Bouldering competition

The climbing center held a bouldering competition on Friday, and I decided to give it a go.  First time I've entered something like this, and considering I've yet to nail a V3, I opted (sensibly) for the beginners category.
Needless to say, I didn't win, or come remotely close, but I had a hell of a lot of fun.

Me trying to defy gravity.

Weather in Glasgow, and Poundland fun

Well, the freeze has eased up, and there's a thaw well and truly underway.  This is good in that transport should get back to normal pretty quickly, and bad in that the underlying ice now has a layer of meltwater on top and it ridiculously slippy.

Another plus is that as long as the weather stays like this, I'll be able to wear my kilt to the Christmas night out on the 21st.  If it changes again.....well, what's the rules on kilts and long johns? :-)

On the way home the other night, I dropped into Poundland, and got a cracking couple of bargins.  Mario Bava's Bay of Blood, and the slasher flick Pieces, for £1 each.  Bargin :-)

Damn it's cold

Once again it snows and Scotland grinds to a halt.  We've had severe winters the last three years now, so why does it seem to come as a surprise to the councils, who excel at not being able to grit/clear the roads.
What the hell are we paying our council tax for?  Oh wait, in the case of Glasgow, it's to pay for junkets for the Grand High Heid Yins.

Back to karate

Well, that's me well and truly back at the karate after an absence of almost two months, due to club not being on due to lack of numbers, holidays, and laterly, illness.  So, while it's good to be back, it's a bit achey, but in a good way.

Having new instructors, gives a different slant on things, and I think they're more comfortable teaching than Michelle was, as they come over as being more confident, which in turn gives you a bit more confidence to try things.

It's all good.

Ingrid Pitt RIP

Ingrid Pitt, star of many a Hammer movie, and possibly responsible for my love of horror movies has died aged 73.
She made some brilliant movies with Hammer, and was also in The Wicker Man.  Come on terrestrial telly, lets have an Ingrid Pitt season.  Dust off those old movies and get them screened.

Ouchie ouchie ouch!

Yesterday I managed to make it to the re-started karate club.  This was the first time I've done any karate in about 5 or 6 weeks, and all I can say is "Damn, my legs are stiff today".
Turns out I know the guy who's now taking the club, as I'd met him a couple of times at day courses at Whiteinch, so that was good.
Still a bit run down from having flu last week, so for me it was a bit hard going, resulting in falling asleep in front of the tv when I got home last night.  The knock on effect of which, was that when I did go to bed I couldn't sleep, and ended up getting up and watching the first two parts of A History of Horror, which was excellent.  Part one covered the silent movies and Universal/RKO, and part two Hammer/Amicus.  I've still to see part three, which covers the new wave of horror, which gave us Night of the Living Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Looking forward to it.

Bleurgh

Since getting back from holiday, I've missed the Motorhead gig, by forgetting to buy a ticket before I went away, and coming back and thinking I HAD bought a ticket.  Result?  No gig for me.

I've also been laid out the the last five days with the flu.  The downside was well, I had the flu.  There was a plus side though.  I had ten Star Trek movies on the PVR (every one bar the re-boot movie), and they are now all on dvd, so the time spent off work, wasn't a total waste.

Now though, it's a case of normal service has been resumed, with me back at work.  I still need that bloody lottery win :-)

Late holiday

Just back from a week in Marrakesh, and very nice it was too.  The place is amazing, from the narrow streets of the medina to the utter madness of the Jmaa el Fna with it's food stalls, musicians, storytellers and snakecharmers, and (get this) dentist with extracted teeth on display, it's all incredible.

There's plenty to see in the city, and you'd never tire for something to taste.  We were eating for about £2.5 - £3 for the two of us.  Fabulous place.

Redneck heaven

Went to the Opry in Glasgow last night to see Hayseed Dixie, and they were amazing.  Brilliant musicians, and an incredible sense of humour.  If you've never seen them, I seriously recommend you check them out.

Support was Glasgow's very own The Meat Men, and they were superb as well.

Two great bands both well worth checking out.

Big Brother is watching you

If anyone in the UK was in any doubt that their communications were being monitored by the state, then this is for you.
Orwell was only out by 16 years, not too bad all things considered.  We've got the surveillance society, we've got the war (the unseen enemy - terrorists attacks or the threat thereof) and we've come close to thoughtcrime arrests.

Big Brother is watching you.

Vidi this my little droogs

Last night we went to see A Clockwork Orange at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow.  It was an excellent production, with a great cast, especially the part of Alex.  the industrial soundtrack added to the atmosphere, and was pretty much spot on.

Highly recommended.  If you are in/near Glasgow and can get tickets, definately consider going along.

Great views on a blustery day

Yesterday, we took a  wee trip down to Largs, to climb the hill at the back of Douglas Park.  I had hoped there would be a trig pillar at the top - more on this later.

It was a nice sunny day, with a bit of a wind.  At the top, the wind got wilder, as we got more exposed.  But I'm gettin ahead of myself.  First, there's the neolithic burial chamber at the bottom of the hill.

The chamber dates from about 3000 bc, and is along a wee track, behind some houses at the side of the park.

After the burial chamber, it was time to get ourselves up the hill.  It's a reasonably well maintained path, and there's even some benches at various points on the way up, where you can get a decent view.

At the top there wasn't a trig pillar, but there was a bit of OS furniture.  I'd no idea what this was, but a friend who's trig obsessed, informs me it counts and you can bag it.  Here's Karen using it to avoid being blown off the hill.

There was also a wee cairn, which we sat at for ten minutes for a coffee before heading back down.

Finally, here's the view over Largs from the top of the hill.

Back at sea level, we walked back into town and had a curry before driving back  to Glasgow.

Holiday weekend

That was the Glasgow September weekend holiday that just happened.  It was pretty good, and saw me and Karen heading to Stirling Castle for a "Meet the archaeologist" talk, which was really interesting.  It was a guy who had been working at the castle, excavating, since the 70's.  Really good talk, and gave a better insight into what you were actually seeing, when we went round the castle after the talk.

On the holiday Monday, Karen didn't have the day off, so I went climbing with a couple of friends from work.  We were dodging the rain, and ended up in Dunkeld, north of Perth.  We got climbs each in, but I only completed one.  There was a point on the second that I just couldn't see how to get past, but it turned out I would have needed to use a hand jam to get past and onto the rest of the route.  Having never done this, it never even crossed my mind to try it.

All in all a fun weekend, and it makes this working week a four day one, which is always good.

That was a good weekend

On Friday there was only three of us at the karate class, but it was a good session.  Back home it was time to chill in front of the tv with a couple of beers (Trade Winds, and Arran Blonde).

On Saturday, we were pretty lazy, apart from a wee cycle round Pollok Park in the afternoon.  Got the last two pitches of The Great Climb onto dvd.  Awesome stuff.  Four discs of amazing awe inspiring climbing.

Sunday morning, I headed over to the climbing centre, and nailed my first 6a+.  I was totally stoked about it, and my arms were pumped, so after celebrating with a coffee, it was a warm down on a 5+ overhang, then home.
After lunch, Karen and me headed to the Phoenix retail park, where she trawled TK Maxx and Matalan, while I vegged with a pint in the Bobbin Mill.  A quick shop in ASDA, and then home to catch up on Unbeatable Banzuki and Ninja Warrior.

Please don't come whinging to me, you're bringing me down.

I'm starting to get really down/fed up/stressed, with the number of people in work, who are coming into my room and moaning.  To be fair, they're not moaning at me, they're just letting off steam, but the constant stream of negativity is getting to me.
I want to (a) lock the door and curl up in a corner (b) scream at them to "fuck off" (c) get out of hear for a week at least.
(a) isn't an option, (b) would probably get me a visit to HR or a counseller, so fortunately (c) is the option.  I'll have to wait till the end of October though, as that's when I'm off to Marrakesh, so until then I'll have to put up with the negative souls sucking energy vampires that work in this place.

Dumbarton Castle

Yesterday we took a wee run down the Clyde to Dumbarton Castle.  It's the first time either of us had been there, but with us being Historic Scotland members, it cost us nothing to get in.
It's a brilliant place, and there's 557 steps to the top of the rock, where there's a trig pillar, and direction rose.

Gong gig

Well the Gong gig was superb.  The support was Nik Turner's Space Ritual, so loads of really good Hawkwind-esque music from them.  Gong, were totally totally bonkers.  Mr Allen and co are superb musicians, and completely off their trolleys.  The average age of the crowd must have been about 50, so I actually felt young :-)

The meal before the gig was at Oshi, and again was excellent.  Highly recommend it.

Nostromo

Yeeeeha!  I've been watching the Last Exit to Nowhere site, waiting patiently for the Nostromo caps to come back into stock, and today they have.  So, that's the holiday headgear ordered :-)
Now, do I wear my kilt to travel to Morocco or jeans ?  Got about a month to decide.

Birthday Gong

Today is K's birthday, so tonight I'm taking her for dinner, then on to see Gong at the ABC.  She's never seen them, so she's in for a treat.  Support is Nick Turner's Space Ritual.  Should be a cracker of a night.

Climbing on rock

After about 3 years of climbing on and off at the indoor wall, I finally made it out onto rock.  One of my work colleagues regularly climbs outside, and so it was that four of us headed over to Neilston quarry after work.  For two of us it was the first time outdoors, so it was a bit scary initially, but loads of fun.

We all got to climb two routes, before it started getting a bit dark and we had to give up.  On the way back to Glasgow, we stopped off at the Waterside Inn for a wee half-pint and a natter.

It was a really good evening, and I'll definitely need to start picking up gear for outdoors now.