War of the Animals!

Thought I'd have a go at making a comic strip. Here is my first attempt. Mickey Mouse (now sadly walking with Jesus and Walt) relates his version of animals' struggle for survival.

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The Winds of Change!

So it turns out that my prospects are possibly not as bleak as I first anticapted they would be on receipt of the news that my current employment would be coming to an end at the start of December. When I received the news, there appeared to be little chance of securing alternative employ before that time. Now, I have at least three good possibilities on my horizon. Of those three, two are posts I was interested in before. One I tried for, but narrowly missed out on and now it's up for grabs again. Another of the posts, I wasn't allowed to apply for (an internal vacancy), but now they have opened it up to a broader group of individuals and I am free to apply.

I do have a preference of the three and I would quite willingly give up my present position for it anyway, so the whole debacle may well end up proving beneficial to me, despite the way I've been treated. Things have been going well at work anyhow. Many of my colleagues have sided with me, so management have really cast themsleves in an unfavourable light because of the way they have handled it all. They've shown themselves as untrustworthy, ruthless and corrupt. Maybe those are the traits required for higher management. In this case however, none of it was necessary.

So basically, at the start of December I should be starting a new job, or I will be unemployed. Either way, I'll be happy to leave where I'm at right now. When you feel like your superiors are plotting and scheming against you, it makes things uncomfortable to say the least. Then, when you discover that your concerns are well founded, then it makes your position untenable. That's where I find myself right now. I'm looking forward to a fresh start, but I've learned a valuable lesson, be careful who you trust!

Glen Ey

On Sunday, after the clocks went back, the wife and I decided to head to Glen Ey near Braemar for a spot of cycling, hiking and steep uphill walking (not climbing, it was hardly that). It started off bright and we began with a 12km or so cycle in, mainly on a gentle uphill. After that it was largely cross-country to reach Beinn Iutharn Mhor. It was quite a steep pull up the flank of the hill and it took us a while to reach the top. It wasn't too cold except for when rounding the corrie, where our faces were numb with the updraft.

Beinn Iutharn Mhor

Beinn Iutharn Mhor up the Ey Burn and beyond Altanour Lodge ruins

Odd rock

Looking down Glen Ey to Morrone

Loch nan Eun and Gleann Taitneach

Approaching the summit of Beinn Iutharn Mhor

From the summit we made our way down into the corrie where it was easiest to descend and then faced a crossing over some very inhospitable terrain for a few kilometres; bog, peat haughs, mud etc. It was pretty bad.  Eventually we pulled up onto the ridge at the other side though and it wasn't far to the top of the second Munro of the day: Carn Bhac. There were great views of the Cairngorms from here, all browns and greys as the hills are now wearing their Winter plumage!

Beinn a'Ghlo

Carn Bhac

The Cairngorms

The walk back down to the bikes was again through wild country, no paths, plenty of mud and water though. It seemed like such a long trudge and the rain came on a bit before we even reached the bikes. The ride back was much easier, mostly downhill and took about half the time of the ride in. 15 minutes after getting back to the car, it was dark. It seemed to come on all of a sudden. What a difference putting the clocks back an hour makes!

Going Out!

Well it's pretty cold and windy here right now, but I've decided to take advantage of a possible window of opportunity and head out on the hills tomorrow. The wind is going to drop significantly the foreacst claims, although it will still be close to freezing higher up. I'm hoping to bag 2 Munros, which will take my tally for this year to 28. I made 29 last year and 31 the year before, which was my first year hill-walking. Depending on several factors, I may get another chance to go out before the year's end and make it 30 for this year. That would be nice!

Not that the annual amount is really that important. I just feel that I need to sustain a reasonable figure in order to be able to complete within 10 years. Yes, that's 10 years in total to climb all of the Munros in Scotland. That's my projected total time required to achieve such a feat. Well, there are 283 Munros spread all across the country and there is a lot of travelling involved. That's probably the worst part. I don't like having to drive for extended periods, especially not before a long walk. You do tend to stiffen up a bit enroute.

I've been thinking about which Munro I would like to be my 100th. It will probably be May/June next year before I reach that figure, but I'd like to tackle one of the scarier ones like An Teallach or Liathach for the event. Some people might suggest that those aren't scary hills, but I'm no climber, just an ordinary walker and I've seen pictures of them which have scared the hell out of me. Quite often though, in reality, they aren't nearly as bad as you tend to imagine. That said though, the Lancet Edge in the Ben Alder group gave me a couple of cheek-clenching moments and it's considered quite tame.

Marching Orders!

What a frustrating time. I'm getting booted out of my job, but I have to work for another month. It's humiliating really. "We don't want you here anymore, but you can't leave until we say so!" Leave me some dignity please! It is fairly ridiculous anyway. The reason I'm being edged out as far as I can tell, is mainly owing to my superior knowledge over my superior. Do you get that? His background lies elsewhere and my ability to make his lack of knowledge plain for all to see is clearly more than he can live with on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, I had to be disposed of! He laso has the ear of the boss, while the boss also fears the complexity of what I do and together their child-like ignorance in their interpretation of what it is I do has caused them to desire my no longer doing it.

That being said, if I'd had the chance I would have left before now anyway. I could see which way the wind was blowing. A general dumbing-down has been brought into play, which is clearly a necessary coping mechanism for those with the minds of children. I wanted out before they got me out and now I only have a month to find alternative employment. Unfortunately, I have to keep working during that period when I'd rather be using the time to look for a suitable post. I'm hopeful that I'll find something, but if I don't, well it's not the end of the World. I've suffered worse and survived. Anyway, I'm a firm beliver in "what goes around comes around", so those that shafted me ought in turn be shafted themselves. The sooner and the harder, the better!

Stitched Up and Shafted!

I have been stitched up and shafted and there's very little I can do about it. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Not in a small way either, in a significantly damaging to employment way! I'm still there for another couple of weeks yet though, but in essence I have been replaced and it reeks of cronyism. I don't think I even had a chance. The person who was appointed in my stead may well be a good friend of one of the interviewers. That's what I'm hearing behind the scenes.

I was only ever onto a loser, being interviewed to stay in my job. I wanted to leave anyway, just not by their choice, by my own. It's unfortunate that things have turned out the way they have. Unless I can find somethng suitable in the next couple of weeks I will be a man of leisure again for the first time in almost 7 years. It's ironic to think it's virtually 21 years to the day that I started my first full-time job.

I've gone through the whole range of emotions; anger, resentment, frustration, hatred, but I'm now slowly heading towards acceptance. It's a profession in which it's very difficult to know who you can trust. I learnt that mistake quite quickly, but nothing can stop others plotting your demise and for no other reason than a refusal to admit that their idiotic ideas are the only acceptable ones. These people have a very child-like view of the World and clearly they're still in the playground where they used to gang-up on others. Age is no barrier to incompetence and ignorance!!!

Ready for Distraction!

So, it's back to work tomorrow after two weeks off. It was meant to be holidays, but with a great deal of time spent decorating and very poor weather in general preventing me going hill-walking, it hasn't really felt like a holiday at all. Also, there is a great deal of uncertainty over the work situation. I can't really say what's happening, but of course if it goes badly I'll spill my guts... heh he he!

I've decided to try and sell my photos online. I don't know how well that will actually work in reality, but it seems worth a try. I'm using Photobox. I'm still in the process of setting things up, but needless to say, links will be added here later on. I have no idea what to charge though and I am assuming that ownership still belongs to me should someone decide to use one of my images for any type of commercial venture.

It seems that Winter has arrived here in the North-East of Scotland. We had large hail-stones yesterday and it's getting colder all of the time. Last Winter was the worst in many years, so I do wonder what's in store for us this time. Given government and council cutbacks it may well be a Winter of discontent regardless of what the weather brings.

Getting shot of!

The bedroom is finally decorated and furnished... yay! A King-size bed as well. Our first ever, what luxury! On the downside, I had to spend part of today disposing of our unwanted old stuff; carpet, bed, wardrobe, bookcase etc. I was somewhat aggrieved at being forced to give up my bookcase. Mind you, it was long since filled with books, which had began to spread elesewhere. With the King-size bed, there just wasn't space for it anymore. Never let it be argued that I'm not a reasonable man. I bowed to common sense on this one. My books are now secreted here and there out of sight. I have a lot of books...

Anyway... the dump, as I call it. Firstly I had to borrow my old man's trailer to ferry the stuff. Then I had to also borrow his car, since my car does not have a tow-bar. It took us two trips. Fortunately it's less than a mile from the house. I don't know why we call it the dump, because it's nothing like a dump in the sense of a landfill site. Mainly, it's divided up into skips and bays with separate areas for different types of material; garden waste, earth, rubble, glass, cardboard, polystyrene, metal, electrical goods, household waste, wood and synthetic wood. There are probably others categories that I haven't even spotted, but there's more than enough to be going on with when you have a trailer load of assorted rubbish. We were darting all around the place trying to deposit items in their correct locations.

Now it's all well and good, us doing our civic duty and sorting out all of these items for what we imagine will be recycling or disposal in another form. However, I do harbour certain doubts about what happens to rubbish here once collected. I heard a rumour that the Council must recycle at least 25% of paper rubbish and that the remaining 75% was being sent from the North-East of Scotland to French landfills. If that's the case, then we the general public really are being made fools of. No wonder our local Council are struggling to make ends meet, with massive cut-backs (closing and selling off village halls?). No matter how much money they make, they can't manage the budget. Why not? Because they are self-serving bureaucrats, out for themsleves. That's why!

Post Decorum Magnum

Well, that's the decorating done for now, a new carpet in and flat-pack furniture unpacked and assembled. I had to put together a 3-door wardrobe, which was easy enough until it came to hanging the doors. That took longer than all the rest of it put together. All that remains is for our new bed to arrive (king-size yay) and I have been promised a new computer desk. Something a bit more stylish and contempoorary than what I have a present.

The weather's turned very cold here. No hill-walking for just now. There will definitely be snow on the hills, which probably means I won't get to go up Beinn Eighe as I had planned. I might have to put that off until next year, unless we get a settled period sometime soon. The shorter Winter days really do prohibit ascending anything major and the presence of snow can double the time taken. That's why it's very important to put some thought into planning Winter hill trips. being out in the cold after dark, when the temperatures do really dip, especially higher up... that's a big no-no for me. I still want to get out though. It might just mean smaller hills, nearer home.

Marilyns

Hills below 2000ft in Scotland are classified as Marilyns. Sometimes when the weather makes climbing larger hills difficult, the wife and I prefer to go out and bag these smaller hills. Obviously a single hill is hardly worth the travelling, so today we did three of them: Hill of Foudland, Hill of Tillymorgan and Fourman Hill, in Aberdeenshire.

Hill of Foudland

Hill of Tillymorgan

Fourman Hill