Not quite John Noakes

Photo: It's Andy from Blue Peter who was sat just a few croissants away from me!


Just back from a trip up north to Aviemore, the small town famed for it's skiing. I was there for the national Scottish Christian Youth Workers Conference. Because Mr MacDonald of the MacDonald hotels is one too (Christian not a youth worker), he gives us a huge discount at his Highland Resort. £90 full board for 2 nights + use of all the facilities. A bargain and it was tempting not to go to any of the conference and just sit in the sauna all weekend. However I did get along to a few seminars all about youth work and stuff like that and it was actually really good. I enjoyed meeting fellow workers from across Scotland and nicking some ideas. It was also great food and at the hot buffet the dilemma of should I have the salmon with a prawn/dil sauce or the Thai curry? The answer is to put a line of rice and veg in the middle of your plate and have both either side.

One of the big surprises at breakfast was finding a Blue Peter presenter sitting at a table. 'Andy' was in Aviemore to report on the National Husky Racing Championships. I'd just thought everyone has a husky in Avimore until I realised they too were visitors. Anyway, I was tempted to go and say hello, grab a photo, etc of the man with a Blue peter suitcase. But by the time I had piled my plate high with the full English, Danish's, fresh fruit and cereals, he was gone. Shame really as he is one of the most genuine presenters they have had since John Noakes. I made the mistake the other day of watching Blue Peter. Oh dear! Apart from this fella, the BBC have stooped to employing presenters purely on the basis of their annoying regional accent. okay, it worked for Noakes but really I don't want to have the serious issues of genocide, famine etc being presented by some Lancashire lass who would be better placed behind the bar at the Rovers. bring back Shep!

10 out of 10 for his homework scam

Our little Stuart gets a reading book to read at home every day from school. The deal is he reads it and then we sign his little book. This is returned to his teacher who gives him a star. No reading book came home yesterday as he left it behind, but on close inspection of his little book, it appeared someone had signed saying he had read it. Sure enough they had....he had! Yes at the age of 7 he has perfected his forgery skills and forged his mums signature. Now what does that tell you about her writing....it's worse than a doctors!

On the telly

Pictures: Me on the telly (left side with hat on) and Jonathan Edwards the triple jumper ending his career on cold Saturday afternoons presenting minor sporting events.

We went along to Holyrood on Saturday to watch the international cross country races. We had gone to support Andrew, one of our club mates who was running for Scotland in the under 17's race which is pretty impressive given he has only been running for about a year and a bit. Anyway Grandstand were there doing a broadcast and Jonathan Edwards was presenting it, along with Brendan Foster and Steve Cram. I tried to get in the background whilst they filmed so i could be on the telly but couldn't get the angle I needed. I went to watch the races and that's where i got my big break! As the camera follows the Ethiopian and Kenyans eating our rubbish women runners for breakfast I managed to get in the shot. So there I am...as close as I will ever get to sharing the big screen with elite athletes. As for the boy Andrew...he came 5th which was pretty good. We stuck around for a few more races and saw Stockport runner Steve Vernon come second, and I got a few pics of the celebs. Cold but a different way to spend a Saturday.

Some websites I often visit Part 1

I've ended up with far too many links in my bookmark thing on my computer...tell tale signs of me wasting hours of my life on it. Here are few that I like:

1. Part of my daily routine is catching up on the small town talk on the Dunbar Community Forum It is full of village idiots, but occasionally you get some useful bits of info, and it stirs the community up to do something. For example, I spent Boxing Day with 20 other people building a path through the muddy track in the woods behind us as a result of wingers on the forum.

2. Free music of every variety can be found at LastFM This link takes you to my awful library which got a bit out of control. It has been many years since I listened to a Yazoo album, and the Gary Glitter track was just an experiment to see how far you can push a site like this....honestly!

3. Vixy is one I use often to nick films off Youtube and places like that to use in lessons or youth clubs.

4. Scripture Union who I am an associate worker with do bible reading notes online. In fact if you want to study the bible but can't be bothered reading it you can press the 'play' button and someone from middle England will read it to you. It's a bit hit and miss, but one of the better online tools I have seen, and it doesn't have any pop up money grabbing appeals from American tv evangelists WordLive

5. Another local connection here with the local team Dunbar United Many of my Saturday afternoons are spent watching the Seasiders give it their all. There's nearly always a fight with someone on or off the pitch, the language is foul, the pies are mince, the football is thrilling, the ministers son plays for them (so does my postman). It's a must for any visitor to Dunbar.

I'll keep adding a few more over the coming weeks.

Merry New Year!

Picture: Stuart with Thomas (Sarah & Rob's new arrival) next to the plastic tree.



Well Christmas went well. All the timings were right, everyone was fed and watered in time for Dr Who and the kids were all happy with their pressies. Lots of DVD's to watch, and with the help of my projector from work, we have been having home cinema each night in the living room. Mama Mia, Dark Knight, Run Fat Boy Run, etc and then some bargain bucket under £3 ones like Jaws, Dodgeball, Airplane, and other stuff.
By Boxing Day the overindulgence of Christmas was showing on my waist. I decided to try out night running as there had not been enough daylight hours to get a run in earlier (too many DVD's to watch). With a head torch and as many reflectors as I could find to stick on me, I set off into the country lanes and actually found it okay. Without the torch it really is very dark, but great stars to see and nocturnal creatures. By Hogmany I was feeling fit(ter) for the first time in months. The back injury still niggles but I decided to run the annual Black Bun Fun Run. It starts and finishes in the pub and is a 1.5 mile race. I held 4th place for most of it, with a young lad in 3rd. Somehow I found the reserves to break past him with 20 meters to go and rob him of 3rd place. So the year ended on a racing high. After a few scoops in the pub we headed off to a big party at one of the most hospitable families in Dunbar where there was 60+ other people partying. Back home for the last 10 minutes of Jools Hollan's Hootenanny and an awful Elton John concert.

New Years Day offered another race. The Portobello Promathon, 4 miler. Still feeling fit, but slightly jaded from a late night and beer I managed to finish just 10 seconds slower than last year. But it is always disappointing to see kids beat you, and there was one little 12 year old I just couldn't catch. Then the rest of the day was spent at Emma's mates for the annual gathering of her old school friends and reluctant husbands. It was an opportunity to finish off the Christmas drinks and put a line under the festive season. That's it now for another year, tomorrow the decorations come down and the calendar (free from the milky) goes up. I should add that this year we stepped over the threshold of good taste, into the world of Christmas outdoor lights. Having vowed never to put them up, I couldn't resist a bargain when Tesco's was selling them off at £2.50 a set. The cheese has set in and they are strung up along the gutters of our garage, creating our own grotto. Inflatable Santa next year perhaps?

Also worth a mention was the disaster of the free real Christmas tree Emma got from work. Within hours of it coming into the house the needles were dropping. This coincided with the horrible behaviour of our delightful children, so with a stroke of genius, Emma told them that Christmas was cancelled until their behaviour improved, and then proceeded to take down the tree. Fortunately for them it did improve and we replaced it with a plastic one, and stuck the real one outside with some twinkly lights on it to add to our light show.

Here's to 2009!