While the Sun Shines!

Managed to squeeze in another jaunt up the Bin of Cullen today. Got to make the best of it before I'm back in school. That starts next week, and there won't be much in the way of spare time then! The first photo is the view towards Buckie.

The village of Findochty is hiding in here someplace!

This is the picturesque village of Cullen, with it's magnificent railway viaduct, probably the greatest architectural feat in the area. It's not a big place, but it has history!

First Munro Bagged!

Yesterday I bagged my first Munro "Schiehallion". Here it is just after we set off (the wife and kids did it too). 1083 metres, up and down in 4 hours, pretty good going!

A familiar site on the hills, burning heather. Why do they burn it? I supsect it's to allow grass to grow, but that's just my theory!

Up on to the boulder field, the steepest part was already over with!

Look at all those boot prints. This is a popular Munro!

Wounded Knee!

I'm thinking about heading South this Sunday, to tackle my first Munro. The one I have in mind is Schiehallion, a little bit West of Pitlochry. There are plenty Munro's much closer to home, but the ones further North are all snow-covered right now, and that's not really suitable for beginners. There is also the problem of my lingering knee pain, first it was the left knee, now it's the right. Unfortunately, I have had problems with the right knee in the past, so I'm kind of hoping I haven't awoken a sleeping lion there.

Watched "The Real Indiana Jones" on Channel 5 the other night, quite interesting. It seems to be that Indiana Jones is based on real-life adventurers, although not directly as you might have expected. Instead, it seems that Lucas and Spielberg based the character on their recollections of "Matinees" that they both watched as children. These shows featured all action heroes and clear distinctions between the good guys and the bad guys. The shows were of course based on real characters, not that Spielberg or Lucas might have known that. They simply had a T.V. diet on which they thrived. So Indie is a third-hand version of a hotch-potch of early 20th Century adventurers and explorers.

I've another week or so before I'm back in school for a five week run, at the end of which that will be me, virtually a teacher, although only provisionally for the first year, but at least I'll start getting paid. This course has been a hard slog. You can tell from the drop-out rate, and even amongst those that will finish, I have heard many of them saying that they don't plan to take up teaching places after the Summer, on all sorts of pretexts. The most likely route for many will be to simply finish the course, and never teach at all, because they don't want to quit so close to the finish, but they've already decided that teaching's not for them!

Not Paying Out!

Boring day. Had to drive my son the 60 miles into Aberdeen to see the Orthodontist, only to be in and out of the surgery in a little under 10 minutes. What's worse is, I was chastised because he hasn't been brushing his teeth properly, he didn't have a go at him, he had a go at me. Short of brushing his teeth for him, I don't see how I can force him to make a better job of it. He's a teenager, everything he does is half-arsed! When you're 13 you don't care too much about your teeth, or anything other than Call of Duty 4, Halo 2 and lazing around all day. I'll give him his due though, he gets up for school no bother, no idea how he manages that, but he does.

By the way, this is ATM bashing day, because they're beginning to annoy me even more than before. Firstly I tried to get money at the ATM in the town centre here, only they have new parking restrictions in place and there were no spaces. Every single parking space is taken before 9 am, by people who work in the town centre. If they put a time limit on it, that would be helpful, but no. There are never any spaces during normal day-time hours. Absolutely ridiculous.

Next up, I tried to get cash from an ATM at a petrol station in another town, on the way to Aberdeen. Despite the notice that there was a £2 fee per cash withdrawal, I pressed ahead, because I wanted to fill up. Nothing doing, it didn't pay out. I tried twice more, still wouldn't pay out. I managed to make it to Aberdeen, where I was able to retrieve some cash from a machine. I'm starting to think someone wants to stop me having my own money!!!

Bin and Gone!

Wanted to get some hill-walking in this morning, but there wasn't time to go far, so we just went for the Bin of Cullen again, this time from the front!

It was a fine day, warm even, until we reached the top, at which point it started to drizzle.

Saw this sign at the bottom of the hill, thrown into the fearns!

Bon Anniversaire!

Almost as an after thought. This blog is a year old today. Yay!!!

Hollow Threats!

That's the assessment in at last, for better or worse. At least I didn't have sleepless nights over it like some of the other trainees, regardless of the stress I suffered during the daytime. What's more, having met up again with my co-students, everyone's saying the same thing, worst essay they've ever had to write, and that they hated it. Some of these folk have Masters too, so that tells you something. I think the Uni let us down with this one, the task was drivel, it was all very vague, and there wasn't any content to sink your teeth into. Nevermind, it could well be the last ever assessment I have to write. Why do I doubt that?

I suffered an attack of apathy reading how "Gordon Brown sends a warning to Mugabe" yesterday. Not that I'm not deeply concerned about what's happening in Zimbabwe, I've been speaking out about it for years. I just find it laughable that either Brown or anyone else in this country, seems to think that Mugabe is the least bit interested in what Brown has to say. It reminds me of Hitler and Chamberlain, except Hitler at least tried to play the appeasement game. Mugabe plays his own game, by his rules!

I was watching the U.S. Masters now and again over the weekend, and doesn't that Augusta place look lovely? Obviously a small fortune is spent keeping the course looking like that, but it is beautiful. Words like "azalias, catkins, and silver sands" abounded. Then of course there was some golf going on and good old Peter Aliss was having fun with Tiger Woods. He would say things like, "Tiger's earned his stripes" and "Tiger's prowling in the long grass". Sounded like a Frosties advert!

Lasagne Has No Flipside!

Yeah, I really should have posted yesterday, but I was up to my neck in assessment alright? Anyhow, it's done now for what it's worth. I'm not sure how confident I should be about what I've produced, I've been wrong before. I've handed in work I thought was terrible and scored high, but on the flipside, handed in what I've considered my best work, and scored mediocre marks. I think it quite often depends who's marking it, what sort of day they've had, and possibly even the time of month ;-/

It's a weight of my shoulders anyway, although I do have a presentation to prepare and deliver next week. After that, I will be able to indulge in some slight relaxation, I'll still be busy, but not under so much pressure hopefully. Some decent weather would be nice too. After hitting that Corbett "Morven" with the wife and kids in a virtual whiteout, they are justifiably reluctant to repeat the performance in a hurry. So, let's hope that the weather improves, that the snow on the hills melts, and then I might be able to indulge in a spot of Munro bagging.

I had spaghetti bolognaise for my supper, if you're interested, not with steak mince but with pieces of chicken instead. That's the way we have it, and it's absolutely delicious, believe me! Those Italians could take a lesson from us Scots, and if it wasn't for Lasagne, they'd be getting one. Can't beat a bit of Lasagne, unless it's Canneloni of course. Pure Ambrosia is Canneloni!

Beyond the Pale!

My knees are still hurting a little from my Antarctic expedition yesterday. Strange how I'm the only one who's suffering. I think it might be a genetic marker, indicating that my ancestors lived mainly in flat areas of land, or else my knees are clapped out from some of the laborious work I once indulged in. Either way, it's quite odd that I have no problem walking uphill, but as soon as I start walking downhill, my kneecaps inform me that they're most displeased with such a mode of travel!

I'm still deeply busy writing this assessment. It's pretty much done as far as I'm concerned, with just one itsy bitsy problemo. There's a Word Count limit of 5,000, with a 10% margin to play around with. I just weighed in at 7,628 words, so now I'll have to do some whole-scale chopping to get it right down to a suitable length. Given the quality of what I've written, I simply can't afford to lose marks for exceeding the stated word count.

In a few weeks time I should be finding out which school I'll be spending my probationary year teaching at. I expect to be placed locally or near enough, but it doesn't work like that. I could in fact be sent somewhere beyond commuting distance, in which case, I might have to move house. Just for a year? It's a distinct possibility. The rules are; you have 3 years to complete your probation, you can go where you're sent or go it alone, in which case it will take a year plus a term to complete. If you go it alone and fail to teach for a year and a term within 3 years, then you have to go back to University and go through a whole year's training again. No wonder people are falling over themselves to join the profession!

Snowballed On Morven!

This is Morven in Southern Aberdeenshire, which we climbed today. 871 m in knee-deep snow. Either very brave or foolhardy, you decide!

The first section wasn't all that bad, just some melt-water running down the path!

Then things started to get a bit... snowy!

The cairn on the summit. You have no idea what a slog it was to get here, now I know how Captain Scott must have felt.