Tash and the Mountains.

Tash posted some pics on her facebook page. I hope she doesn't mind but I decided to take her travel ones of these incredible mountains and turn them into a panoramic.

Copyright violation?

Malaysian Food

Isla took me to THIS tiny restaurant last night for Malaysian food. Simply put it was ace.

The first clue to that was that there was that it was full. The second was the fact that it was full with Malaysians. The third was that it was BYOB. The forth was that the menu was extensive. The fifth and most important was that the food was incredible! I don't know if it was as good as some of the places we ate in Oz but certainly it was the best meal I've had since we got back to the UK.

Isla had some tofu veggie weirdness which she claimed was good but my Red Curry King Prawns with coconut rice was gastronomic. I loved every mouthful and I didn't want my portion to come to an end... and for the longest time it didn't. I counted 10 MASSIVE king prawns in my dish and for £8 I was very impressed.

Highly recommended and we'll definitely be back.

The Canal

So if your not already aware of this... I love Edinburgh.

One of the other things that I'm liking is the canal. OK, so it's a bit scummy in areas but the bit out side our flat is lovely. There's always people out there paddling in canoes or running along the path. Also there is always loads of ducks and swans there which provide lots of photo opportunities. It's great and when "I feed the pigeons I sometimes feed the sparrows too. It brings me an enormous sense of well-being."

Over the course of the next few months I'm going to try and get some really decent shots but in the mean time here are some feathers for you to look at.

Enjoy.

The Infamous Grey

These wee scamps are always hanging around our neck of the woods. I've been trying to get a picture of the one that sits in the apple tree in the back garden but it's always been too quick. However, one of his buddies sat still for long enough today in a tree up the street for me to snap this number.

I'm hating the auto focus though as it always preferentially fixes on the foreground. Need to figure that one out.

The Lich King is a drug dealer!

I quit. That's right. About November time last year I managed to chuck my addiction that was World of War Craft. However, thanks to a personalised email from Blizzard, extensive recent radio coverage and a work colleague who goes on about it incesantly I have succumed to purchasing both expansion kits for WoW.

I guess that means I'm going to be a WoW junkie again. Oh well, with Isla studying all the time I'll at least have plenty of time to play. Yay.

Isla's 30th Birthday Bash

Just a wee note to everyone to say thanks for coming to the party. The costumes were ace and I think Isla had a pretty good time. Here's some pics below...

Arran Zain

Hi guys. Here's some pics of the lastest addition to Sophie and Iain's clan... Click on the pictures below to go directly to the main, full-size pics.

Goldfrap - total crap!

So it was Isla's birthday yesterday and as part of her present we went to see Alison Goldfrapp play at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh. I'd heard that she was supposed to be a "good performer" and Isla is a bit of a fan so I hoped that it would be a decent show.

Is wasn't.

Firstly the stage set was rubbish. It was done up a bit like an old Henry the 8th jousting tournament - but a crap one. More like an 15th century village festival than something royalty would attend.

The next thing was that it was so "start-stoppy". There seemed to be big gaps of silence between the songs and although her singing was impressive there was very little in the way of a "performance".

I hate to say it but I was totally bored. They just didn't entertain. It was a bit like watching a school band and the fact that there was zero interaction with the crowd made things even worse. Actually that's not entirely true - there was one bit where one of the guitars wasn't working and a new one had to be fetched from back stage. At this point Alison said, "Move on... We're professionals... Shit happens" and that was the extent of her chat.

Luckily (for me) Isla started feeling unwell and we ended up leaving early. I was a bit pissed off - not because we didn't see the whole show but that music artists can charge so much money for a concert like that and then put on such a lack-lustre performance.

When I think that the last show I saw at the Corn Exchange was the Prodigy it makes Goldfrapp's show even more of a let down.

Incidently, has anyone ever got money back for tickets because they didn't like the show? Seems to me that you should be able to get a refund if the concert was as pump as Alison Goldfrapp's.

I've been rubbish - but my socks aren't!

I'm sure that I'll look back over this site in years to come and wonder what the hell I was up to during this period.

The fact is that I've been really quite lazy. In all honesty there too much to remember in retrospect with all the moving and wedding stuff. So appologies. Anyway, here is a picture of some socks that I've just bought. They're great although a little bit camp. Hope you like them - I do. Promise to be better at this blogging malarky.

Ross' Stag Do

Hey guys, if you wanna see the final video from Ross' Stag then click the links below. I had to split it into 2 clips as it would have been too long for youtube. Enjoy...

Part 1



Part 2

Renovations 3

So this is how the bay windows are looking and hopefully soon we'll have soon appropriately tasteful double glazing in place - may be a few months for that though...


...it should also give you an idea of what our view from the living room is like.

Renovations part 2

So you thought that the ceiling in the bedroom was bad? Yellow? That was nothing. Take a look at what had been done to the ceiling in the living room before I got the dulux Once (or "thrice" as it should be called) on to it...




And look at the state of the fire place!!!!.....

Pedal for Scotland

Well I just completed this today with my mate Stuart. It was more gruelling that I thought it would be but that's because I'm really REALLY out of shape. Now I feel totally spaced and after 55miles and almost 4 hours on the bike there's no wonder. Also I had a 40kph crash near the end where I took out another cyclist who was well pissed off especially since his wheel was missing a few spokes afterwards. Actually I was lucky to get away with a bruised elbow and some damaged pride.

Anyway, a good time had by all and I'll post the whole story on the Triathlon website for anyone who's interested.

Renovations Number 1

Howdy everyone. We've been busy in the last 2 weeks since we moved to the 'Burg. Our first project has been the bedroom and here are the pictures of how things have gone. Alas it's not finished yet but I hope these pics give you the idea...













Enjoy!!!

Edinburgh.... at last!

Hello Everyone. It's been ages since I wrote something on this and the reasons are quite simple......

1. We've been busy selling and buying flats and moving through to Edinburgh.
2. We've not had the internet FOR AGES.

At long last we've finally made it through both of those ordeals (the worst being the lack of the net - by far) and are presently trying to settle in the 'Burg. I have to say that I'm finding it rather pleasant here. It's certainly better than Glasgow in so many ways. (This particular picture was taken at 6am on a Sunday morning when the Mile was empty - completely empty!)

Firstly there are no neds - or at least none that I've seen. The weather is better - it still rains here but it still seems brighter and according to the Met Office it has 1/3 the rainfall of Glasgow. Also there are loads of people out on bikes. To be honest everyone here seems healthier and although people say that the folks here aren't as friendly as the Weegies, I still haven't had any experience of that.

So I'm looking forward to our life here. It almost feels like every day is a holiday - I mean how many people get to drive or cycle through the countryside to work and back but still live in a major city? And where we live totally rocks as there is a beautiful park outside where we had a picnic last week - and there wasn't a bottle of Buckfast in sight. (That's our view above!!! - Jealous yet?)

So I urge all my mates in Glasgow to join us any time you want. You'll be more than welcome.

One Tree Hill

This is a pointless entry but it's the only way I could show KP & Co the tree that I was going on about. I think it's quite cool - but they think I'm a bit... weird!

One Ring to Rule Them All....

Hi All,

I don't know if Isla has got round to posting a picture of the engagement ring yet but here it is in all it's glory. Thought some of you ladies out there might be interested in having a look at it.

I'm sure Isla has filled you in on it's cut and carot etc. All mumbo jumbo to me but apparently it's a goodun. Actually, I just really like this photo so needed an excuse to put it on the blog.

Enjoy.

PAAAAR-TAY!

Hi Everyone.

Been really remiss with this blog but having no internet in the flat really makes keeping these up to date almost impossible. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to everyone that came to our Cheese and Wine the other night. It was a good laugh and testament to that is that fact that I had to spend almost the whole of Sunday in bed!

The wines were great and there is so much cheese in the flat at the moment that the place gets a fresh stench every time the fridge is opened! Special mention to Angus who's Pensilar Cheese smelt like a junkie's foot. Tasted not bad though.

Anyway thanks again. Think we're going to start a wee wine tasting club through in Edinburgh if any of you are interested in joining us!

Wino

At long last the wine is brewed and bottled. It's not quite ready to drink yet as it needs to settle for a few days and despite all the precautions, I can still see a little bit of sediment floating about in it.

I have to say that it smells...ok. And just OK. Nothing particularly special. I got a little taste during the rustic siphoning episode and again it tastes just OK. I'll see how it is a few days as I've put some in one of those 200ml airport bottles so that I don't have to open a full one. Who knows, in 10 years time they actually might taste above mediocre.

Thirst for life/booze

Well that's another year and another 40 days booze free. Actually quite difficult this time as I was doing it at my folks house where mother-dearest always has an open bottle of red, a glass of which is consumed nightly. Makes it hard which each dinner is accompanied with the question "would you like some wine with your meal?"

Despite that hurdle the 40 days passed quickly and although many of my friends question the worth of this exercise, I do find that if nothing else at least it makes you question you're reasons for wanting a drink.

Actually the time scale wasn't completely booze-free as I choked on some of the home made wine a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to syphon it out of one bucket and into another. I hope that inhaling alcohol doesn't count!?!