Simpler times

Posted on Twitter the other day that in some ways I miss the simpler pre-internet days.  What surprised me was that someone favourited and shared it, which was nice.
Unfortunately with only 140 characters, you can't expand on your thoughts too much, so here's a longer take on that post.

I miss the simplicity of pre-internet life.  Don't get me wrong, I love being online, and I love all the advantages that it has - information at the push of a button.  Going for a walk and need a map?  Walkhighlands and print the route map/description and off you go.  Email and messaging, so much better than waiting days of not weeks for a letter that may or may not get lost in the post.

But, here's what I miss.

The anticipation of having ordered something and waiting for the mail.  That movie/album you FINALLY managed to track down and order is winging it's way to you.  When you get it, there's the excitement of unwrapping it, removing it from the sleeve and playing it.  Now, that same movie/album is just a download away, and that's if you don't stream it.  Why bother with the physical tangible item when you can just download or stream?  Because it's JUST NOT THE SAME.  It's reduced movies and music to an almost disposable medium.  People just won't have record collections any more.  I don't have the physical space for my vinyl and hi-fi in the house at the moment.  It's all boxed away.  OK, so I've got rips of most of the albums, BUT, I miss playing my albums.  I miss the ritual of taking a record out it's sleeve, placing it on the turntable, put the needle on the record, and that initial silence with maybe a pop or click, before the music starts.

It's all symbolic of peoples need to have things NOW.  And while life is a whole lot more convenient now, is it better?  People are living life through a computer screen, instead of going out and actually living it.

So step away from the keyboard, close the laptop, and instead of looking at a photo of a mountain online, go outside and see one for yourself.  Yes it might rain, yes you might get cold and wet, but that's life, and you'll get to experience the simple pleasure of coming home, cold and wet, and huddling in a blanket to thaw out, maybe with a wee dram in your hand.

Now that's living.

One step forward three steps back

Real life has a habit of getting in the way.  By now, I had fully expected to have dragged my sorry carcass round (at least a small section of) Pollok estate, in my (triumphant?) return to running, but so far it's not happened.  Real life and the weather - ok, mainly the weather - have put paid to it, but not in a bad way, as it's all been stuff I've been out doing, like visiting the RSPB nature reserve at Lochwinnonch.
Anyway, that's the backward steps, and while it's not really a step back as I didn't start anyway, I was psyched up for getting out again, so I'm claiming it as a fail.

The good stuff is that the guitar lessons are still progressing and - just as, if not more, improtantly - are still fun.  There's also a new karate night started up on a Tuesday, so that's a plus.

The other things going on are a crown that's fallen out, but I've a check-up on Thursday, and have called to make sure it gets popped back in again, and oh yeah on the subject of Thursday, I'm taking part in a one-day strike.  I think though that by the time I'm out the dentist and at the picket line, it'll have dispersed.  Anyway, the weather is probably going to be mince, so maybe that's a good thing.

Karate and getting to a calm place

The last couple of months I've been struggling to get to karate practice.  Thursdays are out as I've had no option but to change my guitar lesson to a Thursday night, as the teacher had a change in circumstances, Saturday mornings are out, as there's an issue that I would rather avoid, as there's a junior who is..... disruptive, won't listen and thinks they know it all, despite having only been going a few months.
There's a Tuesday club starting up next week, so that's all to the good.  In the meantime, there's the Wednesday club, that due to work I've been only attending sporadically.  The overall result is that I've been near to throwing in the towel, but I thought that I'd give it another go today in preparation for the new Tuesday club, and do you know, it's been a real tonic.

Before lunch I was a bit strung out.  I'd been really busy, and one of the systems we use to place orders was playing up, so stress levels were high by lunchtime.  Cue the karate class.  Great session today.  I'm now in a very calm serene place mentally, and nothing is going to be allowed to change that for the rest of the day.

First munro bagged

So, on Friday, we headed up Ben Lomond.  We were good to go, the weather wasn't.  Once out of the treeline, there was low lying cloud creeping up the hill, and we couldn't see the summit.

Regardless, we trudged onwards, only to reach the top and be rewarded with what would have been a stunning view if it wasn't for the cloud.  What we got instead was this.....

The weather may have been crap, but the upside of this was that the hill wasn't mobbed with people.  There were a fair few on the hill and at the top, but nowhere near as busy as it would have been had the weather been better.

Things of late

Not been up to anything post-worthy of late.  I've actually managed to get back to the Wednesday lunchtime karate a couple of times, which is great.  I've really missed it, and although I've been de-motivated, and on a couple of occasions, I didn't go, because I felt like I couldn't face it, I seem to have got some kind of martial arts mojo back, which is great.

While this was all (not) going on, the only thing that I was really enjoying (hobby-wise) was the guitar lessons, which I'm still totally into.  As well as going over what I need to for the lessons, I'm also looking out for things that I think I might be able to have a go at.  The latest being Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden.  I was chuffed to bits this morning, when I managed to pick out the little section just after the initial intro, but just before (and during) the first verse.  It's do-able at the level I'm at, just.  I need to knuckle down and practice it.  A lot.

Productive weekend despite the weather.

With weather predictions for Sunday being stormy, when I got up on Saturday morning, and saw it was nice, there was only one thing for it.  Paint the garden seat with the weatherproofing stain that I'd bought but not been able to use because of the weather, and then put the new felt on the shed roof.
A word of warning for those attempting to put felt on a shed roof.  Felt paste, isn't like any other paste I've encountered.  Think treacle, and you're getting close.  I did manage to get some on a pair of shorts, and my legs (sitting on the shed roof on drips that I never noticed).  After two days, the stuff I got on my hands has finally washed off - it stains like you wouldn't believe - but I've still got a patch behind my knee that seems to be putting up a valiant effort not to come off.

After all that hard work, it was off to Pollok park to see the Highland Cattle Show, before walking to Shawlands for a beer, and then returning back past the Highland cattle, and home again.

Sunday, was as predicted, stormy.  We headed out in the car to the David Livingstone Memorial in Blantyre, where we discovered that the statue of him fending off an attacking lion was designed and paid for by Ray Harryhousen the man famous for his stop motion animation of monsters in numerous movies.  Turns out his wife was Harryhousen's great-granddaughter.

The Memorial is a really nice place.  The grounds are beautiful, and the museum is really interesting.  Well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Friday the 13th

Ok, I don't usually go for Friday 13th being unlucky, but so far today, I've cycled into work - I did manage to avoid the rain - and forgot my work keys, so I had to wait for someone else to show up and unlock the room, and after getting showered and changed, I noticed that my jeans have managed to get dust on them from the pastel chalks I was trying out last night, so I have a lime/yellow left thigh today.

Hope no-one thinks it's a fashion statement!

That's 2 -1 in favour of F13.

Then I find out that the friend I was supposed to be meeting for lunch can't make it as he has a meeting to go to, 3 - 1 to fate.

EXCEPT - it's chucking it down, so missing lunch with him means not getting soaked, so I'm claiming that as a win.

3 - 2 to fate then.

Largs Viking Festival

On Saturday, the annual Largs Viking Festival kicked off.  As we'd never been before, we decided to go along and check out the opening parade.

Vikings in the main street of Largs

Giant Viking at the Viking Village on the seafront

Some beer I picked up from the food tent 

(It would have been rude not to)

Me, ready to defend Largs from the Viking hordes

All that defending Largs is tiring.  Time for a wee sit down

The fair maiden, rescued from the Vikings.

There were lots of things happening on the sidelines.  There was a rubber duck race in the local burn, a drumming group playing, pipe bands, lots of bikers on Harley's, trikes and Goldwings.  Then there was the Viking village and the Scots village, the food, drink and crafts stalls, the birds of prey, the list goes on.

It culminates after a week with the burning of a longship.  I'd love to be there for that, but we have a ceilidh to go to.  Ah well, there's always next year.

Back outdoors

Last week I took Friday as a day off work, and we headed off to climb Dumgoyne.  It's a wee hill not far from Milngavie (just outside Glasgow), and while it's not very high, it's a steep wee bugger.
We'd started this hill before, but when we got the plateau that leads from Dumgoyne to Earls Seat, it was blowing a gale.  You could literally lean into the wind and not fall over, so on that occasion we decided that heading back down was the safest thing.
This time round, the weather was fine, and there was practically no wind.  We headed up, and when we came to a split in the path, opted to go right, along the path that wound gently and slowly up round the hill to the top, rather than taking the steeper direct route.

Karen had been suffering lately from a bad back, so we took it fairly slowly, and had a stop about half way up, so that she didn't come a cropper again.  On the plus side, this gave us plenty of time to enjoy the views.

Once we got to the top, we had a wee stop for a coffee and a sandwich before heading back, this time taking the steeper direct route, which turned out to be substantially shorter than the route we had taken.  Ah well, you live and learn.

Once back down at the bottom, I did the tour of the Glengoyne Distillery, and accidently bought a bottle of the 10yr old.  Nice wee reward to myself.

Ready for the off.

Top of the world

At the summit

Prize for getting to the top

Clip of that old fashioned organ from the Pollok Family Fun Day.

Is the Fringe dying out?

Took an afternoon off work on Tuesday, and headed through to Edinburgh, where the festival and Fringe had kicked off.

First thing that struck me was that despite all the bodies on the Royal Mile, it seemed unusually quiet for that time of year.  The wee square next to the church, that usually has lots of stalls, seemed to have less stalls than usual.

Someone joked that there was more people handing out flyers for shows, than there was people to give the flyers to.  It wasn't that bad, but it definitely looked like there was less bodies than in previous years.

Back at work I was talking to someone else who had been through on the Monday, and they said they had been thinking the same thing when they were through.

Anyway, numbers of bodies aside, it was a fun afternoon/evening.  Pics to follow.

So much for that idea

In a couple of weeks, my wife has a sign language course to do.  It's over a Saturday/Sunday, so, to amuse myself, I was planning on walking the first part of the West Highland Way, to Drymen, camp overnight, and get the bus back on the Sunday.

Found a campsite in Dymen that's only £5 per person per night.  Gets dodgy reviews on Trip adviser, but it's only for one night, so I thought what the hell.  Then it would just be a case of walking there, pitching the tent, and strolling into Drymen for food and beer.

The plans all went belly up, as I discovered that there's only one bus to Glasgow on a Sunday, and it leaves Drymen at 1915.  Seriously, I'd have to hang about Drymen for about 12 hours after packing up the tent, just to wait for a bus.  Not happening.

Looking for a Plan B now.  It may involve cycling somewhere.

Damn that was good

Bought some dvd's recently from a woman in work who was emigrating, and last night got round to watching Snatch, the Guy Ritchie movie.  That was tons of fun :-D

Time for new tires I think.

So, on the way to work this morning I got another flat.  Same wheel as the last two.  No sign of anything sticking out the tyre, but there's a wee cut from the last time, which to be honest is pretty visible.  Not sure if the tyre just flexed, and pinched the tube, causing the flat, but whatever the reason, it's time to change the tyres.

I've been recommended these beasties by Schwalbe, so I think that's the way to go.  The guy I know who's using them has done over 4000 miles on his and not one puncture, so that sounds like the way to go.

Just for the sake of posting something

This was taken just before heading out to the Bungo in the Backlanes.  There was no reason for wearing a kilt to the event other than "what the hell I've got a kilt and I'm going to wear it.".

Yeah real funny, funny man

I'm being taken to task on Twitter by a comedian who's taken umbridge that I said his friend (also a comedian) was endorsing animal cruelty by running with the bulls in Pamplona.  The guy who ran, wrote an article for the Scotsman, (here) which as far as I'm concerned is also endorsing animal cruelty by publishing it.

The tweet that I received says that "The idea that doing the run supports animal cruelty is like saying every Christian is homophobic" !  Erm.....just how exactly is that a comparison.  You are taking part in an event that the majority of people consider to the cruel.  You are endorsing it.  If there are homophobic Christians, then it doesn't mean that all Christians are homophobic.  That's like "Shep is a dog. Therefore all dogs are called Shep".  Utter nonsense.

So, comedian I'll never go to see - Kai Humphries.

Paper I'll never read - The Scotsman.

This might seem like an over-reaction, BUT I do consider the running of the bulls to be animal cruelty.  To say otherwise is (at the very least) naive, and is (in my opinion) heartless.  The fact is that these animals are only running because they ARE scared.  

What I did on my holiday (aka The long weekend)

So I had a day off on Friday, and there was a bank holiday on Monday, so a four day weekend, yay!
So what did I do then?  Well, on Friday, the gas man came to service the boiler.  AND there was a second gas man doing a Green Deal assessment on the house - the only improvement would be to add solar panels apparently.

Once Scottish/British* gas' finest had left, I headed into town to catch up with Pete and the Wetherspoons cider festival.
Cider was drunk.  So was I.  But not so drunk that there were typos when I was texting, so that's not bad.

On Saturday we were out for a meal for our wedding anniversary - 15 years!!!  Really nice curry in the Alishan in Battlefield.

Sunday we met up with Pete and Kerr and more 'spoons cider was drunk.  Though not quite as much as on Friday!

Yesterday was lazy for me as Karen didn't have the day off, so I vegged out with the cats, then in the evening we headed to Troon in the car, just to grab an ice cream and walk along the front. 

So much for an early start

So, this morning, due to the general mugginess and heat, I was awake at 5.00am and up about 20 minutes later.  No point lying in bed if you can't sleep, is there?

The plan was then hatched, to grab some juice and some coffee, and get them down me, before deciding on a long leasurely cycle into town by some obscure scenic route that would make no sense whatsoever, from a commuting point of view.  So, about 6.30 I was all ready to go, and that's when I discovered the flat tyre.
Off with the wheel, and a quick scan of the tyre, and a small sliver of glass was revealed as the culprit.
To save time, I opted not to fix the puncture, but instead to change the inner tube.  This proved not to be the time saving measure I planned it to be, as about 10 minutes after leaving the house, in the middle of Mosspark, there was an almighty bang, and I was instantly reduced to a flat rear tyre again.

Back at the house, it transpired that I had been in such a hurry to change the tube, that the inner tube had been slightly folded over on itself, and under the combination of the air pressure and my lardy arse, couldn't handle it.  The hole was about the size of an old 1/2p.  It was really quite impressive.

Tube out, burst tube patched and carefully popped in, and I was finally on my way.  By this point I was actually 15 minutes later leaving the house than I usually am, so the scenic route was out of the question, and it was a case of hammering it along my usual commute route.

After grabbing a quick shower in the work and nipping out to buy something for my lunch, I was only about 10 minutes late getting in, which wasn't bad considering.

On the plus side, at least I know that I can (a) still fix a puncture, and (b) change a tyre in a reasonably quick time*


(*thank you whoever designed quick release wheels)

The never ending clearout

So, I've a rather large pile of books ready to take to a car boot sometime soon (hopefully), and I've made a drastci decision.  I've also got a pile of rpg rule books that haven't been used in Cthulhu knows how many years, so...........

This morning, someone in work bought the D&D Players Handbook and DM Guide from me.  I've still got Elric - which I really don't need, as it's basically a re-hash of Stormbringer (which I'm keeping), and there's also Rolemaster - which I used to play, but haven't since I bought the books.  Ironic or what?
I'm also keeping CoC, since I love all things Lovecraftian, although, I've got 4th ed and the latest edition, so in theory I could sell the 4th edition rules, hmmmmm.
I've got 2nd edition Runequest, and Cults of Prax, plus a load of RQ articles from when White Dwarf was a gaming mag and not just an in-house mag for Games Workshop.  For the moment I'm keeping those.
The weirdest one, is a set of rules for LARP-ing Call of Cthulhu.  Now there's no way this will be getting used, as I haven't the time or inclination to run it, but as a read, it's fun.  If you could be arsed putting in the preperation for this, it could be awesome.

Anyway, hopefully someone will be interested and make me an offer to take them off my hands.

Update schmupdate

Oops, been a bit lax on the update front.  My bad.

There's some stuff to post, so I'll get on it asap.

Promise.