Jolly Holly's

Whoo hoo! The schools break up on Friday. 7 long weeks of 3 kids getting bored in the house as summer is not happening. Tonight I have the end of year prom to go to at the primary school. Yes even the Scottish schools have latched on to the American way and have prom nights...but for 11 year olds? I am told some are arriving in stretched limo's. I won't be, i will be on my bike but I might put a shirt on or something for the little munchkins and do my Basil Fawlty impression in the ceilidh.

The end of school year also points to how old I am feeling. Isabelle only has one more year in Primary school. Many of you will remember her birth...so you can join me in feeling the bite of age.

I expect my children to be good swimers by the end of the summer. Dunbar pool is free for kids all summer holidays. That's my activity programme sorted....send them off to the pool. Next week is my first Scripture Union Camp and first camp since giving up Criccieth. I really hope our worlds don't clash as they sometimes do in Christian youth work and I frequently found people squirming at some of the stuff we did at Criccieth. Later on in the summer we hit Wensleydale to be reunited with Criccieth leaders of past and present to run a camp there. I am quite looking forward to it al, but will be missing camp at Criccieth. By the way...there's still places so if you know any 15-19 year olds who fancy a good holiday get them booked in.

Fantasy Football

Andrew has got over the disappointment of not being given the player of the year award again at footy. On Saturday he played in the Under 9's Soccer 7's tournament all morning. It's ok for him running around keeping warm...but what about the parents who had to stand in the freezing cold rain all morning? Anyway he knocked up 12 goals and I was ready to go home and warm up when the coaches approached me asking me if he could play in the afteroon too. One of the teams in the Under 10's tournament had dropped out so Andrew and the other good players were entering as underdogs. They beat Dunbar's own Under 10 team 5-0 and got a couple of other victories that put them in the final. The winning streak stopped there losing 3-1 but they were applauded by the Under 10's eating humble pie and came away with medals they had worked hard for.

Photo: Andrew in his early days of football.

My phone stinks

I had a little mishap with my mobile phone the other day. I got up 1 minute before my phone alarm was due to go off so I took it with me for a pee as it was far too early to work out how to change the settings. There I was in mid flow of early morning dew when I dropped it. Trying to juggle a phone and keep an aim is very difficult, easpecially in the dark. There was a loud PLOP! I looked down just in time for the splash to reach my face...and there was my phone in the loo. Instinctively as if the phone was a drowning child or something I reached in and rescued it. It was a race against time but I knew it was touch and go when the only sound it made was a slow hum as it slipped permanantly into vibration mode in slow motion. Before long the lights faded and the phone was dead....I had a face full of pee and my arm had just been down the toilet full of warm yellow stuff. Anyway 1 day later after being put on the life support machine of my airing cupboard, it's working again. Everything is fine but my ear smells of wee!

Up the Law!

I did my first fell run yesterday up the local hill called Traprain Law. It was 6 and 1/2 miles, 724 feet climb and descent. This is a hill that is rich in archaeology. People were being buried there 1500 before Christ and at points in the race I thought I was going to join them. There is one bit where you have a rope (or if your a mad Scotsman barbedwire) to pull yourself up. To your right is a big drop into a quarry that the Victorians made. On the way down I lost my footing and narrowly escaped landing on my backside. We also had to wade through a river and climb through a barbed wire fence. This is all done for fun believe it or not. Anyway I did it in 47 minutes and I was cheered on by the local kids who I had taught earlier in the week. These fell runners are like goats the speed they run up hills. But look how skinny they are. I am stood next to them looking obese compared to some of these Lowry characters. I think I might go on a diet!

What a load of bull!

Went for a run last night in training for the Traprain Law race on Saturday. It's a hill so I headed out to the hills near here and ended up in a cow field with cows and calfs. I know they can be a bit moody (no pun intended) when they have their little ones beside them so I gave them a wide birth. Unfortunately this brought me into the path of a frisky bull. I had no option but to run as fast as I could as both the bull and the cows were making a move on me. Fortunately I am better at jumping fences than they are and i got away. Still the sprint was good training even though my shoes are covered in pooh (bulls not mine).

Missing Links

I have put a couple of links to my Flcikr photos and my Youtube films so that you can get even more bored. I decided that it cost nothing to put them up, so why not. They are on the right on 'My Profile' bit.