Oil Be Seeing You!

I've been busy working on my car tonight, had to change the oil filter and oil as well obviously. I also had my doubts about the wheel alignment, which proved to be correct upon closer inspection. There seems to be a leak near the door in the drivers footwell too, although it's not immediately apparent where that's coming from. Of course, I'm far too busy to be mucking around with cars right now, but since I'm planning a little trip away this May-day weekend I thought I'd see to the essentials. Anyway, that's all for now!

Nothing But Hot Air!

That's me back in school for a 5 week stint, although I suspect I sounded like a comedian saying that! Perhaps the comparison isn't that inaccurate, much of the job nowadays is to entertain. It's not like when I were a lad! Anyway, the education sytem is once again about to be shaken up, and I'll be caught up in the changeover to whatever new course they bring into replace the Standard Grade and Intermediate courses. The government spokesperson for education was talkling it up last week, all the bright new ideas they have, then when asked what would be replacing the existing courses, she admitted to having no idea. It's all hot air! At the end of the day, they'll have to pay a bunch of experienced teachers to write the new courses, but in such a way that all the daft government ideas are addressed.

It's true that most existing courses need a real shake up anyway, to make them nmore appealing, but what's proposed isn't intended to make them more appealing, only to place more emphasis on achievement rather than attainment. The Curriculum for Excellence for intsance suggests that students might have talents which are not assessable within a school context, and therefore, that although they might not be successful in an educational sense, their out of school success should be recognised within the school system. In other word, let's breed more Richard Branson type figures.

This is probably a welcome time of the year for most teachers, with exams coming up. A chance to take stock and evaluate how the year has gone, and to start planning for next session. Next session I'll be teaching full-time, so I'd probably better pay attention!

The Prodigal Son Returns!

Not taking any chances with this fuel crisis, and not heading down to Glenshee as I had wanted to, we instead returned to my old childhood stomping ground, and the coastal path between the villages of Findochty and Portknockie. The above picture shows 2 large free-standing rock pillars, which are almost surrounded by water at high tide. We called them the Mammy and Daddy rocks, and I climbed up both of them many times as a kid.

The approach to the village of Portknockie.

Portknockie harbour.

On the return leg we saw the Air-sea rescue guys practising their winching at the top of the cliffs.

Here's one of them being lowered down, ideal weather condition, hardly a breath of wind. It's not going to be like that in a real situation is it?

Heading back the way, looking at the East of Findochty and the Sandy Craig beach.

The Sandy Craig beach closer up

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!

Drowning In Debt!

I'm back into school on Monday. Unfortunately, I have to travel to get there, and this non-existent petrol crisis could cause problems. Interestingly, the local filling stations have decided that this sudden demand for fuel necessitates a steep rise in cost. After all, if people want it that badly, then they will surely be prepared to pay a little extra. The way things are going I wonder how long Brown can hold on to power. The fuel crisis is just the tip of a dangerously huge iceberg, food prices are also soaring, utilities have been going through the roof, and they've just targeted Road Tax on the most popular makes of car. It all adds up to a looming depression, I can't see it going any other way.

If I were to be cynical, I would suggest to you that the present Labour government want the economy to crash. Why? Well, if you recall, Brown has already ratified the re-drafted Euro-constitution that Blair signed us up to without giving us our promised referendum, the promise of which returned Labour to office. One of the key elements of that document, is that the UK adopt the Euro. Of course, that would have been ridiculous while the pound was the superior currency, but the gap is truly narrowing now, and watch what happens when the Euro becomes the more valued currency. Brown will have us jingling Euro's in no time, and how could we protest? Why would we protest?

If I were a Labour MP, I'd be looking to move for a vote of no confidence in Brown. After all he was the Chancellor responsible for the UK economy before becoming PM, and some would say he's still pulling the strings. He recently stated that the economy was his biggest concern, so he's almost certainly making Alistair Darling dance like his little puppet Chancellor, that's for certain. One way or another, the global economy aside, Brown is entirely resposible for this pickle that we're all in right now. There's no obvious way out, and even though Blair led us into Iraq, opened the door to millions of immigrants and thus welcomed a new wave of terrorism to our shores, those things never made the man in the street furious. Pushing the working class back into Victorian levels of financial suffering, let's see what effect that has on Joe public?

Bitten By the Bug!

Proving that any sport no matter how exclusive, can be graced on a shoe-string budget, I picked myself up a nice looking rucksack from Lidl's yesterday. I've already acquired trekking poles from there several weeks ago, which have since been essential in reaching the tops of several hills. I also bagged a Craghoppers jacket and fleece from TK Maxx, at very reasonable prices. The only things that's actually cost me a bit, were my boots, which I bought from Millet's, and even then they were reduced. The fact is that I probably got all of the gear for about one tenth of what people normally pay.

I've been asked several times already, why we've suddenly taken up hill-walking, as though it's some sort of medieval contagion. There are several reasons, but the main one originated in my reasoning that if I'm going to be a teacher (which I am), then I should spend more time out-doors when I get the chance. Climbing hills seemed like a good incentive, it's challenging, there's a goal (the summit), and I would get to see parts of the country I haven't been before.

The fact is that once we started we did sort of get bitten by the bug fairly quickly. There is a sense of achievement, which I'm sure can be had in most sports, and yes, sports do tend to be expensive. Fortunately for me, I don't care too much about brand names, and elitism, so I can quite happily show my face on any hillside, minus the Berghaus clothing, and still claim it as my own. Anyone who thinks people shouldn't be there unless they have the best of gear, deserves to be rolled off of the hill. Not everyone has cash to burn, but everyone is entitled to participate, It's called inclusion, here endeth today's lesson!

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!!!