Inverness on a cold winter’s day

After a surprisingly warm few days, Inverness has turned cold.  Very cold.

So cold in fact that the canal has frozen over, and frost hangs like delicate spiders’ webs from buildings, cars and indeed any people who stand still long enough.

Coupled with thick cloud and a low-hanging winter sunshine, it makes for a crisp, almost Narnia-like, atmosphere.

I took off for a nice long walk with my camera today to explore it all, and here are the results.  To be honest, I’m not entirely pleased with my haul considering the beautiful conditions, but they’ll do.

Happy pre-Hogmanay.

Mackerel and the Hokey Cokey

Yes, it’s that time in between Christmas and New Year when not much happens – I’m still on holiday, too tired to do anything interesting, and with nothing specific to celebrate.

So I’ve done a wee bit of shopping, some catching up with friends and family in the near area, some taking of photos, and that’s about it.

Besides that, my mind has also been on mackerel.

One of my favourite factoids is that there is only one name on the London Underground map that has none of the letters from the word “mackerel” in it: St John’s Wood.  And there is only one team from the top four divisions of English football with the same characteristic: Swindon Town.  They are great brain teasers for dinner parties.

The other day, however, I’ve discovered some more mackerel factoids.  Macktoids, if you will.  Or perhaps facterels.

Anyway.  Can you name the one US state, the one element from the periodic table, and the three independent countries of the world, none of which contain any letters from the word “mackerel”?

I’ll let you to stew over that for a couple of days (no cheating by using Google!), and leave you with my final thought of the day – it comes from a fridge magnet I saw today with a picture of a sunbeam in the style of those cheesy “meaning of life” inspirational cards, and the words:

“What if the Hokey Cokey really is what it’s all about?”

Out with the old, in with the new…

Do you or your family ever receive those moribund round-robin Christmas letters from people you vaguely know or are distantly related to?

You know, the letters which assume that you are fascinated and delighted to hear facts about the kids’ successes in the trombone, ballet and spelling bee, your correspondent’s sterling professional successes in the cut-throat world of financial accounting (but don’t worry, he still has time to make it to several of his cherished stamp-collecting conventions, learn classical Armenian, serve on the parish council, and write a series of pamphlets on insects of the local river basin), and how the darling dog is doing fine after its hernia operation.  Oh, and the wife’s knitting circle has achieved their aim of producing 1,000 scarves in one sitting for orphans in Azerbaijan.

This blog is one such letter.  Only I haven’t wasted a stamp, I have no idea whose reading this, and you’re more than welcome to ignore it if you so feel.  Much like the rest of my blog, really.

Anyway, flicking casually back through my past year’s blogging (which is much more reliable than my memory), it’s been quite a year and it might be nice to attempt to sum it up.

2008 started in Brisbane, Australia, where I was stopping off en route to New Zealand.

My visit to NZ was probably my most enjoyable and productive mullet hunt yet, and a major highlight of the year.

Two hectic weeks saw me travel end to end, during which I saw amazing scenery, met some wonderful people, bagged five mullets, and briefly became a minor celebrity.

The mission took a significant nosedive however during the otherwise wonderful USA trip in September, particular highlights of which were Salvation Mountain, San Francisco, and American food.

Travel has been a theme of work too – I’ve been as far north as Shetland and as far south as London and many places in between, albeit mostly the north of Scotland and Edinburgh.

The fact that since August I’ve not been working Mondays has helped keep the balance, although I’ve been rather naughty and often seen the shortened week as a way of doing long weekends – rather than getting stuck into writing, which was my original intention.

One consequence of this has been that I’m hardly ever in church, and I’m surprised that on my occasional appearances nobody has asked me to sign the visitor’s book.

In the latter weeks of the year particularly, I’ve barely hit the ground, let alone my own bed, and the long days, early starts and late nights have seen me wake up on a number of mornings without the faintest clue as to where I am.

It’s like sex, drugs and rock’n'roll, but without the sex, drugs, or rock’n'roll.

Other highlights of 2008 include playing my part in the world’s greatest annual football fixture, some (but not enough) hillwalking, reading a pile of books, being an official gig photographer, being made a Gold Joinee at K6, turning 30, getting a Mac, and hosting a plethora of couchsurfers.  Indeed, it’s often only having people to stay that gives me the impetus to get out and see a bit of the immediate area beyond Inverness.

Meanwhile in the realm of music I got perhaps the best value imaginable for a fiver seeing the excellent Shutter and Kyte, and also saw the as-you’d-expect Proclaimers and slightly-underwhelming Mogwai; although due to work travels I’ve not seen nearly enough of Inverness’s excellent live music scene as I would have liked.

Other musical discoveries of the year include the sublime Jon Hopkins, the catchy Lindstrøm, and the epic and breath-taking Explosions in the Sky who have fast become my current favourite band.

And finally, if that’s not all more than enough for you take in, my film of the year would have to be either Wall·E or Doomsday.

Phew.  So that was 2008.

What does 2009 hold?

Well, late January sees the beginning of Lost series 5, which I am quite ridiculously excited about.  In April, the cataclysmic fifth Join Me North v South football match takes place in Nottingham, and then in June my mobile phone contract runs out and I am looking forward to getting an iPhone.  Futher ahead, in September, I’m off to see Coldplay in Glasgow, who are supported, bizarrely, by Jay-Z (I’ve decided the gig should be called “Jay-play”, a phrase you heard here first).

No doubt there’ll be more happening in 2009 than that, but that’s all I can think of right now, and I’m sure it’s enough for you to be going on with.

I don’t normally do New Year’s Resolutions, but one major one I have committed to is to spend more weekends at home – hopefully allowing me to do more writing and see more live music.

Time will tell…

…oh, and Merry Christmas!

Ness Islands lights

I took a wander down to the Ness Islands this afternoon just after dusk.

It’s an atmospheric and photogenic place normally, but the lights were being switched on today, so I thought it might make for a couple of nice photo opportunities.

Sadly, the whole of the rest of Inverness had the same idea.  The crowds – and of course my lack of a decent tripod, a big camera, or much in the way of ability – meant that I got very few decent shots.

In fact, the best one I got on my walk wasn’t actually on the islands, but of the also-illuminated Ness Bridge.

I’ll maybe go down another evening when – with luck – there will be less people around…

Out

I went to the Market Bar last night with a friend from church, to celebrate the end of work (for me, at least).  I hadn’t been out in Inverness for a long, long time but was glad to be – catchy and energetic Alness band The Side were playing.

Their gig was excellent – they blast out funky, poppy rock music, with a chirpy cheerfulness and exuberance mixed with great guitaring and keyboarding.  Imagine Keane doing a gig after spending a day eating too much sugar and listening to a bit of Bob Marley, and you might get a sense of their sound.  Or else you could visit their MySpace – One Fine Day and Forever Changing are particularly outstanding tracks.

It was the second time I’d seen them and I hope to do so again – ideally in a bigger venue than the matchbox-sized Market Bar which leaves you with ringing ears any time there’s a vaguely loud act on stage.  Annoyingly, I forgot my camera.

To our pleasant surprise, though, support came from another person from our church, Peter Noble, who played an excellent set of wee ditties about the funny occurrences of everyday life.

On the way home, into the wee small hours and after an evening of Grolsch and tinnitus, my friend and I bumped into a couple of street pastors, including yet another Hiltonite.  Seemingly, anyone from church worth their salt was out on the town last night.

I tried to explain we’d just been on a prayer walk, but I don’t think I was all that convincing…

Mullet Magi

Grayza has pointed me towards this rather alarming post by Tall Skinny Kiwi – an examination of whether or not the Three Wise Men had mullets or not.

Deep stuff.  I’d suggest TSK needs to get out more, but I can hardly talk when it comes to mullets and study thereof.

Others have been sending mullets my way too – in recent weeks I’ve become the somewhat bemused owner of two sets of these, thanks to various friends.  I’ve been too busy and/or scared to open them.

I’ll stick with busy, actually – even though I have now come back down to earth after what seems like weeks of non-stop travels, the task of finishing off work and getting sorted for Christmas now awaits.

Joy.

Nearly there…

After a frenetic week or so’s travels, I’m home again.

Although I have a day trip to Edinburgh tomorrow, I’m here in Inverness more or less until the holidays, which will allow for a mixture of relaxation and manic preparation for Christmas.

Not much to report from my recent travels other than three photos – a rather nice snap of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, and a couple of shots of Inverness by the river to remind me what the place looks like.

Bed hopping

Greetings from Kirkwall airport, where I am waiting for my flight south to Aberdeen.

It’s been a blustery 24 hours here (not that I’ve been outside for most of it), but the freshness – and gusto – of the air has been very refreshing.

Thinking earlier, I realised that by the time I get home late on Friday night, I’ll have had five consecutive nights in different beds – London, Inverness, Kirkwall, Aberdeen, Glasgow.  My record is still six nights.  Though I’d like to think I could beat it, I hope it’s not soon.

Tomorrow I head off early to St Andrews, and then end up in Glasgow, where I have a dentist’s appointment on Friday morning before hot-footing it through to Edinburgh for a day’s work before catching the last train back.

One night at home then off to Aberdeenshire for the weekend.

I don’t normally do New Year’s Resolutions, but I think one will be to spend more weekends at home.

Six days at the bottom of the country

So that was London.

I survived.

More than survived, actually – I thoroughly enjoyed myself, not only at the joinee bash on Saturday, but also the fun I had on my other free, non-work days, just wondering around with my camera being a tourist.

London really is an amazing place, in that there is so much to see and do.  And it’s all brilliantly connected by the miracle of logistics and design that is the Tube.  I also really enjoyed catching up with friends from far and wide.

Sunday was probably most successful day photo-wise, when I wandered along the Regent’s Canal at Camden Lock at around dusk-time.

I also took a few on Friday at the Natural History Museum, although being terminally uninterested in science I took more photos of the spectacular building itself than of the contents.

I’m now back home, but very briefly.  Tomorrow at some point (I really must check) I head off to Orkney, and then I’ll be in St Andrews and Edinburgh later in the week.

Not long til Christmas – which is both a relief and a worry at the same time…

Scottish money

Last night I went to the local pub quiz of the friend I am staying with here in London, along with some of her other friends.

It is apparently renowned for being very difficult, but not only do I love pub quizzes, I’ve also got a bit of form – I’ve won trips to New York and Cairo in university quizzes and also a weekend in Prague at a work conference a few years ago.

I was further boosted by the specialist round this week being “Scottish entertainers”.  Never before have I been regarded as a group’s expert on the Bay City Rollers, and I doubt I ever will be again.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we came second, and were joined by the first and third placed teams in a sudden death “Going for Gold“-style “Who Am I?” round.  We won, going through to a “Play your cards right” final, where we had the chance to win £200.

Sadly we lost that, but among the prize money was a Bank of Scotland £20 note, used earlier by yours truly to buy some drinks.  I’d used a similar note earlier in the day to buy some lunch from a takeaway place, and had been left standing for five minutes while the suspicious attendant ran round to the nearest bank to have it confirmed as genuine.

The pub had initially taken my money but when the quizmaster said in dismissive tones that the prize money included Scottish money, I proudly owned up to it having been mine, and at the end he just gave it back to me.

I wasn’t sure whether to be offended by the affront to our financial sector and national pride, or chuffed to effectively have been given a free round of drinks.  I’ll now have to see who else refuses the money or chooses to give it me back while I am down here…

Oh and one last thing: the answer to the “Who Am I?” round was none other than Stephen Fry.

Spooky…