Chain Mail

Quite often I receive chain emails and do nothing with them.  This time I have decided to post it on facebook and on by blog sites.  I hope you appreciate this one as much as I did.  If you are able to spread this poem please do.

T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE,
MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY,
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO,
IN THIS HOME, DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES,
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT,
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR,
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN  DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED,
A TRUE BRITISH SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO,
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALISED THE FAMILIES,
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS,
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT..

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE,
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM,
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER,
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE,
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT,
A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES,
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED,
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL,
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED,
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE,
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR,
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, 
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.."

Christmas At Crathes

Crathes Castle which is close to Banchory in Aberdeenshire had a Christmas open day.  As members of the National Trust for Scotland we had a great day out.  Santa was there with his reindeer from the Cairngorm National Park.  Each room within the castle had actors who were dressed up as famous fictional characters such as Cinderella, Dick Wittington and Captain Hook.

Remembrance Day

Last Sunday the boys were taking part in the Cubs and Scouts Remembrance Service at St Matthews Church.  Alasdair was carrying the flag for the Cubs.  The flag bearers formed a guard of honour outside the church.  There was also a parade taking place which passed infront of the church.

Coffee Cups

Last weekend it was the Cubs and Scouts Coffee Morning.  This is an annual event to raise funds for the Scout Group.  As always I spent the morning in the the kitchen drying all the coffee cups.  The Group managed to raise over £1,100 towards their funds.

Top Awards

Last weekend it was the Cubs and Scouts coffee morning.  At the event Cameron and Alasdair were awarded their Chief Scouts Award.  Cameron gained the Gold Chief Scout award, the highest award in Scouts, whilst Alasdair gained his Silver Chief Scout Award the highest in Cubs.

Hiking round the Hermitage

During the October half term break we decided to go away for a few days in our caravan.  We had not used it before so just wanted to stay fairly local. 

We stayed at Dunkeld for a few days and went for a walk round the Hermitage.  Salmon were trying to jump up the waterfall and whilst there we saw 22.  It was probably only one trying to get up time and time again.

Egg Enterprise

On Sundays we have a car boot sale just down the road.  Sundays is therefore the busiest day for traffic and the boys decided to capitalise on this by setting up a stall to sell our surplus eggs.  In a short time they managed to sell all their stock and make some extra pocket money.

Our chickens are doing really well at the moment providing 5 eggs per day.

Back to Basics

 

Last weekend the scouts were camping again at Craggan.  This camp the scouts were looking after themselves and had a back to basics camp.  Tents were pitched by them and they cooked all their meals on an open fire.  Even the leaders didn’t get food poisoning.  Everyone on the camp passed their camping badge and their camp cook badge.

Cameron at Cumbrae

Cameron went on a school trip to Cumbrae, Scotland’s national watersports centre.  Here he had a great week learning to windsurf, sale and went kayaking

Pink Parade

6 Months ago a work college decided it would be a good idea to do the ‘Edinburgh Moonwalk’.  A 26 mile walk for Breast Cancer Charity.

Stupidly enough I agreed and the above photo is our team ‘The Chocolate Teapots’  The walk started at 11:30pm and 7,000 women and a few men all dressed in pink walked through the streets of Edinburgh.  I managed the course in 6 hours 35 minutes but my feet were suffering.  The team did managed to raise over £1000 for the charity.

The Power of Nature

Working for an energy company, Scottish and Southern Energy I am always interested in energy information.  My Chief Exec runs a blog on our company website and the the article below was posted.

Chris has sent me an interesting calculation. Apparently seismologists have estimated (I don't know how) that the total energy released by the Japanese earthquake was 4 x 10 ^22 joules.  That doesn't mean much to me. The interesting bit is to compare that to the energy produced by the 4GW Fukushima nuclear power plant that has been making headline news. It would take that station almost 317,000 years to produce the same energy. Even if every power station in the UK were to run flat out, all the time, it would still take 16,000 years to produce the same power.

As Chris says: another example of how puny human effort is when compared to the power of nature.

Camping at Craggan

Last weekend I was helping with the scout group at Craggan campsite.  Both Cameron and Alasdair were camping so Sarah had the house and duvet to herself.  We all enjoyed the weekend but still recovering from lack of sleep.

Cameron is pictured above building a bivouac and Alasdair is below toasting marsh mallows on the fire.

Diving

On Friday night Cameron was invited to Callum’s birthday party.  This was an unusual party as they all went on a trial diving course and Cameron loved it.

All the Ones

This year we will experience 4 unusual dates

• 1/1/11
• 1/11/11
• 11/1/11
• 11/11/11

If you then take the last two digits of the year you were born and add them to the age you will be this year it will equal 111.

Boys in Blue

Yesterday Perth Round Table visited the Fire Station in Perth.  This year it is the 40th anniversary of the station and it has recently had a £20M refit. 

The station also has the longest pole drop in Scotland as the building is a 2 storey one.

The furthest away engine is brand new and costs a staggering £0.5M At the moment is not yet in service as the guys are being trained on the unit. It is a multi purpose vehicle, able to fight fires and also has a high reach platform however a lot of the fire fighters are not keen on it as it has a few design flaws.

Freezing Facts

How cold was December 2010?

• At Heathrow it was the coldes December since records began in 1948.
• At a place called Rothamsted, 26 miles from Heathrow it wat the 4th coldest since 1878 (1879, 1890, 1981 being colder.)
• In central England as a whole it was the 2nd coldest on record since 1772 – the coldest being 1890.
• In Scotland it was the coldest month since February 1947.

In the last 100 years the UK has only experienced five colder months;

• January 1940
• February 1947
• January 1963
• February 1963
• February 1986

So yes December 2010 was cold and we have snow again!

Five Star Accommodation

Over the weekend we had more snow again.  The boys decided that they wanted to make a snow cave which was extended to have an additional room connected by a tunnel.  Cameron and Ali wanted to sleep in it.

Airport Adventure

The other day Alasdair and some of his friends managed to get a trip round Perth Airport where students practise repairing aeroplanes. 

All the boys had a fantastic time exploring and climbing on board all the aircraft in the hanger.

This one and the helicopter were Ali’s favourites.