You little minx!

WARNING!!! NATURE FREAK IS HERE AGAIN.

My kids have now started calling me a nature freak. I can't help but notice...and comment on wild things that I stumble across. Living in East Lothian just means it happens a lot. Well the parental influence is rubbing off on to them. We were down at Hailles Castle having a game of hide and seek. i was on so I took the opportunity whilst counting to keep my eye on a reed warbler that was hopping around the river. Then I heard the kids shouting me over...they had seen something by the river. Sure enough the junior nature freaks had a find! it was a mink by the riverside. I was hoping it might have been an otter as they are supposed to be on that stretch of river, but it was smaller and black. Definately a mink and we watched it for ages until we realised Stuart was still hiding. It might have looked like a cuddly little creature, but they are partial to a meal of water vole or other animals that are in decline. This one was after a wren that was nesting near the reeds. They need trapping really but I don't fancy giving it a go. I remember all too well the boy in the next bed to me in hospital whose pet ferret had bitten his nose off (apart from the little bit of bone they were graphing skin to).

So if you fancy a new fur coat or a pair of slippers, just head down to the banks of the Tyne near East Linton and there is a 'do it yourself' kit waiting to be caught. Photo: Look closely at the crack in the log and you should be able to see the little devil

Sir Ronald Pechell BT RIP

The damage to the lifeboat was worse than they thought. It looks like the boat is going to be scrapped. What's more undignified for it, is that it is being sent to Hartlepool to be stripped down. Imagine that, being hung up, stripped down with a hole in your bottom in the docks of Hartlepool!

Avoid drowning for a few weeks!

The was a violent storm on Friday night. I knew it was bad when we saw our bench flying across the garden. A northern wind brought with it stormy seas and unfortunately Dunbar's lifeboat came loose from it's moorings and ended up on the rocks, which in turn put a great big hole in the £1.5 million pound vessel. Ouch! So if you are up in Dunbar and decide to go for a swim or take your air bed out for a paddle then remember there is now no boat available to rescue you. Dunbar Lifeboat

I should also add to that list kite buggying. The other week i was doing some work on the roof of Scripture Unions camp down in North Berwick when I saw this bloke kite surfer in the sea. He looked like he was having trouble but then most kite surfers seem to spend more time trying to get it up than actually surfing. I spoke to a colleague and we decided that he was ok and probably would not appreciate us calling for help, so I went home. Later that day the BBC news caught my eye! Oops! it appears that his surf board was actually a buggy that had blown up in the air into the sea. A major search and rescue operation got under way including the helicopter. It was just like those adverts they use to have for the coastguard

Easter

A busy week in Dunbar has just passed. It was Holy Week and proceedings started last week with the churches Palm Sunday procession and Passion Play. We had a theatre group, the Covenant Players, in to perform in the local park. Despite it being very cold, we had a good crowd and the churches were sucessfull in reminding everyone what Easter is all about. There is a Dunbar tradition emerging of using the pipe band for every occasion. I am sure if Jesus was arriving in Dunbar for the passover on his donkey, then a pipe band would have been ahead of him. It worked well for us (photo).

All week I have been working with the schools. I was doing assemblies in Dunbar Grammar School on Easter. I talked about George Cadbury who demonstrated great kindness to his staff at Bournville because his Christian faith influenced his outlook on life..and then of course I talked about God's act of kindness shown through Christ. i have also been pulled out doing the Easter services for Dunbar Primary School where I was working with 2 year groups making films to be shown in the services. P5's picked up on this kindness theme and we filmed them telling everyone about how kind they are! The P7's were looking at the Easter story and I got them to think about characters who are either mentioned in the bible, or who we can speculate would have been there, or would be there in a modern setting. We then interviewed them with a news crew and created our very own passion plays (or films). We had interviews with the executioner, palm tree selling woman (Isabelle), Mary, security guards, forensic experts and even Jeremy Clarkson! I think those involved now understand the story and the people in it more. I was also pleased with the turn out of parents at the services. As one teacher said about a kid, 'his mum turned up for the church service, which is more than I can say for the parents evening.'

Yesterday we celebrated Easter on the beach at 8 a.m. The service is only 20 minutes long but for me is all about quality not quantity. As so much of Jesus' life revolved around being on the coast it just adds to the occasion being on a beach to reflect on his life. The fact it is almost freezing and the wind chill makes it even colder does not take away from the occasion. That said the the croissants and coffee served afterwards are quite welcome.

Finally we had all Emma's family around for the day, including Ethan, the latest arrival who was born on Friday to Mary and Jamie. The children were almost as interested in him as they were with Claire's new iphone.

Easter

On the road

The cross country season is behind us for another year and now our running races hit the roads again. The first one was the Lasswade 10 miler. This was a good run as it takes you down a valley and then back up again...so in other words it's hilly! Nevertheless I dug in and got a personal best of 65 minutes for that distance. The highlight however had to be the post race buffet. The fine ladies of Lasswade had been very busy with their home baking and trays upon trays of millionaire shortbread kept coming out. But even better than that was the fact that the race was sponsored by a lunch box favourite Tunnock's Caramel Wafers
, which explained why they were giving away giant sized ones by the box load. Keep the medals...just bring on the goodies! The only down side to the day was my kit bag got lost in transit for half an hour, so I was left stood around in the freezing conditions getting very cold in my vest and shorts. There was only one thing for it...have another Tunnock's!
The picture is of me at the finish with those not very thermal shorts and vest on.

Nice Guy Eddie!

I've been hanging out with the Royal's again. As if joining Prince Andrew for his garden party at Holyrood last summer wasn't enough, his brother Edward came to see where we stay. I had just nipped out for a pie at Smith's the Bakers when I noticed a crowd gathering in the John Muir Birthplace Museum next door. The police presence told me that they were not there for the scotch pies and cream doughnuts but instead for the Royal visitor. It seems Prince Edward was on his way to the borders (a region next to England & Scotland...not a book shop with a Starbucks in it) and felt fit to pop in and check out the museum. He just happened to be coming out as I was on the hunt for my dinner. I gave him a little wave to see him off, and who knows when I will bump into another. His mum is supposed to be around these parts in the summer, and the last time I saw her was when she opened G-Mex in Manchester in 1986.