The Pumps Are Dry!

Looks like it's going to be a nice day tomorrow, but I can't go anywhere. It's going to be the first day of the 3 day strike at Grangemouth refinery. I "have" to be able to travel every day next week, so need to conserve every millilitre of petrol that I can. I had fancied driving down to Glenshee and bagging 3 easy Munros there, but I daren't risk not being able to acquire more petrol.

A tidbit of additional info came to my attention today, from an unlikely souce, but never mind. It seems that the bosses at Grangemouth refinery were planning a shut-down for maintenance and repair work anyhow. So now they can carry it out without having to pay their massive workforce for standing idle. Handy huh? What's more, the workers there have a truly legitimate reason for going on strike, their boses have plundered their pension fund. That's happened so often in this country, that if you ask me, they should be handing out lengthy jail sentences to the executives behind it. They won't though, because the government have done it too.

I'm going out for a little drink toinight. First time in I don't know how long. I don't plan on getting too drunk though, I'll save that for the end of my Univeristy course, when we're all going to go out in Aberdeen and paint the town red, just like the Dandy Dons! If the state I was in after finishing my degree is anything to go by, then look out Aberdeen!

Nothing But Scrap Metal!

I'm afraid it's lights out for my old car, the one I put off-road on Monday. The intention was to get it repaired and sell it, but it appears that it's too far gone even for that. Seems like I did exactly the right thing, not putting it through it's M.O.T. and buying another car instead. My instincts serve me right again, although I wasn't the one labouring under the delusion that it was repairable. Now everyone's in agreement, it's no good for anything but scrap. It never was a great car, it looked alright, but was dogged by niggling problems, design faults if you ask me. But you won't ask me will you Vauxhall? I won't have another of your cars though, so you've shot yourself in the foot there!

Looks like we're set for snow here again, my fledgling hill-walking career has been severely hampered by the weather, oh wait, this is Scotland isn't it? Regardless of whether it snows again or not, I'm going to bag another Corbett next week. I have my eyes set on the biggest Corbett in the Grampians; "Morven", and if it happens to be covered in snow, then so be it. At least I shpould get some nice photos out of it. Mind you, I also have to squeeze in a day's shopping in Aberdeen, which will be harder on the feet that any hill-walk. I'm sure I've covered some torturous shopping expeditions in this blog before. My wife has a stamina for shopping that beggars belief. I'll find some excuse to duck out of part of it though, perhaps I need to acquire some OS maps, yes, that's right, I won't be able to get those anywhere else.

Going back to the hill-walking, I'm still ill-prepared. I have acquired several necessities such as maps, compass, hiking boots, trekking poles etc. but I still need a decent jacket, gaiters and a rucksack. Crampons too if I'm going to go out in the white stuff. Mind you, I'm not one for extreme cold, or extreme heat either. I think average sort of days are best for hill-walking.

In A Bunker Underground!

Do you remember the mid 80's, when we were all going to die in a nuclear winter? They used to have these information cartoons telling us what to do in the event of an atomic armageddon. Not applicable if you lived within the blast radius though, as your flesh would be instantly melted, and your bones turned to dust. Otherwise, a matress under the stairs would prove sufficient to protect you, possibly from falling debris, I'm not sure. They tended to focus on the moment of the nuclear missile's impact and the period immediately after. There was no mention of the global nuclear winter to follow, the death of all plant life, and the subsequent resorting to cannibalism once all the animals were gone. A never-ending supply of tinned goods, and a nuclear bunker would be handy at this juncture, but would only be available for those who instigated the war in the first place.

I've just realised that I've pretty much broken down the lyrical content of "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath there, except for the "witches gathered in black masses" part, but since I've covered that in a previous post, I will consider myself fully exhonerated. Why the bunker thing today? Not really sure, I think it's Aberdeen that's affecting me. Yesterday, we were in the car-park which felt underground although it wasn't, the orthdonstist was in a basement, and maybe it's just cities in general, but the darkness and sunbterranean elements are most unappealing for me. Aberdeen in particular with it's grey granite buildings and some horrendous architecture, is just not a nice looking city. Need I moan anymore today? I don't think so. I'm tired, but tomorrow I will be back refreshed and possibly with something reasonably worth itterating!

Port Ticket Road Works!

I had to make a trip into Aberdeen today for reasons which involve being a parent. Anyhow, we were just heading back to the Denburn car-park, and we came down the steps which are just to the left between the first and second car in the photo. the Denburn car-park was right behind me when I took this photo. Anyway, we were confronted by 3 traffic wardens, just as we rounded the corner. I had my camera with me, so I took this photo of them disappearing up the road. I wonder how many cars they ticketed?

Not that there was any chance of me getting ticketed. I'm a decent law-abiding citizen. I even paid for two hours when it turned out one would have been enough. Ah well, better safe than sorry I suppose. Besides which, driving into Aberdeen today was horrendous, a combination of the salt off of the road and the sun directly in front all the way in, made the journey rather unpleasant. Plus, there are numerous road works in operation right now. There must be Third World roads better than the A96, I'll bet there are too!

I also tried my hand at Port Forwarding my router today. It claims to have been successful, but I see no noticeable improvement in my dismal download speeds. However I am getting the message "Your Internet connection is working like it should", which has replaced the previous "Your connection is awful, better forward a port" message. I'm sure things will improve though, otherwise it's back to the drawing board!

Read A Bloody Book (Again)!

You know me by now, I like to moan about the same things again and again. Well, I've finally got my assessment submitted, hardcopy and electronic copy for the plagiarism software to chew over. Now, I'm going to purchase some drink and try and read some of the books I've squirreled away over the last 2 months. I was into Waterstones in Aberdeen and was sorely tempted to buy a Conn Iggulden book that I spotted, but then I thought I should probably read the Conn Iggulden book that I have, and see if it's any good, before I buy anymore of his works.

What was I going to moan about this time? Oh yeah, grown ups who haven't read books. I know I've done this one, but it's still happpening and it makes me sick (something was said in a lecture today, that's why, triggered me off). It's compounded (or aggravated if you like) by the fact that the T.V. is virtually no longer watchable. No wonder people are detached and socially inept. I blame the parents, because it is the parents. If a mother or father never reads and there are no books in the house, what sort of message are they sending to their children? I've even heard people say that they've learned everything they know from the telly, and I believe them because they know jack-shit!

Scotland is failing miserably in the three "R's" and all that's needed is a few books on a book-shelf in every home, turn the telly off for a little while now and again and read some books. It's not hard and it can be very rewarding. It stimulates the imagination, it improves literacy and you might just learn something!

Sing A Song For You!

I forgot to mention yesterday how fortunate both I and my fellow commuters aboard the 5:15 from Aberdeen, were, to have in our midst, some Scotland fans, quite obviously still on their way home from the match against France. When you're travelling home after a long and tiring day, believe me, the last thing you want to hear is a slurred but raucous version of "Flower Of Scotland", sang repeatedly, regardless of whether the team pulled off a great vistory or not. Clearly, they did achieve a massive win, but most of us are not in the fortunate position where we can spend the following day getting hammered.

Going back to my attempts to hire a kilt for graduation day, as I narrated to you a couple of days ago, I went back to the shop this morning at 11am, certain that this time it would indeed be open. Well, it wasn't! When it is open, if ever, remains a mystery. How the hell can you run a business like that? Now I'll have to hire a kilt from Elgin, which will make things a lot more awkward for me!

I've got so much work to do today, but I'm procrastinating yet again, as you can see. There's not really much time for blogging these days, but I do it anyway. It's a sort of diary in many ways, in others it's a mirror into my soul... maybe! Oh yeah... one of my fellow students warned me that Laserjet printers are bad for your health, something about micro-particles. I think that any worries about dying from a printer related illness should be of very little concern to someone about to embark on a profession in teaching!