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.

Climbing Is A Mimzy!

Never managed to post yesterday, because of this:

That's Corryhabbie Hill, which we climbed, a good walk it was as well, 5 hours it took us.

The photo above is of Cook's Cairn, and the pointy hill right behind it is The Buck.

This is along the ridge-line form Corryhabbie Hill, and is called Carn an t-Suidhe. I know, unpronounceable, but the further into the Highlands you go, the more common these Gaelic place-names become.

I would have posted in the evening, but we were watching a film; "The Last Mimzy". It's the first decent family film I've seen in years, I really enjoyed it, so did the wife, and the kids. I can't recommend it enough! It was like a mixture between; E.T. , Short Circuit and some other stuff of which I can't be certain. My daughter now wants her own Mimzy, which I suspect comes with a fairly hefty price-tag, and doesn't have the powers of the film version!

Replacement Body Parts Required!

I've realised over the last couple of days, just how out of shape I really am. I knew I was a bit out of shape, because I don't do much exercise and I do like my grub. That's why the climb up Ben Rinnes knocked the crap out of me a bit. Apart from the knee, I didn't feel too bad at the time, but today my ankles' playing up, my shoulder's stiff, and both knees fell slightly abused. So, with that in mind, I'm off to ascend another Corbett tomorrow, Corryhabbie Hill (in my language - Curry happy hill), Fortunately, this one has a much more gradual ascent, and I'll be taking it easy just to be safe. At least the weather looks better this time, and hopefully there won't be much in the way of snow still lying.

That's my old car off of the road now. It's in my old man's garage. I could have left it out in the car park, but there are too many busy-bodies around here, and the traffic wardens occasionally pass through as well. It's just not worth the risk, especially when you haven't got 2 pennies to rub together anyway. The wife and kids still aren't too enamoured with the new vehicle, but it's better than nothing, which is what I was worried about landing with. I needn't remind you of the state of public transport in these parts, and besides, how the hell would I get anywhere near those hills without a car? It would be impossible!

My wife's birthday is coming up. All husbands will hate me for this, but the wife and I have a great agreement. We buy our own birthday presents, for ourselves that is. As long as it's within reason, we can buy what we want. No problems with clothes sizes, having to take the present back to the shop and so on. We're very practical in that sense. I know it's nice to have a surprise, at least until you reach puberty, then it just becomes annoying to receive an ill-chosen gift. It's much preferable to receive cash, so you can buy what you want. We've just circumvented all that nonsense. Great isn't it?

Cars!

This is me in my new car, which I bought yesterday. Nah, it's not really. My car isn't in such good condition. When I said new, I really meant "new to me". It's 9 years old actually, which is an eternity in car years, unless you have an extensive garage, chauffeur and mechanic at your personal disposal. I don't have those, or I am all those even, apart from the garage, that would be ridiculous.

I just needed a runaround really, so got myself a cheap second-hand car with a year's M.O.T and somehow managed to find one within my budget and with a pretty low mileage. The wife and kids don't particularly like it. They prefer the old one, but as the saying goes "Beggars can't be choosers!" I wouldn't beg, but I would accept charity, which is the next best thing really when it comes down to it, not that any charity would be forthcoming anyway!

The benefits of my new car, are as follows; the ABS isn't a pain in the arse, the steering pump functions continuously, it holds the road very well, it's very economical, and it has a CD player in it. From that, you should be able to deduce the deficiencies that were to be found in my old car. I still haven't decided what to do with the old car yet. My father thinks it's worth repairing, but I'm sceptical. I don't like mechanicking, it sucks. The notion of spending time and money trying to fix up a car which gave me so much grief, is frankly, a non-starter. In addition, I have no time to spare whatsoever, in which to carry out said repair job. Don't know about you, but that's me convinced!

Wounded Knee On the Ben!

Yesterday we climbed the biggest hill in these parts... Ben Rinnes (840 m or 2752 ft).

Looking down at Roy's Hill, Meikle Conval and little Conval.

Roy's Hill in the foreground, which leads on to Ben Rinnes proper.

Snow... knee-deep and worse.

The top of the hill looking at the trig point, cold, windy, and weather about to take a turn for the worse. We just made it back to the car before heavy rain hit. I twisted my knee on the way down, and I had a wedding dance to go to in the evening. No dancing for me I'm afraid. Mind you, that was yesterday, and it's much better today.

Eye Eye!

Sorry I missed posting again yesterday, but I'm up to my eyeballs at the moment! What's more, I've also got something in my eye, which has been annoying me for the past few hours. We used to have an eye-bath, which was extremely handy, but of course it has dissolved into the fabric of the building as so many things tend to.

I'm actually very depressed right now. My futile attempts to find and purchase a car haven't really got off of the ground. I have to be able to time to coincide; having someone else who can drive to come with me just in case, going to see the car before someone buys it and staying within my piffling budget. It's not going well, I've already missed out on a couple cars, I guess because, cheap cars sell quickly. It's very annoying. I don't want to get desperate and buy a pile of crap, but time is running out. I think I have till about Wednesday. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh Bollards!

Did I get any work done today? Yes I did, although the weather was so fine that I really wanted to go out and do some hill-walking. But I had to stay in and wait for the new cooker to be delivered, which it was around 11am, although I had expected the delivery guys to wire it in, because when we bought it there was a sign which said "Free delivery and recycling". We thought that they'd wire up the new cooker and take away the old one for recycling. I have since realised that it was probably the packaging which was to be recycled. Dammit!

So, after the cooker had been delivered I had to wire it, and the connections on the back were very different to the old cooker. In the end I spent about 2 hours on it. What a pain! And so the whole day was pretty much wasted again, although I made a start on my assessment, which was my intention. I also managed to play a game or two, upload some photos to Imageshack and generally waste an entire day... again!

Tomorrow is the last day of Uni for a fortnight, yay! I plan on some major hill-wlaking this next two weeks, only I need to buy a new (to me) second-hand car, because my present one is clapped-out. Then there's this assessment, with which I must discipline myself and do some work on it everyday. Otherwise it will never be done, and it has to be submitted when we go back. I always feel like I'm juggling crap like this, and trying to fit in some quality "me" time just gets harder and harder!

I'll Work Tomorrow!

Haven't done much today, and I had such great intentions as well. I was going to get stuck right in to this assessment I have, but then I got a phone call from the school saying my daughter was ill, and to come and collect her. As a result of which, she demanded my attention for most of the day, and hence, nothing done! Well, I did do a little bit, but it was almost a token gesture to myself, which is effectively pointless, because I'm aware of what I'm doing (?).

Ah well, I'll have the whole day to work tomorrow, if I can just make a start, I'll get plenty done I'm sure. There's no great rush really, but this assessment is of such a nature, that it requires a fair bit of thought, and I'm not really in the mood for thinking. I do however perceive, that at this level, you really have to push yourself on and get things done, because there is very little external pressure, such as you might feel exerted at lower levels in the education system. I have always been able to force myself to get the job done, even when it's very tedious, because I realise that it's important not to leave anything to chance.

I know that others have found this course virtually impossible and others who like me have made it this far, are having grave doubts as to whether they really want to do this. I don't have any such doubts, I'm committed and have long-term goals form which I will not be deterred. Just like the rest, I've had my glimpses at the darker side, but I have an inate ability to bounce back very quickly, where others perhaps tend to dwell. You have to have a thick skin, that much is plain, and you have to be able to rise above it. I think I can do that!

Roll Your Yellow Crystals!

I'm sorry I never posted yesterday, events conspired once again to prevent me, but at least I found a news item worthy of you for today! I happened to come across an article translated from Russian, which even if it's not true, is worthy of attention. If it is true, then it's one of the most important finds ever!

The basic premise of the article, is that the massive explosion at Tunguska, Siberia in 1908, which had nearby residents petrified, and flattened massive tracts of forest, was actually the result of alien intervention. Yes, it sounds crazy, but the explosion itself was hardly normal, and has often been purported to have been the first ever nuclear explosion. Impossible? If you believe that everything you read is true, then it must be.

However, in recent years a Siberian scientist undertook a lengthy investigation of the "crash site", and found 10 strange yellow crystals in a river bank. The scientist has since declared that such crystals could not form on Earth, and must therefore have came down with the meteor which flattened Tunguska. So far, all very plausible, but the scientist then goes on further to claim that the crystals are etched with drawings of alien origin, which he claims were part of a navigational unit for a spaceship. In test conditions the lab were unnable to make similar etchings on the crystals, as it was too hard to scratch. The crystals all have similar holes through them which he supposes allowed them to be linked together.

The whole theory therefore reads thus. A 1 billion ton meterorite was on a collision course with Earth and would have wiped out humanity, but aliens crashed their spaceship into the meteorite before it could impact, thus saving the human race. Whatever the truth, something very odd happened at Tunguska, and eye-witnesses reported seeing some very strange things at the time. Anyway, since this is Easter Monday, I thought I'd report back that there were others who died to save humanity besides the most well known. Perhaps we should roll yellow crystals on this day!

Cooking Up A Storm!

Had to buy a new cooker today, the oven in the old one has been gone for around 3 weeks, and the lack of variety at meal-times was really starting to get to me. There's probably very little wrong with the cooker we have, but the cost of actually having someone just look at it, is more than it's worth probably, so that's why I plumped for a new one. Nothing special, it's a cooker, as long as it cooks, it'll be doing the job for which it's intended. I need lasagane, that's the main issue here, no lasagne for 3 weeks, it's beyond the limits of human endurance!

I'm also looking for a new car. Did I say new car? I meant an old car that's just like new, but at an affordable price, and preferably with low mileage. That's asking a lot isn't it? Well, if you don't ask, you don't get, that's my motto, and it has proven true many a time. When I sort out that problem , I also have a dodgy washing-machine and a knackered hoover needing replacing. Those will have to wait however, as I'm struggling heavily in a financial sense, as I approach the end of 4 years studying, with next to nothing income. Yes, somehow we seem able to save, even when earning nothing. That seems to astound people looking in, who I'm sure suspect that someone must be giving us cash. They're not, we're just good at not being frivolous. What that will mean when I do start making some money, I'm not sure. We'll either be very comfortable, or else won't be able to stop spending insanely.

No hill-walking this weekend bacause blizzard conditions are anticpated, but I do intend to make up for it in a week's time, I have a few expeditions lined up, weather permitting as usual of course. I might have to acquire a few accoutrements first, don't have a compass for starters. I do have maps, and I use streetmap.co.uk quite a lot as well. Anyway, we'll see what happens, the best laid plans of mice and men, and all that...