Back from Holiday

Three weeks to report on.  I have changed teams at work, this is not a big change really (or at least I hope not because I am aware that there might be other agendas afoot that might make me and some other people very uncomfortable). However I have sought assurances that it will let me get on with the work I am doing at present and will not be a diversion into big machine computing. I want to stick to helping individual researchers and small teams who are using their desktop computers as a major tool in their research. That is what I do, that is what I am good at and that is was at least three quarters of the researchers in the university do. It gives me a very different perspective from the big computer guys. Otherwise I have more than enough stuff to keep going on with. A video course to finish preparing, a number of other courses to set up which I will teach, some on going relationships and so forth.

The holiday went fine by my plans. Then my plans were not to do a lot of touring or doing other activities. I took the luxury of having a late start 10:00 a.m. breakfast, then a couple of hours studying (except at the weekend) and then spent the day doing whatever was on the books. Apart from the weekend there were three options:

1. 
   Walk Dora the dog, the longer and more strenuous the walk the better but I really should have checked my walking shoes ability to rub blisters. I did three separate walks with her on her own. The first we walked from Maryport to the headland before Drummore along the beach. I had beach shoes on and though they gave me bad blisters  (barefoot in new shoes is not a good idea) they did allow me to go more where the dog wanted to go. The second was from Maryport to Portlennie along the Mull of Galloway Trail. Dora now knows it is not a good idea to bite electric fences, but otherwise enjoyed it but would not go through kissing gates unless I did as well. At Port Lennie we saw both a rainbow and a passing seal. The final walk was up the hill to Creechan and beyond. This is really not as good as the other two as Dora has to be on the lead a fair bit. So I took her down to the beach for a run but she decided not to come back to me when I called  (chasing seagulls was far more fun) and as a result I marched her up to the house on a lead. There were I think Barnacle Geese amongst the gulls as well.
2. Time out with the girls.  Two of these days, one which we spent in PortPatrick Geocaching and then a meal at a pub, which was enjoyed by the girls and Tony. We stopped being geocache version and found two caches that day, one in PortPatrick and one at Ardwell Dam. The second was the day before I came home and we went to Kirroughtree Forrest (see  ) much to the girls and everyones delight I did not get the pronunciation at all right. I said something like Ker-rough-tree and it is pronounced more like Kir-Rock-tri. Cait was not feeling too good so left her in the car while I and Jenny went for a short walk (it was longer than I intended though we went at a good pace) so I was not surprised Cait thought we had taken too long. Then we went onto Newtown Stewart for an Indian meal. They have an Indian Restaurant there, not sure where in India the cuisine comes from but they really only do chicken dishes although you can get lamb and fish on request. The vegetable dishes are all side dishes.
3. 
   Finally I had two days for myself, the first of these I went exploring the Crook of Baldoon which is a very minor RSPB reserve. The facilities consist of a parking area (which looks like the general area back of a farm buildings and a picnic area. It has a farm causeway that takes you out onto the bay salt marshes but no hides. There are hides attached to Wigtown but you have to go back into the town to get to those. I suspect long term there could be an attempt to develop this to attract in Birdwatching tourism as the hot season starts in November and continues to March or so, with birds wintering on the salt marshes. On the second I went to Logan Gardens for a visit and then onto photograph Killantrigan Lighthouse in the evening light. The land is much wilder around there in the North Rhins than it is around Maryport.

Over the weekend I did things with the girls and the dog. On the Saturday I took Jenny and Cait over to the Machars and we went geocaching. The first one which was down by St Medan’s in the Machars was a geocache remember Gavin Maxwell who grew up around there and called Ring of Bright Water. The problem was that Morag had banned me from taking the girls near cliffs and it seemed to be hidden half way up one according to the SatNav so once we had tried approaching it from two angles with no success we had to rethink.  So we headed for Withorn for lunch at the cafe. Wigtown would have had more to offer but also be crowded with the first days of the Wigtown book festival. The cafe for the Whithorn Trust was empty apart from us but did give us sandwiches and soup.  The second one Kilsture Forrest, which is mainly conifer plantation. We found this one, but then went for a walk, we were relatively map less and I knew that we were on a round path but not whether we were going clockwise or anti-clockwise. We came to three point junction and chose to think we were going anti-clockwise partly because it said back to the car park. this way. This was a mistake, we were going clockwise and the path was leading us to another carpark all together. Anyway I brought home two tired girls who’d enjoyed their day out.

The next day Jenny wanted to walk to Mull of Galloway along the trail. The dog had not really been walked the day before so we needed to take her with us. This meant complications as we had to get the dog over a ladder style and also we could not just walk to the Mull cafe and get a lift back as Mo and Tony were not prepared to have Dora in a car. Well we got as far as East Tarbet. Dora would only tackle the style if I went first but then would make it. Me standing almost on her tail behind did not work even if the girls were over. The big problem was actually the walk was slightly too far for Cait, she’d have made it too the cafe easily but the journey back was longer and on rougher terrain. She did  very well indeed walking back and we got in safely just as it was getting dark and there was a splendid moon over the bay. Jenny being older and actually keen to walk did it easily and made a good pace. If Cait had been slower I might have sent Jenny on ahead to say we were coming.

Drove home via my parents, they thought I was coming back on the Wednesday yet all I can recall and the evidence at their home suggests I had always said Thursday. The only reference I can think of to Wednesday was that I had suggested they could extend their stay in the Brecon Beackons to Tuesday but had to back for Wednesday. That was so that they would visit Cathy and Co. Another change of plan was due to Fleur being robbed while on holiday, she and Walter needed Friday for sorting insurance and other business out, so I drove straight home which meant I could get the car back to the hirers on Friday which eased things on Saturday somewhat and gave me chance to do some editing on my thesis.
  
More photos from my holiday can be found on flickr

Today was communion. I was second table elder with Ian Cooke as first.  There were 46 for communion but we were a bit short of elders. We were fine in the end but there does need to be some sorting doing. I also took the initiative and rearranged the elements on the table for serving. This meant that both for the serving and for the procession out things were right where the elders who were serving came to get them and there was no fussing about. There is time to do this within the current arrangements. Ian seems to enjoy working with me indeed he was offering to be first table elder again for me during my apprenticeship. Anne Cathels is right the role of Communion Sunday duty elder is significantly different from that on any other Sunday, the really crisis will happen in February when I am down both as duty elder and second communion elder a combination that is tricky. The other thing is I think the system at present works with the old style duty elder (whose main job was to make sure the minister was in the right places at the right time). The current one is far more managing the front house welcome. I think some jobs may be better shared by the communion elders.

eventually getting around to chattering in the New Year

Hope you are all had good times over the New Year and the return to normal work has not come as too much of a shock.

The journey up to Galloway was smooth although quite wet/foggy over Shap. I stopped at Tebay and then drove through to Newton Stewart. I am finding however that I am deliberately taking alternative routes when possible as the driving along major roads for hours at a time is tedious. Yes the A75 is a major road and you can’t let your concentration drop although the monotony of driving tempts you to (Motorways are worse). At least on country by-roads, although you still have to concentrate, there is not the same monotony, you are always responding to the road and circumstances. I therefore drove towards Caelaverock but as it started to rain on route I did not stop, I also went through the Wigtownshire Machars. I am never sure if this refers to the whole penisula or just to the North West part of it, Whithorn and Wigtown seem to stand as separate identities and yet also interact with it.

Actual time was quiet, the car must have been used to the drive from the Mull Village to Maryport and back. I did not even get into Stranraer. The trip I had half planned to PortPatrick did not happen due to weather and tiredness. It was too windy to risk taking pictures of lighthouses when I thought I might. The Mull Village is really no longer a village but a collection of houses en route from Drummore to the Mull, however I suspect that a hundred years ago it was precisely that. A functioning village with school and shop (the school building is still standing), however then Drummore would have been very close on the size of a small town. Today it functions as the equivalent of a street name but retains the title Village for convenience.

Most days I took the dog for a walk along with the girls. We actually did a set walk, along Maryport bay towards Drummore. Only on the Tuesday did Morag join us with her taking the dog. I can see why the dog prefers me to walk her. I will let her off the lead more readily than Morag (dog pace is not human) but I also keep verbal contact with her. By the end she knew she was not allowed on the beach unless there were a human part of the pack there, and she was not to get to far away. I also called her back and put her on the lead if other people and especially dogs approached, it helps that her eyes are covered in dog hair and therefore I tend to see them approach before she does.. She tends to get excited and I prefer to know that she is reasonably under control. I also suspect that dog understands us wanting to get into tight formation in the presence of another pack.

Morag is still enjoying the challenges of her job and I suspect hoping for a continuation of funding past the present contract terms. This of course is dependent on the Charity that employs her finding the money. Cait seems to be doing well although she clearly hero-worships me. Not sure that is totally a good thing because in part it is built on an unrealistic version of me, the one that appears at holiday times and has endless times for girls and dogs and so forth. The everyday me is far more like her mum, short of time, struggles to fit in what needs doing and often too tired to give real attention. Jenny seems to be doing well. There are comments on how good a cook she is, I suspect in part this is a survival technique as knowing how to cook is one thing Morag is quite clear that she does not know much about. She is actually developing into quite a beauty if in more historical form than is currently fashionable.

Travelling down on my last day, through what I think of as the fairy glen I surprised a hawk sheltering from the winds which promptly got flustered and dived into the bushes. From my description of it my father thinks it may have been a Red Kite. About the only things I could accurately tell about it was that it had squirrel red tale feathers and a medium size, it probably had whitish breast feathers.

The day before I came back and the days I travelled there were high winds. I was fortunately in a heavily laden Vauxhall Corsa, Corsa cars are traditionally styled pretty low (not so good for deeply rutted roads, but good for winds) and the winds did not cause me too much concern. None of the roads I wanted to travel on were blocked (might have been a bit difficult as I went A712/713 through Galloway rather than A75), I think I saw one tree blown down. The Rhins are traditionally windy places so when they heard of gust in Edinburgh around 100 miles an hour every ones actions was “so what are they here!”. When I looked at the forecast about 50 to 60 mph I would say, in other words considerably less than in Edinburgh. Indeed the extreme South West of Scotland seemed either to have been well adapted or relatively sheltered (thanks to Ireland?) compared with elsewhere. Perhaps a combination of the two.

Anyway I got the car back in on Thursday and have spent the last few days trying to sort out things before I go back to work. Friday was spent in a mix of shopping and revising work that had been proof read, Saturday preparing for supervision and getting the papers off. I also had to submit electronically this time. This should be interesting. My experience leads me to think that the initial few times this happens there will be hiccoughs in the system as both I and my supervisor get used to it. I suspect that the system is really for record and that we will need to continue our normal sending of actual papers to each other.

Today I woke and during prayers started getting migraine visual aura. If you can imagine something like the following picture but not static, rather it was as if the tiles were changing fairly fluidly, and was in an arc across my vision you will get an idea. So it was back to bed, then when I came around doing brainstorming for my next chapter of my thesis.