:: progress report

Cleaned the house - tick (well, you know, to my standards; it wouldn't pass the white glove test)
Cleaned the car - tick (cheated by going to the car wash; it's dirty again now)
Tidied the garden - no
Walked the dog - tick! He's had a good weekend & is exhausted. Today we went to one of my favourites, Elie. En route I decided to stop off at Wemyss, to check out some caves there I was told about. Turned out not to be a great idea. First of all, there was a giant sign by the path leading to the caves saying NO DOGS. Then there was the beach; no keep off signs, but they hardly needed them:


Yes, all this and the North Sea too! The wall is brand new, and the rocks looked brand new as well -- nice and sharp. I guess they thought red and grey would look nice together.


Very inviting, especially on a winter's afternoon. I can only assume there's some sand down there at low tide. Or maybe it's a shortcut in case you want to commit suicide.

So we pushed on to Elie, which is much nicer.


It's so bracing!


Bertie loves it at Elie. The second time we went there he jumped a fence and went frolicking around a field. I was furious and worried, but Anthea, who was with us, was doubled up with laughter -- he was pronking like a springbok, he was so delighted. It was pretty funny, in retrospect. But to get him out of the field (because of course he couldn't jump out -- what was the point?), I had to climb in and walk round the boundary looking for a gate. Couldn't find one, but eventually found a gap under the fence that was just big enough to squeeze a large, struggling greyhound through, with me pushing and Anthea pulling. He hasn't jumped the fence again.

I took a whole lot more photos but took them on my ye-olde SLR camera, with film and everything -- have to wait until I've had them developed. The film dates from before I got the digital camera, shows you how much I use the old one.

On the way back I stopped off at a charity book sale in Lundin Links and picked up a few foxed old classics, including Portrait of a Lady by Henry James and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. As I left I noticed a pile of old maps and travel brochures and picked out a few. They all dated from the 50s and 60s and have gorgeous graphics:



And one showed how far we've come, and why political correctness isn't a bad idea. It's a map of Lakewood, a suburb of Long Beach, California. The map was printed in 1956 by an estate agency flogging development housing, so on the back it has a checklist of "100+ reasons why you should live in beautiful Lakewood".



A lot of it sounds like stuff that would send anyone screaming in the opposite direction -- Patio Club anyone? -- but what really had my jaw dropping was this section:



So when they say "100% American" they mean 100% white. "Good Neighbours" are white neighbours. There are plenty of police to keep anyone else out. And just in case you couldn't add all that up, they drum it home with point 18: "Is Lakewood the 'White Spot' of Long Beach? Yes." Yikes. I'll have to email the city council a copy for their archives.

I haven't been to any films or anything, probably do that tomorrow night. I've been busy clearing out various cupboards, and doing lots of little DIY jobs that have been on my "to-do" list for long enough to make it disproportionately satisfying to get them done at last.

:: time off

Blimey, where did that week go? It's Thursday night already. I had two days where I started work early, to learn the software upgrade they're working on, and an early start always throws me. But now I've got four days off, four in a row!

First thing on the list is cleaning: clean the house, clean the car, tidy the garden. The car is extremely filthy due to many weeks of salted roads and a grand finale circle in a muddy field today. As I drove off down the road, mud was spraying off the wheels, and the windows are spackled with it. Note to self: Peugeot 205 is not an off-road vehicle. Well, at least I didn't get my feet dirty.

I'd like to get on to some of my many DIY projects, but ... we'll see. Cleaning first. And then getting in touch with people I haven't talked to for ages but who sent me cards & letters at Christmas.

Bertie will be taken on at least one major expedition over the weekend. He thought he was going on one today, but to his disgust it was only to the pet supermarket. And even then he wasn't allowed to investigate the huge cage of birds he spotted. He's so badly treated, his life is just hell.

There are computer projects too -- rather a lot to do there -- but they'll be on the back burner I'm afraid. I'd much rather be out and about. There are a few films I'd like to see -- I haven't caught the latest Star Trek yet, and I'd like to go to 8 Mile and also 11'09''01 -September 11.

:: bleuuuugggghhhh!!!!

I've been sick -- as in vomiting. It came on yesterday, all of a sudden, while I was at work. I'd felt a bit nauseous on the way to work, but just ignored it. Then suddenly I had to rush for the toilet. After a couple of trips I decided I'd probably better go home -- I was starting to feel shaky and feverish as well, plus I had diarrhoea. I had to sprint upstairs as soon as I got in, blaaargh, urrrrrgh. Once I was completely emptied out, I took myself off to bed with a hottie and slept a bit, then walked the poor dog and went back to bed with a cup of fennel tea. It was a horrible experience, I can't remember the last time I threw up.

This morning (at 8am, Bertie having decided I'd slept quite long enough) I felt a bit better and risked two slices of dry toast and some black coffee. I kept it down but have felt queasy all day. I had some soup and a roll tonight. Detoxing is de rigeur after Christmas/New Year, but this is a harsh way of going about it! I don't know what set it off, but it could be winter vomiting virus, which I had never heard of before this winter. My next door neighbour, Frances, and her entire family had it, all at once, Mum, Dad and the three kids.

Bertie's foot is totally better, and he's had some good times running around testing it to the max. I took him to Braid Hills as a special treat on Saturday, but didn't let him off the lead much. He went zooming around crazily with some other dogs, slipped on ice and fell on his arse in a defrosted cowpat! He loved every minute of it.

Speaking of ice, it's Bertie's latest craze. During the freezing weather recently, I was regularly dumping the birds' iced-up drinking water and replacing it. Every time, Bertie grabbed the big chunk of ice and gnawed bits off it. Mmm, yum! Crunchy!



I'm obsessing over Greece at the moment, I've wanted to go there for years and I'm probably going in June. I had been thinking of going earlier, but everything is shut until May, and the two colleagues I'm working with are taking their holidays in May, so June it is. I have to decide whether to go on a package holiday or just arrive and take a ferry somewhere; and I have to decide where that somewhere might be. I've got loads of brochures and a guidebook, and so far quite fancy Ikaria, Corfu, and Crete, all for different reasons. There are so many islands to choose from though! They all look gorgeous, but I'd prefer somewhere quiet. Or somewhere with interesting ruins to explore (Crete for example). The old backpacker in me wants to go footloose and fancy-free, following the breeze; the 50-year-old in me wants someone to collect her from the airport and deliver her to a nice clean studio apartment next to the beach. Who will win?

:: early cut

I was going to post something but I'm being allowed home early as a reward for working long hours the rest of the week, hurrah! So I'll just be brief.

Bertie's injury is healing up well, so of course didn't he go and cut another foot last night? Tsk. I blame myself -- we saw a fox, and Bertie was keen to snuffle around in the undergrowth where it had disappeared. Next thing he was holding up a front foot in a pathetic manner. Ow! Luckily it's not serious, more a scrape than a cut, so I should be able to deal with it without yet another trip to the vet.

Today we went on quite a long walk, given that it was raining and windy and cold. At the halfway point, his boot came off. It and the two socks inside it were sodden through and there didn't seem much point in struggling to get them back on, so I kept him on a short lead and hoped for the best. Seem to have gotten away with it, phew. I dread anything more happening to that foot, it's been such a nuisance. And the poor dog is dying for a fun run, he sick of mooching along on the lead.

:: HAPPY 2003!!!

I'm at work right now, feeling hungover even though all I had to drink last night was half a plastic cup of warm champagne while I watched the Hogmanay fireworks from the balcony outside the staff canteen with the lads from IT. Faye's already gone back south, so I gave away her pass to a lucky soul who got out of work early. I was going to go up and see the fireworks from Princes St, but it was cold and no-one else wanted to go, so ... boo hoo!

Poor Bertie meanwhile was home alone. I'd pulled all the curtains I could and shut the doors of the rooms that had no curtains, and I left the radio on, but he was still pretty jittery when I got home. Rockets were still going off as I took him for his walk, but he was brave and managed to keep his head.

This morning I slept in, missed the Loony Dook and thus missed the possibility of meeting up with Richard and family, who are up from England for a few days. Sigh. I've never managed to get up in time to see the Loony Dook yet. Maybe next year ....

This New Year week is heavy-duty work-wise. On Monday, for example, I started at noon and finished at 9pm, working right through without a break. I was doing the New Year Honours List - the bloke who normally does them is in Jamaica, the lucky swine! I've been enjoying doing some of the other parts of his job, but not that one, it was sheer tedium. I'll get a day off on Saturday -- a million things to do, but I imagine I'll be concentrating on a) sleeping b) loafing and c) walking the dog.

Bertie is allowed out without his boot next Monday, hurrah! However, he's only allowed to walk -- not run -- and only on grass. For another week. He should get the all-clear by the end of the month, and I'll take him to one of his top spots for a sprint.

:: ho ho ho

Well it warmed up after the big frost and Christmas Day it was positively balmy. In fact, as Faye remarked, it was warmer than some Dunedin Christmases.

So here are a few festive snaps for you to look at:


On Christmas Eve we had dinner at the Rail Bridge cafe, and amused ourselves taking snaps of the bridge.


Afterwards we went in to the midnight carol service at the High Kirk of St Giles. It was lovely - the minister did a great anti-war sermon.


You can just about make out the banners in this shot - they have angels on them, done in applique.


My little Poundstretcher tree is still going strong - not as fab as the St Giles tree.


Bertie had an appointment at the vet's on Christmas Eve, and ended up with a new dressing. Sigh. He hates it. He's wearing one of my socks on it -- when he goes out he has the sock, then a plastic bag, then his lace-up boot, which is covered in three layers of gaffer tape. And sometimes the bandage still gets wet. Sigh.


We all got lovely presents. Faye gave Bertie a Marks & Spencer dog treat stocking, and he scoffed the lot! We were disappointed to discover that the pudding in the toe was a squeaky toy. He's scaredof squeaky toys.


Faye got a beautiful shawl.


My best pressie was the flame-thrower. It was meant to be a birthday present, but Faye couldn't send it through the mail because it includes a gas bottle. Way to go!


After opening the presents we went for a walk. Bertie wore his antlers, the ones Faye got him that have flashing lights and play "Silent Night". He was a huge hit, especially with children.

:: more frost

Here's another picture I took the other day, frost crystals on the shed roof. See the slight sunset glow there? It was taken at noon.

:: stitched up

Bertie update: He got his stitches out all right, but still has a bandage, which he has to wear until Christmas Eve. He squealed while the vet took the stitches out and she chastised him - but then realised he was crying because the receptionist was holding his leg too tightly. Ow, ow, ow!

I got some partridges at the butcher's yesterday. I went to a real old-fashioned place in Stockbridge, which has a grand display of pheasants, rabbits etc, all with their clothes on, as it were. The other old-fashioned touch is that the butcher is a compulsive opinionator, like a classic taxi driver. As I went in, he was conversing with another customer.

Customer: Yes, I've always thought guinea pigs would be delicious.
Butcher: Aye, especially the young ones that haven't run around a lot. No reason not to eat them.
Customer: They eat them in South America.

A nice young assistant fetched the partridges out of the display cabinet for me.

Butcher: Those are grey partridges those, they're the best ones.
Customer: Better than French partridges.
Butcher: Aye, they're no good, French partridges. See those over there? [Indicates birds in display.] They're French partridges, don't buy those.
Customer [addressing me]: Do you know why they call them French partridges?
Me: Because they come from France?
Customer: No! It's because they run [makes running motion with fingers].
Butcher: She doesn't know, she's a townie. It's amazing what town folk don' t know. Country people know it all.

The partridges look awfully wee. I got four just in case.

I've got all next week off, hurrah. It's not actually such a bargain - Christmas Day is a non-publishing day, so everyone gets Christmas Eve off. Whereas there are no non-publishing days the following week, so I have to work six days, including New Year's Eve. I'm hoping to get off by 11:30pm that night so Faye and I can see in 2003 in Princes Street, with fireworks and a dram.

There's a lot of grumbling by those working on Christmas Day. Usually it's a very short shift - everyone comes in early, works hard to get the paper finished and are off home by 8pm or so. But this year The Powers That Be have decreed there shall be two editions, with almost normal off-times, 9:30pm and 11pm. Plus it isn't clear whether anyone has arranged for food to be laid on. The canteen is closed and all restaurants, cafes, shops etc are shut. Merry Christmas, wage slaves! You can be sure that none of the Powers will be working that day.

:: update

Well yes, it's been a while since Bertie hurt his foot. Over a fortnight -- he gets the stitches out tomorrow morning.

He was very drunk the day I picked him up way back then. The vet had given him a shot to bring him round as I had to pick him up early (before work), but he wasn't "awake" in the full sense of the word. The lift was stopping about halfway up the building, so to speak. He recovered after a few days and now he's totally stir crazy from being kept on the lead all the time. I've been putting chew deterrent on his bandages, which has worked a treat, and he has a little boot to wear too. He's worn through the stitching on that, so it has to have a plastic bag inside.

I've been busy being organised for Christmas -- I'm doing very well, I have very little left to organise and there are still five days left!

Faye arrived a couple of days ahead of schedule -- her British colleagues had convinced her Scotland was far, far away so she'd planned on taking a couple of days to come up. In the event she did it in one hit! The house was filthy - I was leaving cleaning till the last minute - but she didn't mind. I dragged the tree down out of the attic and we dressed it together. She also brought Christmas decorations and I already had a pine wreath, so the place is looking reasonably festive. (Bertie is also looking very Christmassy -- Faye brought him some more antlers, and these ones not only have flashing lights, they play Away in a Manger as well! Not a happy puppy!)

And at least the windows are clean - I managed to snag one of the local window-cleaners as he was passing and get him to do them. Only a fiver, and he even did the front door! What a bargain. He's going to come regularly from now on.

As you can see from the picture above, it's quite cold at the moment. The back yard hasn't defrosted for days and in some places you'd think it had been snowing, the frost is that thick. Last night a fog came down as well, which is still lingering. That's why the trees are frosted right up to the tops. Jingle Bells!

One wonderful aspect of the weather is that the frost bounces white light into the house, making it much brighter inside than normal in winter. Especially with the windows being so squeaky clean.

:: Mark Harden's Artchive

Mark Harden's Artchive

This is a great art site. The best bit is the image viewer. Worth a visit.

:: jingle all the way ...

Bertie and Faye at the marina this afternoon. Brrrr.

:: uh oh

As I write this, Bertie is in Linlithgow, coming round from an anaesthetic. He's got stitches in the cut on his paw, which apparently is a classic greyhound injury -- it's in the web between his toes. I took him to the vet this morning as the home medication didn't seem to be having much effect. So now he's strapped up with a fancy-pants bandage and has yet more antibiotics. The damage to me, so far: £136.30. Kaching!! Still to come: two bandage changes (at least) and stitch removal in a fortnight's time, plus more bandages after that. Kaching!!

Good news: he's insured! Hurrah!

Bad news: the excess is £80! Boo!

In five minutes I have to drive to Linlithgow (again) to pick up a groggy dog. I'll take him for a sedate (or is that sedated?) walk, then off to work for a 3pm start due to early deadlines.

:: time flies

I never did get back and finish that, did I? And now it's nearly Thursday (ten minutes to go) and Bertie's on to his next injury (cut paw, ow! ow!). He's being home-medicated -- a thorough sluicing with salty water, followed by lavender oil (it's antiseptic and he hates the taste, so doesn't lick so much). The dew claw injury has just about healed up; I hope the antibiotics are still active!

Where did I get up to in the travelogue? Flodigarry. So we stayed overnight and it was lovely -- the breakfast was superb, stewed prunes and apricots, mmm, and good coffee. It was raining, so we didn't do too much more walking, just around the grounds with the dog. Who had his photo taken by a tourist.

Then we drove back to Barevan through the romantically soggy landscape -- collecting more dog biscuits at the bridge toll. The highlands and islands really do look good in the rain, and at this time of year there's more colour around than in the summer.

Jenny and John had been coping with the farm work all right, and after Andrew had been round the cattle we whizzed off to see the latest Harry Potter. It was ok, though pretty dark in parts. There's one character, Dobby the House Elf, who I found particularly disturbing. He has a thing of punishing himself for mistakes and misdeeds by beating his head against the wall. In one scene, he said, "Dobby's been very bad. Dobby had to iron his hands." He held up his hands and they were bandaged. It's enough to give me nightmares, let alone a sensitive ten-year-old. But the rest was fun, especially the flying car and the quidditch match.

I came back the next day, traffic was fairly heavy so I didn't make good time. I had intended to go out, but crashed on to the sofa instead. Holidays are so tiring!!

This new job I'm in is frantically busy some nights -- like tonight. As well as revising everything and subbing some things and checking the pages and doing little odds and sods, I'm a general trouble-shooter and liaison person. I have to hold about six tasks in my head at any one time, prioritising and reprioritising as new problems come up. This can wait, that is urgent, the other might seem urgent to the person whose problem it is but can go fourth on the list. Meanwhile there was a party going on upstairs and some of the partygoers were standing at the atrium railing, sipping their drinks and gazing down at us beavering away.

But it's fun, I enjoy it. There's lots of variety and the time speeds along when you're busy.

Nearly time to go home, phew. Tomorrow I'm going to finalise arrangements for a lunch for our old foreign desk team: that will be fun! Five angry, opinionated people get drunk in working hours! Whee! I'll have to get someone else to walk Bertie that night; in this job I don't get a break long enough to go home in, and there won't be time between lunch and starting work. I'll work something out. Maybe I'll bring Bertie to work with me -- he can sleep in the car and I can walk him in the park.

:: I'm baaaack!

I've been back for a couple of days but as usual have been flying around catching up with practical stuff and not sitting down and writing about my hols.

Which were great! We went up to the farm on Friday after Bertie got the all-clear from the vet (and more biscuits). Had a great few days on the farm, including a lovely dinner out with Andrew's folks and his aunt and uncle. I got lots of presents and so did Andrew, so we had a little opening session every day. There was also a small drama involving Andrew's other aunt and the Cawdor estate drama -- for a few ghastly minutes she thought she was to be evicted from her cottage, which the estate owns, but it was a misunderstanding. Phew.

Sunday we left for Skye, had a great drive there, stopping for a late lunch at the railway station cafe at Plockton. The bridge tolls have to be the friendliest anywhere -- the attendant sweetened the £4.70 charge with a handful of biscuits for Bertie!

Our first stop was the B&B at Eabost West -- very comfortable.

View from the lounge (same as from the bedrooms):



Tasty breakfast too!



We had a good walk to wear that off, to the Coral Beach near Dunvegan Castle. There was a "no dogs" sign, but we decided it really meant "no terriers". Bertie behaved himself perfectly, apart from eating sheep droppings (ewww!) After a quick cup of tea in Dunvegan, during which it rained, we headed south to um, er, a place near Carbost, long Gaelic name where we scrambled around on cliff tops in a cold wind. Brrr. Next port of call was the Talisker whiskey distillery, where we were disappointed to learn that the next tour wasn't until 4.30pm, too late for us. But a group of Norwegian submariners just happened to be there having a private tour, so we tagged along with them. Very interesting, lots of fascinating smells and sights. We weren't allowed to take photos because of the firefighters' strike.

Then it was back to Moira's B&B to wash and dress and walk the dog. Then, hurrah! We were off to the Three Chimneys for our birthday treat (a major treat for me, as Andrew picked up the tab!! What a guy!)

It was the most extraordinary route to an award-winning restaurant, driving for miles down a single-track road keeping an eye out for straying sheep. But well worth the effort -- the food was divine. Here are some snaps:


My starter: Skye seafood croustade with scallops and lobster, mmmmmmm


Andrew's starter: black pudding with mushrooms and apple. It looks odd but he says it tasted sensational.


My main course: lamb, perfectly cooked, on leek mash with roasted root veg and a port wine sauce.


Andrew's main course: Scallops and monkfish, luscious.

We also had half a dozen raw Skye oysters each, fresh and delicious. First time I've had raw oysters for a long time.

I didn't take photos of the deserts because by then other diners had arrived, but I had a dreamy chocolate tart, which managed to be creamy, rich and light all at the same time, and Andrew had marmalade steamed pud and drambuie custard. The wine was a German sauterne, just off dry, very nice.

We were full as ticks after all that! It was the best restaurant meal I've ever had, wonderful.


Andrew was falling over, he drank so much ... no, he's trying to be artistic. "There's something wrong with your chin," he said. Yes, the famous family chin, glowing away roundly.

The next day we moved to our next accommodation, at Flodigarry, but first we went off down to Elgol, another looooong single-track road. At one point it was guarded by a fierce highland cow. We had to shout at her to get her to move. Bertie was very impressed by her horns and didn't even THINK about barking at her.





Then black north to Flodigarry, stopping for lunch at the Aros Experience at Portree and for a steep walk at the Old Man of Storr. I stopped before the top -- ran out of steam -- but Bertie and Andrew pushed on up to the Old Man. It was a rush because it gets dark at about 3.45.

The hotel was great, a real treat. It's quite expensive in season, but at this time of year it's almost cheap -- £35 each. There's a vast lounge with several sofas, a grand piano and a roaring log fire, a swanky dining room and a fairly scuzzy bar. There were hardly any other guests, so we got to have our bar meals in the dining room and had the lounge to ourselves. Bertie wasn't allowed down there, but he was exhausted so didn't mind too much.

Pics:


The hotel was built as a private house by a descendent of Flora Macdonald -- she used to live in a cottage nearby.


These were everywhere -- big mice, dressed up. Bertie was creeped out by them. So was I.


The bar is in the battlemented white bit you can see in the view of the house, on the right. It has a Moroccan theme -- the original owner lived there -- but the hotel owners haven't let that influence the decor.


Meanwhile, back in the lounge...


It was comfortable in a tatty, well-worn way.


Well it's 6pm and I've got to have a shower and walk the dog before I go out. I'll finish this later on ... maybe tomorrow night at work. Sigh.

:: ouch

That's what it says on Bertie's new bandage, in several languages. Autsch! Aiee!! That's pretty much what Bertie was saying when the vet snipped off his broken dew claw. She made him a little muzzle out of a bandage in case he bit her, but I don't think he would have. He was really shocked that she hurt him though -- his pal! His chum! And I was in trouble too for taking him in there and not smacking her when she hurt him.

He came round after a lot of cuddles and biscuits -- at one point the vet was hugging him and crooning: "You're just misunderstood, yes, you're so unloved and no-one understands you, poor dog,"

"No-one feeds him either," I added.

"Noooo! You're starving and unloved and misunderstood, poor, poor Bertie," she said as he crushed up against her, trembling. I think it was a Vulcan mind-meld.

I don't know how Bertie managed to break his claw, but he probably caught it on something while running around manically on this morning's walk. We were at Blackness for the first time in ages, and he was really excited. We were just going into the woods when I noticed there was blood on his leg. He was very put out when I marched him back to the car.

Right now, full of biscuits, painkillers and antibiotics, he's conked out on the floor behind me. I have to take him back to the vet on Friday morning, before we go north, to have his leg checked out. It should be ok -- it doesn't seem to bother him too much to walk on it, it was just horribly painful to the touch.

Here are pictures:

That lovely bandage in full -- it's still reasonably pristine because I sprayed chew deterrent on it. Ewwww, yuck.


Injured dog writhes in pain while owner callously takes his picture. Actually he's zonked out on painkillers and waiting for me to carry on scratching his chest.

Otherwise, we're good to go! We're staying at a B&B at Struan, south of Dunvegan, for two nights, then one night at the Flodigarry country house hotel. Both my first choices were closed and it was tricky finding somewhere that's open and takes dogs. I'm leaving on Friday, after the vet visit. Friday night we're going to see the latest Harry Potter film, Saturday night we're going out with Andrew's aunt and uncle, then Sunday (after feeding the cattle) we leave for Skye. We head back to the farm on Wednesday, and I go back to Edinburgh on Thursday.

I'm really looking forward to the whole thing.

:: flat tack

This new job certainly has the hours whizzing past. I start half an hour earlier, so for a start I'm having to alter my routine. Then I'm busy from when I sit down until now ... my break. I do prefer to be busy right through, and it's varied work. I'm beginning to learn some of the system's internal workings, which is most interesting.

Tomorrow is my last night on before I go on holiday for a fortnight. I've been pondering how to celebrate my half-century (how can I possibly be that old?) and it's taking shape -- I'll make bookings tomorrow. For a while there I feared it might be a misery-fest, what with the work crisis, but now that's sorted I feel fine about it all.

I'm going up to the farm, probably next Friday, then Andrew and I will go to Skye for a few days. We're going to stay at Dunvegan, hopefully in this B&B and have our joint birthday dinner at the Three Chimneys restaurant. Then we move to Glen Eynort, in a remote corner of the island for another night, then head back to the farm. Fingers crossed it all works out.

My cold is nearly all gone -- it was just an annoying sniffling one, nothing serious. Bertie cut his foot the other night charging around after rabbits, but that's healing up well too. He was beaten up by a staffordshire bull terrier the other day but wasn't injured -- apart from severely dented ego and bruised pride. The staffie's owner had to sit on it to subdue it. Meanwhile his other dog, also a staffie, was ignoring the boys' antics and trying to get me to thrown her "stick" -- a great big log. They really are strong dogs, eh!

I'm thoroughly enjoying my new sofa. It's sooo comfy! I can stretch right out on it and my feet don't touch the other end. It's a more tomatoey red than I remember from the shop, but that's ok.

Back to work again now...

:: hot gossip

In case you didn't find it, here is the link to the story about Andrew's neighbours. This is the second episode -- it's rumbling on nicely.

:: sickly

Woke up with a sore throat this morning, really sore. I had a nice hot bath and wrapped up warm so I feel a bit better now. I hope this doesn't turn my weekend to mush. I haven't had a cold or anything for years.

Driving home last night I suddenly found my rear-view mirror full of blue flashing lights. I pulled over and immediately went into my "please don't give me a ticket" routine. I always get out of the car, I never sit there waiting for the cop to come up to the window. I'm unflaggingly polite, pleasant and cheerful. I admit right away to doing whatever it is they're pulling me over for, apologise sincerely and thank them for their chastisement.

I have never ever been given a ticket, and I've been pulled over lots of times.

This time it was speeding -- 50mph in a 40mph zone. "I didn't think I was going that fast," I said, "I thought I was only doing 45." That made them laugh, because of course it was still over the speed limit. Apparently I was "only" doing 45 but then I sped up as I went down a little slope just before the start of the open road.

The nice policemen made me get into my car and turn off all the lights. Then I had to turn them all on again -- parking, full, high beam, indicators, brakes. Everything worked. Then I had to pop the bonnet (I couldn't find the catch and one of them had to do it for me) and they checked the engine. Finally I was admonished and sent on my way.

One o'clock in the morning, you'd think they'd have better things to do, grumble grumble.

My last day in my current job! How strange. I don't have a last-day feeling at all.

Tim is away from his desk and this is tinkling away tinnily as his mobile phone rings unanswered.

:: argh

This is how I feel lately -- though I hadn't thought of this chap's practical approach to it!

Today I had to collect Rona from the railway station, so it was probably not a good idea to start downloading the Windows XP service pack an hour before I had to leave. I got engrossed, and suddenly had five minutes to shower and get out of there. The download still had two hours to run. Blimey.

So I hurtled off through suddenly sluggish traffic, found a park, flew down into the station -- and her train was late. Whew.

Traffic was bad on the way home too, so Rona got the fast-forward tour of the house and facilities before I roared off. Bertie will be happy -- she was planning to take him for a walk. Gorgeous day, by the way, sunny and clear, with lots of golden leafy autumn goodness everywhere. I had to be in to work early for a meeting with the two blokes I'll be working with. Very interesting -- seems my course in Visual Basic was a good idea!

Ikea phoned -- the new sofa arrives on Monday, which is a day off, hurrah, so no complications with me not being there.

Right now I'd better do some work.

:: happy endings

Crisis over! I'm moving on to another job, still on the paper though -- details by email. I was offered a couple of choices (plus the option of staying where I am, with changed duties) and took the most interesting -- it's a temporary position with a small production team for four or five months. I get on well with them -- in fact I had dinner at the home of one of them on Saturday night -- so I'm happy about the move.

Best of all, I get to take two weeks of annual leave which I wouldn't have been able to take if there hadn't been any changes, due to lack of cover. Hurrah! I'm planning a wee trip to Skye.

I was worried about how two of my colleagues would fare -- one of them walked out on Monday (which I think he secretly enjoyed), the other is staying on, hopefully with his position unchanged. I'm carrying on with my old job unchanged to the end of the week, then I have a week on the new job, then two weeks off. Then it's practically Christmas!

I'm collecting my next guest, Rona, at the railway station tomorrow afternoon (this afternoon, seeing it's past midnight). She's staying until Tuesday, looking forward to that.

I was going to link to a story in today's Scotsman about Andrew's next-door neighbours, the Earl and Countess of Cawdor, but it's not on the website yet. Very exciting! Check it out later on, it's a fascinating family feud. The earl's lawyer is none other than our old friend Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw.

Nearly time to go home. What a stressful week this has been -- I was so distracted when I arrived at work yesterday (Tuesday) I left my headlights on when I parked in the garage downstairs. Luckily someone reported it to reception so I got them turned off before the battery went flat. I've got a long weekend -- Saturday, Sunday, Monday -- and I'll be able to relax and really enjoy it. I want to go for at least one good big long walk.

I went to see 28 Days Later on Monday night, a very scary movie. Scary because it was so real -- it's shot on digital video with a mix of experienced and inexperienced actors, so it had a gritty feel to it. Recommended for fans of scary films but not for the squeamish.

:: still ok

But I still don't know what I'll be doing in the near future.

I'll send another email update soon. In the meantime I'm frantically busy it seems. Marian came and went and crammed a lot into her visit. It was too short, wah! But it was great to see her and catch up. Next guest arrives Thursday, cue several loads of laundry.

Today I hiffed out the old sofa, disturbing Bertie no end. Not that he sat on it or anything, but ... well, shouldn't that be inside the house rather than out on the street? He doesn't like change.

Oh, there's too much to report, too little time to report it in. But I will get there. Honest.

:: I'm ok!!

I'm so sorry to have worried people with my cryptic message -- things are bad, sure, but I'm coping really well. "Despite the stress I feel calm and cheerful" I said, and I meant it. I do feel cheerful. I'm also angry, slightly apprehensive, distracted and sometimes impatient. It's complicated. But I'm ok, really -- you don't need to worry.

One thing that's cheering me is my computer -- absurd that it should please me so much but it does. It works! It works every single time I turn it on. The software has many useful and interesting new settings for me to play with. And there's still more new software to install and play with. The only thing is finding time to play with it. Bertie finds my interest in it troubling: Why are you sitting with your face to the wall? Is something wrong? He puts his head on my lap and nudges my elbow, then finally flings himself down on the floor.

If the weather's at all decent this weekend I'm getting out and about. Did I mention our Pentlands expedition last Saturday? I really enjoyed that. More, please! Not in sheep country though -- Bertie hates being on the lead all the time.

:: stuff

There's a lot going on at the moment that I can't talk about here -- let's just say it's become an extremely stressful week. I'll email people privately or phone (some of you already know what's happening). It's nothing life-threatening but it's keeping me frazzled.

Otherwise, weirdly enough, I'm hunky-dory. Despite the stress I feel calm and cheerful. Bertie has mysteriously become obedient -- yesterday he even stopped hassling some elderly dogs on command, and later on declined to bark at some boys. Next thing he'll be letting kids pat him ...

Time to go home now.

:: wee bugger

I got the bugbear virus today! Didn't get infected though, my antivirus software caught it. I installed the program yesterday and did a scan -- all clear. Then today when I downloaded my email, BING! It roared into action and deleted the nasty. Ha ha, my computer's smarter than the Aussie parliament's entire system.

So yes, the computer overhaul goes forward, slowly but surely. The best part is that I've got the printer, scanner and camera all working smoothly, all on USB. The printer goes faster! It's fab.

:: it's not just me that's middle-aged then...

Everything is -- Universe is 'doomed to collapse' say US professors.

:: sofa so good

I finally ordered my new sofa yesterday, hurrah. In the end I got a three-seater rather than a sofa-bed (which was bigger than the two-seater but smaller than the three-seater), because I don't really need an extra bed and the three-seater is £200 cheaper. I got bright red slip covers, and an extra set of covers in natural, for summer -- the red ones would fade in the sun.

It arrives sometime after November 7, so I still have a couple of weeks left of discomfort. Oh, and to arrange disposal of the old sofa. I don't know if I mentioned but none of the charity shops would take it because it's not fire-proof.

So that's my big spending spree finished -- it was great fun while it lasted! Installation of the new software is going pretty smoothly. I installed new modem yesterday, so I'm back on line again. All the other hardware seems to be behaving better under Windows XP. I still have to reinstall all my programs, plus then partition the hard drive and install Linux. What fun! It's a pleasure to turn on my computer again -- previously it would stutter and stumble and give error messages and generally be annoying. Now it whizzes along in an orderly fashion. Yippee!

Today was busy -- I had to take the car in to the garage for a new tyre, so I flung Bertie in and took him for a walk afterwards. The weather is foul, it rained all night, so the paths are all muddy and/or flooded. But we met a gang of friendly labs & mixed breeds, so Bertie had a fine old time rushing around with them.

Back home I worked on the computer for a few hours, then showered & took Bertie back out into the rain. Met Pat with Amber and Kita, and she told me how they'd stumbled on an eagle the other day. She heard rustling in the undergrowth, thought it might be a badger -- but then out came this huge bird! It flew off into a tree -- Pat reckons it had some prey in the undergrowth.

After that I went back to the garage, collected the car and drove to work. It's still raining.

:: ah hah!

Figured it out at last.

:: that's odd...

I published a draft entry yesterday but it didn't show up on the web page today. Hmm.

Anyway -- soldiering on -- my computer isn't quite a broken mess, but I might need to get a new modem. I had suspected I might, because on reading various internet forums, it seems to be a common problem with Windows XP. Because it's very different from Win98, it needs new drivers for most hardware, and sometimes the manufacturer hasn't come up with a new driver. It's very annoying, but there you go.

I have a deadline to get it sorted out too, because Microsoft, in its desperate desire to counter software piracy, insists you must register WinXP within 30 days to validate it; if you don't, it stops working. You can apparently register by phone, but the line is permanently busy -- with people whose modems don't work, presumably.

Grumbles aside it's looking ok so far, though I don't like XP's "new look" -- it's very cartoony and bright. I'm sure I'll get used to it. There are some features that I really like -- thumbnail views of any photos in a folder, for example, that's brilliant.

I've got to do some work right now, chat later.

:: farewell!

That's my computer speaking. I'm about to reformat the hard drive, ha ha!! Either it will go swimmingly and I'll have a lovely new (software) upgraded machine with no annoying problems, or I'll have a broken mess. Tee hee.

My other bit of upgrading now in progress is my new phone. It all arrived in the post yesterday and I collected it from the post office today -- phone and software. The software was all as ordered, but the phone was a different model. I went into outraged consumer mode -- this is the second time this firm has mucked up an order, grumble grumble. I logged on, ready to send an outraged consumer email, but first I checked the specs of the phone I'd been sent. Oh .... it's worth almost twice as much as the one I ordered and actually has some rather good features .... hmmm.

I decided that if they want me to have this phone, instead of this one, who am I to argue? (And no, I didn't buy it through telephones-online.co.uk or rocom.co.uk.)

The handset has to charge for 24 hours before use, so I'm having to wait before playing with it. I'm using the answering machine that came with it though, but I haven't changed the pre-recorded message yet. At the moment a very posh woman says, "This is an answering machine. Leave your message after the tone." I'll be very surprised if I get any messages.

So, anyway, goodbye from clunky old Windows 98 -- this computer will be reborn as a dual-booting doozie, Linux and Windows XP! (I'll still be reachable by email -- just not on my days off.)

:: sdrawkcab

Just in case you were wondering, it's actually "Dogma I name Cilopraed." Which could be a clue!! If only I had Florian's phone number....

:: florian makes my day

I'm having a reasonably stressful day today filling in for my boss, but then a cheery young German who subscribes to the paper phoned up with a gem. He gets the paper by snail mail, so he'd only just caught up with our report on the "calling card" left by the Washington sniper: "Dear policeman, I am god".

"I don't know if you realise it, but you can read it backwards!" he gushed.

"Really."

"Yes, it says, 'dogma I man police read'. It's very interesting, isn't it?"

I laughed and laughed and laughed, then thanked him for brightening my day with his insight.

He wasn't bothered: "I know you probably get all kinds of crank calls!" he said, still cheerful.

His call really was a tonic, because the news all seems grim -- bombings, arrests, wider threats, the sniper still on the loose; even the director of the CIA is rattled.

I haven't killed my computer yet, but the new software is arriving tomorrow so I'll install it at the weekend and see if I can destroy it then. Ha ha. I had to get a new phone too, the old one has been playing up. It was extremely cheap and is very nasty and crackly to use. The new one is digital so should make for clearer conversations. Still haven't ordered a new sofa. I think about it every time I sit on the old one -- its bones are sticking out like an old horse.

Speaking of bony animals, Bertie has been acting up lately. He's started being aggressive to strange dogs. When I first got him he was timid and submissive, but as he's grown in confidence so he's become more bolshie. Yesterday we encountered a stray dog -- well, he's not stray exactly, he has a home, but he's let out to wander the streets on his own all day. So we met this dog and Bertie decided to challenge him. Nothing too physical, just lots of growling and shoving and posturing. And Bertie won! I was yelling at him to come, and once he'd driven off the other dog he came flying down the path, terrifically excited. He overshot me into the car park, and with me still yelling at him, went shooting past me back up the path. But now a jogger was coming along, and he understandably thought Bertie was running at him, so he stopped. Bad move! Bertie had lost his mind with all the yelling and running and beating the other dog, and started barking at the jogger. I told the guy to just keep running and he did, but he kept looking at Bertie, who took that as a challenge and followed him. "Keep your dog under control!" the guy snapped. I yelled at Bertie some more but didn't try and grab him -- he would have thought I was joining in the chase. Finally got him back and leashed.

Today we met a nice bouncy lab. His owner let him off the leash so he and Bertie could have a run around, and it degenerated into another growling, shoving match (also with lots of peeing). The other guy finally called it off after it looked like they weren't going to calm down. Bertie allowed himself to be removed from the scene -- he was about to lose the battle.

So -- I think I'm going to have to crack down harder on these challenges, otherwise he'll turn into a horrible bully. Oddly enough, his relationship with the dogs he met while he was a wimp hasn't changed at all.

And he's still scared of children, and sacks of onions, and street signs.

Right now I'm embarking on a computer backup. If it goes well I might try partitioning the hard drive. As you do.

:: what I did today

Last night the sky was clear, after a few days of steady rain. Hurrah! But this morning a thick, chilly fog blanketed everything.


Scottish sunshine...


The bridge vanishes.


Sailors don't mind the weather -- the regatta went ahead regardless.

One nice thing about the fog was its effect on spiderwebs:







Bagpipers weren't bothered by the weather either ... the contest also went ahead regardless:

:: too busy to shop

I've been doing housework, in honour of Jenny and her friend Bunty, who are coming for lunch tomorrow. It was meant to be today, but they decided it would make more sense to spend today sight-seeing around Edinburgh and come and visit me on their way home. Poor things, it rained steadily all day.

So anyway my house is spic and span, apart from the study which is always a mess. Creative clutter, you know. And I'm slowly grinding through my list of things to do. I took the old TV, stereo and chest of drawers to the charity shop for starters. This weekend's project is the computer and general dejunking.

Plus at least one long walk -- I thought I might try the Pentland Hills. I used to walk there a lot, but haven't since I've had Bertie. The hills are mainly farmland and sheep are roaming free, so he'd have to be on the lead the whole time. One time when a friend, Lucy, and I were walking in the Pentlands, her dog Jess shot off after a sheep -- it was right near the farmhouse too. Jess came back after a lot of shrieked commands, but Bertie wouldn't I'm sure. He's dying to make friends with a sheep! I'll take him on the flexible lead and see how he gets on. It really is lovely there and it's easy to get to. I miss it!

I've got a hard week next week -- three days standing in for my boss. It's one of the things I enjoy about the job, but it's also something I dread, because it can be stressful. The hours are long too -- 11am to about 9.30pm or 10pm. The following week I have a treat planned though -- a 90-minute massage from someone called Bavara. She sounds wonderful and comes highly recommended. I haven't had a massage for a few years, so I'm looking forward to this one.

:: upgrade

I've decided to go for a total upgrade: computer operating system, stereo, bed, sofa. I've already got the stereo, a JVC compact hi-fi:

My previous one was cheap, very cheap, and not terribly cheerful. The JVC wasn't expensive, but sound quality is streets ahead. Even Bertie has noticed: I put on some flute music and he woke up and stared nervously at the strange new howling boxes.

I've been meaning to get a new sofa and a new bed for ages. When I bought my flat, I paid the owner an extra few hundred pounds for some of the furniture, because I was poor and it was a bargain. So I have this worn-out stuff that was probably ten years old when I got it; I made a new loose-cover for the sofa and a new bed-frame, but now those are worn out too. Finally though, I'm replacing them.

The sofa is this one from Ikea:

But I have to wait two weeks for delivery ... and I haven't ordered it yet.

I haven't found a bed I like yet. I prefer slatted bedframes like the one I have (which is actually broken -- I fixed it myself but it's on its last legs, heh) but may go for a clunky divan base for reasons of comfort. What I'd really like is a wire-wove base, but they don't seem to have those here.

The other aspect to this furniture upgrade is getting shot of the old stuff. I phoned around charity shops today and found one that's happy to take the old stereo and TV as well as an old chest of drawers I have stowed away in a corner. But no-one will take the sofa, because it's not labelled as non-inflammable. I had suspected that would be the case.

This means I'll have to get the council's rubbish dept to cart it off. Happily I've been forewarned about their nutty bureaucracy: you can't just phone them up and set a date that suits you, oh no. They tell you when they will come. If that happens to be the day of your best friend's wedding, well tough -- call again in six weeks' time. That's right! You can only apply once every six weeks. So what people do is agree to the uplift date, then dump the piece of furniture on the footpath the day before. The other catch is that you have to say exactly what you want collected: you can't add something else later on.

It will be good to have a clear-out, I'll have a trawl through the house and see if there's anything else I can pass on to the charity shop. They don't collect from as far afield as my place but I don't mind dropping the stuff off to them -- I might even do it tomorrow.

:: blue

This has to be the strangest story of the week: Senate candidate turns himself blue. I thought it was a leg-pull but it's true. This lady has the problem too, but she's blaming her doctor.

Maybe they should get together with the Sunny Delight kids and Peter Stringfellow ...

:: books

There was a sale of review books at work this week and I scored some great bargains. The best book was The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker. It came out only recently and I'd been waiting for the paperback to be published -- so imagine how thrilled I was to get the £25 hardback edition for 50p.

It's a controversial book -- Pinker quotes rave reviews on his website but not everyone thinks it's a good book. Mary Midgley, a philosopher whose writing I enjoy, gave it a right good thrashing.

Another great book (and only 20p!) was the Rough Guide to Weather. I always wondered how hail stayed up in the sky long enough to get big, and now I know.

An even better bargain than the books was a French film, Betty Fisher and Other Stories: I asked how much the videos were and the woman said, "Oh just take it, I don't even know what's on them all." I wanted to see this film when it came out, but it was only on at the art-house cinema and I missed it. A friend told me the entire plot over lunch, and it sounded interesting if confusing. I haven't watched the video yet.

I've been doing some very concentrated computer work -- since fixing my irksome usb problem (I think), I've decided it's time I upgraded to Windows XP. My friend Kevin assures me it's much more stable than Windows 98, which would be nice. Because XP is very different from 98, I'm having to track down new drivers for my hardware and download them, time-consuming business. I should be ok with most of my kit, but some of my older software might not work.

The plan is to back up all my files, reformat the hard drive, divide it into two partitions and install XP on one and Linux on the other. (If any boffins are reading, I'll be sticking to the Fat32 file system.) The Linux version I'm looking at comes with office and graphics software included.

I'm quite excited about doing this, it's a major move. I've been wanting to try Linux for years, even did a Unix course to prepare myself.

:: weekend stuff

Another lovely weekend flies by, but at least this time I accomplished a few things.

1. Weeded the front garden. It was a mess. Now it's at least tidy.

2. Did some fruitful fiddling on the computer -- I'm still having problems with the USB connection (for the camera and scanner), but I may have sorted it out, with the help of the wonderful forums on the PC Advisor website. It's quite a good magazine too. I'm considering subscribing, but suspect the mag wouldn't fit through the letter slot and I hate being woken up by the postie dring-dringing on the door.

3. Posted Pinky's shopping to her. Lovely shoes, she has such good taste!

4. Got my hair done -- badly-needed trim and colour job. It's lovely to sit there sipping coffee and flipping through the latest Marie Claire. It would be a lot cheaper to buy the mag and sit in a cafe I guess, but then I wouldn't get Sandy's wonderful scalp massage.

Not a very long list, is it? Very enjoyable though. And I got some cheap videos at HMV's sale -- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Magnolia and The Man Who Wasn't There -- so that took up some time. The last one was the only one I hadn't seen before, so I watched that, and I've also watched half of Crouching Tiger, one of my all-time favourite movies. It's the sort of film you have to see on the big screen though -- the fight scenes are stunning.

I bought the videos during an abortive expedition to John Lewis to look at beds. I was mildly interested in this bed, which I'd seen in a brochure. But the Edinburgh branch is in the throes of a huge redesign and the furniture dept has been shunted off to a dim corner where they seemed to have mainly damaged stock and £700 mattresses. It was also horribly busy & I couldn't find anyone to serve me.

In the kitchenware department I looked at coffee makers. I want a filter coffee machine, but one that takes a paper filter. None of the coffee makers they had use paper filters, they have permanent nylon filters. I prefer paper-filtered coffee partly for the taste, but mainly because I've noticed that if I drink other kinds -- instant, percolated, plunger -- I get arthritic pains in my hips. With filtered coffee I don't have a problem. Some studies have noted a link between coffee, even decaffeinated coffee, and arthritis, so it's not just my imagination. I'll have to stick to my little plastic filter cup though, it seems.

So then I went back to the handbag department, where I had earlier found The Perfect Handbag. Perfect apart from the price tag -- £140. I almost put down my credit card, it was a close thing. Soft, buttery leather, mmmmm, stylish plain exterior with only one square buckle for decoration, comfortable strap. Sturdy zip, no horrid magnetised clip to wipe your cards. Lovely. Sigh. By my third visit (well, it was on the way!) the staff were started to ostentatiously tidy the bags next to me.

So I went and got cheap videos instead. And went home and had a filter coffee. And slept in my ricketty old bed. Harrumph.

:: shopping

I did some shopping for Pinky today. Faye had sent Cathy a catalogue for Evans, the plus-sizes clothes shop, and I was picking up a pair of shoes Pinky wanted. I was supposed to do this last week and forgot in all the excitement. It got quite complicated, because the shop didn't have the slip she wanted and the internet site didn't have the shoes!

So anyway it seems like the only functioning branch in Edinburgh is at the Fort Kinnaird retail park, on the city's eastern outskirts. So today I drove out there. I thought I hadn't been before, but when I got there I realised I had -- I went to the bowling alley one time about ten years ago. It's definitely grown since then. It's enormous. Not only that, but the shops themselves are large. They're all the familiar High Street names though: Border Books, Comet, Boots, Gap, blah blah. There's a Pizza Hut and a McDonalds too. You could be anywhere in Britain.

Since I moved out of the city I've been to more shopping centres than in all the years before then, but it still feels like a strange experience. South Queensferry doesn't have any "proper" shops, it's all knick-knackeries and cafes, with a couple of supermarkets. I wish it was more like Stockbridge, which has several greengrocers, a deli or two, a butcher, a baker and a candlestick-maker. As well as cafes and knick-knackeries.

Fort Kinnaird also has a big cinema complex, and that reminded me of the one time I nearly saw a movie there. I was going out with a fellow from Fife at the time, it was one of our first dates. To get to Fort Kinnaird you have to drive through Craigmillar. This is one of the city's most deprived areas -- crappy council housing, lots of graffiti, bars on the shop windows etc. As we drove along the main street, my date became more and more agitated. Finally, he turned the car round, refused to go any further. I don't know what he though would happen to us: carjack? brick through the windscreen perhaps? I was NOT impressed. What he didn't understand was that Craigmillar is a really energetic community -- looks and money aren't everything.

While at Fort Kinnaird I lashed out on an impulse buy at Principles, next door to Evans: a black fake-fur gilet. It'll be lovely and cosy for winter walks with Bertie. I'll need the long sweeping skirt and Russian boots to go with it of course.

:: poor bertie

I'm always spoiling his fun. There's this one table, a cheap Ikea side-table, that he chews. It's in "his" room, the spare bedroom. Soon after I got it, he gnawed on the corner, so I turned the table round so the gnawed corner was hidden. He gnawed on the next corner. I turned it again. Yup, next corner went. I gave up.

The other day I finally got a replacement table, same kind (only in cheapskate white rather than elegant birch), but this time I dabbed each corner with chew deterrent. Horrible stuff -- it was hard to wash off my fingers & I got a taste of it. The main ingredient is something called Bitrex.

Shortly after I put the new table in place, Bertie went upstairs. There was a brief silence, then a kind of stifled bark followed by loud gagging and retching noises.

The table is still as good as new.

:: terraserver.com

Satellite Photos, Aerial Photography, and Images -- Look at cities from outer space.

:: jam today, more jam tomorrow

I made some jam last week as well, from plums that came from trees at the farm. I gave a jar to Fiona and she's reported back that it's delicious (I haven't tasted it yet, I'm still finishing the last of the blackcurrent and some strawberry/raspberry another friend made). I only made five jars of plum jam -- originally six, but then it didn't set so I had to boil it again and a whole jar's worth boiled away -- because I only had five jars. I use jars from other things, like honey and pasta sauce, and hadn't managed to save up very many.

But! Today I discovered that Lakeland Plastics sells jam jars by the dozen, with screw-on lids. Hurrah! A bit late for this year's jam-making, but I'm thinking it might be nice to try making some marmalade. Once I've got a jam pan. Back on the internet I made an interesting discovery -- it may be cheaper to buy an old copper jam pan in an antique shop than a new one. The cheapest antique was a sturdy-looking one, beautifully blackened on the outside, for £32. The cheapest new one was a nasty aluminium job. Yick, and still £40. Stainless steel is about £50-£60, and copper? Fuggedaboudit -- £79.

I love making jam and people really appreciate it, because hardly anyone makes jam any more and store-boughten jam is mainly pumpkin and marrow, I'm told. So! I'll be cooking with gas next summer.