Saturday 27.10.2012

A quick trot out tonight at about 20 to 6 to mark the end of post-work walks as the clocks go back.

Yesterday it was sunshine, golden leaves, the last of the roses....and snow.

Today not so pretty and by this evening a cold wind, grey sky and snow-streaked hills made it feel more like December but the walking warmed us up and meant we were able to settle in front of Inspector Montalbano feeling virtuous.....

Monday 22.10.2012

Took a walk on the wild side this lunchtime (well, round half of the bypass anyway) just to get some air in my lungs:days are getting shorter and shorter.....

Tonight finally managed to catch up with You`ve Been Trumped. Leaves you completely speechless.

If you haven`t, catch it on i-player or You Tube.

Speechless..................

Sunday 21.10.2012

Just home from work and what a night! Stars,stars and more stars, a mild gentle breeze and the odd tendril of mist to add a bit of atmosphere.


On Friday it was a walk-in-the-wet as we took a different route round the woods forgetting how a season`s growth meant everything was higher and wider and as it was also soaking wet I might just as well have jumped in the bath fully clothed.


Today though it was a morning to abandon everything else and get going:

clear blue sky, crisp air and fiery colours putting a spring in the step....and a wag in the tail.

Wednesday 17.10.2012

I should start on the 11 questions (see post Friday 5.10.2012)because finding the 11 blogs is going to be even harder.

1.Why blog?

2.What are you currently reading?

3.Would it bother you if you never travelled by air again?

4.What do you understand by the word politics?

5.If you could become really expert at a craft (or, if you are, expert at a new one) what would it be?

6. Similarly, if you had the chance to become fluent in another language which would you choose?

7.Someone says they used to read but they no longer have time: how do you respond?

8.What was the last film you saw and what did you think?

9. If you suddenly lost everything you own (stuff, not people or animals but including photos,mementoes and souvenirs)how big a trauma would it be?

10. Have you ever said yes when you should have said no and/or no when you should have said yes and were the consequences dire or did it all turn out alright in the end? (No need for embarrassing details!)

11. Faced with a task you`re not looking forward to (maybe even having to compile 11 questions!)are you a "let`s get it over and done with asap" sort of a person or could you procrastinate for Britain?

So there they are for general rumination: now I have to confess that finding 11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers is going to be hard because I only follow 2 or 3 blogs and don`t know my way round the blogger-sphere.

However - nothing like a challenge and who knows what delights are waiting to be discovered..........wonder how many blogs there are related to whisky....or chocolate.....or Inspector Montalbano.............

Sunday 14.10.2012

Elements wonderfully changeable just now, not sure what the dawn will bring.
Tuesday night brought a sharp frost which appeared to trigger an almost instant turn of the leaves to gold and crimson and start them clattering to the ground.
So walking along the cobbled streets of Old Aberdeen on the Wednesday - sharp, clear and sunny - involved a lot of scuffing through said leaves and deep gulps of the fresh air.

Then on Thursday we were getting "amber warnings" about impending monsoons so dogs and I scuttled out after work - gloomy and spitting rain at 6 o`clock - on the grounds that the apocalypse was due.
Never quite arrived of course, not this time, though it was sensationally wet on Friday. From the window at work it was possible to see adults bent nearly double against the deluge while children in wellies sloshed about quite happily - perhaps your wellies need to be pink to enjoy that sort of weather.
And I still don`t know what we`re supposed to do having been given an "amber warning".

Monday 8.10.2012

Back to lunchtime walks when work takes up all the daylight.

Three quarters of an hour to get round the bypass, a cold wind and spitting rain but a chance to nosy in people`s gardens,
see familiar landmarks from a different angle

and admire some of the buildings.

Quite set me up for the remainder of the day.

Friday 5.10.2012

Now I could unequivocally answer the question "Which is your favourite season?" Never mind all the ballyhoo of summer and winter or all that bustin` out all over stuff of Spring.
When Autumn`s like this it`s the best - calm and peaceful, sort of resigned - "Well, that`s that, did the best we could, now we can relax until April."
Strolled up the hill a little earlier than yesterday with time to go right round the woods; still a little warmth in the sun, poetry-inspiring cloudscapes and that autumn pungency in the air.
Tellingly though, the beasts had vanished from the field. Yesterday they`d skipped along beside us for a while as we walked home. Today they were gone. Now that is a sign of the year moving on.

Friday 5.10.2012

Lovely and extremely talented FrankieSoup nominated walking-quite-fast for a Liebster award - very kind and flattering.
The idea is that the award is given by bloggers to bloggers, and that all blogs nominated must have fewer than 200 followers. It's a way of increasing traffic to smaller sites.
When you get the award, the person giving it asks you 11 random questions, then you have to nominate 11 other blogs and come up with your own set of questions.
So far managed to answer the questions - just - so here they are. Will come up with 11 more blogs and 11 more questions soonest.
Thanks again FrankieSoup!

1. If you could only read one author for the rest of your days, who would you read?

I race from book to book; have never yet re-read one; will read the first in a series to get the idea without necessarily reading the rest. When I`ve finished one I love I`ll rave about it for a week and then move on. And books are to do with the age you are and the place you are when you read them. If this all sounds a bit manic it isn`t - I don`t speed read or anything - but my curiosity is endless: in fact this has made me realise that only reading one author for the rest of my days is about as close as I can get to my idea of purgatory, matched only by the idea of never going anywhere else again, ever. Perhaps that`s it...reading as a journey...(aaargh, cheese-alert - is there anything that can`t be compared to a journey?)....but why would you stay on the same road when there`s all those highways, byways and avenues - and OK the odd cul-de-sac - to explore? Can I dodge this one? My brain hurts.

2. You`re leaving town forever and need to pack your worldly goods into a backpack - what's the first thing you reach for?

Probably my address book. About the only thing that can`t be replaced

3. If you were queen for the day, who would you knight?

The only people I can think of would decline.........I hope.

4. What is your most memorable day?
Most memorable? Brain mashing time again.
Flying to Africa when I was 18 with Orion visible out of the plane window practically the whole way? (Had a soft spot for him ever since).
Climbing a glacier in New Zealand?
Staring into a volcano in Indonesia?
The many memorable days which come with children......
And hopefully more to come - er, memorable days that is, not children.

But then the walk I did in the gloaming this evening was pretty good..............

.......and does memorable imply good or can things be memorably bad?




5. Where in the world would you go if money wasn't an object?

Are we talking to visit? To work? To stay for ever?
If money were no object I`d simply keep moving.

6. Who would you take with you?

He-who-wishes-the-world-would-leave-him-alone is a good traveller, oddly. Or any of the offspring. And the dogs are always willing.

7. Are you a closet Star Trek fan?

No.

8. What's your favourite flower?

Daffodil

9. Where do you feel most at home?
On a train - any train - as it`s pulling out of the station - any station.

10. How do you prefer to travel - car, train, plane, walking etc?
See previous answer if walking impractical.

11. What did(do) you want to be when you grow up?
Afraid I didn`t...was once accused of having no ambition - it was more what I didn`t want to be ....and thinking about it, have pretty much achieved not being things........and avoided `growing up` come to that...but then Mr. Turner says it much better than me...

Photosynthesis
Well I guess I should confess that I am starting to get old
All the latest music fads all passed me by and left me cold
All the kids are talking slang I won't pretend to understand
All my friends are getting married, mortgages and pension plans
And it's obvious my angry adolescent days are done
And I'm happy and I'm settled in the person I've become
But that doesn't mean I'm settled up and sitting out the game
Time may change a lot but some things may stay the same

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I yeah I won't grow up

Oh maturity's a wrapped up package deal so it seems
And ditching teenage fantasy means ditching all your dreams
All your friends and peers and family solemnly tell you you will
Have to grow up be an adult yeah be bored and unfulfilled
Oh when no ones yet explained to me exactly what's so great
About slaving 50 years away on something that you hate,
About meekly shuffling down the path of mediocrity
Well if that's your road then take it but it's not the road for me

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I yeah I won't grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up

And if all you ever do with your life
Is just photosynthesize
Then you deserve every hour of these sleepless nights
That you waste wondering when you're gonna die

Now I'll play and you sing
The perfect way for the evening to begin
Now I'll play and you sing
The perfect way for the evening to begin

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all yeah I won't grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up

Thursday 04.10.2012

Heavens to Murgatroyd the light is going fast at the end of the day now.

Home after six, cold, tired and hungry but couldn`t resist a quick canter up the road and round the top of the woods: a perfect autumn evening, still and cool,with pheasants calling across the fields and Turner-esque skyscapes.

Back down the hill in the gloaming, no longer tired or cold - but extremely hungry.....