tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30128542008-07-19T08:51:12.987Znaked blogpeternoreply@blogger.comBlogger2340125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-36367697597431883202008-07-19T08:37:00.006Z2008-07-19T08:51:13.075ZSMOOTH OPERATOR
Smoothies R Us!! Oh yes.
Ever since I discovered Lidl smoothies at 69p, as opposed to the Innocent brand for which you can stick an extra pound in front, I've become a huge fan. The next step clearly had to be to make my own. OK, I never cook, but even a moron like me can chop a bit of fruit or veg and press an ON button. The machine I got was from Woolies. Ready, Steady, Cook peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-81088728712837676412008-07-18T09:04:00.004Z2008-07-18T10:29:43.166ZRADIO TIMES
So you'll be wanting to hear all about Wednesday! (For those on another planet, Wednesday was my first stint on BBC radio. Well, second if you count Radio Scotland Blogday, in 2003 or some such year.) But that was all pre-recorded. This time alive, alive-o.This post should clearly have been written on Wednesday, not two days later. So much for immediacy. But then I'm now an official peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-29021441044050526612008-07-16T10:23:00.003Z2008-07-16T11:23:45.860Z
MacAULAY AND CO
Hello to any new visitors from BBC Radio Scotland. I'm writing this after the show, in Princes Street Gardens, to show the immediacy of the medium. Thank you for dropping by.
You can hear the show here. I start around 8'00"peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-33966837478997290602008-07-15T20:03:00.005Z2008-07-15T23:23:44.145ZA MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
This true story from yesterday is quite sad. Do not read if etc.
I shouldn't be sitting here, writing to you like this. In just over twelve hours I'm guesting on national radio. Radio Scotland. The theme is old media versus new, and you can guess which corner I'm in. Across the ring will be a gent from a leading newspaper, and the topic is on the lines of "Death of peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-11880912525909410312008-07-15T09:45:00.004Z2008-07-15T10:55:59.252ZVIDEO KILLED
I'm on the radio tomorrow. No - not Leith FM, estimable though that is, but something rather larger. The BBC. That's right. Details and "Listen Again" later.
So - now I've GOT to write something starry to retain the millions dozens of new pairs of eyes. Was gonna be dead sheep. Hmmm.
Many thanks to Urban Chick for the nod.
An overnight sensation after fifteen years!
Excuse me peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-73153526956607180152008-07-11T09:31:00.003Z2008-07-11T10:26:46.993ZDEEP DEPRESSION
Yesterday's day off was modified and re-arranged because of weather forecasts. Carol in the morning (she of the wonderfully sincere demeanour - how does she do it?) had a huge swathe of blue water over the entire north of England and south of Scotland. With the 25 percent chance of a Significant Rainfall Event over Dumfries and Galloway.
Wellies and umbrellas then, I think we'dpeternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-24857981630666963282008-07-10T11:02:00.002Z2008-07-10T11:09:23.058ZHACKED TO BUGGERY
There I was, idly glancing at the Grauny website due to the inclemency of the weather, when what should my eye settle on but an article about internet hacking.
So I clicked on the article, as you do, to be greeted by a message saying, "This site is trying to run [can't remember]. Click here to run this [can't remember]"
So I clicked there, and then up came a warning bar peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-60488289602914625212008-07-09T09:56:00.002Z2008-07-09T10:34:05.333ZHI HO
Do you know I'm really still a bit tired, even three days after Sunday's mega-session on the Glencoe mountains? Yesterday, for the first time since I quit drinking, there was even this slight notion to have a pint. Didn't, of course, but the thought was there. So I drowned it with coffee and cakes.
The Terrace Cafe in the Botanic Garden has a location to die for, but oh dear me... two peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-18351218862218921282008-07-08T13:19:00.003Z2008-07-08T13:22:24.903ZWINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 3
Don't install it. I've had SP3 for two hours now, and can say it's pretty rubbish. Hangs MSIE 7 every time you close it. Can't download web images and puts that empty X instead. Offers no discernible benefits except to (a few) corporate users. What a rip-off!peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-37714487356060664242008-07-08T11:49:00.004Z2008-07-08T13:17:21.966ZBUTTERFLY EFFECT
So there I was yesterday, Sudoku-ing away while my legs and feet recuperated from a hefty hillwalking day indeed. Made Lairig Ghru seem like a walk in the park. (Park. Geddit? Cairngorms National Park.) Spent a whole day on one puzzle, until I'd exhausted every avenue.
So today, in order to put that behind me, and make some progress with my life, actually DO something, I peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-21333102694457470362008-07-06T04:07:00.003Z2008-07-06T05:13:37.263ZEVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES
Independence Day proved a wee bit too celebratory for a couple of my young female colleagues, who after their shift decamped to a nearby house of revelry to continue libations. Sadly however they soon found themselves arrested by the deputy sheriff and banged up for the night in the Town Jail, still in their cute cowgirl outfits with fur-trimmed stetsons and hotpants.peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-62373351796727520072008-07-04T09:01:00.005Z2008-07-04T11:15:40.652ZMOBILITY ALLOWANCE
Lovely to see Babs out and about yesterday, albeit the poor thing's on crutches and a moonboot. She broke her foot some time back. Like David Beckham but more of them broke.
Anyway... nice time chatting in the Port Inn, then off to Rocksalt in Constitution Street for lunch. (Used to be Andrew Ovens stationers.) How busy those tram workers seem to be! Bang, bang, clatter, peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-31986601857949548312008-07-03T09:35:00.006Z2008-07-03T10:38:22.679ZSAGATECH
An occasional column on today's technology for yesterday's people
What I was going to write about yesterday, before my home became a wildlife park, was my amazing feat with Blogger. That's right. This fascinating site with its starry dotcom is nevertheless brought to you by those wonderful people at Blogger. Or Google I think we should now call it.
I know various of you "migrated" I peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-50268560083479499952008-07-02T21:00:00.003Z2008-07-02T22:04:35.951ZPARADIGM SHIFT
Best enjoyed after the post below
Well, after today's mouse re-infestation it's clear the honeymoon is over. The mouse deterrent effect since darling zoe moved in has abated, and it's back to the law of the jungle.
Last time - two and a half years ago - there was so much stress, lying awake in aural agony every night, listening to the vermin chewing their way in. All night, peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-79539323107164004532008-07-02T09:47:00.005Z2008-07-02T10:26:53.512ZTHEY'RE BACK!!
Oh I feel quite faint. Just seen a mouse, only inches from my feet. Zoe! I called, but to no avail. The fat thing is asleep in the livingn room. She'll have to perk up better than this. No wonder she's become fond of the kitchen.
Oh I feel quite sick. Horrible black brownness. Now my hair will all fall out again. It's a nightmare. Zoe will have to take a refresher course. Insteadpeternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-24339187971659027342008-07-01T12:11:00.007Z2008-07-02T09:46:49.602ZWHEN YOU WALK...
A couple from yesterday's jaunt up Ben Ledi (again). Awesome, but you know I find the top quite scary - looking across the tortured landscape of Scotland, shrouded in what seems like perma-cloud. Twice I've been up, and both times couldn't wait to descend. Uneasy. Maybe it's a lightning thing. Or just being so close to the sky, looking down on rainbows.
But - this is why we do peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-59043223493081398352008-06-30T10:05:00.000Z2008-06-30T10:13:33.294Zpeternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-68091952395852922842008-06-30T09:20:00.001Z2008-06-30T09:48:04.946ZI'M SITTING IN A RAILWAY STATION...
. . . Got a ticket for my destination . . .
Days these days are filled with things I absolutely must blog about the moment I get a minute - but neither the minute nor the moment ever seems to show up.
Last Monday was Ben Ledi near Callander, Stirling - at 879m simply the highest I've been alone. Still adventurous after Saturday's lairig!
At the summit I peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-71330186933222819522008-06-23T10:28:00.001Z2008-06-23T10:39:03.960ZTICK, DONE IT, GOT THE LAIRIG
Oh it was quite splendid, although very tiring. Hence yesterday's silence. Zombied.
Story later,such as it is, but the pics are already on Flickr on the sidebar. I need to go back to the Cairngorms and embrace them, make them my own.
This post en route to Callander, where I might climb Ben Ledi (850m). Or not. P xpeternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-6598663672541460472008-06-20T17:26:00.007Z2008-06-20T22:13:32.658ZHAPPY SOLSTICE!
That's right. On the twentieth of June this year, but only for readers west of Greenwich. Because it's at 23.29. One minute later and we'd be talking 21st. So zoe and Daffers will get it on the usual day.
This time tomorrow I'll still be only part way along the Lairig Ghru. Can't remember when I last was so excited. Seriously. Wednesday I completed my stamina training in the peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-60717612957669412852008-06-18T08:32:00.001Z2008-06-18T08:41:44.420ZALL ABOUT SPOILERS
Dismayed last night, on switching on All About Eve, to see some young man with bad hair and even worse teeth, telling me all the plot. By the time I found a mute button the movie was materially spoiled.
Radio Times magazine is as bad. Every damn film is laid bare before you even start. Must write to the editor..
On Pentland bus for the final training for Lairig Ghru this peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-36187874359948548542008-06-11T15:45:00.001Z2008-06-11T15:55:03.353ZTEST-ICLEpeternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-73009928395657463012008-06-11T10:05:00.010Z2008-06-12T00:11:14.105ZSUMMER HEIGHTS HIGH
Interesting and unusual Aussie comedy show on BBC3 last night, which you can (and should) catch on its first repeat this evening. It's wonderful that nowadays you can see just about everything just about three times in the same week.
This all comes about because of my continuing flirtation with sobriety - ten days and counting. Interesting and unusual times. And which all gopeternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-57147979152397410252008-06-06T10:27:00.004Z2008-06-06T10:35:39.244ZSPRINGWATCH!
You know the tourist season has arrived when you see these yellow-jacketed creatures prowling the streets. OK, it was Rose Street, Edinburgh in the middle of the afternoon, arguably the least likely place in the discovered universe for any crime to happen, but still they thanklessly pound the beat so that the tourists might sleep sound in their hotel beds.
Try to find one in any peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012854.post-3334184487633676872008-06-04T05:31:00.005Z2008-06-04T07:22:37.504ZALIEN V PREDATOR
You wait all week for one, and then two come along at once...
Might be more understandable if you do in fact read Tuesday (below) first...
Yesterday was notable for its very bad weather forecast. All were united... metoffice, metcheck, BBC, ITV, you name it. Each one had the dreaded black cloud and two raindrops - for the entire livelong day. Metoffice even had a Severe peternoreply@blogger.com