This is our last night in this flat. It's been an eventful five (six?) years, two became three then two became one then three became four. And tomorrow twelve becomes nine. I'll be sorry to leave this flat (although not the increasingly heavy-footed neighbours) but am looking forward to our new grown-up house with the huge garden.
I'm alone in the living room this evening, surrounded by cardboard boxes. Holly's asleep of course, and Helen has gone to bed with Louis, who is having a bad night. Not the ideal preparation for moving day, but we'll get there.
I fully expect BT to take considerably longer than the projected 5 days to get the broadband up and running at the new place, so this may be our last post for a while. Wish us luck...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Apparently Mr Miller [sic] Rocks
Nice to have these little unsolicited testimonials. I apologise for the smug posting, but I felt I had to record this somewhere. On Monday, BT were running a UK-wide fundraiser for the London Olympics where staffers were challenged to ride 1km on a static bike in the fastest time. I'm normally at home with the kiddies on a Monday, but had arranged to pop in and have a go in the afternoon. I rode the 9 miles to work to discover I had 10 minutes left before they shut the competition down. The time to beat was 1:05.56 as you can see on the board. After a few tips from an ex-pro cyclist, I took a deep breath and gave it everything. 30 seconds in, I was at 500m and suffering badly. The legs turned to jelly, the breathing became more difficult. At 750m, my "coach" yelled at me to SPRINT. I passed the message on to my legs, but they weren't listening. It was all I could to to keep the same pace. I could see nothing but the clock in front of me. At 100m to go, all I wanted to do was stop, but I held on. I finished, and there was a cheer from the few observers. I was disorientated, confused and in serious oxygen debt. I had no idea what my time was. "Keep pedalling" the coach said, so I did. It eased the throbbing in my legs. Finally, they told me the time - 1:04.68 - I was the fastest BT employee in Britain!
More than half an hour later, I was still a bit wobbly. I would never have believed a single minute's exertion could be so hard, nor that I could push myself so hard for what felt like a very *long* minute.
Anyhoo, for my efforts I won one of these, plus a training session with local (global?) hero Chris Hoy, plus - apparently - some Olympic memorabilia, whatever that is. And my glorious victory was announced on BT IntraVision (don't ask) by Dame Kelly Holmes, no less. I'm feeling really rather pleased with myself.
More than half an hour later, I was still a bit wobbly. I would never have believed a single minute's exertion could be so hard, nor that I could push myself so hard for what felt like a very *long* minute.
Anyhoo, for my efforts I won one of these, plus a training session with local (global?) hero Chris Hoy, plus - apparently - some Olympic memorabilia, whatever that is. And my glorious victory was announced on BT IntraVision (don't ask) by Dame Kelly Holmes, no less. I'm feeling really rather pleased with myself.
Last Dance At The Funny Little Park
It's slowly but surely dawning on us that this is our last week in the ol' homestead, and little things in our routine will inevitably change. On Saturday, for example, we did the supermarket/ funny little park/ ice cream shop routine, probably for the last time. Sure, we'll find a new supermarket, a new park, and a new ice cream shop, but it's an odd feeling anyway. Both kiddies were well up for it. Monday, on the other hand, I took them to the Botanics. Again. I think we'll be back there soon.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Monday Cakes & Ice Cream
In case you didn't know, Monday was Billie the doll's birthday. Again. At least, that's the excuse Holly and I used to make some mini muffins and light a wee birthday candle. Twice. In the meantime, Louis emptied the cupboard of pots, his favourite pastime. Later, we headed back to Newhaven harbour in the trailer to eat ice cream and watch the boats come and go in the sunshine.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Father's Day
We had a rather nice afternoon chez the Millar grandparents on Sunday, an impromptu Father's Day event which Niall documented far better than I did. Adding to the excitement, Holly and Louis had spent the night with Grandma & Papa while Helen and I had a night off staying in - of all places - The Park Hotel, Kilmarnock, courtesy of a competition I won in The List. It was nice to have a wee break, and the kids had a whale of a time at TreeFest on the Saturday afternoon. Papa Gordon kindly documented the weekend from the kids' perspective, making his Father's Day rather a busy one!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Bike Breakfast
I'm posting this retrospectively, after my glorious victory in the BT Cycle Challenge. On Friday 13th June, as a kind of prologue to Bike Week, Edinburgh Park (where I work) ran a Bike Breakfast event where commuters were invited to "race" Chris Hoy on what I now know is a WattBike. In fact they were measuring peak power, and Chris laid down the gauntlet with a burst of around 1600W. My turn came and I was the first of the commuters to break the 1000W barrier with a reading of 1098W, and by the end of the event I was unbeaten by anyone but Chris! No prize for this one, it was just a bit of fun, but a useful warm-up to the real race in the weeks to come...
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Newhaven Harbour
Found this pic of Newhaven Harbour on my phone from last week. This is the place where the boat leaves for tours of Inchcolm. We really must do that someday. In the meantime, it's the place where the kids and I like to hang out on a Monday and watch the boats, the fishermen, and the world going by in general. We'll miss it when we move.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
North Berwick
Another glorious day in and around Edinburgh, although it didn't look too promising first thing. We headed off to North Berwick, there to meet with the Wallace family who we haven't seen since last year! We had a picnic on the East Links, then headed to the East Sands for paddling, sand castles and views of the Bass Rock. Ice creams were of course very much the order of the day, and we headed home with two very tired (and lightly sunburned - oops) kiddies.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Sunny Saturday
Auntie Kate was stranded in Edinburgh this morning after her cylinder head gasket blew in Perth yesterday. To cheer her up before her train back to Manchester, we took her to Renroc, then to the playground nearby where I span rather too quickly on the roundabout and had to lie down for a bit. Ah, the ravages of age. Later on, we jollied up a trip to Craigleith to shop for a fridge/freezer by taking the bikes and visiting another wee playground where Holly was very courageous in her exploits. At a bit of a loose end before tea-time, we decided a pub with a beer garden would be a jolly diversion, so headed off to The Courtyard. Plenty of scope for Holly and Louis to potter about while Helen and I enjoyed a jar or two. A splendid day.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Friday at the Botanics
Title says it all really, on Friday Helen took the kiddies to the Botanics to meet (and climb trees) with their wee pals. A couple of lightly posed pre-departure shots give the distinct impression that Louis is standing there casually waiting to go...
Monday, June 02, 2008
Media Frenzy
Pictures of Scott's 40th weekend continue to come in thick and fast. I got the canyoning pics from my disposable waterproof camera, and they're pretty poor. I mixed them in with the "official" pictures for good measure. In the meantime, Papa Gordon, Niall and Scott have all posted their pictures of the weekend. Usual flickr caveats apply, you may need to be a friend or family to see them. Oh, and Pater has done something weird that means his pictures are flagged as "unsafe", so you get an extra warning about their content. They're all totally innocent though. In summary:
• Papa's pictures
• Niall's pictures
• Scott's pictures (may include "official" canyoning pics)
• All canyoning pictures - mine plus "offical"
• Just the Millar boys canyoning
And if you can sit through all that, you deserve a lie down.
• Papa's pictures
• Niall's pictures
• Scott's pictures (may include "official" canyoning pics)
• All canyoning pictures - mine plus "offical"
• Just the Millar boys canyoning
And if you can sit through all that, you deserve a lie down.
This just in...
Much to Scott's delight, his old pal Justin flew in from the US to join in the birthday celebrations. Justin has posted the photos of his visit on flickr, and there are a few of us Millars scattered about, as well as all the canyoning pics from Nae Limits. We're off to Ocean Terminal this afternoon to pick up my canyoning pics so will hopefully get them posted soon.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Uncle Scott's Never-Ending 40th
We've just returned from a rather splendid weekend at Drumkilbo, where Scott's 40th celebrations came to something of a crescendo. There were about 24 of us in all, some went canyoning on Saturday, there were drinks, swimming, a barbecue and a ceilidh in the evening, and general hangover-nursing and a bracing walk this morning. Holly and Louis had a great time, and got to stay up very late - 10pm for Holly! She loved the ceilidh but they were both absolutely knackered. Even the Scottish weather played along, turning in a glorious day, a balmy evening and a bright Sunday morning. We only managed a few phone photos for a wee taster, once again I'm sure others will do the full reportage honours.
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