New Year 2009

Lets see. Since I last wrote I have travelled over 600 miles at I guess an average speed of about 55 miles per hour. This is while a lot was by motorway there was an awful lot on A roads. The car I hired, a diesel Astra took it all quite well although it could be cleaner if there was just a rainstorm or two. It took me longer to get used to this car than the previous time I hired an Astra but if I am having to do a lot of driving I think they are still my car of choice. The car was pretty laden on the way there. I solved the problem of how to carry boxes on the back seats by using the seat belt with each box but on the way out all three places in the back seat were taken and I covered them with granny's old brown travel rug which did the job admirably. It was big enough, it was clearly old and its colouring was non-descript. It said with every fibre of its being, anything under me isn't worth having which is exactly what I wanted it to say. The fact that what it was covering was largely food, craft materials and cardboard boxes was beside the point. I wanted the theif to think nothing worth having without trying to investigate.

At a slightly slower pace the walking around the world thread I had been looking after had made the 40000 km distance that is approximately the circumference of the world. I still have to total the final distance but as a couple of posters have posted distance since the finish I am sure we have made it.

Christmas was just the family. Sam is growing up and this year had clearly thought about what people might like for Christmas. So he bought my father a book on cricketing jokes, unfortunately it got into my pile and when I checked with Hannah she assured me it was mine. I thought this was odd, so was rather relieved when Sam found the error about a minute afterwards and corrected it. Dad, Mum and I both enjoyed reading snippets from the book. Last I knew Dad was putting it into the chapel so he could browse it instead of the paper. This year due to a practice of over remembering I don't think we forgot to take anything. By over remembering I mean that we set it up so we all had a list of everything that needed to go and we all were responsible for checking them off. Just as well as I forgot to do the final check off myself. Cathy and Adrian cooked a splendid lunch and the crackers worked well although Hannah I think got more enjoyment from the fact that there were rings on the outside of the crackers so she ended up with 24 rings. Fortunately I ended up with the eyelash curlers which is my choice for the most useless cracker filler of the year. I think Hannah claimed them but I bet she has no idea what they were for.

Boxing day was a quiet day spent with my parents. I am not sure mum thought it was a "quiet" day as Dad had decided we'd have venison for lunch. Mum had found a recipe this time but it was so complicated that it had her all flustered. I also sorted my parents computer our so they should now be sending regular letters once again. I think Val you will go back to only getting one letter per week rather than two. I am afraid my efficiency meant for a while you were both of family list and being added by Dad. For some reason Dad was not aware I had put you on the list.

Then I drove up to Drummore on the 27th, I got in in the daylight after a fairly smooth ride. There is a theory going around that the locals around Drummore issue an alert when I am due up and keep off the road. I certainly do seem to strike fewer tractors and such than most people and there is an effective bush telegraph. Of the family, Jenny probably was the most changed physically, she had the build of an older child now which is significantly different from that of a young child at least in females (I presume preparation for puberty). She had also had her hair cut. Jenny I think was surprised that I gave her a present that she was able to do and Cait wasn't. Cait is water to Jenny's earth and at times this is clear. For instance Cait like Hannah and Sam is a water fiend. Have water anywhere near her and she wants to be in it. This means Cait has swimming lessons she thoroughly enjoys (they are essential with her propensity to get into water, either she learns to swim or her mum has to always worry over her getting out of her depth in water). However Cait is also almost constantly doing things, exploring and such. Jenny is steady and sure footed, likes things firmly grounded and to know where she is and what is happening. Jenny likes facts, Cait likes fantasy both want to write. My guess is that Jenny stands the better chance of making an steady income from writing. She is likely to become something like a technical writer or a journalist, maybe a travel writer. The slow careful writer, checking facts, making sure the information is correct and presenting it clearly are in greater demand than the creative ones. Cait will want to write novels, poems and stories. She will either not make anything at all or a huge amount.

The days were spent doing things that kept us occupied. Morag had had accepted an article on Kirkmadrine Stones and wanted pictures of Kirkmadrine that were not the typical ones of the chapel . She engaged me to take these photographs as she claimed I had better cameras. I think I got one or two which were distinctly different but with the cold and taking in an evening I could have done with a tripod for some of the shots. We also went up to the Mull on New Years day. There were lots of people around and I think the cafe was definitely loosing profitable business by not being open that day. By the way there are some photos up some photos up of the stay on my flickr account If you get a flickr account (they are free and let me know I don't mind adding people to friends or family which means you will see also the pictures with people in them). We also made a Swiss Apline scene for the "Boredom Busters" column Morag is writing for her local paper.

Unfortunately Morag and at least one of the girls had colds. I stayed clear most of the holiday but developed one the day before I needed to drive back. The result was that I was pretty whacked when I got back to Sheffield having spent a night at my parents on route. I kept going on the Monday as I had to return the car but by Tuesday I realised it was take time in or don't get better. So I took the day off.

At work otherwise it was head down to get a course ready for last Wednesday unfortunately I had not checked that the software was on the network and started to teach then realised that I would not be able to demonstrate nor would people be able to do the exercises. It was most unfortunate as the previous form of the software was there but that was significantly different from the form I was teaching. So I had to cancel the course. So this has been re-arranged for a week on Monday and next wednesday's course moved to another room which has the software in it. It should be interesting to do.

The reason this did not get out last week was that I was writing a review of the interviews to date for my PhD. The work in writing it took up my Sunday Afternoon. Then I found that there was a meeting of the Monday Club. Now Fleur, that is an institution within an institution. The Monday Club is an organisation run by members of the church that attracts a number of ladies who are on the fringes of the church. As the club secretary is from a congregationalist background it is run on congregationalist lines, i.e. all decisions come to meetings of the members. However it clearly had its members and others are fringes. To be a member you don't need to be a church member and there are many church members who are on the fringes of this group, this is unlike Network at St Andrews Sheffield which if you are a church member you are treated as a member of Network. So here we have a sub-group under St Andrew's umbrella that is run differently, has a distinctive membership. The talk was interesting one by Alex Harrow on his time as a police surgeon. If his account is anything to go by, there must have been times when he was waiting for John Clark to turn up while John Clark was sure he had plenty of time and not rushing.

Friday saw me at a Burn's night supper organised by Rosehill URC but facilitated by St Andrews. They intriguingly also had the Society of Friends as guests along with the Caledonian Association committee. St Andrew's Sheffield had its Burn's Night on the same evening. I was walking down from having parked the car on Friday night and glanced across at St Andrew's Sheffield and realised the lights in the hall were still on. As this was 11:00 pm they were making a late night of it.