on our holibags in Northumberland and I’ve conquered a major fear of mine. the sea. AJ wanted to go out on the boat to see the puffins, who wouldn’t want to – so we did. I am not a fan of any water taller than me and at 5′ 8″ – there is plenty of water that is. But the sea was calm, even if I wasn’t and we all had a magic time. Plenty of puffins, lots of seals, gulls, guillemot, terns and my personal favourite – the shags. It was an hour and a half, but it was...
as usual before voting I had a clear view of who I wanted to place my X next to. when I opened the postal vote I was more than slightly annoyed. I have enjoyed watching the election campaigns, following broadcast media, online outlets and press as they try to persuade us to their chosen political party. I have especially enjoyed seeing the Tories have closed public meetings that are just press exercises. Shows me they hold the public in utter contempt and think it’s just a foregone conclusion that they will win this election with a huge majority. Labour have surged in...
I’ve always enjoyed motoring shows on T.V. from Top Gear with the three bampots, to Wheeler Dealers with classic cars getting refurbished and sold on. But a recent addition to the viewing schedule has been Fast and Loud with Gas Monkey Garage. Between the weird and wonderful creations they build from old cars / trucks, mixed with some high quality madness and an amazing collection of beards – I find it hard to resist. What’s not to like – break free the inner redneck – Fast’n’Loud!!
a wee wonder down the road took us to the WWT Caerlaverock Wetland Centre. We’d accidentally visited it the day before, when I couldn’t find the cottage, but this was our attempt to see what it was all about. a very reasonable entrance fee later and two small kids geared up to find 6 giant rubber ducks – what’s not to like. I had forgotten my binoculars, which was a bit of a pain, but the kids and the boss were finding the birds nae bother at all. We covered every inch of the paths that we could, totaling a...
Today marks the start of my Easter break for 2017. We are having a wee jaunt down to Dumfries so I plan on taking my bike and some brave pills with me. My fabulous son broke his arm at the start of the week so any biking / footie / swimming is banjaxed for him now. But the hope is we can still give the bairns a cracking time. Looking forward to doing fun stuff for the next nine days.
On a recent night out we returned to the car to find the ‘secure car parking’ wide open to the world. The automatic doors that should require the parking ticket to enter, were lying jammed open. Not so good. Then when we returned to the vehicle there was a scratch from the front to the rear along my passengers side of the car. Again, not ideal. Contacted the parking company involved, gave a description of the vehicle and it’s location in the car park. I’m very sorry but we do not have any CCTV of the incident in question. Well...
I have followed Motherwell FC since I met my wife. I often joke that her dad asked me what team I supported and I said “whatever team you want me to sir…”. It wasn’t exactly like this, but not far from it either. Truth is, we’ve had some amazing times following the Steelmen. Watching the 6-6 game against Hibs, going to see them play at Hampden three times and even witnessing them beat Rangers over two games in the play-offs (under my favourite manager Ian Baraclough). But this season has been down right awful. 7-1 defeat to Aberdeen and today’s...
This week at work has taught me loads and loads. Angular, JS prototype, browser debugging, API verbs, FIDDLER too. But more than any of these valuable technical skills, it’s within the team dynamics that I’ve learned the most. As a very recent member of the team, only joining in September last year, I feel I’m still finding my feet a little with who to ask and where the expertise lies within the different sections. Everyone in the team is incredibly helpful, no egos and most importantly no blame if things don’t get done. I’ve found my team lead beyond supportive and...
Now the proud, if slightly soggy and shattered, owner of a fully repaired MTB. All 21 gears used with absolute abandonment today on the sleet covered tracks at Whitelees Windows Farm. Only sore point was the cafe being closed until Feb 1st.
After much gnashing of teeth and mumbling at my car to let go – I managed to untangle my mountain bike from the back seat area and get it assembled. We had gone through to visit Gran and Papa so I thought I’d take the recently serviced MTB for a wee spin around Strathclyde’s finest Park in Motherwell. Sadly, there was a small problem. The ‘repair‘ … wasn’t. It did have much cleaner running gear than the bike I had handed in for service; it was a much shinier around the general propulsion mechanics – but as the top 7 gears...
