Decision made. Let's see if I can stick to it.

So I've decided it's time to get back into running.  For about seven years, I was a member of Bellahouston Road Runners, and loved it.  I went from not being able to run the length of myself, so running the Edinburgh marathon, and regularly running half-marathons and 10k's, with my favourite race being the Brampton to Carlisle 10 miler, which is the oldest 10 mile road race in the country.
Then, I got gout, and couldn't walk much less run.  By the time I was mobile again, it came as a hell of a shock how much my fitness and stamina had dropped.  This in turn led to serious motivational issues, and I stopped running.

Well, it's been about 4 years since I last pulled on a pair of running shoes, but I've been thinking about it lately.  So yesterday, I picked up some running socks to try and motivate me to pull on the trainers and go for a run.  Admittedly, this will happen once I get back from holiday.  So, in about 3 weeks, I'll be coughing up a lung on the side of the paths in Pollok park.  Hopefully this won't take too long to overcome, and I'll be getting the miles under my belt again.

Scottish CND rally

Yesterday Scottish CND held a rally in George Square in Glasgow, as part of their Springwalk.  There was a really good atmosphere, and the speakers were all well recieved by the crowd.

Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, confirmed that if Scotland got independence, Trident would not be used as a bargaining chip with Westminster, and that they were committed to removing all nuclear weapons from Scotland.

So without further ado, here's some photos.

What was that crunch?

That crunch dear reader, was the sound of a filling coming loose.  A white filling at the front none the less.
So, on the plus side, I phoned in the morning, and got an appointment for the afternoon, AND it's not painful.
On the negative side, that's money that would have been put to better use, in the pub or going for a curry.

But there you go.

Yesterday I took a day off.  We had a wander round the Necropolis, then went for lunch in the Catherdral House Hotel - which I can recommend - then visited the Ramshorn graveyard in the Merchant City, and the Glasgow Police Museum, just a couple of streets away again.  Really interesting wee museum.

So, back to today and the dentist, so it's leave work in just over an hour, get the tooth fixed, then back into town to kill time till 5:10pm when it's guitar lesson time.

It would be a good day if it wasn't for the inconvenience of the dentists.  Ah well, merde happens.

Big jaggy thistle in Central Station

On the way to work this morning, I saw the unveiling of the Commonwealth Games mech stand in Central Station.  Bit surreal seeing a scrum of photographers taking pics of a guy dressed as a thistle, cutting a ribbon, but hey, it's all fun.

Bike porn.

Spent some time yesterday in Decathalon looking at bikes.  Went to look at the mtb's but ended up really liking the look of the road bikes.  Go figure.

Anyway, back on the bike today for the commute to work.  Really nice ride.  The weather was really nice and crisp.  Chilly but not too cold.

Wee book of bike routes

Picked up this wee book at the weekend.  It's got 40 routes in Central Scotland, all starting and finishing at railway stations, so they're all doable from Glasgow and/or Edinburgh.  Roll on the bike to work (for the mountain bike) and the better weather.

Back on the bike

Finally, the winds that have been gusting for what seems like months, have finally abated.  The forecast for the week is good.  Mild, and if the crocuses in the parks are an indication, then spring has arrived early.
So, with the weather in my favour, this morning I got back on the bike for the first time since the end of October.

I was pleasantly surprised that I only took a couple of minutes longer to get to work, than I took last year, so that's good.

This year I'd like to take the odd day off here and there, and go for a proper run on the bike, and not just use it to commute. I'll be playing that by ear, and just see how it goes.

Update, shmupdate

Just a wee bit of nonsense as I've not posted anything lately.  So, here we go.

Due to work, I never made the meditation group last week, but did make it today.  It was a different meditation (not the mindfulness meditation of the previous week), I can't remember the name at the moment, but it was really good.  Yes I found my mind wandering while we were sitting, but as the guy from the Buddhist centre, who takes the group, says, noticing you've wandered, and coming back to the meditation, is good, and you should give yourself a pat on the back, as noticing you've wandered is part of the point, and not something to beat yourself up over.

On the guitar lesson front, I've been getting some Black Sabbath to learn, which is really cool.  I've done Electric Funeral, and now I'm onto Paranoid.  What's great is that I've got all the early Sabs stuff, so I can practice till I'm confident enough, then try playing along to the cd.  Result.

New Beanie

Those who know me will know where I stand on the subject of independence for Scotland.  If you don't know, the pic below should provide you with a clue. :-)

Getting meditative

A couple of years ago (and again last year) the work had a "Health and Wellbeing" day for staff, to try and encourage the wine sozzled, refectory food guzzling slobs who work here, to get off they're arses and well, not drop dead basically.
As part of this event, there was an introduction to meditation.  I went along, really liked it, and wanted to keep going, but as is typical where I'm concerned, no group started up, and the chance to keep going in a group never materialised.

Until yesterday.

The woman who had arranged for someone to come in and run the meditation taster, managed to find someone from the Glasgow Buddhist Centre, to come in and take a group.

So yesterday afternoon, was my first group session of mindfullness meditation.  I have to say, that afterwards, I felt really calm and happier than I had been when I went in.
Unfortunately, due to timetable issues, I'll only be able to make it along once a fortnight, but hey, it's better than nothing.  And, once I know what I'm doing, I'll be able to do it on my own, when I want/need to.

Electric Glen

On Saturday we went to the Electric Glen in Rouken Glen park.  It's a light installation with a couple of wee stages, and it's really cool.  The theme was the pattern and dye works that used to be in Thronliebank, and there were patterns projected onto the ground and onto trees.  Really cool.
Unfortunately, it's now sold out, so if you haven't got a ticket, you'll have to wait till next year.

To strike or not to strike....

I'm a card carrying union member.  I have been since I left school and started working in Barr and Stroud, a historic engineering company in Glasgow, that has since been swallowed up by a multinational.  It also moved site to from the west of Glasgow to the south side, so not only has a historic company vanished, but a stunning old building has been demolished to make way for a supermarket.

But I digress.

As I say, I've been a union member for a few months shy of 30 years, and in that time have taken part in industrial actions.  I did this because I believed they were right, they were (unfortunately necessary), and in all cases a result (or at least a happy compromise) was obtained.

Not this time.  There has been two one day strike previous to today's, which I did take part in, and took my turn on the picket line for.  Not this time.

What's so different this time?  I'll tell you.

The vote in favour of today's action, was 20 for, 0 against.  There were approximately 30 people at the meeting, out of a membership of about 130.  There were no "against" votes, as there was no point.  The first question was "those in favour".  20.  There was no way the remaining 10 could make a difference, so officially it was 10 abstentions.

Now, out of a membership of over 100, I don't think 20 voting to strike is a mandate.  Yes, I know that's the majority of the people who attended the meeting.  A meeting that was held at short notice so we could take action on the same day as other unions, but to my mind not a mandate.
Then there's the fact that some of the more militant people, always seem to have conveniently taken a day off  that just happens to coincide with the day of action.  Call me cynical, but if you are party to information that allows you to take a day off PRIOR to the rest of us being told when the day of action is, I call foul.
The same people, when there was a work to rule in previous years, they were happy to do all the overtime that was going.
So, do I feel guilty?  No.

Like I said earlier, I do agree with the principles of the action, but not based on the numbers voting for it.  There should be a quorum when it comes to votes on industrial action.

Life of late

Not been up to much that's blog-worthy of late.  The clearout is ongoing, but is glacially slow.  I need to be more brutal and just get rid of stuff.

Yesterday, I took a day off work and went to the Jack Vettriano exhibition at Kelvingrove.  Really good exhibition. I didn't buy a catalogue, as they were all sealed, and there wasn't one to flick through to see if it was worth buying.  Back home, I found an online preview of it, and it's nice.  Very nice.  If I wasn't having a clearout, I'd seriously consider nipping back along and picking up a copy.  If I can be a bit productive at ditching stuff, I may well treat myself with this.

This weekend coming, we're off to the Electric Glen, at Rouken Glen park.  Someone in work went last year and says it's well worth doing.  We're going to book an Indian and head there before the walk.

Guitar lessons are coming along quite well, so I'm happy with that.

Ah well, onwards and upwards.

New wheels?

There's the possibility of the Cycle to Work scheme being started again in my work.  I'm seriously thinking about a second bike.  The one I currently have (Giant Escape M1) is a great bike, and I'm not looking to replace it.  What I want to get is a mountain bike that will cope with off-road/trails.

The Pollok park mountain bike trails are 10 minutes from my door.  I want to go play on them.  There's also Mugdock park, and any number of other places where I could potentially remove myself from the gene pool.
Then there's the pleasure of simply cycling along forest trails that my current bike would be very uncomfortable to use on.

I'm not kidding myself that I'll be dropping off tree trunks and jumping over things, I'm 48 this year. BUT, that doesn't mean I have to get a "sit-up and beg" bike and cycle sedately along at a snails pace either.

Then there's the fact that Glasgow's roads are so riddled with potholes that a bike with (at a minimum) front suspension is probably a seriously good idea.

(I've also looked into whether it's possible to cycle the West Highland Way.  Apparently it is, although there's some parts that would require a dismount.)

2014 -so far so good

Yeah, ok, it's only 7 days old, but so far 2014 is ok.

The return to work has been pretty easy so far, as there's no students about yet.  They should be about from tomorrow as the exams are starting, but since I'm not involved with them in any way, that's not an issue.

Had two karate classes so far.  One was an hour and a half of kata, which was utterly exhausting, but very very rewarding.  I really like doing kata, especially when I've got a mental block about a part of a new one I'm learning, and then get over it, as happened tonight.  Tomorrow is the first Wednesday lunchtime class of the year, so it'll be good to get back into that, as it's a great way to get through the middle of the week, especially when it's a hard/trying/tiring week.

Anyway, resolutions that I've made are all do-able ones.  There's a couple of exercise targets I've set myself - climb at least one munro, cycle to work as often as possible - and the others are just to do with clearing out stuff I no longer use/need/want, and not replacing it with other junk that I don't really need.

Also, this is the Chinese year of the horse, and that's my birth year, so it's supposed to be a lucky/make or break year for me, so fingers crossed it's a good one.  I'm planning to make the most of it and try to have a positive outlook on things.  I allowed the negativity of others to turn me into a moaning git last year.

So, it's finally here

Yup it's Hogmanay.
Since the last post, one of the people I was talking about cutting out of our lives, has shown themselves up to be a really nasty piece of work, which means the guilt that I was talking about in the earlier post isn't even an issue now.  She's gone.  History.  We'll never be in touch with her again.

The only downside is that her husband is a really genuinely nice guy, so I have no issues with seeing him again, it's just that it's probably not going to happen now.  Then again, she does drive him to drink, and damn if he doesn't like his real ales, so he's obviously well aware of just what she's like.  The fact that he has lots of friends, but she doesn't, can't be lost on him.

Anyway, whatever happens, happens.

So here's some resolutions for the New Year.

1.  I've cut out the deadwood.  Don't let it grow back, and be wary of introducing more.
2. Try to cut the coffee intake down just a little.  I was drinking a shitload at work, and was usually on my fourth by about 10.00am.  Not good.
3. Keep the company of people who make me happy and who (hopefully) I in  turn make happy.
4. Get outdoors more, and actually get the tent I bought two years ago christened.  Even if it's just the wee campsite at Sallochy, just get it used.
5. Eat less crap.  Don't need to lose weight particularly, just need to not snack. Can't lose weight or my kilt won't fit!
6. Excercise.  Bit more running, and try and go climbing/bouldering at least once a month.  Even if it's just the wee traverse wall at the work.
7. (The easiest one) Cycle to work as much as possible.  Only bin it if there's snow/ice or the wind makes it dangerous.  Rain isn't an issue when I've waterproofs.

And that's that.  If anyone reads this, Happy New Year to you when it comes.

Thank <.. insert diety of choice .> that's over for another year

Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas.  What I hate is how commercial it's all become.  It's all about separating you from your hard earned money.  It's not like we're not bombarded with adverts trying to do that the rest of the year, but at this time it's full on relentless.

Now that Christmas is over, the pre-Christmas "buy this or your don't love your family/friends" type ad is gone.  Now it's "you're house is obviously a pig sty, so buy a sofa, but you've only got till New Year" type of ad.

The pre-Christmas scrum in the shops in town are over, and it's three days after the big day, so most of the gift voucher spending should be over too.  That makes it reasonable safe to venture out again as you should be able to get about without the use of a chainsaw to cut a path through hordes of zombie like shoppers.

Roll on Hogmanay, when all I have to do is raise a glass to the (pretty shite) year that's leaving us, and welcome in the new beginnings and opportunities that the New Year will hopefully bring.

Favourite part of the holiday season

Today, Christmas Eve, is my favourite part of the holiday season.  It's the day I go to see It's a Wonderful Life at the cinema.  For me it's the best part of Christmas.  It's a million miles away from the commercial scrum that this time of year has become, and that's refreshing.

Before that though, I still have to ice my cake.  The marzipan was put on yesterday, so once it's iced, it's good to go.  The coeliac friendly cake for Karen was made yesterday, and it's all ready for her.  Dinner is pretty much sorted as well, just need to make a sauce, which will take me about half an hour, so that can wait till tomorrow.

I'm just waiting for the switch to flick on the tv ads, where they go from "last minute Christmas gifts" to "Sale starts Boxing Day".  When I was a kid, I remember the sales started in January, and if you had got any gift vouchers for Christmas, it was a case of being torn between buying that book that you really wanted, or waiting till the sales and maybe getting it cheaper.  Now everything is last minute discounts BEFORE Christmas, and big sales the day after.  It's all about parting you from your money now, and there's very little of the magic of Christmas left.

We have ways of making you enjoy yourself

So, with just over two weeks to go to THE BIG DAY(tm), the shops are in full SPEND SPEND SPEND mode, and the pubs are emphasising FUN and PARTY, and I'm thoroughly sick of it already.
Seriously, I'm looking forward to Boxing Day and some semblance of normality (sales excepted).

I've got two do's to go to, the main departmental one (which as per usual, I'll go to for the meal, then sneak off and meet a few colleagues who will also escape (or just not attend) in a pub of choice for a drink, where we don't have to be witness to people we work with pretending they actually like each other, and "dancing" like loons as they slowly (or rapidly in some cases) get wasted.

The other do is the one I prefer.  There's a few of us in a lottery syndicate, and we always go for a Christmas lunch and drink, just the five of us.  This year, it's been hi-jacked, as someone who can't make the main do has been invited - which is fine - and has then asked others along - which is NOT fine.  I've even been asked "Are you going to Bobby's do?"  WTF!!  It's not his, it's ours, and it's been hi-jacked.  I'm seriously considering not going, as it's going to be a pain having to smile, joke and laugh with people I don't want to be in the company of.

Like I said, roll on Boxing day.

Planning the resolutions

I don't normally do New Year resolutions, as lets face it, most people (myself included) find it hard if not impossible to stick to, and so with that in mind, my resolutions for the 2014 are going to be practical and do-able,

I'm in the planning stages at the moment, but watch this space.