bookmark_borderMonday Miscellany

1. Being linked from Dooce brings in a few extra hits. A few being something around the “60” mark, and certainly not as many as I would’ve thought… however the link was in her sidebar, not from the main content. I’ve had a similar number of ‘referrers’ from Reluctant Nomad (to whom I placed the link that Dooce linked to in the first place… if that makes sense).

2. My Google pagerank is 6, not 7 as I previously thought. Apologies to those who, when I mentioned the erroneous figure on Saturday, voiced their incredulity. I am sincerely sorry for wasting your incredulity, something which should be kept for REALLY incredible things… like Scotland beating France. Have I mentioned that?

3. Scotland beat France at football. Admittedly France did have the ball in our net a couple of times, but they were cheating, and we are the best team in the world. Or something. I don’t really care. We beat France. England couldn’t even beat that part-time team from Burger King.. um.. McDonalds… or wherever it was.

4. I did not watch Robin Hood. I will not watch Robin Hood. I have an irrational dislike of “popular” TV, this may be why I don’t understand all the fuss about that sci-fi programme that was on a while back, you know, the one with the dodgy production values and ‘star guests’ as baddies. Doctor How.

5. Still jogging. Sunday was harder than normal but then I don’t normally spend several hours in the pub on a Saturday, stumbling from bed 20 minutes before you are due to start probably isn’t advised either. Thankfully it was still the first week of the new block (of ten weeks) and the actual running time was low. Not so on Wednesday.

6.
Why the FUCK does it take 10 days to “process a form”. I’m adding Louise to my bank account as we don’t have a joint account. This hasn’t been an issue in the past but is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now and as the dribble of extra funds that we now have owed to us after the re-mortgage (which is almost complete, just waiting on first payment date) was presented to us via a cross cheque made out to, yes that’s right “Mr. Gordon McLean and Mrs. Louise McLean”… well our need to have an account that both of us can access suddenly leapt up the priority list.

Yes, I should have done something about this beforehand. Yet that still doesn’t explain why, having gone to the bank on Saturday morning with twenty-zillion different forms of ID for both of us, having completed the required form in triplicate, signing the form in our own blood, and providing DNA samples from the back of our eyelids, they still want to take 10 days to process the form. When I asked why the not-so-helpful wan… er.. assistant said that he wasn’t entirely sure but it had to go to the “central processing office”.

When I asked, with some vehemence, that that didn’t really explain why it would take so long he replied: “Well, I’m not exactly sure where it is but I think it’s somewhere south of the Quatanga Nebula, and hey, those little froolongs only have two fingers so maybe you should cut them some slack”.

Bemused and slightly befuddled I left the bank.

7. Thanks to all who left questions (well nearly all, some of you buggers just LOVE to be contrary). I’ll be tackling them over the coming weeks, and maybe keep a few back for the end of the month as we’re away to Spain for a sneaky week in the sun.

8. WE BEAT FRANCE. Sorry, this may take some time to sink in.

9. There is a possibility that I’ve fabricated one of the above items, part of it at least. However it’s quite subtle and I doubt many of you will spot it, but I thought I’d best be honest about it. There are parts that I made up.

10. I don’t really have something to add here but, well, by the time you get to 8 you sorta havta keep going to 10, right? You certainly can’t finish at least at 9, that’d never work. There are no “Top 9” lists (although maybe there should be?).

bookmark_borderLife continuing

Whisper it, but I think we have a free weekend coming up!* Hopefully it’ll stay dry and we can get the last cut of the grass done, and maybe even a little shopping. After all, we’re rich.

Well not really, but the mortgage application is in the final stages, solicitor has appropriated** (got) funds and is paying off our current mortgage before handing us a wee cheque. That wee cheque is the reason I’ve been asking about PCs and digital cameras… Louise is getting something too but not for a while, the money will be set aside though.

I also need to go and hire a kilt as, the weekend after this, we are attending a birthday party for my mate Bill. Previous nights out with them have been debauched affairs, usually ending up with us all wandering back to someone’s house, in the rain, and deciding to wait for the sunrise. Which is all well and good during the summer months but I’m not so sure that drinking all the way through the night until 7.30am is wise…

Thankfully it’s “casual” kilt attire, so it’ll be a Ghillie shirt rather than the full blown shirt and jacket (and yes, I DO like the black one… hmmm).

More presently, I’m out jogging tonight starting the second block of the Jog Scotland programme. Another ten weeks and we’ll be running for 20 minutes continuously. Except I might not.

I mean I will be running but having ran, comfortably, for 15 minutes on Saturday morning, I’m wondering if I should move up a level. I’ll talk to the coaches tonight I think.

One problem is that I’ve spent the past ten weeks running with a group of people and, whilst we are all moving up to the next level, I’ve always felt that I’m running well within my limits (there is an obvious split in the group with a few of us always away out front, a bunch in the middle, and a couple bringing up the rear – this is no bad thing, everyone runs at their own pace). Thing is, if I move on now it’s a little.. I dunno.. like I’m saying “I’m better than you” which flies in the face of everything that Jog Scotland stands for, namely the whole “you are doing SOMETHING, which is better than sitting on your arse watching TV”. There is little ‘competition’ between runners and a definite team spirit has emerged as we all encourage each other as best we can.

So, I’m still not sure what I’m going to do. I could stick with the same group, but go out a couple of times by myself and push things on that way, but that would make a bit of a mockery of the Jog Scotland sessions. Or I could move up to the next level as I’m sure everyone in my current group would understand. The question then is, can I do it?? I had planned to up my running times a little during the ‘break’ between sessions but what with being ill and my Dad’s birthday and everything.. well, it just didn’t happen.

Hmmm guilt or progress?

* With the exception of the blogmeet on Saturday, obviously…

** There’s another blog post in the making. Why do certain industries use big long posh words for such simple things? I mean ASIDE from charging us more…

bookmark_borderIce cream and exercise

What a wonderful weekend.

Friday night saw us out to dinner with my family, dining in the hotel in which Louise and I were married. We even managed to sneak in a wee birthday cake for my Dad, such are the benefits of knowing the owners, although that can backfire too… the pudding my Mum and I ordered was, I’m pretty sure, double helpings! Completely stuffed, a feeling that has been missing the past few weeks as our house is currently in the midst of a diet embargo.

Saturday morning, Dad and I head to the local gym for a wee run, my first on a treadmill for sometime. How boring it is, I much prefer the wind and rain, although we’ll see how that goes come the winter! The afternoon was part two of Dad’s birthday celebration with friends and family descending on my parents house, unfortunately the buffet lunch was rudely interrupted when an ice cream van parked itself right in front of the house.

Funnily enough it was playing Happy Birthday as it pulled up. The look on my Dad’s face was priceless!

I should explain that, and this is a family trait, my Dad is a bit of an ice cream fanatic and this was all part of his birthday. It didn’t take long for everyone to form an (un)orderly queue, with double nougats, 99s and oysters being consumed with some glee!

Out for another run this morning, and then home for a fairly lazy afternoon, and to sort out a location for next week’s blogmeet. Yes, it was a good weekend.

bookmark_borderMy old man

A brief post to wish my father a Happy 60th Birthday.

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

We are out for a family dinner tonight, then a wee celebration tomorrow afternoon. Posting largely depends on inclination and quantities of Southern Comfort (which my sister said she’d buy! Hope you remembered Jen!).

bookmark_borderLike, DUH

I visited a small branch of a well known high street shoe repairer this lunchtime — starts with a T, ends in “impson” — and have to admit that they employ people of such high calibre that the mind boggles.

As I approached the door I could see a small handwritten sign stuck on the inside. It stated “Gone to Post Office, back in a few minutes”. Looking past the sign I could clearly see the man behind the counter, and the two customers waiting to be served.

I walked in.

After serving the two guys in front of me, and whilst I waited for my “only take a minute I guess” job to be done, another two customers, like me, ignored the sign and formed a queue.

The guy behind the counter looked up, sighed quietly and took off his jacket.

“Guess you won’t be getting to the Post Office then…” I said lightly, in attempt at mild humour.

“Well it is our busiest time” he replied.

Lost for words, I nodded. It was either that or blurt out the sarcastic thought in my head.. “YA THINK?!!”.

Sheesh.

bookmark_borderUneventful

Yes, still sniffling, but the worst has passed. In some ways this cold/man-flu has been a pain in the ass, in other ways it’s been helpful.

Ohhh who am I kidding… I was going to say that it’s helped me realise how much I’ve been enjoying my jogging, and that it’s given me time to think about stuff.. you know, that whole “time to reflect” kinda thing but, jogging aside, I’ve done little except try to stay awake during the day, watch old movies, and keep myself dosed up on all sorts of drugs, herbal remedies and spicy hot curries.

Anyway, on to other things.

The Ryder Cup for one. Well done Europe for… well.. without overplaying it I think the word “annihilation” may feature in the tabloids this morning.

Other news I’ve “missed” include the ongoing Blair/Brown bore, the near-death experience of the hamster (glad he’s getting better!), and lots of other exciting things that have slipped by my Lemsip-addled brain.

It’ll be back to work tomorrow, and back to life, and we’ve a busy week coming up.

Well my wife does, as she’s out every night this week. I’m gonna take it easy until this damn virus is out of my system, and then, hopefully, I might have something to talk about!

Update: How remiss of me not to thank you all for your kind thoughts and suggestions. I tried most of them, including the “bung” (made of tissue, soon failed due to over absorption), and can safely say that not one did the trick but I think the combination of them all helped to subdue the bug. I’m currently applying for shares in Kleenex. Ta muchly, one and all. Yer not a bad bunch.