Gutted Haddie

IMG_5159, a photo by Fraser Millar on Flickr.

This weekend, while Holly's away at Brownie Camp, we spent a bit of quality time with Louis, and took him up Arthur's Seat. We approached from the west, and in the spirit of adventure and taking the path less trodden headed up the gutted haddie. The lower section is now a stone staircase, but leaving the path gives an easy scramble up a well-worn gully to the summit. Louis loved it, and was leaping from boulder to boulder at the summit and all the way down again. We also spotted Grandma Pat's flat from the top.

Byte Night

Finally, the night we in the choir had been preparing for for six months arrived on 4th October. It was our first "proper" performance outside BT, and the occasion was Byte Night, an annual event where geeks and nerds the IT industry sleep out to raise funds for Action for Children, a charity for homeless kids. To prepare the hapless bit-wranglers brave souls for the forthcoming ordeal, they were treated to slap-up meal and an evening of entertainments hosted by none other than Fred MacAulay. Among those entertainments were - you guessed it - a couple of sets from the BT Scotland Choir (that's us, though I'm not sure what our official name is). We ran through most of our repertoire in the bar while people were arriving and registering, and then sang Run to accompany a tear-jerking video that would send the sleepers out into the night suitably inspired. The whole thing was a massive hoot, but I opted out of the lying-on-the-ground part and sloped off home to my lovely warm bed. I didn't get any pictures, but by the miracle of social media I can share some images and "reaction" here:



Alastair Rennie ‏@alastairrennie 4 Oct
Bt choir giving up their time to entertain us :-) cars snow patrol its beautiful #edbytenight #ByteNight pic.twitter.com/5OkjD1peXc

Perceptive Partners ‏@perceptivecomms 4 Oct
Great Beach Boys rendition by BT Choir at #ByteNight #Scotland pic.twitter.com/LZAEI3iDge

Action for Children ‏@aslongasittakes 4 Oct
Guests at #ByteNight #Scotland will be treated to a performance from BT Scotland choir. Here they are warming up! pic.twitter.com/2nlSfUJ0cr

Another Brick In The Wall

DSC_1497, a photo by Fraser Millar on Flickr.

Last weekend was our much-anticipated trip to Legoland. We took the kids out of school (cue stern letter from the beak) and benefitted enormously from the almost complete absence of queues. The whole thing was a hoot, we stayed in the Legoland hotel, which even looks like it's made of Lego, and had two whole days on the various rides and attractions. I think we covered most of it! Much of it is theme park stuff with the Lego theme bolted on, but there are also opportunities to actually play with Lego, and Miniland is just that - selected world scenes rendered in Lego. Holly's favourite was the Jolly Rocker, Louis' was the S.Q.U.I.D Surfer, and Helen and I thoroughly enjoyed the Viking River Splash. Highly recommended.