Jimaroid

Went off to the west coast of Scotland last week, didn’t really have a plan other than to drive about and camp where possible. Maybe get the occasional B&B if the weather turned bad, that sort of thing. The main intention was to be in the area of Skye and see what it was like over there. It was a bit strange to actually go on holiday, it’s the first holiday where I’ve actually gone somewhere for a period of years that I can’t recall, long overdue for me.

It’s difficult to describe the staggeringly awesome beauty of the west coast. Around every bend there is a new moment of wow! In fact the level of WOW gets so much that you can’t help but simply stand agape wondering if the WOOOOOOOOOOW will ever end. We stumbled upon some of the most amazing places to see and roads to drive upon, surely anywhere on Earth. More WOW as you crest hills that are usually only seen in fantasy films… More WOW as you stand still and watch the weather and entire scenery change in instants… Non-stop WOW.

Skye was spectacular with incredibly variable weather, we were sat on a white sand beach in sunshine one moment and then driving into torrential rain the next. The best view we got of the Cuillin hills was from miles away, each time we approach the cloud descended, but it didn’t spoil the WOW in any way, just made it slightly damp. We then moved away from Skye to a village called Applecross, which in winter is almost inaccessible. For years it had only been accessible by a mountain pass called Beleach na Ba and if there is ever a single bit of road to drive, ride, or see in the UK, this is it. We ended the week rather drunkenly in the Applecross Inn, with wonderful seafood and great friendly company. Eve and I survived the whole time through tents, damp, cold, wind, rain, cloud, sun, all without a crossed word. An excellent little detail of happiness.

With the smooth, comes the rough… The fucking highland fucking midge. What is the point? At one time early in a morning, trying to make a cup of tea, I nearly had a fit. For about 10 minutes it’s non-stop flying, irritating, pointless, little flapping bastards in your eyes, nose, ears, hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, arms, fingers, kettle, eyes, ears, eyesearsEYESEARSFUCKOFFYOUFUCKINGLITTLEFUCKINGARRRRRGH! You get the idea. And this was, allegedly, the tail end of their season. I’ve since discovered that people attribute the relative low population of the west coast of Scotland to the highland midge. I am not surprised, the little bastards. Next time I’m taking a net to put on my head.

Anyway, a selection of some pics are up on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimaroid/sets/72157607347688779/

Life is really fucking trying me out at the moment. First day back at work today after the whole body spazzing out thing and then dropping down with Shingles. Got home to find the house has had a brick put through one of the back windows and my TV, 360, Wii, PowerBook, Camera and other bits and pieces have been nicked. I’m fucked off. After two solid weeks of being entirely housebound it’s fucking weird that this happens the first day I’ve left the place. Coincidence? I don’t fucking think so.

Fucking gutted.

Sticking with the usual pattern of irregular updates I thought it worth noting the fact that I’m on a drive to get back to some reasonable level of fitness for the summer. Since moving “over the water” from Dundee I’ve not been able to walk into work and the daily drive has left me with little to no real or regular exercise habit. It has become increasingly embarassing that I’m slightly out of breath when I walk up and down the stairs at work. It’s only 1 floor, albeit a bit bigger than a normal floor height, but it’s enough to make me cringe. So it’s back on my bike for me. Or not.

On saturday I wheeled out the bike and gave it a bit of a clean, it was sunny but cool with a gentle breeze and led me to believe it was ideal cycling weather. Setting off up the hill out of the village and turning left by the bus stop I am confronted by a freezing gale in my face which is doing everything it can to stop me making forward motion. I struggle on for nearly 2 miles and realise that I’m freezing cold and my legs are dead weights, so with my chest gulping in painfully cold air I turned back to give up. I nearly passed out when I got home, I’d overdone it and travelled less than 4 miles. It was embarassing so the whole plan to get fitter again needed a complete rewrite.

Tonight I’ve done my second 3km jog/hobble. It’s part of a 9 week plan that’ll see me back into a form capable of running 5 km regularly. With three sessions a week I’ve only got 25 to go and I feel pretty good so far. I’ll be pleased to get through the first week and before too long I’ll be on the home straight to that first 5km run. Actually rather pleased with myself and if it helps shed a couple of pounds from the tum then all the better.

In other news, work sucks.

Wasn’t well on Friday, I’ve caught some nasty cold or other, so I came home sick and get ready to lay up for the weekend to recover. On saturday morning I was feeling a bit more spritely and in faffing around the electric got tripped off and on again. The burglar alarm went mental. The burglar alarm that I don’t have the code for.

Woop! Woop! Non stop.

Try to get hold of the landlady and she’s in Edinburgh out of mobile reception. None of her family know the alarm code. I sit still for an hour and watch shinty on the TV to avoid detection by the room detectors. Until that point I’d tried a few alarm codes as suggested by landlady’s family. Including various combinations of birthdays, years and, stretching things by this point, various combinations of the buttons that looked most worn. No luck, so I sat still until the alarm shut up. And all was quiet but then the police turned up, forcing me to open the front door. Which set the alarm off again.

Police reassured I embark on covering the alarm sensors in the rooms I could get to without detection with aluminium foil, which enables me to move around a few of the rooms. In the meantime the landlady had made contact and couldn’t remember the code and we’d already tried the only number she could vaguely remember. After a few hours of being prisoner in the living room and dowstairs shower room / toilet (which I was quite relieved to find didn’t have a sensor nearby) the alarm engineer was reached and his conclusion was the the control unit had gone faulty. However, he advised against a visit until Monday, otherwise there would be a huge callout bill as he couldn’t access the service contracts until Monday. So, I went to sleep on the sofa in the safety of the alarm disabled living room.

All has been mostly well today, I gaffa taped and detached the magnetic sensor on the front door so I could get outside again without the alarms going off. I’ve still had to keep out of the rooms I can’t enter but I have at least got access back to the bedroom as the control unit has decided to start ignoring that alarm zone. All day the alarm has still been armed, which is a small fact I forgot as I just went to get a beer to settle down with Top Gear. The beer is stored in the snug and I forgot there’s a sensor in there. So I’ve set the alarms off again.

I do feel like I’ve spent half the weekend in some sort of Hudson Hawk role play. It’s funny in retrospect but I’m going to have to take tomorrow off so that the engineer can come and replace the control unit. My old age doddering isn’t improving any, sodding electrickery.

Finally managed to arrange a housewarming party, albeit in the second house I moved into. Enjoyed the day a great deal but it was a lot of work in preparation. Slightly nervous about how many people would turn up and be dressed up fancily but I think that was just stress ahead of the event and spending all afternoon in the kitchen making food. Nerves soon went and we had a brilliant turnout of costumes with Superman seeming to be a popular choice.

I’ve still not got any pictures of the new place, must get around to doing that, but there are plenty of pictures of the housewarming party up on Flickr now. Some good ones and I was dead chuffed with my own get up.