My Blog 2005 - 07
21.12.07 And on the shortest day of the year, light wise, here we are at the After 8 Mince Christmas dinner. Double click to embiggen.
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09.12.07 Cripes. Another two month gap - apologies but it's been frantic, what with having to work to earn a living. However, we have just had the 8th birthday party for the DBSSC Folk Section, at which I was ASM, on the door, raffle ticket seller with most lucky tickets, procurer of band beverages, specs locator, band member and ¼MC. It's a wonder I found time to hear the Yard of Ale, and I don't do half what the others on the committee do. Jolly fun though, and Sheila, I don't ever want to see pictures of me banging the tambourine like a very silly person.
Christmas preparations are going ahead and we are looking forward to the Old Girls' Reunion next week. Currently the house is like Santa's Grotto, if Santa works in a dining room with no elves and a cow called Elvis.
15.10.07 Really must stop asking myself rhetorical questions. It's not big and it's not clever. But at least I know where to put an apostrophe.
We had a very good outing last Monday (8th October) to the only full-time public observatory in Britain, in Dundee. Props to the DB Astro team for organizing it. Oh wait, that's us.
14.10.07 Father is determined to get himself in the papers these days. Here is an article from the Stirling Observer which celebrates the good works of the talking newspaper, Rock Talk.
07.10.07 Well lookee here - a project to log photos of every square of the OS map. See Dalgety Bay's and then look for your own.
30.09.07 We went to Blairdrummond yesterday.
05.09.07 Kirsty & Paul in Žingvellir*, Iceland. Site of the world's first parliament, in a beautiful area. We are standing on the edge of the Euro-Asian tectonic plate, with the North American one behind us. The two are being forced apart at the rate of 2 centimetres per year. At the other side of the world, in California, the North American one is being shoved under the next one (name to be inserted once Paul gets over eating AllBran at 3 a.m. this morning) and that's what causes the tremors there. Absolutely fascinating stuff.
*Pronounced Thingfetlir, according to our guide. I await confirmation from our resident Icelandic expert, and yes we do have one....
30.08.07 Excitement mounts as we read up about food in Iceland, always a prime concern. Apparently we are not to worry if we do not develop a taste for Greenland Shark (marinated underground for six months to dissipate the toxins in its flesh - how many times did someone have to die before they established the correct length of time?) because most Icelanders think it's yukky. Chowing down on a piece of wind-dried herring is also an option, since you're allowed to put butter on it. Haud me back. I aim to eat at least one Icelandic banana. They're home grown; we saw it on the telly. The madness of Aberdeen will be as a gentle sea swell after this typhoon of a trip. Thankfully we have not clashed with the Oilmen's Conference there, or we would not have been able to find any accommodation at all. And we are also looking forward to Ayako's cooking, in Inverness.
Interjection (can you interject when it's just you talking?) - I have just finished reading The Incredible Adam Spark which was a terrific read. Written by Alan Bissett www.alanbissett.com. I picked it up because it mentioned Falkirk's first superhero, but it's so much more than that.
And now back to some/any activity which will block out the yells of the Trampoleenies behind us. I love to see kids outside playing, but do they have to yell until 10 pm every night? Grrrrrrr. Growing old.
26.08.07 I know, I know, it's been ages but we had to replace the hard disk and rebuild the whole edifice. Busy weekend for the Mincers as we played firstly the Dalgety Bay Sports and Social Club - many thanks to everyone who came along to a free evening of songs and laughter with a good raffle and reasonably priced drinks - it can't have been easy! Seriously, your support means the world to us and we are just so chuffed to see you all. Secondly we "entertained" at the Dalgety Bay Relay for Life event in aid of cancer research, basically to keep up the morale of the teams walking the course for 24 hours from noon to noon. That started yesterday and will finish today, so after this brief update I'm away to cheer them on again. Other stuff - Paul has cleared out the garage which was such a mammoth task it deserves a mention. We've been to see the Foos at Meadowbank and we're off to Iceland next week. Cheers to Val for his lending library and we should be fluent speakers by the weekend. And if you live in the area do take a trip to the new library at Duloch Park, it's packed with hunners of brand new books and my fingers were just itching to borrow them all, until I caught the eye of a certain orang utan, peeling a banana....
19.06.07 Just back from a long weekend in Edinburgh, during which we went to various venues, putting the emphasis on places/shows we've always meant to visit. but never quite squeezed in. Included was lunch at The Stand, an Edinburgh Comedy Club, where we had the best value for £2.50 in the past decade. Go. Now. It's very funny and they sell food too.
We also went to the Zoo and you can see evidence of our climb to the very toppermostest bit here.
03.06.07 Just about recovered from winning the Connections Quiz live on the Janice Forsyth show yesterday, broadcast from the Garden Scotland show at Ingliston. DAB radio now in the bathroom ready for the B47 club weekdays and JF at the weekend. Interestingly, the first text I received afterwards was from Luxembourg, and that was before I had even told anyone.
Here is a picture of Paul giving astronomy lessons to his dad, which I found while looking for something else. Taken with my phone camera so not high res. Not much chance of seeing stars with that amount of daylight either ...
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19.05.07 After 8 Mince play Burntisland
12.05.07 Dad honoured for service to the Stirling talking newspaper, RockTalk.
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25.04.07 Ahem. We are delighted to announce that Miss Ciara Stout is the proud curator and caretaker of Digger The Dog for this week. Digger has packed a lifetime of experience into his short furry existence so far, and maintains a meticulous diary of his doggy doings. We expect a full optical MOT to follow on the heels (paws?) of his recent dental check up. Rest assured, that dog is in good hands.
21.04.07 Dalgety Bay Folk Club's fourth trip to Blair Atholl, from which we have all just about recovered.
17.04.07 Pictures of FIONA AND ALLY'S WEDDING Get excited right now.
01.04.07 The day after Fiona and Ally's wedding. I am speechless. That was just the best. And I hardly cried at all. Pictures soon, but not before Fiona's had a chance to see hers. Oh all right then, just one. Double click as always.
Can you believe I took this as we were hurtling over the Forth Bridge? Those of you who thought I was going to deliver spoilers can just get to the back of the queue NOW.
30.03.07 Unbelievably excited about Fiona and Ally's wedding tomorrow. For anyone who can't find their invite it's at 12:30 pm.
04.03.07 On the DBAstro forum is, amongst others, Paul's picture of the lunar eclipse on 03 03 07, taken from a back garden in Dalgety Bay.
04.03.07 Nothing much to report but just a whinge to air - can you air a whinge? Well, it's my website, so I make the rules.
On Friday we purchased a box of PG Tips teabags which had a free Monkey in the box (Monkey is the advertising character currently employed by the tea people after his long layoff, following his fall from grace as the mascot and figurehead for ON Digital TV). We very carefully lifted the Monkey from the box (using gloves, we might want to flog him on Ebay) and found, to our horror, that he has no tail. Now, any biologist, zoologist, student of Discworld or person who cares, will realise that this makes him an ape. The fact that he wears a t-shirt bearing the legend "Chimp" would seem to endorse this. However, I realise that complaining about this would make me appear very small-minded, given that a share of the proceeds are going to Comic Relief. Make up your own minds ... www.pgtips.co.uk
18.02.07 It's been a roller coaster time for us here in the Bay, hence not much news of late. But the Folk Club dinner at the Woodside went off well - very few people seemed to notice the mistakes we made when we played! The Mincers are looking forward to playing at Blair Atholl in April, and to meeting up with our chums Tandem and Yard of Ale.
Bought this in evil
Tesco today (18.02.07) Double click to enlarge. |
18.12.06 Here is Paul, on the front page of the Dunfermline Press, advertising his new astronomy club...
10.12.06 Afternoon tea in Cellardyke, graciously hosted by Diana.
03.12.06 Also today. a picture of Dad with his latest medal. This emblem has recently been ratified by the MoD. He was not in any rush to get hold of it, but since it has been issued, we all thought that as he was entitled to it, he should apply.
03.12.06 We have been to Crieff for the After 8 Mince inaugural pub gig - five hours of singing left us not down and not out! Plus, After 8 Mince at Blair Atholl.
19.11.06
Now Paul has set up a forum for the nascent Dalgety Bay Astronomy Club - it's here.
02.11.06
... and just back from Englandshire where amongst other we saw the Burgesses.
02.09.06 Just back from our trip to Galway via St. Andrews, Stranraer and Cavan, and have to say that all the accommodation we booked was excellent. Head and shoulders above them all though was the the Rhins of Galloway, hotel style B&B which has joined the Holmes Hall of Fame, along with Ayako & Michael in Inverness, (no longer in operation) and The Plockton Hotel.
I have decided to name and shame the more excruciating examples of the British nation's complete failure to get to grips with the humble apostrophe.
So today, it's The Bay Inn, Regent's Way, Dalgety Bay, Fife for "Your' Always Welcome" This nugget of grammatical dexterity has been beautifully painted in calligraphic script. Sadly, more to follow. * Coming next, affect and effect......
13.08.06 Checking in - nothing huge to report, but we have booked our holidays for Galway and Arran, at long last. Both been very busy at work over the last couple of months, nothing new there. Hopefully we will hook up with Donna And Tom in Plockton in October, and if the gods permit, Lehua will be there too. Meanwhile we had Rieko, Takao & Yasuko to visit in July. See here for picture.
24.06.06 June? Crikey, where have we been? Anyhoo, Alex Miller's 90th birthday party!
04.03.06 Daniel's first birthday party
03.03.06 Stewart Leitch's Memorial Concert - Elspeth, Colin and Alison bagged the last three tickets. Here are our pictures - well done everyone involved. We raised just under £1000 for Strathcarron Hospice and McMillan Nurses. (Lots of shots so it's not dial-up friendly, but you can look at the thumbnails).
27.02.06 Been up north for a short break and visited Monymusk. See family history page for pictures.
18.02.06
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last, Paul's telescope has arrived. A steep learning curve is anticipated..
(Double click on the small picture to enlarge).. I've to say
that it's a 4½ inch reflector Newtonian with an equatorial ring.
It's a mark of his enthusiasm for the subject that he is willing to have
it described in Imperial measurements, as usually I suffer from his
outright derision when I come with up things like "It's an eighth of
a metre.."
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10.12.05 Spent last night in the company of Messrs Welsh, Rankin and McColl Smith, launching their new joint venture, One City. Buy the book here or better still go to your local bookshop.
2005 Summer: Gallery 8 launched in Aberdour, Fife. Situated on Shore Road, it's a welcome addition to this strand of individual and unique viewing spaces, all with a retail angle... Lewis Banks, the curator, is more than happy for you to treat it as a gallery space - or as the answer to all your present-buying dilemmas. See Lewis's artworks here. Many local artists are exhibiting their work. See also http://www.aberdour-festival.org/
17.11.05 Dad's golfing buddies go live here
29 10 05 Dad given Freedom of Falkirk. Did I mention that already?
29 08 05 Links added to family history
25 07 05 Some weekend! We went to Jill's BBQ, then to Glasgow to meet Rieko, Ayako, Yuno and chums, and then to see Daniel, Sarah, Pete and Michaela. In between all that, we were given a hotel room upgrade and had a grandstand view of the Clyde water festival.
NEW July 2005 - my impressions of the G8 week.
Paul, Kirsty, Jill, Al, Liz and Nigel on the makepovertyhistory march, The Meadows, Edinburgh 2nd July 2005.
June 05 Not quite as in Witness, but here is Paul raising his barn.
June 05 - Kirsty & Paul get stuck in a field. Yes folks, all the news that's fit to print!
May 2005 - Hamish chums together again!
Here's the first paragraph of the lead story in today's Herald (March 05)
