Playing Flounders

We use to play "Flounders" when we were at school. Now on a boxing-day visit to Crail, some of us indulged in a post-christmas game.

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to everyone, from the Candlishes.

Back next year :)

Mushroom Cloud over Newtownards

What kind of cloud is this?  Answers please...

To be fair, I was planning on taking a few pictures and properly blogging the pre-christmas day-trip to Belfast, but the 3:30 am start, kind of knocked the edge off the day.  It was great to meet the outlaws, and cousins and take some time out.  That was one fantastic breakfast!

Then back on the boat around 7 pm and home just after midnight. Thank you Radio 4 for keeping me awake with "Brain of Britain" then Whispering Bob Harris did the last shift with me.  Excellent Tunes.

So this is the cloud over Northern Ireland pictured from the ferry. That's the photo I took.  :)

HSS

Another in the series of "Ferries I have travelled on". The HSS from Stranraer to Belfast was the fastest way to cross the north channel for some time, until they discovered that you could run it on 3/4 power, save 25% of the fuel, and take 30 minutes longer. The captive passengers then spent 15% more in the shops, and drank 20% more coffee. So ended the days of fast ferries to Belfast.

The new port at Cairnryan has now opened, and I wait to see it working properly. It does seem strange that when the boat docks from Belfast there are no Stena Staff around to meet and greet you.

Isn't it a good job that the carpark cash machines weren't broken and you could easily validate your parking ticket, and leave without having to get security staff to manually open the barrier to let out all the passengers.
 

After all, if that happened, you might find that customers decided to try an alternative carrier for their next crossing.

Luckily that didn't happen.

Or did it?

Advent in 2011

Excitement is building in the house. The annual chocolate convention is about to start. 

There should be no problem getting them going in the morning for the next 24 days, especially if I make sure that there are fewer chocolates than people in the house!  

It's a cunning plan, and I doubt it will work!

 

Clearing out the cupboards.

This is not an exciting time of the year.  That starts next week....

I am clearing out some bits and pieces from the attic. Hoping to use a well known auction site to find new homes for some old possessions.

Who remembers this sort of thing?

Lego 6524 Snowplough

I'll miss the little guys.

Stirling High sings children in need

In case you have missed it, here's the contribution by some of Stirling High's singers to the Children-In-Need cause. 

Apologies to readers from overseas: You might not be able to see the content.

I particularly liked the ipod on the stairs. I remember "helping" to make one just exactly like that!

This posting will only be around until I notice that the BBC has deleted the content.

Driving Home for Christmas?

Watch out for these guys on the road. A new headlight can cost over £100!  Can you guess how I know that fact?

Del Monte

What was the man from Del Monte thinking? Here we are in 2011, a mere 10 years after the best before date on this tin of quality "Pear Halves" (in juice by the way - not syrup!) and there has been some leakage from the seams. 

I no longer have the receipt!

My mum and Crail harbour

While out with Mum for a stroll round Crail, I received a text from No 1 child: "Just to say I have blown up Granny's electric. Awaiting your arrival. X"

Don't you just love the kiddies!

Good morning Fife

 
Riding along in my automobile
My blackberry beside me at the wheel
te tum te tum te tum te tum
tiggedly tum te tum te tum
crusin' and playin' the radio
with no particular place to go    (except work)

Berlin 2011

So we're home again. Thanks to Conny and Peter for being the perfect tour-guides over the weekend, and making sure we got our bearings. Then we had another 3 days where we saw the inside of the Bundestag, the DDR musum, the German museum (http://www.dhm.de/ENGLISH/), ate burgers from Rosen Burger, pizzas from http://focolare-berlin.de/ and walked what seemed about 500 miles.

If I ever need to trade the Hyundai

But underneath, it's a Skoda!

Eurovision has a bus

Eurovision has a German bus. And it reminds me that I must book the trip to Azerbajan next year!
Who wants to come along? If you stop to think, you could ask if Eurovision has a German bus, or if Germany has a Eurovision bus.  Also, what happens to the bus next year? Does it stay as a Eurovision bus, or does it flip and become the "Steps on tour (Deutch Leg)" bus?  

Berlin - City of bears

Is this the largest lift in the world?

We were lucky enough to visit the Deutscher Bundestag in Berlin and enjoyed the tour.

Loved the lift at the end!

Can you spot Wally?

A quiet day

All Seasons hotel: All you can eat breakfast including triple expressos and honey bagels.  It was a hard week!!

 

The original total height of the tower was 365 metres (1,198 ft), but it rose to 368 metres (1,207 ft) after the installation of a new antenna in the 1990s. The Fernsehturm is the fourth tallest freestanding structure in Europe, after Moscow's Ostankino Tower, the Kiev TV Tower and the Riga Radio and TV Tower". There is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The visitor platform is at a height of about 204 metres above the ground and visibility can reach 42 kilometres on a clear day. The restaurant, which rotates once every 30 minutes, is a few metres above the visitors platform (originally it turned once per hour; the speed was later doubled following the tower's late 1990s renovation). Inside the shaft are two lifts that shuttle visitors up to the sphere of the tower within 40 seconds.

Ampelmann - the ONLY way to cross the road

Ampelmann is the only way to cross the road: Step out when he is not there and in Berlin you risk being mown down by a lovely Mercedes, or Tram.

Once again, text to follow....

Berlin October 2011

Near the Alexander Platz is the 4th tallest thing in Europe.

Marx and Engels I think.

Brandenburger Tor

Fredrick on the horse?

Berlin Jewish memorial (BBC news page)

The ground slips away as you move into the stones. Really creepy, and easy to lose the kids....

Dumyat August 19

Summer is over, and the schools have gone back.
There was a warning on the radio for fog in the area. They were not wrong.

Hobby 495UK

Took the caravan off to Crail. Auntie had a birthday to celebrate and we had a caravan to use. 


For the geographically challenged, let me tell you that the water is the Firth of Forth, and the Island is the Isle of May. 
 

(The caravan is a 2005 Hobby 495UK with front bunks, a rear dinette, and a working electric flush Thetford toilet.)

Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea

Off on our travels again.We stopped off in Newcastle (not a Geordie in sight by the way) and strolled along the sea front (or is it the Strand?)  There is a Lidls here which has a tower. I have never seen the likes.....

On the way out of Vimoutiers, on the Route Départementale D 979, heading to Gacé

Child 1 returns to the tank last visited in 1997, and child 2 makes her first visit to the tank. We are a couple of miles south of Vimoutiers, heading to our gite holiday at Le Puy. Sunday July 2nd.

Cruising down the Dordogne

From the gite at Le Puy, we went for a day trip to the Dordogne river region. We went to Sarlat and had a great pizza lunch in the old town. After some serious shopping, we went on to the banks of the Dordogne wher we found a coffee shop! You can hire canoes from here, and paddle down the river, but you can just sit and have another coffee :)

Chartres by night

We went back into Chartres at night to see the light show which is projected onto various buildings in the city. The show was on from 10 pm until 1 am, which we thought was going to be a bit weird, but we were still there after midnight, following the trail around the streets. We were not alone.

As is traditional on the last night or our holidays we like to see if we can hide the car in a foreign city. This year was no exception. However the car was recovered after a short search....

Roll on next year.

France 2011

http://www.novaweb.fr/berigaud.vehicules.anciens/ I was able to grab a few minutes here. This is better than the supermarkets.

we're off to see the wizard

Fancy Box dressing once again

Hillfoots Music

Now promoted at Hillfoots Music for Youth, I was in charge of water for the bands last Saturday. I also made some jugs of juice for them, and fed them crisps. I think this is better than making hot drinks.

Wyndell Ales

Lovely. Thank you.

My lunch

Don't leave your lunch in the fridge at work.....