was obviously made on the premises, and was as good a burger as I've had in years. The chips (fries to anyone from beyond the UK) were just right - crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. All in all good food and good company.
Leaving Nairn and saying farewell to RE's friend who was heading off to start a lateshift at work, we travelled the few miles further east along the A96 to Forres where our destination was Sueno's Stone, a monstrous 7m tall ancient standing stone which we managed to miss completely despite it turning out to be enormous, and right next to the main road we were on! A couple of u-turns and diversions later (which set the theme for the weekend) and we found it, standing proudly and protected by a huge glass case. Which we weren't, so got soaked while looking at it. Bloody rain!
So onwards to Elgin, and by this time the rain was bouncing off the ground and coming back up to hit the windscreen, or so it seemed anyway! We had a walk past the Cathedral, and then went into the town centre to find the Gordon and MacPhail shop, which has the most wonderful selection of malt whisky imaginable! Not just whisky though, they also have a great selection of other spirits, wine, and delicatessen food. We found some wine from a winery very close to RE's home town in New Zealand, and as an added bonus it was reduced in price from about £19 a bottle to about £12, so RE bought some which we later consumed in the B&B.
On the subject of the B&B, we found it via Alastair Sawday's excellent Special Places to Stay website, which lists unusual places which might be well off the beaten path, be run by very friendly people, offer locally sourced food, or be in some other way unusual or unique. The place we found was Balwarren Croft, near Cornhill (pretty much due south of Portsoy) which is a 30 acre working croft at the end of a long (and very bumpy) farm track and is run by Hazel and James Watt who were very friendly and nice people.
It only has two rooms for let, a double and a twin in a beautifully converted cow byre, and there's a sitting room for use of guests which has a wonderful wood burning stove in it. We were lucky in that the people who had booked the other room didn't turn up so we had the place to ourselves. Lucky for us, although not so good for Hazel and James because the missing guests had also booked an evening meal which I believe Hazel and James ended up eating themselves, at presumably a net financial loss. Also rather strangely the couple just didn't turn up. No telephone call of apology, just a no show, which I consider very rude indeed, although I suppose it's possible that something untoward happened to them when enroute. But I'll never know!
Anyway, if you're in that area and looking for somewhere to stay, you could certainly do a hell of a lot worse than try to book a room at Balwarren, and I have to single out the delicious breakfast as worthy of particular praise. Full traditional cooked including bacon, sausage, egg, tomato etc, and very little fat or grease (pretty well none in fact). Yum! Watch out for the farm track though, because unless you're in a 4x4 the bottom of your car will be making constant and fairly noisy (although probably harmless) contact with the grass in the middle of the track on the way in and out. Ours certainly was.
We later went out for a drive around on Saturday evening, going up to Cullen (home of the thick creamy fish soup Cullen Skink) and marvelling at the heavy seas pounding the seafront, then spent an hour travelling around looking for a fish and chip shop to get something to eat. For a part of the country which is so closely linked to the fishing industry, fish and chip shops were remarkably thin on the ground, and having set our hearts on that choice of food we roved between Cullen, Portsoy, Banff and Macduff to no avail, constantly retracing our route in case we had missed something obvious.
Eventually we spotted a tiny wee shop in Banff which turned out to be the only place open apart from a kebab/chicken/pizza place. A temporary shock when I went in and saw a handwritten notice saying "sorry for the lack of fish, please try some delicious chicken" soon disappeared when they accepted my order for haddock and chips without comment. Then down to the waterside to sit in the car with the windows tightly closed and share the food while watching the waves crash a few feet away. Having been looking forward to it, particularly knowing we were in fishing country, I have to say it was OK but certainly no better than you'd get in any average chip shop in the rest of the country. Oh well.
We then headed back to Balwarren, to make some inroads into the bottle of NZ wine before crashing out for the night, both of us being tired after a pretty long day.
Sunday dawned with bright sunshine creeping through a crack in the curtains, which was a surprise after the heavy rain we'd endured for the whole of the previous day. One delicious breakfast later (one each I mean!) and we headed out into the now visible scenery to do some sightseeing. Back again to Cullen as our starting point, where we each took a few photos of the scenery, then onwards to look at the 17th century harbour at Portsoy, and Findlater Castle and the 16th century beehive type dovecote nearby.
The ruins of the castle sit on an outcrop of rock, some 50 feet up on a cliff, and access is gained by a grassy path on a very steep descent. Left to my own devices I would have happily looked at the castle from above at the viewpoint and left it at that, but RE was having none of it (I'm glad to say)! Pausing briefly to read the sign saying that the castle was dangerous, so if you were going to go to it you'd bloody better be careful, down we went, then up onto the outcrop itself, taking lots of photos as we did so. We explored what was left of the castle (not much) and then climbed back up to the viewpoint, past the dovecote, and back to the car.
I think it's time for a brief flashback.
A bit over a year ago RE and I were on a car trip into the Scottish Borders when we stopped at the Grey Mare's Tail near Moffat. This tourist attraction is a waterfall tumbling down a steep valley, and there's a short path up to a viewpoint where you can see the water. We went up that short path, which is not much more than a stroll, and by the time we were no more than a few feet up I was having trouble breathing properly, and by the time we got to the top I thought my end had come. Unable to speak properly I could only communicate with gasps through a rasping, breathless, death rattle, leaving RE genuinely fearful that the noise she was hearing was indeed the initial death throes of a very unfit, and by now very sweaty man. It was probably 10 minutes after we made it back to the car before I could string a proper sentence together, and I felt ill for much of the rest of the day.
Flashback over, so wind forward to Findlater Castle last weekend, and I happily climbed down the hill and up the slope to the castle, and then climbed back up the hill to the viewpoint, and while I wouldn't claim not to have been a bit puffed I could have a conversation all the way there and back, and my breathing returned to a normal rate within a minute or so after getting back up the hill. And I wasn't particularly sweating either. The wonders of regular exercise! My new, and frankly enjoyable, regime is doing wonders for my health, fitness, happiness, and hopefully lifespan. RE said she was very impressed, and while, being a man, I find it difficult to accept compliments so sort of shrugged it off, secretly I was so chuffed with myself, and thankful to RE for the encouragement which has led me to this point.
Onwards then and after a brief stop at the Spotty Bag Shop in Banff, which sells everything, and all at very cheap prices, we headed further east to Pennan which was one of the locations used in the 1983 Burt Lancaster film Local Hero, and the famous red phone box used in the film is still there. Or at least there is a red phone box there but the original in the film was a prop and the box was only installed later after public demand! Pennan is a single street at the bottom of a steep curving road, right on the waterfront. Go there.
From Pennan we travelled about 10 miles further east to the fishing port of Fraserburgh, largely because the fuel warning light came on in the car and I knew there'd be a petrol station there! After a brief and unsuccessful visit to the lighthouse museum, unsuccessful because we could see no tearoom and we were only there looking for a refreshment, we found a cafe next to the beach where we enjoyed delicious coffee. As an aside I have just found out, when looking for the link to the museum, that there is indeed a cafe at the lighthouse museum! D'oh! Although I guess we'd have had to pay for admission to the museum to access it. In fact I now realise that it was the Heritage Centre we looked at, which is right next to the lighthouse place.
Anyway the cafe overlooking the beach served good coffee, albeit in uninspiring surroundings reminiscent of a bus station. The view was good though, overlooking the beach which had a fair number of surfers taking advantage of what the North Sea was throwing at them.
Off then to Turriff, a market town about ten miles inland, for the barbecue hosted by a couple of friends, SC and MC, and their young son CC. I used to visit SC regularly in Turriff a number of years ago, when she was called SP, but haven't seen all that much of her in the past 10 years apart from one or two meetings when she's been in the Glasgow area. The barbecue was very good, and although the rain started again, it just meant we all adjourned indoors to play with their Wii and give me a chance to make a tit of myself and show how crap I am at such games! But despite being crap, I enjoyed trying! The hospitality was good, and so was the craic.
After the BBQ, we headed the 10 miles back to Balwarren, which is when we found out that the other folks hadn't turned up so we had the sitting room to ourselves for a second night. Hazel kindly lit the wood burning stove for us, and we connected my MP3 player to my wee set of external speakers and ruminated about how the other guests wouldn't have enjoyed listening to our choral music anyway, as RE finished off the wine from the previous night and I opened the bottle of 10 year old Aberlour malt whisky I'd bought earlier in the day and made some inroads into it. A tranquil end to a very enjoyable day.
So Monday dawned bright and sunny, and after a repeat performance of the delicious breakfast, we settled our bill, which was very reasonable, and packed the car for the trip home. But we weren't heading straight home. No, we were already in the area so felt that some more sightseeing was in order.
Our first port of call was another tiny harbour similar and near to Pennan, called Crovie (pronounced Crivvie, apparently). At Pennan there's a road which you can drive along, at Crovie there isn't! There's a carpark at one end and the rest is pedestrian access only. Well I say there's a carpark, but it's for residents only. Visitors park about half a mile before the village, before the descent down to the village, and walk. So as you may gather, it's a walk back up as well. A steep walk. A lung burstingly steep walk. But again I managed it without undue distress. Yay!
Next we headed generally south, having exhausted everything we wanted to do and see along the north coast, and we had decided on a few things beforehand we wanted to get to.
We headed first to try to find a stone circle called Loudon Wood near Mintlaw and Old Deer, but after following the signposts for it, there was no obvious way to it and the trail went cold so instead we went to the ruins of Deer Abbey, which was a real find, as we were the only people there in glorious sunshine!
Just so we could say we'd been, we then drove east to Peterhead, which has a reputation for being one of the most unlovely towns in the north of Scotland (and probably in all of Scotland) but there were some nice looking buildings there as we drove through. A quick stop at a Tesco in Ellon, and we headed to our lunch destination of Pitmedden Gardens where we'd planned to eat our sandwiches and have a relaxing look around. But no. In their wisdom the National Trust for Scotland have decided that not only will they charge you £5.50 to get into the gardens, they will charge you for parking your car, and will not let you bring your own food or drink in, trying to force you to use their tearoom. Bollocks to that, we both thought, we'll go elsewhere.
A couple of miles away, and run by the much more user friendly Historic Scotland, is Tolquhon Castle which for a fairly small series of ruined buildings manages to pack in a hell of a lot of interesting features and many almost complete rooms. And they seemed happy enough for us to eat our sandwiches at a picnic table in the grounds. I'd recommend this as a destination, without doubt.
This isn't the only example, but suffice to say that my general impression is that the National Trust for Scotland are shit, and Historic Scotland are good. An oversimplification maybe, but there is a lot of truth in it.
And so home. From there we just headed south via Aberdeen and onto the main road. At the end of it we'd travelled just under 660 miles in two and a bit very enjoyable days, and RE was more familiar with pretty much the only bit of Scotland she hadn't previously visited.
A good trip.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
First IAM in over a year
Today being the second Sunday of the month it was the Glasgow North Group of the IAM motorcycle run, and a good run it was, albeit the first one I've made this year I have to confess! In fact it's the first one for me for just over a year, because the last one I was on bored me so much by being a slow procession of bikes, apparently unable to overtake anything!
So this morning five of us turned up at the assembly point at PC World at Finnieston for 0930hrs and we decided that the weather forecast suggested Ayrshire as a viable route.
Down via Barrhead, Stewarton and Kilmarnock to the A76 where we then turned off towards Ayr and then headed south past the Electric Brae (negotiating a 35mph car driver on the way!) and Turnberry (where the 2009 Open Golf Championship will take place in July, apparently) to Girvan where we partook of variations on fish and chips in a local cafe, followed by some Nardini's ice cream while we wandered over to look at a substantial (and bright yellow) trike parked at the harbour, which turned out to be for hire. The rider/driver, who was sitting nearby, didn't appear over-friendly it has to be said, since whereas normally bikers will happily chat to each other he sat there five feet away and pretty much ignored us. Prick. And he is, I think, the one sitting on the bike on their homepage, if you followed the link. I suspect he's trying to pretend he's Billy Connolly! Did I ever mention I had lunch with Billy Connolly in Glasgow a few years ago? I'll bore you with that story sometime!
So anyway, after having travelled south to Girvan our route became, ahem, a bit flexible, and we trekked north east a bit to Maybole before heading back down via Kirkmichael and Straiton then across to Dalmellington (which from a personal point of view was nice as my relatively recently passed-away grandmother got married there a number of years ago) before heading to New Cumnock and then Cumnock where we did the usual final starburst and went our separate ways (although we did lose one at a pre-planned split earlier) with three of us continuing east along the A70 to Douglas and finishing with a blast (at a maximum of 70mph, of course, M'lud) up the M74.
I covered almost 200 miles on the day, which was marked by glorious weather for most of the time apart from the stretch from Dalmellington onwards when it rained reasonably heavily, although it had cleared up by the time we were reaching Motherwell on the M74. And I saw a spectacular forked lightning strike at one point on the hills in the distance ahead.
On an unrelated topic, the Glasgow Chamber Choir concerts last weekend were a spectacular success. Glorious music performed, I have to say, bloody well! The fly in the ointment was my overindulgence of Hendrick's Gin after the Sunday concert, leading to the mother of all hangovers on the Monday which at least I'd had the foresight to take off as a day of flexi leave. This was the start of four days when I took no alcohol. Me. Who drinks every day! Never again. Honest. Coincidentally I passed the Hendrick's Gin Distillery today near Girvan, Made me feel queasy when I saw the sign!
Went to see Angels & Demons last night with RE and thoroughly enjoyed it. Good film and good company. Followed by some Mexican food, and a walk along the riverside at Glasgow city centre to the new pedestrian bridge, known apparently as the squiggly bridge, a name presumably linked to the squinty bridge which was opened a year or so ago further down river. A day well spent.
Monday, November 10, 2008
San Diego catch up #2
So what else happened in San Diego, I hear you ask. Well all, or some anyway, will be revealed in due course, but first I'd like to mention that after Evensong yesterday I was very glad to hear that AC has enjoyed my various holiday posts. I mostly write this Blog for myself, but it's always nice to hear of someone who has enjoyed some of what I wrote, and especially so when it's someone I know in real life and even more so when it's someone who's been a friend for such a long long time.
Wednesday 29th October
This was the first full day of being together with RE in San Diego, and my brother, possibly glad to get some respite from being with me all day every day, gave us the keys to his Ford Focus (a bit easier to park than his Chevrolet Trailblazer!) and his SatNav, and left us to our own devices, so we initially went shopping to Seaport Village, which is pretty much an outdoor mall right on San Diego Bay, and near to the USS Midway aircraft carrier I mentioned on 25th October's post.
The weather, as ever in southern California by all accounts and by my limited experience, was bloody hot! Their website carries the tagline "everything under the sun" which is pretty clever and even if the "everything" bit isn't 100% accurate, the "sun" bit certainly is!
As we strolled around popping in and out of shops, one of our popping out moments coincided with a fair sized naval ship leaving San Diego Bay and passing Seaport Village. The top image on the right shows it with the Coronado Bridge in the background (which is apparently the third deadliest suicide bridge in the United States although why anyone would feel like suicide in the glorious weather of San Diego is beyond me. In Glasgow, fair enough, but in that sunshine?).
The bottom image was taken using the full zoom of my Fujifilm Finepix S5700. It has 10x optical zoom, which is pretty impressive on its own, but also has 4.8x digital zoom too. I've never been all that keen on using digital zoom, since my limited understanding of it is that all it does is artificially compensate for the reduced picture quality of the extra zoom by the simple expedient of "making up" the image by adding pixels. OK, I didn't explain that very well, so read this instead.
Anyway, the bottom image of the ship was taken using full digital zoom, and I have to confess that I'm quite pleased with the results of my first try at it.
One good find, bizarrely, in Seaport Village was a New Zealand shop, The Cabbage Tree, which RE naturally had to look round. We spent quite a while browsing and RE spent a while chatting to her fellow Kiwi who was behind the counter. Strange to think that RE had just travelled half way round the world from New Zealand, only to find reminders of her homeland at her destination!
We decided to head to the Old Town next, to soak up some history. I'd really enjoyed it when I'd been there with my brother the previous week, and enjoyed it again with RE.
We'd found out that my brother and his wife really liked a restaurant called Shogun which was about a twenty minute drive from their house, so we booked a table there and all headed off for what was going to be, for me anyway, a brand new experience. Teppanyaki. Ever tried it? I'd barely even heard of it. It's essentially a table round three sides of which the diners sit, and at the other side a chef prepares your food for you using the centre of the table which is a very very hot metal griddle.
But that's oversimplifying it a bit. It's an art. The chef doesn't just prepare your food, he entertains you while doing so, with flashy juggling of knives and spatulas and food bowls full of food, and with spectacular displays of flaming oils making flames shoot from the griddle up into the metal extractor hood above the table.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole shooting match, the food, the sounds, the smells, the sights, and if you get a chance to try Teppanyaki, then do so.
I've just discovered there's a Teppanyaki restaurant in Glasgow, in the North Rotunda, so I'm looking forward to trying it again.
Wednesday 29th October
This was the first full day of being together with RE in San Diego, and my brother, possibly glad to get some respite from being with me all day every day, gave us the keys to his Ford Focus (a bit easier to park than his Chevrolet Trailblazer!) and his SatNav, and left us to our own devices, so we initially went shopping to Seaport Village, which is pretty much an outdoor mall right on San Diego Bay, and near to the USS Midway aircraft carrier I mentioned on 25th October's post.
The weather, as ever in southern California by all accounts and by my limited experience, was bloody hot! Their website carries the tagline "everything under the sun" which is pretty clever and even if the "everything" bit isn't 100% accurate, the "sun" bit certainly is!
As we strolled around popping in and out of shops, one of our popping out moments coincided with a fair sized naval ship leaving San Diego Bay and passing Seaport Village. The top image on the right shows it with the Coronado Bridge in the background (which is apparently the third deadliest suicide bridge in the United States although why anyone would feel like suicide in the glorious weather of San Diego is beyond me. In Glasgow, fair enough, but in that sunshine?).
The bottom image was taken using the full zoom of my Fujifilm Finepix S5700. It has 10x optical zoom, which is pretty impressive on its own, but also has 4.8x digital zoom too. I've never been all that keen on using digital zoom, since my limited understanding of it is that all it does is artificially compensate for the reduced picture quality of the extra zoom by the simple expedient of "making up" the image by adding pixels. OK, I didn't explain that very well, so read this instead.
Anyway, the bottom image of the ship was taken using full digital zoom, and I have to confess that I'm quite pleased with the results of my first try at it.
One good find, bizarrely, in Seaport Village was a New Zealand shop, The Cabbage Tree, which RE naturally had to look round. We spent quite a while browsing and RE spent a while chatting to her fellow Kiwi who was behind the counter. Strange to think that RE had just travelled half way round the world from New Zealand, only to find reminders of her homeland at her destination!
We decided to head to the Old Town next, to soak up some history. I'd really enjoyed it when I'd been there with my brother the previous week, and enjoyed it again with RE.
We'd found out that my brother and his wife really liked a restaurant called Shogun which was about a twenty minute drive from their house, so we booked a table there and all headed off for what was going to be, for me anyway, a brand new experience. Teppanyaki. Ever tried it? I'd barely even heard of it. It's essentially a table round three sides of which the diners sit, and at the other side a chef prepares your food for you using the centre of the table which is a very very hot metal griddle.
But that's oversimplifying it a bit. It's an art. The chef doesn't just prepare your food, he entertains you while doing so, with flashy juggling of knives and spatulas and food bowls full of food, and with spectacular displays of flaming oils making flames shoot from the griddle up into the metal extractor hood above the table.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole shooting match, the food, the sounds, the smells, the sights, and if you get a chance to try Teppanyaki, then do so.
I've just discovered there's a Teppanyaki restaurant in Glasgow, in the North Rotunda, so I'm looking forward to trying it again.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Hi tech stuff
It's a little after 3pm on Saturday 25th October. So what have I been up to here in still very sunny and unseasonably hot San Diego since my previous post on Wednesday afternoon?
On Thursday my brother, D, took me for a whistlestop tour of the place he works, Solar Turbines, in the centre of San Diego right next to the airport. What struck me most in the assembly area was, considering this is engineering on a big scale, it was really really clean. I'm not an engineer myself, and my previous limited experience of it was a week of work experience in my last years at school, probably around 1978, which I spent at the Terex earth moving equipment manufacturer near my hometown, and various short visits to collect my dad from his work when that was at a steelworks. All very noisy, dirty environments. But not Solar, it was all very clean, very hi-tech, pretty quiet, and very impressive.
Thursday evening saw us eating at the Fish Market at Del Mar/Solano Beach. An interesting if unsurprisingly fishy menu full of things of which I'd never heard before, let alone tried! And some beer too. Wouldn't necessarily recommend you try it, but it was OK.
On Friday we set off slightly north of the city, and finding the beach near Carlsbad we followed the coast south again, largely on the historic Route 101, aka the Pacific Highway, seeing groups of surfers on the way. Through a mixture of towns like Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and La Jolla (pronounced Hoya apparently), which varied from what looked like not much more than beach huts perhaps occupied by people who moved to California in the 1960's and never left (the area or the 60's for that matter!) and huge multi million dollar properties, probably occupied for a small percentage of the year by film stars and other such celebs.
We'll go back to that area next week though, to explore a bit more when RE gets here. On Friday we were headed somewhere specific, not just Pacific. Our destination was the rather large and exceptionally impressive USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier berthed in San Diego Bay just along from the Maritime Museum we visited earlier in the week. When she was launched in 1945 and for the following ten years, Midway was the largest ship in the world, and she is big! Lots to see, and one refreshing thing was that many of the aircraft on the flight deck have bits sticking out of them at body or head height (edges of wings and suchlike) yet there are very few roped off or protected areas so it would be easy to walk into something slightly painful. The authorities who run the ship as a museum have obviously trusted the intelligence of their visitors enough not to have felt the need to over protect them. I genuinely thought that was a nice touch, and perhaps all the more surprising in the notoriously litigious USA.
After leaving the Midway, we visited Beverages and More, which if it were in Glasgow would be a very regular haunt for me. I got some Gordons Gin and some Pastis, and D got various Belgian and UK beers and some wine. Great store!
So that was us all set for Tapas type starters followed by Jambalaya, sitting outside in the still warm evening, with large glasses of Pastis for me, and red wine for everyone else (except my niece J, who had Sprite!). A good evening, yet again, of good food and drink and company.
This morning, Saturday, and my sister in law and niece, C and J, available to join us since it's the weekend, we all set off to San Diego Wild Animal Park, a few miles north of San Diego. Something like 1800 acres of wilderness tamed and filled with a variety of exotic animals and boutiques selling the usual touristy tat. It's part of San Diego Zoo, which is in Balboa Park in the city and which we'll visit next week, and by all accounts it isn't quite as good as the zoo itself.
Now it's chill out time, because it's too hot to wander about outside, so I've copied all the photos I've taken so far from my camera onto a flash drive pen, just in case. I'd post more of the images here, but I've got the camera settings such that my images are roughly 3Mb each, and while if I was at home I'd use the Microsoft PowerToys image resizer to easily and quickly make small copies with just a right click of the mouse, D's laptop runs Windows Vista and the resizer only works with XP, so I don't want to upload too many big images. I'll upload smaller ones to my Flickr account after I return home, and provide a link to them from this Blog, in the unlikely event anyone wants to see them.
On Thursday my brother, D, took me for a whistlestop tour of the place he works, Solar Turbines, in the centre of San Diego right next to the airport. What struck me most in the assembly area was, considering this is engineering on a big scale, it was really really clean. I'm not an engineer myself, and my previous limited experience of it was a week of work experience in my last years at school, probably around 1978, which I spent at the Terex earth moving equipment manufacturer near my hometown, and various short visits to collect my dad from his work when that was at a steelworks. All very noisy, dirty environments. But not Solar, it was all very clean, very hi-tech, pretty quiet, and very impressive.
Thursday evening saw us eating at the Fish Market at Del Mar/Solano Beach. An interesting if unsurprisingly fishy menu full of things of which I'd never heard before, let alone tried! And some beer too. Wouldn't necessarily recommend you try it, but it was OK.
On Friday we set off slightly north of the city, and finding the beach near Carlsbad we followed the coast south again, largely on the historic Route 101, aka the Pacific Highway, seeing groups of surfers on the way. Through a mixture of towns like Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and La Jolla (pronounced Hoya apparently), which varied from what looked like not much more than beach huts perhaps occupied by people who moved to California in the 1960's and never left (the area or the 60's for that matter!) and huge multi million dollar properties, probably occupied for a small percentage of the year by film stars and other such celebs.
We'll go back to that area next week though, to explore a bit more when RE gets here. On Friday we were headed somewhere specific, not just Pacific. Our destination was the rather large and exceptionally impressive USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier berthed in San Diego Bay just along from the Maritime Museum we visited earlier in the week. When she was launched in 1945 and for the following ten years, Midway was the largest ship in the world, and she is big! Lots to see, and one refreshing thing was that many of the aircraft on the flight deck have bits sticking out of them at body or head height (edges of wings and suchlike) yet there are very few roped off or protected areas so it would be easy to walk into something slightly painful. The authorities who run the ship as a museum have obviously trusted the intelligence of their visitors enough not to have felt the need to over protect them. I genuinely thought that was a nice touch, and perhaps all the more surprising in the notoriously litigious USA.
After leaving the Midway, we visited Beverages and More, which if it were in Glasgow would be a very regular haunt for me. I got some Gordons Gin and some Pastis, and D got various Belgian and UK beers and some wine. Great store!
So that was us all set for Tapas type starters followed by Jambalaya, sitting outside in the still warm evening, with large glasses of Pastis for me, and red wine for everyone else (except my niece J, who had Sprite!). A good evening, yet again, of good food and drink and company.
This morning, Saturday, and my sister in law and niece, C and J, available to join us since it's the weekend, we all set off to San Diego Wild Animal Park, a few miles north of San Diego. Something like 1800 acres of wilderness tamed and filled with a variety of exotic animals and boutiques selling the usual touristy tat. It's part of San Diego Zoo, which is in Balboa Park in the city and which we'll visit next week, and by all accounts it isn't quite as good as the zoo itself.
Now it's chill out time, because it's too hot to wander about outside, so I've copied all the photos I've taken so far from my camera onto a flash drive pen, just in case. I'd post more of the images here, but I've got the camera settings such that my images are roughly 3Mb each, and while if I was at home I'd use the Microsoft PowerToys image resizer to easily and quickly make small copies with just a right click of the mouse, D's laptop runs Windows Vista and the resizer only works with XP, so I don't want to upload too many big images. I'll upload smaller ones to my Flickr account after I return home, and provide a link to them from this Blog, in the unlikely event anyone wants to see them.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
It's hot hot hot
As I start to write this it's now half past four in the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd October here in very sunny and very warm San Diego, southern California. The temperature today down at the water was forecast for about 78deg and inland was to be about 98deg. That's almost 26 degrees and almost 37 degrees Centigrade, for those who like me work in those figures and for whom Fahrenheit means nothing! It's bloody hot anyway! And I forgot to put on sun screen this morning. Oh well. RE will kill me!
In my last post I mentioned what we did on Sunday morning, and on Monday.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we headed a little further afield, to the Mount Palomar Observatory in fact. Operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which coincidentally is who our friend MB, recently formerly of Glasgow Chamber Choir, is now employed by, but in LA (or somewhere nearby) not at Mount Palomar. He's a physicist, and at his leaving party in Glasgow a few months ago (he had been working at Glasgow University) I asked him, as someone who has passed Higher Physics and who has a keen albeit passing interest in "popular" science, what he actually did. Ten minutes or so later, MB had explained to me in really simple terms how he was involved in a world wide experiment relating to gravity waves, and I understood not one word! RE and I are visiting him at the end of next week on our way back home. Oh, did I mention that RE, who is currently in New Zealand, is making a stopover for a few days and joining me in San Diego?
Anyway, the observatory is at the top of a mountain. Mount Palomar in fact, funnily enough. It was a spectacular drive up an extremely twist road, and I took over at the wheel of D's Chevrolet Trailblazer with its 4.2 litre engine and automatic gearbox, part way up the mountain. An interesting experience, not being at all used to left hand drive vehicles (although I have driven them a few times in the past) and not being familiar with the US system of road markings and the rules of the road.
There's not a great deal to see at the observatory, apart from a single room museum nearby (fairly small but quite interesting), and of course the 200 inch Hale telescope, which is HUGE! Well worth the trip though.
Coming back down the mountain, we took a different route part way, and headed to the traditional western town of Julian, which is an historic gold rush town, now famous for its apples and the pies and cider therefrom! We sampled neither, but my brother told me of a previous visit with a couple of friends from Scotland, D & L, when D was horrified to discover that the cider he'd just bought and drank was in fact alcohol free!
Julian is a lovely wee town, and there are some good shops too. Next time I might try an apple pie! And the roads round it are really good, and would be excellent for biking on.
I forgot to mention, at breakfast yesterday we tried Einstein Brothers Bagels instead of Starbucks. The bagels were great (Egg sandwich with bacon and cheese, on an onion bagel) and the orange juice was exceptional, but don't believe their website when it claims darn good coffee. The coffee wasn't great. While sitting outside waiting for my brother to come out with the Bagels, I overheard half of a telephone conversation which made me glad to live in the United Kingdom, and very appreciative of the National Health Service, with all its faults.
The phrase I overheard, which requires no further comment from me, was:
".......I'm not having the heart procedure, because it costs way too much money......."
We rounded off yesterday by having a bit of a barbecue and then watching a DVD, Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum, which if you haven't seen it I would suggest not to go out your way to do so. Harmless and inoffensive, but not the best! I enjoyed the company though.
This morning, Wednesday 22nd October, we mixed and matched at breakfast, finding an Einstein Brothers Bagels next door to a Starbucks, so we had orange juice and bagels from one and coffee from the other, and sat outside in the shade.
Off then to Balboa Park and to the museums. Specifically to the Air and Space Museum and the Automotive one. The Air and Space one has loads of interesting stuff including the Apollo 9 command module, and the Automotive museum has a large collection of Ferrari cars. Again, both well worth a visit. It was $15 each to get into the Air and Space Museum, and $8 each for the Automotive one, although D received a $4 discount to that one for being a member of AAA.
One of the things I experienced in the Air & Space museum was a flight simulator of a fighter aircraft, an F-18 I think it might have been. Let's just say that after my first barrel roll and loop the loop, I was glad I hadn't been to the diner this morning for the size of breakfast I'd had on Sunday! Very exciting though, particularly the upside down bits! Made me glad of the time I've spent in the past using Microsoft Flight Simulator, because at least I knew which way to move the stick!
Leaving Balboa Park, we headed for the Old Town of San Diego, which was fantastic. Lots of history, and lots of shops with the staff dressed in traditional costume. Certainly worth another visit and we'll go when RE is here.
Lastly, for the out and about stuff anyway, we found a Harley Davidson motorcycle dealer, and went in for a look round. More chrome, leather and tassles than you can shake a stick at! Just like the H-D dealer in Glasgow, in fact, only much much bigger.
Before coming here on holiday, I had considered hiring a Harley Davidson for a few days and riding part of the Pacific Coast Highway, but when I started to look online at prices I realised that I wasn't all that bothered! However, when I was engaged in conversation with one of the dealer's staff this afternoon, he mentioned hiring a bike for 8 hours, and it turns out this only costs $59 (plus maybe $20 insurance and the cost of fuel too) and for that I can choose any bike. It also includes helmets, although no other protective gear is supplied. Watch this space!
So that was today. I'm currently relaxing in preparation for some nice steak tonight, and maybe some beer or some wine.
In my last post I mentioned what we did on Sunday morning, and on Monday.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we headed a little further afield, to the Mount Palomar Observatory in fact. Operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which coincidentally is who our friend MB, recently formerly of Glasgow Chamber Choir, is now employed by, but in LA (or somewhere nearby) not at Mount Palomar. He's a physicist, and at his leaving party in Glasgow a few months ago (he had been working at Glasgow University) I asked him, as someone who has passed Higher Physics and who has a keen albeit passing interest in "popular" science, what he actually did. Ten minutes or so later, MB had explained to me in really simple terms how he was involved in a world wide experiment relating to gravity waves, and I understood not one word! RE and I are visiting him at the end of next week on our way back home. Oh, did I mention that RE, who is currently in New Zealand, is making a stopover for a few days and joining me in San Diego?
Anyway, the observatory is at the top of a mountain. Mount Palomar in fact, funnily enough. It was a spectacular drive up an extremely twist road, and I took over at the wheel of D's Chevrolet Trailblazer with its 4.2 litre engine and automatic gearbox, part way up the mountain. An interesting experience, not being at all used to left hand drive vehicles (although I have driven them a few times in the past) and not being familiar with the US system of road markings and the rules of the road.
There's not a great deal to see at the observatory, apart from a single room museum nearby (fairly small but quite interesting), and of course the 200 inch Hale telescope, which is HUGE! Well worth the trip though.
Coming back down the mountain, we took a different route part way, and headed to the traditional western town of Julian, which is an historic gold rush town, now famous for its apples and the pies and cider therefrom! We sampled neither, but my brother told me of a previous visit with a couple of friends from Scotland, D & L, when D was horrified to discover that the cider he'd just bought and drank was in fact alcohol free!
Julian is a lovely wee town, and there are some good shops too. Next time I might try an apple pie! And the roads round it are really good, and would be excellent for biking on.
I forgot to mention, at breakfast yesterday we tried Einstein Brothers Bagels instead of Starbucks. The bagels were great (Egg sandwich with bacon and cheese, on an onion bagel) and the orange juice was exceptional, but don't believe their website when it claims darn good coffee. The coffee wasn't great. While sitting outside waiting for my brother to come out with the Bagels, I overheard half of a telephone conversation which made me glad to live in the United Kingdom, and very appreciative of the National Health Service, with all its faults.
The phrase I overheard, which requires no further comment from me, was:
".......I'm not having the heart procedure, because it costs way too much money......."
We rounded off yesterday by having a bit of a barbecue and then watching a DVD, Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum, which if you haven't seen it I would suggest not to go out your way to do so. Harmless and inoffensive, but not the best! I enjoyed the company though.
This morning, Wednesday 22nd October, we mixed and matched at breakfast, finding an Einstein Brothers Bagels next door to a Starbucks, so we had orange juice and bagels from one and coffee from the other, and sat outside in the shade.
Off then to Balboa Park and to the museums. Specifically to the Air and Space Museum and the Automotive one. The Air and Space one has loads of interesting stuff including the Apollo 9 command module, and the Automotive museum has a large collection of Ferrari cars. Again, both well worth a visit. It was $15 each to get into the Air and Space Museum, and $8 each for the Automotive one, although D received a $4 discount to that one for being a member of AAA.
One of the things I experienced in the Air & Space museum was a flight simulator of a fighter aircraft, an F-18 I think it might have been. Let's just say that after my first barrel roll and loop the loop, I was glad I hadn't been to the diner this morning for the size of breakfast I'd had on Sunday! Very exciting though, particularly the upside down bits! Made me glad of the time I've spent in the past using Microsoft Flight Simulator, because at least I knew which way to move the stick!
Leaving Balboa Park, we headed for the Old Town of San Diego, which was fantastic. Lots of history, and lots of shops with the staff dressed in traditional costume. Certainly worth another visit and we'll go when RE is here.
Lastly, for the out and about stuff anyway, we found a Harley Davidson motorcycle dealer, and went in for a look round. More chrome, leather and tassles than you can shake a stick at! Just like the H-D dealer in Glasgow, in fact, only much much bigger.
Before coming here on holiday, I had considered hiring a Harley Davidson for a few days and riding part of the Pacific Coast Highway, but when I started to look online at prices I realised that I wasn't all that bothered! However, when I was engaged in conversation with one of the dealer's staff this afternoon, he mentioned hiring a bike for 8 hours, and it turns out this only costs $59 (plus maybe $20 insurance and the cost of fuel too) and for that I can choose any bike. It also includes helmets, although no other protective gear is supplied. Watch this space!
So that was today. I'm currently relaxing in preparation for some nice steak tonight, and maybe some beer or some wine.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
When worlds collide
Two separate parts of my life collide in the first video below. Yes folks, it's the Highway Code sung to Anglican Chant! The second one is the weather forecast, similarly sung.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunset over Glasgow
Isn't this a lovely colour of sky? No Photoshop or any other image altering software involved. Just a natural sunset. That's how it looked a couple of weeks ago looking out of RE's window over the top of the building opposite.
I like it!
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Second Sunday
Second Sunday of the month today. That means that this morning I turned up at PC World car park in Glasgow and joined seven other members of Glasgow North group of the Institute of Advanced Motorists for a nice long run.
We headed off for Oban, via a quick stop at Inveraray (see photo) then down to Lochgilphead and up the A816 to Oban for a lunch of (tasty but slightly greasy) fish & chips. Off again along the A85 and a quick stop at Tyndrum for coffee and ice cream, although at this point I didn't wait as I wanted to get back home earlier than I would have been if I'd waited for the rest.
A nice sunny day, and glorious scenery, but to be honest I was fairly bored. Can't quite put my finger on why, it was just a tedious run playing follow my leader at a fairly sedate pace with, for me anyway, nothing to commend itself to me.
Ah well, I suppose it can't hit the spot every time!
We headed off for Oban, via a quick stop at Inveraray (see photo) then down to Lochgilphead and up the A816 to Oban for a lunch of (tasty but slightly greasy) fish & chips. Off again along the A85 and a quick stop at Tyndrum for coffee and ice cream, although at this point I didn't wait as I wanted to get back home earlier than I would have been if I'd waited for the rest.
A nice sunny day, and glorious scenery, but to be honest I was fairly bored. Can't quite put my finger on why, it was just a tedious run playing follow my leader at a fairly sedate pace with, for me anyway, nothing to commend itself to me.
Ah well, I suppose it can't hit the spot every time!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Aye Ready
It's a glorious sunny day and it's Wednesday. That means it's the evening for the Glasgow North Group of the IAM to have their weekly bike ride. Yet a few hundred miles from this city the famous Glasgow Rangers football club are playing in the final of the UEFA cup in Manchester, which sounds terribly exciting as it's being touted as the biggest European game the club have had since 1972.
The question therefore is this:
Is there going to be anyone else turning up for the bike ride? All will be revealed within the hour when I get there!
Update Thursday 15th: Yes indeed there were a few there, and more than I had expected. A good run up to Balmaha (near Loch Lomond) but I got very cold on the way back home for some reason, and combined with the previous night (Tuesday) being spent between the bedroom and the toilet (don't ask) and the subsequent (i.e. Wednesday) night being spent in a similar fashion, after having vomited for Britain before I went to bed, I am not a happy bunny today.
The question therefore is this:
Is there going to be anyone else turning up for the bike ride? All will be revealed within the hour when I get there!
Update Thursday 15th: Yes indeed there were a few there, and more than I had expected. A good run up to Balmaha (near Loch Lomond) but I got very cold on the way back home for some reason, and combined with the previous night (Tuesday) being spent between the bedroom and the toilet (don't ask) and the subsequent (i.e. Wednesday) night being spent in a similar fashion, after having vomited for Britain before I went to bed, I am not a happy bunny today.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Don't care in the community
Down to the Scottish borders in the car at the weekend, just for a bit of a drive with RE who hasn't toured the borders too much. It was very snowy, or at least lots of the fields were white, which means the roads were actually fine. Very picturesque run from Glasgow via Carluke, Peebles, Galashiels and Selkirk then down the A708 past the Grey Mare's Tail waterfall to Moffat and a quick'ish blast back up the M74 to Glasgow.
Peebles was an eye opener. Freezing wind and overcast when we parked the car, and less than an hour later wonderful clear blue skies and no wind at all! We had a bite to eat in a cafe in the main street, and I suspect a local mental hospital was closed for the afternoon, because several of the cafe customers (and one of the staff members) surely must reside there normally. I am quite easy going when it comes to being near subjects of care in the community, but usually there isn't such a concentration in one place! Or maybe that's normal for Peebles. Not scary, not offensive, just unusual.
The great find in Peebles was the large Presbyterian church at the end of the main street. We had a bit of a wander round it, and it's well worth a visit if you're there.
The Grey Mare's Tail is a 200 foot hanging valley waterfall, with a viewpoint at the bottom (which we missed until we came back down) and footpaths up either side of it. We walked up the smaller of the two paths (i.e. not the one which goes all the way to the top) and frankly it felt like it was killing me! I really should have an inhaler in my pocket, or at least in the car. D'oh! It was worth doing though, and despite maybe coming across to RE as though I hated it (for which I'm truly sorry!) I didn't really, and I must do more things like that in an effort to get fit and by so doing put back the date of my death a little bit!
Peebles was an eye opener. Freezing wind and overcast when we parked the car, and less than an hour later wonderful clear blue skies and no wind at all! We had a bite to eat in a cafe in the main street, and I suspect a local mental hospital was closed for the afternoon, because several of the cafe customers (and one of the staff members) surely must reside there normally. I am quite easy going when it comes to being near subjects of care in the community, but usually there isn't such a concentration in one place! Or maybe that's normal for Peebles. Not scary, not offensive, just unusual.
The great find in Peebles was the large Presbyterian church at the end of the main street. We had a bit of a wander round it, and it's well worth a visit if you're there.
The Grey Mare's Tail is a 200 foot hanging valley waterfall, with a viewpoint at the bottom (which we missed until we came back down) and footpaths up either side of it. We walked up the smaller of the two paths (i.e. not the one which goes all the way to the top) and frankly it felt like it was killing me! I really should have an inhaler in my pocket, or at least in the car. D'oh! It was worth doing though, and despite maybe coming across to RE as though I hated it (for which I'm truly sorry!) I didn't really, and I must do more things like that in an effort to get fit and by so doing put back the date of my death a little bit!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Easter Eggs
It's looking good for the Easter Egg run tomorrow lunchtime. The snowy weather promised by the weather forecasters a few days ago is looking less likely and right now the BBC Website says it's going to be pretty reasonable.
So if you happen to be somewhere in the west end of Glasgow tomorrow, Easter Sunday, from 12.30pm, then look out for the 3000+ motorcyclists bringing all the traffic to a halt while delivering a huge number of Easter eggs, and a fair number of cash donations to Yorkhill Children's Hospital.
Obviously the number will be swelled this year by yours truly together with RE riding pillion. This year I will not be standing outside St Mary's Cathedral leaning on crutches and with a glass of sparkly stuff in my hand jealously watching the dirty filthy bikers go by, no sir, this year I will be one of said DF bikers!
So if you're trying to drive in a car in the west end tomorrow lunchtime I'd give it a miss if I were you!
The trip starts at the SECC car park and the route (see image) travels up Finnieston St, left into Argyle St, right into Radnor St, right onto Sauchiehall St, left into Rose St (past the Glasgow Film Theatre), right into Renfrew St, left into Cambridge St, left onto Cowcaddens Rd, bear left onto West Graham St which then takes you onto Great Western Road, past St Mary's Cathedral, left at Anniesland Cross onto Crow Rd (the eponymous road from the Iain Banks 1992 novel), left onto Dumbarton Rd, right into Bunhouse Rd (at the Kelvin Hall, the location of my Achilles Tendon injury just over 1 year ago which led to me being on crutches drinking sparkly stuff), left onto Old Dumbarton Rd, then right into Dalnair St to the hospital. Then a wee trip back to the SECC which is only a few hundred metres from the hospital by the direct route.
An estimated 40 minutes of slow riding at close quarters with lots of other riders. Lots of horn blowing and lots of waving to watching pedestrians, including those outside St Mary's. Should be fun. Report will doubtless follow.
One thing that strikes me as slightly strange however is that the IAM are not represented there. Yes, of course there will be riders who like me are members of the IAM, but the Institute itself is not officially represented as far as I can make out. I would have thought that the presence of thousands of bikers in one place at the same time might be seen as a God given opportunity to spread the word and, more importantly, capture the chequebooks of some new associate members. But apparently not. Outside the official season no doubt, so out of the question.
So if you happen to be somewhere in the west end of Glasgow tomorrow, Easter Sunday, from 12.30pm, then look out for the 3000+ motorcyclists bringing all the traffic to a halt while delivering a huge number of Easter eggs, and a fair number of cash donations to Yorkhill Children's Hospital.
Obviously the number will be swelled this year by yours truly together with RE riding pillion. This year I will not be standing outside St Mary's Cathedral leaning on crutches and with a glass of sparkly stuff in my hand jealously watching the dirty filthy bikers go by, no sir, this year I will be one of said DF bikers!
So if you're trying to drive in a car in the west end tomorrow lunchtime I'd give it a miss if I were you!
The trip starts at the SECC car park and the route (see image) travels up Finnieston St, left into Argyle St, right into Radnor St, right onto Sauchiehall St, left into Rose St (past the Glasgow Film Theatre), right into Renfrew St, left into Cambridge St, left onto Cowcaddens Rd, bear left onto West Graham St which then takes you onto Great Western Road, past St Mary's Cathedral, left at Anniesland Cross onto Crow Rd (the eponymous road from the Iain Banks 1992 novel), left onto Dumbarton Rd, right into Bunhouse Rd (at the Kelvin Hall, the location of my Achilles Tendon injury just over 1 year ago which led to me being on crutches drinking sparkly stuff), left onto Old Dumbarton Rd, then right into Dalnair St to the hospital. Then a wee trip back to the SECC which is only a few hundred metres from the hospital by the direct route.
An estimated 40 minutes of slow riding at close quarters with lots of other riders. Lots of horn blowing and lots of waving to watching pedestrians, including those outside St Mary's. Should be fun. Report will doubtless follow.
One thing that strikes me as slightly strange however is that the IAM are not represented there. Yes, of course there will be riders who like me are members of the IAM, but the Institute itself is not officially represented as far as I can make out. I would have thought that the presence of thousands of bikers in one place at the same time might be seen as a God given opportunity to spread the word and, more importantly, capture the chequebooks of some new associate members. But apparently not. Outside the official season no doubt, so out of the question.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Brrrrrrrrrr!
Holy crap, it's cold out there!
There I was sitting in a warm living room, when the thought entered my head that it's nice and dry looking outside, so it might be a spiffing idea to go for an hour's ride on the bike.
I lasted half an hour, and that was with full thermals and heated hand grips! It is indeed nice and dry, but there don't seem to be any visible clouds, so I guess it's going to get even colder overnight. I'll have the car with me at work tomorrow I think though, because I have an appointment with my GP in the morning before I go to work and it'll be easier on this occasion to do that in the car. So the temperature can do what it likes tomorrow, I'll have the heater on!
Yesterday evening I finished scanning 200+ old photographs from my late gran's house. The plan is that I'll burn copies onto discs so that family members can have them and if they want any prints I can do them too. But now that I've scanned them I see lots which need touching up and repairing (scratches, scrapes, tears and contamination on the originals), so it might be a few days or so yet before I'm ready to distribute them. In the meantime I'll be playing with Photoshop Elements, a very clever piece of photo editing software which I haven't used for a while.
There I was sitting in a warm living room, when the thought entered my head that it's nice and dry looking outside, so it might be a spiffing idea to go for an hour's ride on the bike.
I lasted half an hour, and that was with full thermals and heated hand grips! It is indeed nice and dry, but there don't seem to be any visible clouds, so I guess it's going to get even colder overnight. I'll have the car with me at work tomorrow I think though, because I have an appointment with my GP in the morning before I go to work and it'll be easier on this occasion to do that in the car. So the temperature can do what it likes tomorrow, I'll have the heater on!
Yesterday evening I finished scanning 200+ old photographs from my late gran's house. The plan is that I'll burn copies onto discs so that family members can have them and if they want any prints I can do them too. But now that I've scanned them I see lots which need touching up and repairing (scratches, scrapes, tears and contamination on the originals), so it might be a few days or so yet before I'm ready to distribute them. In the meantime I'll be playing with Photoshop Elements, a very clever piece of photo editing software which I haven't used for a while.
Monday, March 03, 2008
A fair weather friend
Woke this morning to hear the BBC Radio 4 weather forecaster telling me that there's going to be snow in Scotland. Looked at the BBC Website and the forecast there said it's going to be clear (albeit cold).
Decided to believe the Website (because t'InterWeb never lies dont'cha know) and take the bike to work this morning because I have a dental appointment first and by the time I reach work in the car I'll have a long walk from the remaining available parking spaces, whereas I can always park the bike within yards of the front door.
So there I was all leathered up and about to head out, when I noticed some funny little white things falling from the sky.
Bollocks.
I have officially become a fair weather biker! I remember the days when I had to dig the bike out of a snow drift just to get it to the main road to ride it 8+ hours a day as a motorcycle courier. But I was younger, hardier and indeed stupider in them days!
So I'm now de-leathered and wearing a thick pullover.
Now where's my woolly hat .....?
Decided to believe the Website (because t'InterWeb never lies dont'cha know) and take the bike to work this morning because I have a dental appointment first and by the time I reach work in the car I'll have a long walk from the remaining available parking spaces, whereas I can always park the bike within yards of the front door.
So there I was all leathered up and about to head out, when I noticed some funny little white things falling from the sky.
Bollocks.
I have officially become a fair weather biker! I remember the days when I had to dig the bike out of a snow drift just to get it to the main road to ride it 8+ hours a day as a motorcycle courier. But I was younger, hardier and indeed stupider in them days!
So I'm now de-leathered and wearing a thick pullover.
Now where's my woolly hat .....?
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Precipitation
On 15th November 2006 I posted about the bike having died of dampness on the M8 in torrential rain. It took until 27th November to dry out in a relatively warm and completely dry lockup.
Today I collected the bike from the mechanic in Larbert, Normally I probably wouldn't have been out riding in what have been fairly atrocious conditions today, but the bike was ready and I had to get it collected so that I can get it MOT'd tomorrow. Can you guess where this story is going?
Yes indeedy. About two miles further along the M8 than last time, again in slow moving traffic, again in the outside lane, and again in a downpour the bike just stopped. I again freewheeled to the left hand side of the road but, shit, there was no hard shoulder at that point. So I had to push it a couple of hundred yards to just before junction 16 (the George Square exit) where there is a small widening of the road and some chevrons where I could park more safely (well, less dangerously anyway). A call to the RAC and a wait in the pissing rain of about 45 minutes. No RAC patrolman this time, they just sent a low loader.
So it's now sitting looking sorry for itself outside the house. God knows how long it'll take to dry out this time, not being inside a lockup. Depends on the weather I suppose. Bastard. I'm off for a bath to warm up.
But before I go, to recap. I have just spent £120 on a rear tyre, £80 on a front tyre, £290 for miscellaneous parts for the service (largely brake stuff), and £120 on labour (a good job done and very reasonable), a total of £610 but I still can't ride the fucker! Not the mechanic's fault I hasten to add, lest this post be interpreted as laying the blame on him. This particular bike clearly isn't good in torrential rain. Perhaps the mechanic can sort something out to prevent it happening again. Perhaps I'll sell this one and buy another one instead. Maybe a Honda Pan European this time.
Today I collected the bike from the mechanic in Larbert, Normally I probably wouldn't have been out riding in what have been fairly atrocious conditions today, but the bike was ready and I had to get it collected so that I can get it MOT'd tomorrow. Can you guess where this story is going?
Yes indeedy. About two miles further along the M8 than last time, again in slow moving traffic, again in the outside lane, and again in a downpour the bike just stopped. I again freewheeled to the left hand side of the road but, shit, there was no hard shoulder at that point. So I had to push it a couple of hundred yards to just before junction 16 (the George Square exit) where there is a small widening of the road and some chevrons where I could park more safely (well, less dangerously anyway). A call to the RAC and a wait in the pissing rain of about 45 minutes. No RAC patrolman this time, they just sent a low loader.
So it's now sitting looking sorry for itself outside the house. God knows how long it'll take to dry out this time, not being inside a lockup. Depends on the weather I suppose. Bastard. I'm off for a bath to warm up.
But before I go, to recap. I have just spent £120 on a rear tyre, £80 on a front tyre, £290 for miscellaneous parts for the service (largely brake stuff), and £120 on labour (a good job done and very reasonable), a total of £610 but I still can't ride the fucker! Not the mechanic's fault I hasten to add, lest this post be interpreted as laying the blame on him. This particular bike clearly isn't good in torrential rain. Perhaps the mechanic can sort something out to prevent it happening again. Perhaps I'll sell this one and buy another one instead. Maybe a Honda Pan European this time.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Past Yon Bonny Banks
After posting yesterday I went back to work and collected the car, so I now again have my choice of modes of transport parked outside.In the late afternoon I climbed into leathers again and set off towards the wild blue yonder. Well, Loch Lomond direction anyway. The roads heading away from Glasgow weren't too busy although it seemed that there were a lot of people coming to the end of their trips and heading back in the opposite direction to me. Lots of police traffic cars too, sitting at the side of the road in various places. I was in no hurry though, and just dawdled along at 60mph admiring the view and enjoying the sensation of riding again. It's called touring!
So I found myself passing Arrochar and following the road up to Rest & Be Thankful (where I took the top photo on the way back) where on a sudden whim I turned left down the single track road for a few miles to Lochgoilhead (where I took the bottom photo, and incidentally the brown stuff on the ground below the bike was there when I parked, it isn't mine!).
Now I know there are a few people who read this Blog who know me and there are one or two who have known me for a fairly long time. But I'm guessing there aren't terribly many reading this who know that I used to frequent Lochgoilhead, and the little village 5 miles further on, at the end of the single track road, called Carrick Castle. That was in the 1980s, and the reason that every weekend I would drive my scabby old car (can't remember what it was, other than it was scabby. Maybe a Morris Marina or Hillman Hunter) the 75 miles from home to Carrick Castle was that my girlfriend, later my wife, lived there. We'd take it in turns staying at each other's houses (well, parents' houses actually) but because she couldn't drive at that point, every Friday I'd drive there and one week I'd stay for the weekend and drive back on the Sunday, and the next weekend I'd collect her and drive straight back, repeating the 150 mile round trip on the Sunday when I took her home. And that was in the days before the Loch Lomond road had been upgraded, so it followed the shore very closely and very twistily. Happy days. Very happy days. I called my ex-wife just about the time I took the bottom photo, just to ask her to guess where I was standing. I hope she has as happy memories of those times as I have.So what about that scenery then? And all well within an hour of home.
Today the weather forecast is for more sunshine, so I might head off in a different direction. Maybe Ayrshire. Maybe Dundee. Maybe the Borders. Haven't decided yet.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
An updated hippy cliche
Many thanks (not) to GS for sending me the image on the left, after me saying two posts ago that I couldn't use the original after this year. Isn't Photoshop wonderful!Was in The Bothy last night for a meal with a few friends. Private room, lovely surroundings, excellent food, good wine. All in all a very very enjoyable evening I thought. And I would heartily recommend The Bothy for food if you're in the west end of Glasgow. In particular the steak is awesome.
I've just been out on the bike and it's bloody cold. Back into the lockup it has gone.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Just Google it
Good advice I think you'll agree!This morning, the first day of a week of holiday, I was up and about not long after 7am. The Cathedral choir was singing live on BBC Radio 4 LW on the Daily Service. Only 15 minutes, and only 3 hymns, so not too stressful, considering it was live radio. In the unlikely event you'd like to hear it, for the next 7 days it's available by clicking here then selecting the "listen again" link for 11th December. Don't know what it sounded like though. Far too early on a Monday morning to sing properly! We even did a metrical psalm. What are we, Presbyterians all of a sudden!
The weather here is absolutely crap (well I am on holiday after all) so I've done nowt since returning from the broadcast except lie on the sofa watching UKTV History and listening to the rain battering the window. I might venture outdoors tomorrow if it's a bit better, and at least now I'm much better informed about Isambard Kindom Brunel's ship The Great Eastern, and about the building of the Panama Canal!
Went into the all new Junkyard Dog on Saturday night. Loud music, no real ale, and a pint of Kronenbourg Blanc cost me £4.20! That's the last £4.20 they'll get from me I think! Robbing bastards!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Being wet isn't always a good thing!
An interesting day. Spent the working part of it in Edinburgh on an Intermediate Excel course, having previously been on 3 different Advanced Excel courses at a different establishment. Today was good because it was geared up towards using the sort of data I actually use Excel for so I took a lot more from it than I thought I might. Previously I have left the courses knowing how to work out the depreciation of a car loan over 5 years, but wondering what the fuck it had to do with what I use Excel for (which is completely different).
Anyway, this morning was nice so I decided to leave the car in the lockup and take the bike on the 50 mile trip to Edinburgh. That's of course having packed my suit etc into the topbox in such a fashion that it wasn't crumpled like fuck when I eventually put it on! Finished the course about half past three and by that time it was chucking it down with rain. By the time I'd reached the western outskirts of Edinburgh it was chucking it down even more, and by the time I joined the slow moving traffic on the westbound M8 it was very chucking it down. So much in fact that I decided to forego the special lane on roads known as the "courier lane" which is denoted by a white line dividing two car sized lanes and which is used by motorcyclists to filter between slow moving or stationary traffic. So I found myself taking over an hour to get to the outskirts of Glasgow, by which time I was soaking wet and freezing cold.
Then the bike decided to give up the ghost!
In the middle lane of the M8 at a little after half past five in the evening the engine just simply stopped. Fortunately I was quick enough onto the clutch and left indicator, and even more fortunately the car driver on my left allowed me to cut in, so I coasted across lane 1 and onto the hard shoulder (just where the M80 joins the M8 if you know the road). Again fortunately I was able to push the bike a few feet further on and onto the start of the ramp to a "police patrol vehicles only" area. So there I am, soaking wet, freezing cold with no way of starting the bike and getting home, so out came the mobile phone (wonderful things mobiles) and I called the RAC. They said I'd be made a high priority because I was stopped in a potentially dangerous place (I wasn't, I was safely off the hard shoulder partially up the ramp to the police bit) and that a patrol would be with me in about half an hour. I don't know if you've ever broken down in the pouring rain before, but it's not that nice sitting in a broken down car at the side of the road. Let me reassure you it is even less wonderful standing near a broken down bike where there is no shelter from the driving wind and rain.
I was cold. No, I was FUCKING COLD. I was actually shaking.
After about 40 minutes the patrolman, Tam, arrived. He immediately diagnosed the fact that it was probably the rain getting into the electrics (no shit Sherlock?) and confessed the bleeding obvious that there was no realistic way he was going to be able to repair it at the side of the road in the dark in the torrential rain (no shit Sherlock?) so the best we could do was to recover me and the bike to a destination of our choice (i.e. home). I am doing Tam a disservice really. He was a really nice guy and was exceptionally helpful. He offered to wait with me until the removal truck arrived so I managed to thaw out in his van on the hard shoulder for an hour and a half until then. Once the removal lorry arrived the three of us manhandled the bike onto the back and Tam departed. To cut an increasingly long story shorter the bike is now back in the lockup drying out and I am sitting waiting for some food to heat up and then I am off for a long hot bath to try to get warm again!
I'm off to Kincardine tomorrow for a conference. I will be travelling by Ford Fiesta!
Anyway, this morning was nice so I decided to leave the car in the lockup and take the bike on the 50 mile trip to Edinburgh. That's of course having packed my suit etc into the topbox in such a fashion that it wasn't crumpled like fuck when I eventually put it on! Finished the course about half past three and by that time it was chucking it down with rain. By the time I'd reached the western outskirts of Edinburgh it was chucking it down even more, and by the time I joined the slow moving traffic on the westbound M8 it was very chucking it down. So much in fact that I decided to forego the special lane on roads known as the "courier lane" which is denoted by a white line dividing two car sized lanes and which is used by motorcyclists to filter between slow moving or stationary traffic. So I found myself taking over an hour to get to the outskirts of Glasgow, by which time I was soaking wet and freezing cold.
Then the bike decided to give up the ghost!
In the middle lane of the M8 at a little after half past five in the evening the engine just simply stopped. Fortunately I was quick enough onto the clutch and left indicator, and even more fortunately the car driver on my left allowed me to cut in, so I coasted across lane 1 and onto the hard shoulder (just where the M80 joins the M8 if you know the road). Again fortunately I was able to push the bike a few feet further on and onto the start of the ramp to a "police patrol vehicles only" area. So there I am, soaking wet, freezing cold with no way of starting the bike and getting home, so out came the mobile phone (wonderful things mobiles) and I called the RAC. They said I'd be made a high priority because I was stopped in a potentially dangerous place (I wasn't, I was safely off the hard shoulder partially up the ramp to the police bit) and that a patrol would be with me in about half an hour. I don't know if you've ever broken down in the pouring rain before, but it's not that nice sitting in a broken down car at the side of the road. Let me reassure you it is even less wonderful standing near a broken down bike where there is no shelter from the driving wind and rain.
I was cold. No, I was FUCKING COLD. I was actually shaking.
After about 40 minutes the patrolman, Tam, arrived. He immediately diagnosed the fact that it was probably the rain getting into the electrics (no shit Sherlock?) and confessed the bleeding obvious that there was no realistic way he was going to be able to repair it at the side of the road in the dark in the torrential rain (no shit Sherlock?) so the best we could do was to recover me and the bike to a destination of our choice (i.e. home). I am doing Tam a disservice really. He was a really nice guy and was exceptionally helpful. He offered to wait with me until the removal truck arrived so I managed to thaw out in his van on the hard shoulder for an hour and a half until then. Once the removal lorry arrived the three of us manhandled the bike onto the back and Tam departed. To cut an increasingly long story shorter the bike is now back in the lockup drying out and I am sitting waiting for some food to heat up and then I am off for a long hot bath to try to get warm again!
I'm off to Kincardine tomorrow for a conference. I will be travelling by Ford Fiesta!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Phew, what a scorcher!
What a glorious day it's been. Far too warm to be working though! Ten of us from work decided to decamp at lunchtime and miss out on the normal canteen food (which is actually not too bad). We went to Jimmy Chungs in Stirling and ate as much as we could from the buffet, accompanied by lashings of Coke (we were working after all, although the beer was very tempting), and all for five whole pounds (after discount). You can't beat it!
On the way home it rained though, and right now it's still oppressively warm, but very dull and overcast. Thunder looms I suspect. The cats will not be pleased.
On another note, this is the first Thursday of the choir summer holiday and right now I'd usually be in the middle of rehearsal, but instead I'm realising that there really is bugger-all on TV on a Thursday! And that's with all the Sky satellite channels (apart from the pay-extra sport ones) so God alone knows how one would cope if you only had council-telly! Hey, what am I saying? I'm about to be reduced to, at best, Freeview, because the flat I'm going to be moving to doesn't accommodate Sky. Oh well, even more Websurfing might be the order of the day, so perhaps I'll make more progress in researching my family tree, and I'll update my real Website, and ........... ooh, the possibilities are almost endless!
On the way home it rained though, and right now it's still oppressively warm, but very dull and overcast. Thunder looms I suspect. The cats will not be pleased.
On another note, this is the first Thursday of the choir summer holiday and right now I'd usually be in the middle of rehearsal, but instead I'm realising that there really is bugger-all on TV on a Thursday! And that's with all the Sky satellite channels (apart from the pay-extra sport ones) so God alone knows how one would cope if you only had council-telly! Hey, what am I saying? I'm about to be reduced to, at best, Freeview, because the flat I'm going to be moving to doesn't accommodate Sky. Oh well, even more Websurfing might be the order of the day, so perhaps I'll make more progress in researching my family tree, and I'll update my real Website, and ........... ooh, the possibilities are almost endless!
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