Arm Wrestle

Louis and I had an arm wrestle. That concludes our 2018 reporting. Good night!

Christmas at the Botanics

It's a long time since we've been to the botanics, it was a regular haunt when the kiddies were wee, but only during the hours of daylight. These days they light up the place at Christmas and charge money to wander about in the dark. It is good, though it would be even better if it wasn't for all the other people there...

Coke Can Camera

Now this is interesting. Back in the summer, Holly and Louis went to an event as part of the Science Festival on making a "solargraph" - a photo image of the sun taken with a pinhole camera made from a Coke* can and exposed over a six-month period.

This week, at the winter solstice, out six months was up. In a darkroom, lit only by the red glow of a rear bike light, we removed the photo paper from the cans and scanned the images into the computer. A bit of Photoshopping (a flip, a greyscale inversion and a wee tweak to the contrast) later and these are the images that came out:

Holly's:


and Louis':



* other carbonated sugar waters are available.

Woo Hoo It's Christmas!

Christmas comes but once a year, and when it does we dance like idiots. We were at home for Christmas this year, and hosted la famille Millar for exchanging gifts and eating. Helen did a magnificent turkey with all the fixin's but I didn't get a picture of that, or anything else. These are just a few snaps we took while waiting for folk to show up...

Playing at Murrayfield

An early-season rugby tournament, hosted by Murrayfield at Murrayfield.

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Last Scout meeting of the year, and Louis and the Scouts made "snowmen" by wrapping their colleagues in toilet paper. Somewhere under there, there is another Scout.

Helen's POV

A selection of 2018 snaps from Helen's phone, including some from Center Parcs and Croatia as well as closer to home.

Silence In Court

Louis and the P7s have been working on a "mock court" for the last few weeks, with them all taking roles - from plaintiff to witness, from researcher to advocate - in a fictional civil case. The climax to all this was to have the case heard by an actual Sheriff at the actual Sheriff Court in Edinburgh. Owing to a slight organisational oversight beforehand, the kids were let loose in the courtroom with predictable results. But the case was heard, the Sheriff made his judgement, and at least nothing got broken...

Rule Britannia

Another Scouting outing, this time to the Royal Yacht Britannia. We had the standard tour, but after hours (thanks to one of the Scout Leaders working there) and thus exclusive access with nobody else around. Nosing around towards the end of the tour, I asked about the engine room and got a personal behind-the-scenes tour with my nostrils full of the smell of engine oil and Brasso.

On The Wall

Hot on the heels of our recent trip to Alien Bloc, we had a scouting outing to Eden Rock, where Louis and the other scouts stretched their bouldering skills.

Aliens!

Ah, Monday in-service days. They remind me of the glory days of my four-day weeks when Mondays were days of outings, excitement and adventure. This week we popped off to Alien Bloc with Holly's pal Rachel for a spot of bouldering. They both took to it naturally but seem to have no inclination to move on to "proper" rock climbing... which is probably just as well.

A Scouting Outing

I've been helping out with Scouts. This was my first Scout camp at Nineacres in Fife. I rode there on my bike. Here's one picture with Louis in it, enjoying the campfire.

Pedal for Scotland

Pedal for Scotland, the big one, and quite an achievement for an 11-year-old. The weather gods were kind and we had a grand day out with a free pie in Linlithgow!

Go East Young Man

In training again for Pedal for Scotland next week, Louis and I rode to Archerfield just outside North Berwick, another good marathon-length ride.


We even have a wee video:

Relive 'Afternoon Ride'

Pentland Ride

A warmup ride for Pedal for Scotland, Louis and I took his new bike out for a spin on the dirt trails of the lower Pentlands. A great day out.

Watery Activities Croatia

A wee compilation of all the usable footage I got from the "No-Pro" in Croatia this year. Good times!

Farewell Prvic, Farewell Hrvatska

Our last day, and we jumped in the little water-taxi and bade farewell to our temporary island home of Prvic Luka. When in Croatia one must of course visit Dubrovnik, so we duly did, but it was a rapid, targeted attack. The place was heaving. Nice though.

Croatia Day Twelve - SUP

If it's Thursday, it must be time to do a bit of Stand Up Paddleboarding in Vodice. We rented boards and got some excellent instruction from Bluewind Adventure, right on the main beach. They even took pictures and sent them to us. We all managed pretty well, but Holly was the star of the show and even managed a headstand on her board.

Croatia Day Eleven - Canoodling

Our local hotel rented us some sea kayaks, despite our complete lack of knowledge or expertise in the safe operation of such things. In the natural shelter of our wee bay the water was smooth enough and we got on fine, but on heading out to Otok Lupac - a small uninhabited island to the south of Prvic - the water got a bit choppier and it was a little alarming at times. Still, we found a wee sheltered bay round the back of the island, and caught our breath before heading back for lunch and a quick wander round the Prvic forest. In the evening, in a bizarre turn of events, we found ourselves watching England vs Croatia in the World Cup in a local hostelty. Everyone was there, from toddlers to grannies, all wearing the red checkerboard of Hrvatska and all enjoying the match. Especially when they won.

Croatia Day Ten - Vodice

Settling into our second week on peaceful, idyllic Prvic we decided to head for the bright lights of nearby Vodice. We took the ageing ferry around the island and headed for the beach and its inflatable fun thing. Back in Prvic Luka, we relaxed and watched the sun set, all at a suitably leisurely pace.