Flower Power

Photo's: Andrew on the return leg of the 100 yard dash, and some shoes mixed up for the show race.

The end of the summer is also marked with the last of the village flower shows. I always like to get along to them to see whose got the biggest marrow in the village and whose dog looks most like their owner (a genuine category in the dog show). They are good fun and it will be a sad day when they stop happening.
Oldhamstocks Flower Show has the added bonus of a fell race. Well it's a fun run really over a distance of approximately 1 and half miles. It is preceded by the '100 yard dash' and the 'shoe race' (where you have to find your own shoes in a pile of many others), and a few other fun things. I won the race last year, only because of a shortage of competitors, and this time was going to be the same...except one of the few adults (and he's hardly that at 17) was national distance runner Andrew Crichton. It's a shame more people don't run it and make it more of a race as I felt a bit wrong taking the £15 prize for 2nd place. Our Andrew won the kids race again, pocketing a nice £10. It was good to see a lot of kids running it this time as it makes for a bit of an occasion.
So farewell to my trophy, but it is nice to think my name sits alongside a prospective 2014 Commonwealth games champion, which is what we are seriously expecting for him.
Next year I am thinking about entering some of the less physical competitions like the jam making. Me & Stuart have been rustling up some great blackberry varieties recently, or the dog show where Trefor is bound to win the best lipstick or moonwalking dog prize.
After the show, I decided that I'd run home. The route from Oldhamstocks via farm tracks takes you into Aikengall Farm, Emma's old family farm. It's been years since I have been in that side of the farm and much has changed, notably the amount of green stuff growing. There are no sheep in the glen anymore, so bits that used to be parched and exposing interesting rock formations are now covered in grass and bracken. I imagine the farmer is getting paid a shed load of money to leave it that way too. Anyway, it was a good run (9-10 miles) and rounded off my Saturday afternoon nicely.

Farewell to the Summer

I did my last day of working on a holiday programme today,back at Scoughall in North Berwick for a day of activities with 20+ primary age kids from across East Lothian schools. I was doing the archery again, whilst others did the assault course, the flying fox and beach games. Earlier in the summer I had spent a week over at Scoughall with an SU Camp and although it was maybe only 8 miles away, I really could have been anywhere. It's a great campsite for that has been handed over to SU for over 50 years by the farmers who own the land and 100's if not thousands of people have passed through it. In fact there was an nice piece in the paper the other day in the 50 years ago today bit, where it reported how boys on an SU camp at Scoughall had found human remains whilst climbing up cliffs near Auldhame. As I sat there on the very same camp site amongst kids of another generation reading about it, I was amused to think of how few (if any) health & safety rules were being followed then. Whilst there are sometimes good reasons for them today, I can't help think that they suffocate kids sense of discovery. Anyway, as the day closed today, a team of volunteers arrived to take down the tents. The marking where they once stood are all that remains to tell of the great holidays many kids (and adults) have had there this summer.

The teachers are back in school already. Despite having several weeks off and with the prospect of even more holidays in waiting, it always beggars belief that they even dare to attempt to squeeze a drop of sympathy out of civilians like us. I am however looking forward to working along side them all again, and this year I will be working with Stuart's class which should be good fun. Before then I still have 2 more days with the kids off school before sending them back to school. Andrew is now in secondary school, adding more sense of panic to my life as I try and work out 'where has it all gone?'

So it was a great summer really. Earlier in the year I had wondered what I would do to fill it. Tuscany was brilliant and enriching and I am working on writing it up on another blog for my own records and anyone else who might be interested. It was then a pretty full on second half. A week camp, a week long holiday club followed by another week long holiday club. Yesterday was my first day off in 3 weeks. With grey skies and a nip in the air I am grateful to the Scottish holidays being so much earlier. Well i suppose I should pack away my summer stuff and move on. Away with the shorts, the flip flops and the cool box. Out come the thermals and sensible shoes and a hat that keeps the heat in rather than off. Oh yes, and with some order to my life again, the running can resume once more.

Novelty Slippers

There was a double tragedy yesterday in our back garden. Not one, but 2 of the Guinea Pigs made their way to the big Guinea Pig hutch in the sky. The long haired white one was found by Isabelle earlier in the day lying motionless with no obvious cause of death. Then 6 hours later the short haired white one was also found lying on his side. Andrew, who has now become the pet undertaker, used his special technique to see if it was just sleeping. This involves poking it with a pencil. However this one moved when the HB made contact. But then it lay down again and repeated the motion a few more times before giving one last breath and dying.
I don't know what it was. They have not eaten anything unusual and so it must have been a virus. The long haired grey one is enjoying the additional space in the pen. He has long been the victim of bullying by the other two and it looks like for him some sort of justice has been done.
Anyway, apart from one of the deceased having slightly longer hair than the other, I think they would make a nice pair of slippers. Although as one person pointed out, they might squeak when you walk in them.

Trefor's TV Fame Beckons

Just had an e-mail from an American TV Show called 'Americas Cutest Dogs II' asking if they can use the film of Trefor on a slide. Watch this space to see how much it's going to be worth.

Meanwhile the film has now reached 115,000 hits and almost weekly I still receive offencsive or not so comments from people around the world. Most of them get removed as they are a bit menacing, but some are hilarious.

Fringe Benefits

For the first time ever I headed into Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival yesterday to check out what all the fuss is about. However the main purpose of the visit was to meet up with old friends Jane & Col from Manchester who had been on a canal holiday from Falkirk.
The sun was out and Edinburgh was packed, so we spent a good hour sat in Princess Street Gardens people watching. Several performers were rehearsing there, but I got the impression they were sort of fringe of the fringe...maybe side burns! Apart from the Chinese Dragon lot who were teaching American tourist how to operate one, the rest looked like they needed the practice. There was a bloke doing some sort of acrobatic jumping and flipping. It just didn't quite look right...especially when he landed on his elbow. Then there were 2 swordsman. Well that is a generous description of two hairy looking blokes who would not be misplaced in a branch of Games Workshop, who were fighting each other with those wooden swords. It was like watching 2 big kids acting out the fight scene with Darth Vader & Luke Skywalker. Again, it just wasn't right in so many ways. We slowly tried to make our way up to the Royal Mile where the main activities were on offer. It took ages because at every turn there is another act to see.
Once on the Royal Mile we were spoilt for choice. Stuart and Andrew & Matthew were taken by the human statues. Stuart was particularly annoying trying to touch them, and it was amusing seeing a boy being reprimanded by a statue. We then opted for the chain saw juggler. An American who looked like a fat lookalike of Lemmy from Motorhead. He's pulled in a big crowd and his act finished with him lying on a bed of nails. By chance, one of his volunteers was a bloke off Coronation Street who happened to be passing by. We had a wander and saw a few 'arty' acts that made no sense at all and really make a strong case for those who think any funding given to the arts is wasted. In my view they were just a bunch of attention seekers rather than performers who were due any credit. There are also lots of people trying to sell tickets for shows. The most impressive of them all was one where an elderly gentleman dressed in pyjamas, slippers and a dressing gown wandered around looking lost. He really did look like he had come out of an old people's home and got lost on a day trip to Dobbie's Garden Centre. On his back was the advert for his show which read An Evening with Dementia . Very clever and had I time I might have gone to see it.
We headed back and left the Jones' to make their way back to their boat. A good afternoon indeed, and I'd recommend a trip to the festival any day.

Mallet Man

My blogging is being somewhat restricted due to the absence of a usable little finger. Whilst on holiday I got roped into a campsite game of footy with the Germans and Dutch. I am not sure why I played as it was all very embarrassing for the kids to see their father prance around like John Clease, and it was very hot at around 35oC. For a while I was in goals when Gerry took a shot on me. My goal keeping skills...well okay, self defence skills instinctively saved the shot that was heading straight form my face. Quite pleased with my performance I left the pitch at half time thinking of Sylvester in Escape to Victory. It was then I noticed my little finger was not quite as straight as it used to be. In fact it was curled up and no matter how many time I tried to pull it straight, it didn't.

I'd not bothered with the doctors as I didn't fancy a day trying out Italy's health care when I could be on the beach. It was only when I returned home that I noticed my bendy finger was actually stopping me from doing 2 things. 1 was pressing return on my key pad, the other more serious. I was unable to stick it up my nose or down my ear. The doctor was consulted and she sent me to the hospital where it was X-rayed and diagnosed as 'Mallet Finger'. They tell me I have torn or damaged the tendons and the treatment (which is doubtful given the length of time I took to treat it) is wearing a splint for 6 weeks.

Where do they get the 'mallet' from? Surely only Tom & Jerry actually hit their fingers with mallets? Perhaps it is linked to 'chisell thumb' and 'Chain Saw Stump'. Who knows, but meanwhile my footballing career faces its biggest setback since an off duty police woman ran me over and broke my leg!

Must update my status

For the 2 or 3 people who read this blog, I must apologise that it is now August and my last post was in June. Life has been busy and there is a lot of blogging to catch up on. Basically since June I have been in England, Italy and the far off fields of Scoughall North Berwick! This week I am on the annual holiday club programme, with just enough time to eat between events. So hopefully next week I can update my status and report back on these travels and what life is offering just now.