Fifth time lucky

Passed my driving test. Going to see a gig tonight. Life is good.

A view of the Belfry

I thought I'd let you in on what the Belfry looks like. It's a bit messy at the moment, and so I thought showing it would - well, I don't know really. Perhaps inspire me to tidy it. Which was a mission for this evening, though as with most missions that include tidying, I'm finding other things to do. And during the tidying, I will find other things to do. Bits and pieces that stop me in my tracks and require a moment or two to reminisce.

This is the wall of my bedroom in the Belfry. There aren't any other pictures of the bedroom as that's a bit more public than I'm willing to be. But this pennant is now 20 years old and has some considerable sentimental value so it gets a picture.

My office. This is where I write. It's in the guest room at the top of the spiral staircase. The poster in the top right was a student movie I was in way back in '01. It's pretty messy in that picture. It's not much better now, to be honest. In fact, it's worse. Hence my need to tidy.

The Belfry guestroom/office. I took this from the top of the spiral staircase. I've hit my head so many times on that supporting beam it beggars belief. I think I knocked myself out once, but it could have just been a terrible hangover.

The guestroom again, taken from my desk, from a different angle and with my Red Sox hat slightly blurred in the forground. Thrilling eh? I best start tidying.

St Andrews Light

The winter light in Scotland benefits from the local stone. It seems to magnify it. It's fascinated me for a long time and I can't quite describe how or why, but I took some pics recently and hope they give a clue.

2 things that make me feel old.

This new year a couple of things cropped up to remind me that, age wise, I'm getting older. And it was nothing to do with me. It was other people. See, apparently they get older too. Allegedly at the same rate though I'm sure that it's all relative.

That's Gillon. Fine young lad of 21. I've known him since he was a baby. People that I've known since they were babies aren't permitted to grow up, much less be into their early twenties. Bloody shambles.

Now for the next pic:
Next up is this beautiful baby. You may recognise him from the previous baby photo. His name's Oliver Gilmour, and his mum is Tina. She used to kick me into the fireplace when I was 5. Tina's been like a big sister to me my entire life. And she has been a hardcore drinking buddy for about half my life. And now she's a mum. And as she's Scottish but living in the States, she's petrified her son is going to wind up calling her "mom" instead of "mum". And all that's beside the point because it just makes me feel older than 29 that every one of my old friends and some of my siblings and just about the whole world are married and having kids and mortgages and I don't even have a girlfriend.

So there. That's me. Old and petulant because one old friend has grown into a nice person and another has had a beautiful baby. :-P

Some more New Years pics

Just a few more shots that I took during and after the revelry.

The ever-luminous Sophie DeLaCour.

Still-kilted Ali consumes restorative caffeine while the wonderful Karen Smart, complete with groovy pink pj's, undoes some of the damage.
My nephews with the new-to-the-world Oliver Gilmour Blaise. I was impressed at how well the boys got on with the baby.

Another snow pic. I like the old rail bridge in the background. To get to the house from the village you have drive under it.

Karma or dumb luck?

Whether the moral is be nicer to animals or do unto others, this gave me a bit of a giggle. Maybe the moral is not to throw mice into big flaming piles?

yoyo

Up and down again. Yesterday I took a train to Edinburgh and this morning I took one back. Some strange things happened in the meantime. I attended a 30th birthday party. I had a late lunch in Harvey Nichols. The chocolate sauce had seperated on my dessert - rookie error but it was still yummy so I held my tongue. I drank too much port after the party. Some people said silly things at silly times in silly company but all was good.

You'll all be relieved that I forgot my camera and as such have not any pics from the party. To make up for it I think I'll post some more New Year pics.

On a note so far removed from any of the other notes, has anyone noticed how often I use "..." in my post titles? It's ridiculous. It ends immediately. Such lazy use of punctuation is simply not acceptable on this blog, and I apologise to all 6 or 7 of you out there that read my nonsense. It shan't happen again.

"Shan't" is a cool abbreviation.

I'm tired.