Father's Day here in the UK, and to celebrate we headed out to Howie's at Bruntsfield to undo all the good work of the last few weeks dieting. This was after a morning of gardening and box-packing. (We are decluttering the house with a view to tentatively thinking about selling.)
Kit's big news is that he has been promoted from Tiggers to Owls at nursery, the final room in the chain. Here he will be in with "the big ones", get no naps and less adult contact, instead finding himself trying to negotiate the complicated world of pecking orders alone. Do him good.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Bad to the Bone. And sparkly.
On Sunday Mike and I took the opportunity for a bike run to Kilmarnock-ish where the Ayr Classic Motorcycle club were holding a bit of a do. I am not the biggest fan of classic bikes, but I'm trying to train myself to like them the way I successfully did with whisky and risotto.
The stereotype of the biker is still alive and well. Huge bellied, bearded and bullish men, wearing enough leather to drown a horse, clutch tiny polystyrene cups of tea while pointing knowingly at featherbed frames and discussing whether that colour was the original 1964 or later 1965 hue. I didn't really fit in, not having the heritage, and I sort of scampered off every time it looked like someone was about to engage me in conversation. I feared an Invasion of the Body Snatcher type response. Think of a fat, baldy Donald Sutherland with a rollup.
The best fun was possibly looking at how other people had maintained, customised or ruined their bikes in the parking area outside. Scary bikes, small bikes, bike bikes, gay bikes, they were all there and revving up an assortment of (mostly illegal) exhausts. At £5 it was good value entertainment but I'll really need to do some homework before next time. Of course, it's the same dozen classic bikes which attend all the Scottish events so memorising them shouldn't be too hard, and then I too can say things like "Aye, that's a 74 like, tell by the caliper housing."
More here...>
The stereotype of the biker is still alive and well. Huge bellied, bearded and bullish men, wearing enough leather to drown a horse, clutch tiny polystyrene cups of tea while pointing knowingly at featherbed frames and discussing whether that colour was the original 1964 or later 1965 hue. I didn't really fit in, not having the heritage, and I sort of scampered off every time it looked like someone was about to engage me in conversation. I feared an Invasion of the Body Snatcher type response. Think of a fat, baldy Donald Sutherland with a rollup.
The best fun was possibly looking at how other people had maintained, customised or ruined their bikes in the parking area outside. Scary bikes, small bikes, bike bikes, gay bikes, they were all there and revving up an assortment of (mostly illegal) exhausts. At £5 it was good value entertainment but I'll really need to do some homework before next time. Of course, it's the same dozen classic bikes which attend all the Scottish events so memorising them shouldn't be too hard, and then I too can say things like "Aye, that's a 74 like, tell by the caliper housing."
More here...>
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Roar...
So, to compensate for having no willpower I have signed up to stickk.com and have had one and a half very successful weeks. You can become my supporter to cheer and jeer in equal measure as I try to go from medically overweight to statistically normal in 12 pious weeks.
I was very excited this morning as I sat at the computer from 9am to ensure I got tickets to Muse at the SECC in November... and I did, and now I'm excited. There are precious few bands which could do that, and most of them are dead or hate each other, so it's nice when one comes along that I would actually dance for. Yes, actually dance.
Report cards are now written, and as always my creative writing skills are put to the test as even the most challenging of individuals are described in terms that deluded parents can interpret in any way they choose. Luckily this year I have no such pupils, or parents.
Oh, I also started volunteering at Edinburgh Sick Kids hospital this week. I am a bedtime reader once a fortnight, though that was actually bedtime drawer this week. Having done my best to help with a beach scene I was surprised the little girl didn't ask whether I was in fact in for an operation on my hands, eyes or perhaps brain. After a brief discussion on what a palm tree actually looked like time was up and I and headed off. It was strange entering a whole new place / system / environment with its own rules, routines and hierarchy but I'm hoping that in time I'll get a handle on it.
4 weeks today until the summer holiday but who's counting?
I was very excited this morning as I sat at the computer from 9am to ensure I got tickets to Muse at the SECC in November... and I did, and now I'm excited. There are precious few bands which could do that, and most of them are dead or hate each other, so it's nice when one comes along that I would actually dance for. Yes, actually dance.
Report cards are now written, and as always my creative writing skills are put to the test as even the most challenging of individuals are described in terms that deluded parents can interpret in any way they choose. Luckily this year I have no such pupils, or parents.
Oh, I also started volunteering at Edinburgh Sick Kids hospital this week. I am a bedtime reader once a fortnight, though that was actually bedtime drawer this week. Having done my best to help with a beach scene I was surprised the little girl didn't ask whether I was in fact in for an operation on my hands, eyes or perhaps brain. After a brief discussion on what a palm tree actually looked like time was up and I and headed off. It was strange entering a whole new place / system / environment with its own rules, routines and hierarchy but I'm hoping that in time I'll get a handle on it.
4 weeks today until the summer holiday but who's counting?
Friday, March 20, 2009
Google reaches the Zenith of its purpose - me.
I am disproportionally excited to have found myself in Google Street VIew, which has just been published for 25 cities across the UK.
If I look slow it's because the Suzuki had probably just broken down again, and I was coasting to a halt for the 3rd time that day.
View Larger Map
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Amazing technology - GE "ecomagination"
Amazing technology - GE "ecomagination"
Originally uploaded by Lee Carson
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Respect my authoritah!
"Cycling is an easy and low-impact activity which can significantly improve individual fitness and which has the potential to have a major impact
on public health.
It can help to reduce the risk of a range of health problems, notably heart disease and cancer, the leading preventable causes of
premature death.
In a country like the UK, where obesity is at epidemic levels among adults and young people, one of the main benefits of cycling is that people can do it as part of their normal daily activity – by cycling to work, to see friends or to the shops – rather than having to find additional time for exercise.
One study found that people who cycle to work experienced a 39% lower rate of all-cause mortality compared to those who did not – even after adjustment for other risk factors, including leisure time physical activity. Getting on your bike can yield much the same health benefits as doing a specific training programme. Cycling for an additional 30 minutes on most days of the week, combined with reducing calorie intake, can achieve weight loss comparable to that achieved by doing three aerobic classes a week.
As well as improving physical health, cycling has a positive affect on emotional health – improving levels of well-being, self-confidence and tolerance to stress while reducing tiredness, difficulties with sleep and a range of medical
symptoms.
One of the barriers to taking up cycling is a perception of the physical danger posed by motor traffic. However, the real risks are minimal and, the research suggests, are outweighed by the health benefits by a factor of around twenty to one. It may be more risky to your health to be sedentary.
It’s vital for the health of the nation – and the health of the planet – that health and transport professionals focus on positive actions to encourage cycling, especially where a cycle journey will replace a car journey.
Local transport and health authorities need to recognise the potential of cycling to improve many aspects of public health, and place it at the heart of a healthy transport strategy, devising safe cycling policies and promoting the use of cycling – by children and adults alike – on a daily basis."
http://www.networks.nhs.uk/uploads/07/11/cycling_and_health.pdf
on public health.
It can help to reduce the risk of a range of health problems, notably heart disease and cancer, the leading preventable causes of
premature death.
In a country like the UK, where obesity is at epidemic levels among adults and young people, one of the main benefits of cycling is that people can do it as part of their normal daily activity – by cycling to work, to see friends or to the shops – rather than having to find additional time for exercise.
One study found that people who cycle to work experienced a 39% lower rate of all-cause mortality compared to those who did not – even after adjustment for other risk factors, including leisure time physical activity. Getting on your bike can yield much the same health benefits as doing a specific training programme. Cycling for an additional 30 minutes on most days of the week, combined with reducing calorie intake, can achieve weight loss comparable to that achieved by doing three aerobic classes a week.
As well as improving physical health, cycling has a positive affect on emotional health – improving levels of well-being, self-confidence and tolerance to stress while reducing tiredness, difficulties with sleep and a range of medical
symptoms.
One of the barriers to taking up cycling is a perception of the physical danger posed by motor traffic. However, the real risks are minimal and, the research suggests, are outweighed by the health benefits by a factor of around twenty to one. It may be more risky to your health to be sedentary.
It’s vital for the health of the nation – and the health of the planet – that health and transport professionals focus on positive actions to encourage cycling, especially where a cycle journey will replace a car journey.
Local transport and health authorities need to recognise the potential of cycling to improve many aspects of public health, and place it at the heart of a healthy transport strategy, devising safe cycling policies and promoting the use of cycling – by children and adults alike – on a daily basis."
http://www.networks.nhs.uk/uploads/07/11/cycling_and_health.pdf
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Palm
A busy few days at Carson Crescent recently.
I pulled a Valentine coup on Saturday night by springing a surprise overnight stay on Lorna, at the Cringletie House Hotel. One of my readers will remember this as the wedding night hotel. She knew nothing about where we were going, or that I had secured Gill and Gary's early evening babysitting as well as Muriel's overnight services. As we were heading through Penicuik she did fear the worst, a chip supper at the bus stop for old time's sake, but all was reveled and as the guy at the hotel began to explain about rooms and breakfast arrangements her surprise was worth all the backroom plotting. Yay.
Saturday also saw us off to Dundee to celebrate Nana's 90th - a family spectacular, and she even gave a speech thanking us all though included the sentiment, with a laugh, "I never wanted to live this long..."
And today we spent time with Mum and Don at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh feeding squirrels and looking for snowdrops. The squirrel feeding was not helped by squawking children running about wondering why the squirrels were hard to find...
I pulled a Valentine coup on Saturday night by springing a surprise overnight stay on Lorna, at the Cringletie House Hotel. One of my readers will remember this as the wedding night hotel. She knew nothing about where we were going, or that I had secured Gill and Gary's early evening babysitting as well as Muriel's overnight services. As we were heading through Penicuik she did fear the worst, a chip supper at the bus stop for old time's sake, but all was reveled and as the guy at the hotel began to explain about rooms and breakfast arrangements her surprise was worth all the backroom plotting. Yay.
Saturday also saw us off to Dundee to celebrate Nana's 90th - a family spectacular, and she even gave a speech thanking us all though included the sentiment, with a laugh, "I never wanted to live this long..."
And today we spent time with Mum and Don at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh feeding squirrels and looking for snowdrops. The squirrel feeding was not helped by squawking children running about wondering why the squirrels were hard to find...
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