Shield Christmas Party 2009

Wet Worcester

 

I know this is not Cockermouth but the horses at Worcester racecourse are going to need their arm bands.

Widgets

The slide show is fairly good pity about the annoying ads. Never mind you have to pay to get rid of those and this version is free.

Aquascaping

Over the weekend we got a new fish tank. It is a corner unit due to the size (350 litres) we only just managed to get it into the house. I am now looking for ideas of how I am going to set it up and came across this video of the international aquascaping competition.

If I was able to set up something half as spectacular as these tanks I would be delighted but my Silver Dollars would not as they would be moving home.

The Hermitage

 
Last weekend we went for a walk through Dunkeld Woods to the Hermitage. This is the home of some of Britains tallest trees. The tallest in these woods measures in at a whopping 61.5m and is ranked 6th in the UK. The tallest tree being 63m and is found in Reelig Glen Wood, Moniack, Scotland.

Rememberance Day

 

Last Sunday we all went to church for the rememberance day service. Mum and Dad were visiting Scotland and they joined us. Cameron and Alasdair were in the scout and cub uniform and Cameron was carrying one of the flags.

Birthday Lunch - Perth Catering College

Today I took Mum, Dad, Sarah and Alasdair (as he was off school sick) to Perth Catering College. The menu was a French themed one.

Starter

• Venison Carpaccio with Black Olives and Capers



• Muscles in White Wine



• Potage Bonne Femme (Vegetable Soup)

**********
Main Course

• Beef Bourguignon with Seasonal Vegetables and
  Gratin Dauphinoise



• Fillets of Veronica Sole with Grapes, White Wine
  and Sauce



• Shallot Tatins with Balsamic Cream

**********

Dessert

• Cheese



• Lemon Tart



• Profiteroles

Tea and Coffee

*************************************

The cost of this excellent 3 course lunch was only £5.

If anyone is in Perth and fancy going to the college then you can book a table by contacting Katy on 01738 877605

Perth Round Table Bonfire

 

Yet again Perth Strathearn Round Table organised the bonfire and fireworks on South Inch. This picture is taken by myself stood on top of the bonfire with Kevin (the organiser) brining more wood.

The event raised a fantastic £7000 for local charities.

Pumpkins

 

Here are the boys Halloween pumkins. Cameron's is the one above and Alasdair's is below. The boys decorated the house for the evening with cobwebs and spiders.

 

Halloween Party

 
Cameron and Alasdair have just been to the schools halloween party. Each year the Kinnoull School Association organises a party for the school children.

 


As ever I have been on boys toilet duty. I keep forgetting to take ear defenders to these parties as I am sure it should be classified as an industrial injury as the noise must be seriously damaging.

Enchanted Forest

 

This evening we have just got back from a trip through the Enchanted Forest. The event is held annually and this years was again round Loch Faskally near Pitlochry.

The theme this year was the legends of Scotland. Wandering round the flood lit forest we were greeted by scenes from Scotlands past along with ghosts and witches. One witch would not allow us to pass unless we could answer her riddles, one being, "I am as wide as a saucepan and as deep as a tub but all the oceans can not fill me. What am I ?" Thankfully Cameron was able to answer this. (Let me know if you can answer it by leaving me a comment or if you would like Cameron to tell you the answer.) Alasdair was able to answer the riddle "I get bigger the more you take away."

The evening was perfect for the event, being a really mild night with not even a breeze. This made the reflections in the water look like another world. Holograms were projected across the water of Scottish myths including one of Nessie herself

Fishing

 
The other weekend Mark (my brother) took Cameron and Alasdair fishing. Between the boys they caught 27 fish.

 


Whilst they were fishing one of Mark's friends was there and he had Mark's Christmas present with him, a new fishing pole which the boys used before Mark had even received it as a present.

 

Above is one of the fish that Ali caught.

7th Bristol Scouts Centenary

Last Saturday 7th Bristol Scout group celebrated their centenary at Chrish Church School, in Clifton. Over 100 scouters attended the successful event and reminisced about old times.

 

Below is a video clip of some of the old scouters playing the bells that were used each Christmas when carol singing.



Unfortuantely Mike Keefe (Vice-President) was unable to attend as he was in Southmead Hospital. Hopefully he will make a speedy recovery and I wish him all the best.

I was Scout Leader at Bristol from 92-95 and this period of scouting was some of the most fun I have had in the organisation. I was also fortunate enough to meet Sarah whilst at the 7th as she used to help run the guide troop at Pavey House.

Keith Dawes is cutting the cake.

 

Sally

 
Both Cameron and Alasdair would kill for a dog. We are at Gran and Grandpa's for a few days while the boys are on school holiday. This evening they were desperate to go and see Auntie Pam and Uncle David, but more importantly "Sally".

 


The boys were disappointed that I had not bought Euro Million lottery tickets tonight as if we win the jackpot the first item on the shopping list is a dog.

I Love Scottish Roads

This week is the second week of the boys October holidays. Unfortunately Sarah and myself both have to work so Gran and Grandpa have been called on for help.

I have had meetings today in Birmingham so left Scotland early this morning. I have just driven 450 miles today and wish the whole journey was on Scottish roads. At the moment the M6 is competing with the M25 for the largest car park title. The only good thing about driving south is that it makes me realise how lucky we are in Scotland.

My hire car this time is a Skoda. At first I was embarrased to be driving one of these but apart from the plastic trim the car is quite acceptible. It certainly has more power then the Insigna I have had in the past. The best things on the Octavia are the stereo and the reverse parking sensors. When reversing an image of the rear of your car is displayed on the dash - really nice feature.

Move over Clarkson.

Canoeing

 

The boys are on half term holidays for the next two weeks. This week they are canoeing each day at Perth leisure centre. Both the boys love canoeing and have done quite a bit on holiday this year in France. They are in the advanced course at the pool and no one else is in their class so they have personal tuition.

Investiture

 
Last week Cameron was invested in to Scouts and Alasdair was invested in to Cubs. Both of the boys really enjoy Cubs and Scouts and love all the camping and outdoor activities. Their Group celebrates its Centenary next year.

It was because of Scouts and Guides that Sarah and myself met. Sarah used to be a Guide leader in Bristol and I used to run the Scouts.

On the 7th October 2009 the 7th Bristol Scout Group are celebrating their 100th birthday. Earlier in the year 2nd Wigan St Michaels Scout Group celebrated its 100th birthday. St Michaels Cubs and Scouts was where I spent my scouting years.

Next year the boys scout group, 22nd St Matthews, celebrate their centenary.

Warriors

 

Earlier in the week I was at a conference held at the Worcester Warriors Rugby Club. After the conference we had a tour of the grounds. The ladies in our party were very disappointed to find the changing rooms empty.

The picture is the East Wing with is the new conference centre costing £10M to build. Worcester this year has been promoted to the premier division and have an ethos of sustained development, slowly building on their success.

When I first moved away from Wigan it took me a little time to get used to the funny rules of rugby union compared to the rugby league I played at school, but any rugby is much better than the girly sport of football.

Church

This morning I went to St Michael's Church in Wigan with Mum and Dad. I have not been to church for ages and it was quite strange going back and seeing people I knew from my childhood.

I was explaining to Mum that Cameron and Alasdair were also going to church this morning but not one she would want to go to. Sarah had booked them in for another climbing lesson at the climbing centre in Dundee, an old converted church.

It is sad when churches are no longer used but at least converting them into climbing centres gives them a new lease of life and keeps the building in good repair.

Birthday Girl

 

Today is Mum's birthday and I am spending the weekend in Wigan. I am here on bed and breakfast and the rates are excellent. Also today I have been teaching Dad how to transfer pictures from his camera and email them. This was one picture that Dad emailed me on Mums birthday

Gift Aid

St Michaels Church each year runs a gift day and this year the members of the church were asked to decorate the church with their favourite childrens characters from story books.

Mark, my brother created the Three Little Pigs and represented St Michael's Institute.

Trip Down Memory Lane

Today I am driving from Worcester to Chesterfield to meet a client. On route I passed close to Loughborough Uni.

I decided to check it out as I graduated from here back in 1990. Oh my word just writing that made me feel old.

Wandering round the Student Union a freshers rep wanted to know if I was lost. Lost - No, out of place - yes!

One student thought I was a professor as I was dressed somewhat differently in a shirt and tie compared with the rest of the people near by.

I continued on my trip down memory lane, walking past the purple onion, on my way to Royce Hall. I was horrified to find out my room in Royce Hall had been taken over by Rutherford Hall.

I was feeling lazy and did not walk to the engineering block. Anyone who knows me from uni will know things have not changed

National No Car Day

I am working down south again and this morning it has just taken me 55 minutes to drive 5 miles. My boss told me that I had just driven at the wrong time. In Scotland we can drive anywhere any time. Can't wait to get home.

My car problems have continued this week. When I picked up my hire car I had been given a 1.4l 207. I will be driving over 1500 miles this week and had requested a "large" car. If I was to keep the 207 I would have had to remove the front seat just like Officer Hightower in Police Academy.

National car hire stated that the car I had been allocated was an upgrade. I would hate to think what car I was going to get. They had no other cars they could offer me as they were "out" of cars. Ironically the day I hired the car was "National No Car Day" - quite appropriate.

Anyway I managed to get to Glasgow in the 207 before my company travel desk said if I drove to Edinburgh Airport they could swap the car for an Insignia.

At Edinburgh I got a 2.0l SRi Insignia (Happy Days)

The Crannog

 

Yesterday I went as a parent helper on Alasdair's school trip to the Crannog Centre on Loch Tay.

A crannog is a type of ancient loch-dwelling found throughout Scotland and Ireland dating from 5,000 years ago. Many crannogs were built out in the water as defensive homesteads. Whilst at the Crannog Centre the children learnt about the Celts and got to use some of the old wood turning, flour grinding equipment as well as trying to light fires without matches

Avertical World

 
Today the Peach clan headed towards one of Dundee's indoor climbing walls -"Avertical World". It was an old covered church which seemed appropriate seeing it was Sunday.

I always used to joke with Mum that I had been to church. Cameron and Ali have been climbing with the cubs and school and were keen to carry on. Sarah and myself had not climbed since Cameron was born and boy did I know about it. Since then I have put on 3 stone, 10 years older and it certainly has taken its toll.
 


Well we all survived and had a great day climbing. Ali loved climbing and Cameron loved abseiling down. I would have liked a lift or escalator.

The photos are Cameron on his last climb of the day and Ali just doing a bit of bouldering in his laid back pose

Circus Circus

 

Well tonight I have just got back from the circus. I can't remember when the last time I was at the circus. Mark (my brother had got some free tickets) Anyway I had called in to Wigan on my way back to Scotland and went with Mark, Susan, Heather, Rachel, Louise, Matthew and Mum and Dad.

Great Weekend In Oban

 

You are probably looking at the photo and thinking what was great about that. Well it was one of the rare opportunities that Sarah and myself get to disappear on our own for the weekend.

The first weekend in September the boys were off camping with the cubs for the weekend at Lochgoilhead so Sarah and myself headed for the west coast of Scotland. Needless to say it rained all of the time, but we had a great weekend. My wife is great, here I am taking her away for a romantic weekend and she lets me drag her round Oban distillery. Sarah can't stand the smell or taste but I was in heaven.

On The Road Again

I am down in Worcester at the moment. Scottish and Souther Energy (the company I work for) is a great company but sometimes has some crazy ideas. Each year the company declares 2 random months their employees are not allowed to fly on business. This year they have declared July, August and now September as "No Fly" months.

As a result I have had to drive from Perth to Worcester. Fortunately I have a decent car, well at least I thought it was. This time I am driving the new Vauxhall Insignia. This has been voted one of the best cars in 2009. I am not sure what model I have but it can't pull the skin off a rice pudding and when I look in the rear view mirror it looks like I am looking through a letter box.

Not sure what Jeremy Clarkson would say but I would like his job.

The Study

As a result of my new job I am spending quite a bit of time away from home and when in Scotland I work from home. I have finally managed to get the study somewhat more organised to facility working here. My desktop computers are now up and running well but nothing is perfect.

I have just broken my laptop keyboard (the j key). Thankfully not that many words require this key (only 3 so far in this post) Lets hope I can manage to avoid using that letter as it is a pain to type it when the key is completely missing.

Anyway now that the study is sorted hopefully I can spend more time on the computers and try keeping this blog upto date with more frequent posts. Anyone who knows me will know that I will fail on this challenge before I even start as writing letters, emails or any other form of communication is so rare it only happens once every blue moon. Ask my friends Peter and Suzanne. (Quick plug for Suzanne's blog)

I am also hoping to get a half decent website up and running having spent serveral hours fighting with a webserver to get Apache and PHP installed. Finally managed it so on with the lessons so I have something to show for my efforts.

anyway must get back to work.

PS - I managed to succeed using only 3 of the letters I can't type. Happy days.

Chess

School has just started for the boys and was preparing myself to again run the school chess club. I love the game and have been playing online lots (Not doing too well.)

I have added a widget so anyone can challenge me to a game and see how we get on.

Mobile Blogging

This is Ali collecting our Chicken feeder.

The reason for this post is to test Blogging from my mobile

Chickens

 

Cameron feeding our new chickens. The next moring (Sunday) he was up and dressed at 7:30 eager to go and collect eggs. No guessing what he wants for breakfast.

Brothers Head North

Mark and Glyn visited beautiful sunny (but windy) Perth.

Whilst here we played golf and both Mark and Glyn beat me.

Looks like I need more practice.

Sledging