This month I have mostly been........

As usual, I have too many ideas that I want to blog about. What usually happens is that I write none of them, so to change that, I'm just going to do a snap shot of all of them.

Some I might get back to, others not.


So, what HAVE I been up to this month?


................reading

50 Shades of Grey (Sorry!)
Read this for my first ever book group meeting. Won't be bothering with the next two. Why? Just a bit boring to be honest - lacked story line behind all the bedroom antics

The Information Diet
Really making me look at my internet habits. Trying to reign these in a bit by giving up blog reading and Facebook for a while. Still got to control the distractions of the web, but it's a start.

Tales of Mystery & Imagination
Edgar Allan Poe's collected tales. Entertaining stories from a twisted mind.


................watching

The Godfather
Finally watched this movie (even this time took two attempts to get through). Can see why it's up there, but not going into my favourites list.

Great Ted talk this month:
The Shared Wonder of film
Definitely encouraged me to watch some other classics (some good suggestions here)

Great British Bake Off
It's back - hooray!


.............learning

Sailing
Something I've been meaning to do for a while. Finally got out in a boat last Sunday on the River Tay. Shame there wasn't a scrap of wind in the air. Next outing planned for next week.

Yoga
Back doing this again now that I've discovered a lunchtime class at work. Hoping to build up a bit of strength (already flexible enough)



...............cooking

Slow pot lamb (now that the butchers is filled with this year's lamb)

Lemon drizzle cake (a fine cake, but needs more raising agent next time)

Another August, another Edinburgh Fringe

August for me is all about the Fringe. Last year a few big weddings got in the way of doing it properly, but I made up for it this year.

If just to remind myself, this year's shows were:

1st Weekend (just us two):
- Wanderlust
Jim Carey-style story teller tells of his journeys through Africa. Storytelling becomes gripping poetry
- Tumble Circus
Arguing couple do amazing acrobatic/trapeze sequences
- Mat Ricardo
Juggling vaudeville entertainer who alas was a slight let down after last year. But will remember 'security theatre' to describe airports.

- Edgar Allan Poe
Best of his stories strung together in a lunatic asylum

Mid-week (with OU)
- Skeptics on the fringe - Cock  & Bull
Statistical/medical slant on penis size and the lengths (!) men go to to increase


2nd Weekend (with OU)
- Domestic Science
Noodles are like litmus paper and Dan Schreiber is a name to watch for. Also got to practise alien drawing on iced doughnut
- We the Chemicals
Stand-up free show in Izzard style, but lacked memorable phrases (wish I could remember some now)
- Numb and Number
Awesome show about numbers, and general world observations. Very funny

- Lullabies to make your children cry
Great storyteller/poet/singer, put off a bit by strong feminist slant. Stories were great.

3rd Weekend (with sis/bro-in-law)
- Supervillain
Single man sketch show - good voices, but sketches weren't as funny as the accents.
- Am I Good Friend?
Crazy 19-year old Australian girl talks about friendship and the Chicken of mystery. 
- Young & Strange
Awesome magicians - lots of slight of hand
- Thinking Drinkers Guide to Alcohol
Bishop's Finger Beer, Jagermeister, Rum (Angustura) Gin (Tanqueray), Absinthe, Belvedere Pink Grapefruit Vodka, all in one show with anecdotes of each history
- One man Lord of the Rings
Amazingly voiced whistle stop imitation of all three films in 60 mins. Very funny in places.
- How to predict the future
Edinburgh Skeptics show - half debunking psychic predictions, half magic.

Of course all of this was interspersed with good eating and drinking.
Yesterday's food highlights in particular were La Favourita's pizza van (with proper pizza oven on board), Pubbledub burgers, and the best waffles I've had outside of Germany!

Fortunately I do not have to wait another year for the waffles! Just for another fringe - which after that little lot is probably just as well.

Olympic cheer

There is one obvious thing that all of us British will look back on this year - the year of the Olympics.

The Jubilee is a distant memory - maybe it was the crowd's version of a warm up?

The Olympics has eclipsed utterly though. 2 weeks of total excitement, filling the papers each day. Me eagerly looking at the medals tables every lunchtime and hometime to see if we'd notched up anymore.

So I'm a total patriot, I genuinely believe Britain is Great, and it was nice to see for once everyone else has come round to my way of thinking.

As well as all our medal success, the opening ceremony stands out for me: I was gripped the whole time, and summed up both my country and my city perfectly.

I was kicking around London at the start of proceedings. London had a lovely buzz to it, and clearly a sense of generosity (I left my phone in the loos at Selfridges Oxford Street, and thought it was a gonna, yet someone wonderful handed in). And the weather was hot and great.

I was there for family reasons. Spending time with distant relatives that I don't get to see much of. Travelling up to London, and more chilling over drinks and food in the sun rather than rush rush rush.
Here's the Thames at Richmond where we paused for cider and Pimms.

And here's the closest I got to the Olympic events (was feeling nice so gave my rowing tickets to my family).

Very civilised way to get to the games - via a boat along the Thames from Windsor Castle!

Everyone was dead surprised at all the friendliness in London and the high spirits. Which is funny, because I think Londoners are really friendly and happy people most of the time anyway - the grumpy commuter image is just a front really.

A Scottish Jamboree

So, what I have been up to since I last posted?

Well, it is shaping up to be an awesome summer, and to top it all I have received a distinction for my Science course - I now have a certificate in Natural Science!

A couple of weekends ago we were up in Blair Atholl for the bi-annual Scout Jamboree.

Hundreds of Scouts from all over the world descend on Scotland for a fortnight to do usual scout stuff - bushcraft, hiking, climbing, fencing - you name it. But most importantly it seems to be about mixing with people all around the world and making new friends.

Great for any teenager to be a part of.

We went along for the open day. Lots of food stalls from all over the world, where you could stuff yourself for around £2 on chicken teriyaki, Dutch waffles, BBQ lamb, S'mores etc. etc.

In the afternoon we sat in the sunshine and enjoyed looking out over the site.

There are 6 sub camps where the Scots host the international patrols.


Then the evening is rounded off with a good old fashioned campfire and sing-song.
Here's the scouts with some torches of their own ready to light the fire.

Made me reminisce a lot about my guiding days, even if I was never part of anything as big as this. Nice to see Scouting on the increase again and hopefully it's events like this that draw the numbers in.

Geocaching: An addictive pursuit

One of my favourite hobbies of the past few years has been geocaching. It started with our move up to Scotland and has been brilliant in helping us get to know the place.

Basically it's a game played with a GPS where you get a list of hidden caches and their co-ordinates, then using your GPS you have to go and find them. The cache will be a box of some sort (from the size of a bolt head right up to a big Tupperware container). It will include a log book which you sign to say you've found it. Then you set off for the next one.

from smallest:

to largest:

So, why do I enjoy this seemingly mundane activity?

1) It gets you outdoors
I love being outside. It's like an addiction to me: I get withdrawal symptoms if I'm trapped indoors for long.
Geocaching gets you off your seat and out into the great wide world

2) It takes you to unexpected places.
Caches are placed by other people. They tend to place them in their favourite spots - which you would never find on your own: a secret meadow, a hidden cave. For us moving to a new area, it's a great way to get to know the area.

Here is a waterfall in a picturesque meadow behind an ordinary row of houses!

3) It tells you a story
Many caches give details of the local area. There are several cache trails in Edinburgh which give you as much detail as any paid for guided tour!

4) It's a puzzle
Some caches are not easy to find and have you digging around for some time. Others have clues to solve before you know where to look for them. Some you just don't know how to reach.

5) It's a team effort!
The more people you take with you, the more likely you are to find the caches you're looking for. Everyone can join in!

Just take one look on www.geocaching.com

There are thousands to find!

National Museum of Scotland

One of my aims in starting a blog was to include a few guides to places I love.

The first place to make it on here is the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It's just great. I've raved before about the free entry policy to many of the UK's finest museums, and this one makes the list.

This humongous building is absolutely on a par with the finest London museums such as the V&A (although I still think the British Museum trumps them all).

I've now been in twice, and still feel I've barely scratched the surface. But I'll say it again - when these things are free then there is no limit to the number of visits you can make, even if you have 30 mins to spare. 

Firstly, it's beautifully placed in Edinburgh's Old town. This is the view looking out of the museum:

Secondly, on stepping into the museum, you walk into this fantastic atrium:

Very inspiring in itself.

There are many treasures (from the Lewis chessmen to Dolly the sheep, plus the ubiquitous Tyrannosaur), but the highlight is the guided tours.

In my opinion, it is these which put the NMS into the premier league. Three times a day, and again free.

My tour today was on Art and Architecture - something I know little about and when it comes to art something I don't even care much about. But the guides' enthusiasm rubs off on you.

Here's a few things I liked today:

We then ate at the Museum Brasserie - proper table service and pretty tasty too (I had fishcakes).

In short, a must if you visit Edinburgh, even if you only have time to stick your head around the door.

Breath of fresh Eire

Sometimes a jolt out of the blue can really change your perspectives on things. In in my case it happened to be a recent weekend.


One of my dearest friends ever, who lives on the other side of the world, was in Ireland. I had to go and see her. I hadn't seen her for 5 years. Thanks to Facebook we rarely even email.

Well, after 10 mins of surprise, not knowing quite where to begin, those 5 years melted away. It was the same as ever.

So, having not visited the Emerald Isle in a long time I was expecting to write a post talking about where we ate, what we saw, etc. etc., but you know what.........


...it didn't matter.

We pretty much talked for the whole 4 days. Ireland was a backdrop - and a pretty one at that - but we'd have been just as happy in a student flat for that time.

On returning home I feel refreshed, and my priorities have been reassessed. I've just got to remember them now! Because the material things don't matter. Its about looking after what you've already got. Something I tend to lose sight of.

Ok, I caved, here are a few pics of the weekend.

One of the amazing Irish stew I had which was served in a loaf of bread (there was mash too as if there weren't carbs enough in the picture!)

Also spent Sunday in the beautiful Wicklow mountains. This picture captures it.