Christmas 2010

Christmas Day opening presents.

No Sign of The Titanic

This was taken on Christmas Eve by Sarah and Cameron.  Last year everyone got excited when the River Tay froze.  This year it has happened again with even more dramatic affect.

Survival in the Snow

 

At the start of all the bad weather Alasdair decided he wanted to cook his lunch outside.  He build himself a fire and cooked eggs from our chickens. 

Even in this weather our chickens are still producing 5 eggs per day, although they are not impressed with the snow.

Christmas Cutbacks

As times get harder everyone is looking to save money.  Our Chief Exec posted the latest cutback on his blog.

The global economic downturn requires the North Pole Branch of S. Claus (International) Ltd to look for improved, more competitive, operating procedures. With immediate effect, the following economic measures are to be implemented in the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ Dept.

1. The partridge will be retained, but the pear tree, which never produced the forecast cash crop, will be replaced by a plastic decorative plant providing considerable savings in maintenance.
   
2. Two turtle doves are a duplication of resource, and simply cannot be justified. In addition, their romance during working hours could not be condoned. One position is, therefore, eliminated.
   
3. The French hens will be replaced by English beef.
   
4. The four calling birds will be replaced by an automated calling system, with a ‘call waiting’ option. An analysis is under way to determine whom the birds have been calling, how often, and how long they talked.
   
5. The five golden rings have been put on hold by our Investment Management Advisers. Maintaining a profile based on one commodity could have negative implications for institutional investors. Diversification into other precious metals and gilts appears to be the way forward.
   
6. Higher numbers are generally considered excessive. Three geese will be released, two token swans retained. The milking operation will be automated, freeing eight maids to join the e-milking team. The high cost of maintaining hereditary peers, plus the expense of international air travel and its impact on the environment, has promoted the Job Evaluation Unit to suggest replacing this group with ten pogo sticks. To maximise the brand value of the dancing subsidiary, we shall bring Pan’s People out of retirement.
   
7. Availing ourselves of operational synergies, the pipers and drummers will be replaced by an i-Pod.

Though as yet incomplete, early studies indicate that stretching deliveries over twelve days is grossly inefficient. Optimum efficiency and improved service levels can be achieved by making all deliveries on the same day.

In order to remain competitive in a difficult working environment, further cuts cannot be ruled out. If this should be necessary, the Board will request Management to scrutinise the ‘Snow White Division’ to establish whether seven dwarfs are actually required.

007 Below

I think the cold weather is finally getting to all of us.  Today I have been reading my Chief Execs Blog and I thought I would share it with you.

On a journey to work he was thinking about the cold weather coming from Russia and started coming up with some cold weather James Bond film puns.

Here are a few of the best ones.

• Grit and let dry
• Live and let Slide
• Quantum of Solid-ice
• Coldeneye
• Frostopussy
• Dry another day
• On Her Majesty’s Slippery Surface
• Cars-in-snow Royale

I know they are bad.

Snowy North

Found this photo on the web today.  No wonder the country is grinding to a halt. I think the ministers in London might be doing a little more if they lived in Edinburgh.

The Forth Road Bridge has been closed a couple of times this week.  (The first time in its history.)  Edinburgh airport has been closed and for over a week no trains have been leaving Edinburgh.

Last night it was –12oC in Perth.

Snow Snow and more Snow

We have had snow everyday for over a week. The temperature has fallen to –18 and the boys schools were closed all last week. They have had a great time playing in the snow but Sarah had several difficult journeys to work and even had a slept over at work on Thursday night.

Children In Need

Last weekend the Cubs and Scouts had a sleep over at St Matthews Church hall.  This was to raise money for Children In Need. 

The children could take teddy bears to the sleepover and Cameron dressed his up as Pudsey in cub uniform.

 

On Saturday we were all suffering from lack of sleep as we had only gone to bed at 2:30am.

In total just under £500 was raised for this good cause.

Chicken Update

Today we had our first bit of snow.  I don’t think our new chickens were that impressed.  However, we are now back in business with the egg production, three of our new chickens are laying.  Scotch eggs were made last week and baking is on the cards for this weekend.  Yum yum.

Wine Tasting

One of the best turnouts we have ever had for Perth Round Table.  I have no idea why this was.  Maybe it was to do with the event – Wine Tasting.  Needless to say we did not have a spittoon.

Bonfire Building

 

Once again Perth Round Table hosted the Bonfire and Fireworks on the South Inch and again I was responsible for building the bonfire.  This year I certainly was feeling my age as I am not as strong as I used to be.

Unfortunately the weather was not that great which affected the amount of money we collected for local charities.  This years total was just under £6000.

Alasdair as a Bat

Sarah made Alasdair this bat outfit for his school halloween party.

Halloween

Tonight has been Alasdairs school Halloween Party.  I am on the left in this photo.

Apart from all the kids screaming the evening was great fun.

Fossil Finding

Yesterday we visited Charmouth in  Dorset.  Charmouth is part of ‘The Jurassic Coast’, England’s first Natural World Heritage Site. This 95 mile stretch of coastline between Exmouth in Devon and Studland in Dorset tells the story of 185 million years of Earth’s history. 

 

The boys were armed with Grandad’s hammers and chisels and set off looking for fossils.

We did have quite a bit of success. Finding mainly shells call Ammonites.  The picture below shows an example of what we found.

 

 

70 Years Young

Yesterday, 26th September 2010, my mother, Maureen Peach, celebrated her 70th birthday.  The whole family were there including her 6 grand children and her sons and partners.

Fly Fishing

 

On Saturday Cameron had his first fly fishing lesson and caught this 21b rainbow trout.

Silly Sports

On Saturday we were all invited to Rob & Laura’s BBQ.  Their house has a massive garden backing on the the River Tay.  They had arranged an afternoon of silly sports day activities including egg & spoon, three legged races and of course tug of war.  All the kids enjoyed themselves even the big ones!

Perth Races

Today Perth Race Course held a special meeting to celebrate the granting of the Royal Charter to Perth 800 years ago.  The last time the race course held a Saturday meeting was 8 years ago.  The event was a family day with jousting and falcon displays.

Knowing nothing about racing we rang Dad for some tips. Needless to say his horse kept coming 5th in a 6 horse race.  Eventually I got a winner on the 5th race and on the 6th race we backed every horse.  Alasdair was the winner and took home £30.

A New Beginning

Cameron started High School today.  It only seems like yesterday when I was taking his first day at primary school photograph.

Skiing in 26C

 

This was the boys first skiing lesson.  The dry slope was near Stirling

Scone Orchid Festival

 

The Earl of Mansfield is very keen on orchids.  Each year Scone Palace holds an orchid festival and exhibitors come as far away as Devon to the show. 

 

 

 

 

We have a few orchids of our own but not as gorgeous as these from the show or Sarah’s mothers.  We suggested that ours could go on holiday to Tiverton.

 

 

Catherine being buried

Isn’t it nice to have friendly nephews. This is what the boys did to Auntie Catherine on the beach at Exmouth.

Boys on the Beach

Boys playing on beach at Exmouth.  We are here with all of Sarah’s family.  It was Catherine’s first journey on a train and she enjoyed it.

Evening Out in Exeter

We are visiting Sarah’s family in Tiverton and are out for a meal.  Cameron has just polished off an adults fish and chips, while Alasdair has eaten an adults linguine.  Nanny is now worried about looking after the boys for the next week.

We went to the Twisted Oak pub and the food was excellent.  Ali especially liked his chocolate brownie covered in ice cream.

Perth 800

Today it was Armed forces day in Perth.  This was part of Perth’s 800 year celebration.  It consisted of over 1000 service personnel along with 6 pipe bands marching through the streets of Perth.  Also in the parade was other organisations like the cubs and scouts. 

Pictured above is 22nd St Matthews Scout Group.  Alasdair joined the parade and Prince Edward took the salute.  Cameron was at his end of school prize giving service so could not take part.

The final part of the Perth 800 Celebrations was on Sunday in the concert hall.  We went to see a concert which consisted of local talent.  Big brass bands, singers and dancers all performed.

P7 End of Year

I can not believe that Cameron is actually moving up to High School after the summer holidays.  Last Friday his class had an end of school year party at Quarry Mill in Perth.

Loch Lomond

Cameron is learning to play the electric guitar at school.  His teacher, Mr Whyte arranged for a concert to support a charity in India.  The children from Kinnoull School took part in the event.

Here is Cameron on stage playing to Loch Lomond with  his fellow class mates playing the guitar and singing.

 

Perth Round Table Website

I have been learning how to develop websites again.  This time I am using a CMS system.  There are lots on the market but I chose to use Joomla as it is a free open source piece of software.  I used Perth Round Table as my project.  Click on the link if you want a look at my efforts.  Feedback would be appreciated.

Scouts Night Hike

Last Friday 14th May I helped out on the Scout Night Hike.  The route took us from Bankfoot through Glen Garr and to Dunkeld via the Hermitage and back to Bankfoot.  By the end of the night most of the children were ready to collapse but all did very well. 

The above picture is taken on my camera phone in Glen Garr and below is Cameron on the hike.

Ballumbie Castle Golf

Yesterday I played golf with Hydro Electric Golf Club.  The course, Ballumbie Castle in Dundee, was great however, its location was a little strange, situated in the middle of a housing scheme. (Posh word for estate to reflect the posh houses).

 

My golf was a little hit and miss (pardon the pun).  One of my shots I have named the “Barns Wallis” shot as it skimmed across the pond in the picture below, hitting the water twice before emerging on dry land the other side.

Lou playing golf on Ballumbie Castle course.

Consultants

My Chief Exec at work writes a blog and was dealing with some consultants the other day.  Some of his work colleges told him a few consultant jokes so I thought I would share them with you.

 

A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of the dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Broni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the shepherd... "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?" The shepherd looked at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looked at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answered "sure".

The yuppie parked his car, whipped out his IBM ThinkPad and connected it to a cell phone, then he surfed to a NASA page on the internet where he called up a GPS satellite navigation system, scanned the area, and then opened up a database and an Excel spreadsheet with complex formulas. He sent an email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, received a response. Finally, he prints out a 130-page report on his miniaturized printer then turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1586 sheep. "That is correct; take one of the sheep." said the shepherd. He watches the young man select one of the animals and bundle it into his car.

Then the shepherd says: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my animal?", "OK, why not." answered the young man. "Clearly, you are a consultant." said the shepherd. "That's correct." says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?" "No guessing required." answers the shepherd. "You turned up here although nobody called you. You want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked, and you don't know anything about my business...... Now give me back my dog."

 

 

A physician, a civil engineer, and a consultant were arguing about what was the oldest profession in the world.
The physician remarked, "Well, in the Bible, it says that God created Eve from a rib taken out of Adam. This clearly required surgery, and so I can rightly claim that mine is the oldest profession in the world."

The civil engineer interrupted, and said, "But even earlier in the book of Genesis, it states that God created the order of the heavens and the earth from out of the chaos. This was the first and certainly the most spectacular application of civil engineering. Therefore, fair doctor, you are wrong: mine is the oldest profession in the world."

The consultant leaned back in her chair, smiled, and then said confidently, "Ah, but who do you think created the chaos?"

Workers Start Young

Today was take your child to work day.  Cameron cam with me to Scottish and Southern Energy for the day.  While signing in we bumped into one of my friends in reception.  I told Cameron if he worked hard he could have a job like Craig, who now works for the company in China.

If Cameron did not work as hard he might end up working in a “call centre”.  On order to demonstrate this further he spent the morning in SSE’s Home Services call centre.

The afternoon was spent with our corporate team who were letting them know what SSE do as a company and explaining our company values; “The SSE-SET”

• Safety
• Service
• Efficiency
• Sustainability
• Excellence
• Teamwork

Cameron was not too impressed that he was at work until 5pm rather than finishing school at 3:30pm but at least he was not at school.

Child Labour

Today was “take your child to work day”.  This is an event that is run all over the country and gives school children an opportunity to experience life outside school.

I took Cameron to SSE where I work.  Currently I am working in Energy Trading but he spent time is this section last year so I had arranged for Cameron to sit in our Home Services Call Centre.  I thought this might encourage him to work harder at school so he does not end up working there after he leaves school. 

In the afternoon the company arranged corporate activities for the children and shown below is that event.

Alasdair at Aerodrome

Last weekend Alasdair, along with 200 other cubs visited Perth Aerodrome to gain his Air Activities Cub Badge.  The afternoon was spent having a sports day.

Cameron at Craggan Camp

Cameron and the other scouts are building a bridge across the river.  Most of them ended up falling in the water.

Boys in Bedford

Last weekend my Father and brothers decending on Beford. Dad was showing us all where he grew up. The whole weekend involved lots of fun and a bit of alcohol. Saturday we visited the farm where Dad used to work and in the afternoon had a lazy time along the river in Bedford.

In the evening we were eating at the Mannor Coutry Hotel and got invited as personal guest of the owner to Sunday lunch.

On Saturday evening we educated Dad by taking him clubing.

Old Mac Peach's Farm

Thought I would give you an update on our live stock situation. We have lost a few chickens from our original starting quantity. We are now down to 6 and egg production is also down due to the winter. In winter chickens molt and stop laying eggs. One of our chickens when completely bauld and then once his feathers started to re-grown she was nicknames spikey. The decrease in egg production has also hampered the baking. Roll on the spring.

The other casualty we have had is our fish tank. Just before Christmas we got a new tank and set it up in the lounge. This tank holds 350 litres. A few weeks ago one of our extra large black sharks had died but decided it would hide first. As a result the tank went septic and we have lost most of the fish. We are now struggling to get the water conditions back to normal.

We have however had two new arrivals to our menagerie. The boys have both got a terrapin ("Terry and Snappy") These are qute cute.

We still have both rabbits and both ginea pigs.

On the Waggon Again

I am half way through Lent and as usual I have given up alcohol for this period. This is the 5th year I have fasted from alcohol and so far so good. I don't miss the whisky that much but Sunday Roast without red wine is like Tom without Jerry.

This weekend I am a guest at the Rotary Charity Dinner and I will not be able to have a drop of alcohol. At least my brothers have not visited me this year and drunk all my booze.

Winter Wonderland

This year we have had more snow that has lasted longer than I can remember. The local River Tay froze in the centre of Perth as temperatures dropped as low as -17C.

Other than very low temperatures we have not been too badly affected unlink some parts of the UK.

Christmas

Alasdair receive a tent from Gran and Grandpa for his Christmas present. He slept in it for 3 nights pitched in his bedroom. The boys both receive new hads from Santa and Mum and Dad got them doorstops for their bedrooms in the shape of a dog and sheep.