As promised, Bertie models the latest thing in 70s retro styling.



Lookin' good! Feelin' warm! But cool too, dude, real cool...

Apparently the Loony Dook was amazingly popular; everyone I talked to said there were hundreds of people there watching.

There was a very slight air of resentment to some of the comments: a lot of the onlookers were visitors to Edinburgh from elsewhere, who'd come up for the Hogmanay Street Party. Locals are certainly sniffy about that, because in the olden days people gathered at the Tron Kirk in the High Street for the bells. Now you can't get into the city centre unless you have a pass. And now it seems the Loony Dook is turning from a local thing into a tourist draw. Still, they did raise thousands of pounds for charity in the space of half an hour ...

Tomorrow's photographic treat (I didn't get round to uploading it this afternoon) is Bertie in his retro 70s coat. He's wearing it because it's cold. Really, really cold. The frost is so thick on the ground it squeaks when you tread on it, like snow. I saw children sledding on it today. I put water out for the birds and it had frozen over half hour later. It takes ten minutes to de-ice the car windows (if I've forgotten to cover them in newspaper). It's coooooold.

If it weren't for taking Bertie out for walks, I wouldn't stir out except to go to work. But once you get out there it's great, in fact. It's dry and sunny, and there are wonderful things to look at -- frosted leaves, ice flowers on the puddles, amazing sunsets. Fab. What I really want, though, is snow. I love snow.

Torchy the Electric Greyhound makes an unusual Christmas decoration.

Happy New Year!!


I stayed home last night. I was going to go into town to join the street party and see the fireworks, but at about 6pm a volley of rockets went off and so did Bertie. So I stayed home to hold his paw and reassure him that no, we were not under attack.

He wasn't reassured, poor thing, he was panic-stricken, barking, crying, panting with terror. I took him into the study (along with a bottle of champagne) and shut the door, but it didn't help. He tried to crush in under the desk. I thought about putting him in a cupboard, perhaps the one under the stairs, but then it might have made things worse. We went out for a walk at 3am, a quiet one thankfully, though Bertie was still very nervous. The champagne was delicious. I had caviar as well. Yum.

This morning I got up too late for the Loony Dook, but eventually got out for a long lovely walk, during which we met most of Bertie's very best doggie pals. At one point there were nine dogs on the field under the bridge. It was fiercely cold, but sunny and clear. We walked out on to the bridge as well, along with dozens of other people.

Europe is going euro-crazy. I wish Britain had joined as well; if you're going to be part of Europe then be part of it. Also, I think a lot of the anti-euro feeling comes from a particularly British nostalgia, a longing for the olden days of Empire. Well the empire's gone, get over it. Brits want to have all the benefits of Europe, that's why they joined the Common Market. But they're scared they'll lose their identity if they merge too much with Europe. I think that a) any merging that's going to happen is already well under way (caffe latte anyone? croissant?) and b) I don't see the French and Italians losing any of their identity.

When I say "Brits", it's mostly the English, of course. In general Scots are much more pro-Europe. Me too!

No-one's talking back! You click on the little words "talk back" down there, see? Just there next to the time...

I may not have mentioned that I didn't need a power cable after all. I don't know what the problem was, but I'm not having any trouble now. The (not very) nice man at PC World told me I didn't need one (they don't sell them) and that they only said in the manual that you do so that you'd buy one. Uh, ok.

I had intended to do loads of things today but ... I don't know. It was raining and cold and blah, so I took Bertie to Blackness for a seaside ramble and baked some bread and that was about it. I haven't baked bread for a while but was driven to it by the dire lack of choice once I finally made it to the shop. It came out ok, though the crust is always very thick on my loaves. I might try covering the tops with tinfoil next time.

There's a strong wind tonight, severe gale to storm force out at sea, so Bertie's a bit freaked. I took him down to the marina for the late-night pee run. Usually he bombs off chasing rabbits but tonight he tiptoed around boggle-eyed at all the clanging and whining rigging and flogging sails, and came rushing back to lean against my legs. In case I was scared, you know.

More instant camera fun:


This is a panorama shot I took as four separate pictures, then used the camera's software to stitch them together into a single image.

Hi, Merry Christmas. Whatever that is. What's this thing on my head? I hope I get a biscuit for wearing it, it's itchy. I'm going to pull it off as soon as she looks away.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes:

Ow, ow!! Mommy, that hurts! Stop it, mommy, stop it! Ow! Owwwwww!!!

I blew all my lottery winnings on an instant gratification machine, ie a digital camera, only to find it's not as instantly gratifying as all that. It's a great camera, with all the bells and whistles, and I was loving it right up until the moment I tried to download the photos I'd taken on to my computer.

In small print deep in the manual I discovered that you need to plug the camera into the mains before you can attach it to a computer. And of course a power adaptor doesn't come with the camera.

Sigh.

So I raced round town this morning before work (early start due to being Foreign Ed) and everywhere was either closed or didn't have the adaptor in stock. HOW annoying! I'm hoping to get one tomorrow without having to trail all over the city -- it's my day off and I wasn't planning on doing any shopping -- so I'll be able to post a festive photo.

Hurrah! I won the Lottery on Wednesday!

Only £10, but still --- wow! I won the Lottery!

In equally cheerful news, Wednesday was also the day the editor got the sack, to general rejoicing. The new editor will be the seventh I've worked under for this paper. Or is it eighth? Hard to keep track. Oh yes! It is the eighth -- I forgot one.

Another milestone on the road to Zimmer City: I'm old enough to be the new editor's mother. He's only 30.

Couple of interesting weblogs:

Doc Searles and Christopher Locke. These two were part of the team that wrote The Cluetrain Manifesto

I gave the website address to John at work just now ... I wonder if that was a mistake.

While trying to find out why you should never leave your chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice in Japan, I stumbled on this collection of Afghani recipes. I'm going to try the yoghurt chicken one this weekend.

Terrible shock this weekend: Tui Slade has died.

I worked with Tui in my first job in journalism, on Radio 4ZA in Invercargill, at the end of 1984. I couldn't wait to get out of the place and managed after a seemingly interminable 18 months. But I always kept in touch with Tui -- she came and visited me in Edinburgh after I moved here, and while I never went back to Invercargill I did compromise on one visit to NZ by meeting her in Te Anau. We went sailing on the lake in her brother's yacht, a terrifying jaunt once a squall blew up and we realised that each of us was expecting the other to a more experienced sailor than ourself!

I got Tui's Christmas card last week, as I mentioned, and in it she told about her most recent tramping exploits, round part of Stewart Island and the new Hump Ridge Track near Tuatapere. And yes, she asked me to write. But by the time I got the card it was already too late, she was unconscious and close to death. I didn't know that of course -- I got an email from my brother yesterday breaking the news, and another one today from another ex-Invercargill friend (kia ora Bill). I feel bereft.

I did almost all of my Christmas shopping in one big push on Monday, phew. Only one more major present to get, plus little giftettes for my colleagues, and that's it.

Oh, and Christmas cards. I always think I'm going to pass on Christmas cards this year, only to get the guilts when the cards and gifts start pouring in. A lovely calendar from Uncle Jock, how could I not send a card (I sent a lovely calendar and a letter instead); an unexpected card from Cousin Margaret, recently widowed; a lovely one from Tui begging for a letter. Sigh. It's tough being a Grinch.

Today I did Christmas shopping for someone else: Andrew had me buy a book, Earth from the Air 365 Days, for his brother that he couldn't get in Inverness. I got it in one of my favourite bookshops, Beyond Words, so it was an enjoyable task.

OK I am going to buy a digital camera very soon. So here I'm listing the outlets. And I'm going to decide, once and for all and get one.

Jungle
Jessops Online
Sherwoods
buyacamera
UK Digital
Camera Direct
Fotosense
The Digital Camera Company
Cameras At Lowest Prices (apparently aka Alan Chase Ltd, est 1946...)
Dixons
Currys
John Lewis

That'll do to be going on with...

Happy ending: I got my new Visa card in the mail yesterday and the bank fraud dept had called on Friday & left a message. When I phoned yesterday they just wanted confirmation of the fraudulent transactions.

It was fascinating, actually, a little travelogue. First, three rapid-succession purchases in Sainsbury just after 6pm, while I was still pushing my trolley around the aisles. "They were probably passing the card from one to another, at the same checkout," the man said.

Then a brief stop at Woolworths before hitting the Gap and a sportswear shop. After that, on to buy petrol at Asda, via another supermarket in Portobello Road. It's all been "frauded", and in fact none of the transactions even made it as far as my account, so in that way it's nothing to do with me.

I wanted more detail! I wanted the time of every single transaction so I could track them through the city! But the answers I did get took much computer-work from the patient fellow at the bank, and in the end I gave up.

I was weirdly tired yesterday, so I didn't go to town, didn't do any shopping whatsoever. I did design a Christmas card but it's horribly naff, so forget that. I walked the dog, ate and sat around doing nothing. Oh, and I worked on the Exile game. Very absorbing. Hours slip by like minutes.

Some of those hours were very early am, so I slept late this morning. Another good walk -- it was mild yesterday but very frosty today, and sunny. Bertie had a good run with Kira, a bouncy bitser, and I chatted with the owner, who turns out to be very interesting. He's from Shetland originally, and in his youth did an 18-month stint on a Norwegian whaler at South Georgia. His captain was a woman, and she was also the harpoonist. "No-one argued with her." This was in 1956. He said his granddaughter interviewed him for a school project recently and was so horrified by his whaling exploits she didn't talk to him for a week.

While we were walking we heard a yoohoo and there on the road bridge, high above us, was Sandy with his two dogs, peering down.

No word from the bank, and then I had a little shockette while doing some internet banking -- my Visa account was missing. Yikes, the thieves have stolen my whole account! But of course the bank has to give me a whole new account, not just a new card. I don't know how long the account will be blocked though.

While I had the woman on the blower I interrogated her about the robbers' transactions. Gap and a sportswear shop. That sounds more like teenagers than professionals -- I'd expected the purchases to be electrical goods that can be sold; but I guess you can sell clothes too. I asked her if there were times for the transactions but there weren't. I'd really like to know, so I know where the security lapse is.

I'm doing very well on Myst III Exile, which means I'm not getting a lot of sleep. Bertie came into the study and barked at me last night. "Get to bed! That tinkly music is keeping me awake and creeping me out!" It's creeping me out too. There aren't enough other people in it. One of the "worlds" is so creepy I probably won't be able to stay long enough to solve the puzzles -- it's all decaying metal walkways and dead machinery you have to get working again by pushing levers and turning wheels in the right order.

I've been robbed! It's the weirdest thing: I went to the supermarket this evening and when I got to the checkout I discovered my credit card and a debit card were missing from my purse. The card for my main account was still there, thank goodness, so I was able to pay for my groceries. On reflection I think that card may have been left to give the thieves more time to use the credit card. Because I didn't phone the bank until I'd gotten home and checked my other handbag. Just in case I'd had a blackout, you know.

I hadn't of course, and the robbers had been busy having a little spree. This is the craziest thing: while the bank woman was busy "frauding" the bad transactions, she managed to block two new transactions! While I was on the phone! This freaked me out completely. Up until that point I'd been quite calm and mature about the whole thing, but when she said that I started gibbering and shrieking.

"I can't believe it! They're using it now?"

"Yes, I stopped the transaction from going through and the shop assistant's been advised to call the police."

"Oh that's so horrible! That's awful! How creepy! My card!" and so on. She laughed, bless her.

So it's all fixed up and the bank's fraud department will investigate. I've been obsessively going over my movements in the supermarket but can't think of anything. It was busy, crowded, but not insanely so. I didn't notice anyone doing anything suspicious. I didn't think I'd left my trolley unattended but I must have, for just long enough. I was in there for a long time for me, an hour. It must have been in there because the rest of the day my bag was under lock and key -- in the house or in the boot of the car (while I was walking Bertie before going to the supermarket). I even locked the car while I was recycling my bottles.

Days off pass in a blur, sigh. I've mostly been very very lazy, which has been embarrassingly enjoyable.

Some odd things: I ran over a fox on the motorway on the way home from work on Wednesday night. I can only hope I killed it; there was nowhere to stop at that point, and stopping on the road was out of the question. Then on the way to the movies on Thursday night I nearly ran over some teenagers, stood on the brakes and skidded all over the place. (It was terrifying, particularly coming so soon after hitting the fox; unlike the fox, the kids were invisible until they ran into the road right in front of me.Thankfully, also unlike the fox they just ran faster rather than stopping in their tracks.)

The result of all this heavy braking was that I had to take my car into the garage on Saturday morning for repairs -- new brake pad and adjustment to calipers, £54 kaching! Also needing attention are the suspension bushes in the front and a tyre that has a big cut in it.

I spent some time scanning in pictures for the website but haven't done any work on the new design, so I'll link to the photos here.

Here are a couple of Bertie with his bucket on:




And here are some ritual humiliation pictures -- yes, the honeymoon is over! "Cute" antlers and angel wings are only a heartbeat away. Definitely time to call the SPCA.


I'll stand here looking silly just because it's you, Aunty Faye.

No, stop now please, this is stupid.

One more: Bertie shows off his bandage, poor wee fellow. This is his "I hate you" pose -- ears flat back, accusing stare.


And another: something I found in the woods. Out walking Bertie I heard hammering coming from somewhere odd. A couple of days later I went to investigate and found this:

Some of the local kids, I think. It's tucked away, you'd never know it was there. It's mainly made of pallets, looks very cosy.