I got a notification from my phone that we’d been out enjoying an aurora two years ago tonight.
I got a notification from my phone that there was an aurora two years after I last took a photie of one.
I put my boots back on.
Category: Items Various
Not necessarily outdoors related, but still information vital to our mision.
…checks watch and raises eyebrow
Where does time go to. No question mark there, it just takes a few seconds though and you know, especially as we get older.
It’s been quite the summer and I’m very glad to see autumn surrounding us again, the trees are turning, the weather is shifting and the breeze is cool again.
I’m looking forward to the hills again, the bigger ones that need a drive that is. Never off all the local stuff as the shot below from yesterday shows.
19 years old this place and it’s frequently neglected but still here. Writing just now I miss the mental download it brings and joyfully without an audience.
I’m rarely on social media now, it’s just so much noise and as much as it’s all friends on there there’s so much shite in-between them that I just switch off and I never see what’s happening.
Tom Wier once said he used his knowledge of the hills to find them as he once knew them and that’s becoming the way for me as I try to avoid the drones and cavalcade of seflies on the Instagram routes.
I’ve kept things to myself for a while now, but in doing that I’ve lost potential memories on these pages so I might have to find a happy medium and this is where is where to do it, away from the the rest of the world.
Said this before, we’ll see I suppose.
One’s things for sure, WinterSons has an album coming out next week, there’ll be posts for that.
Counterpunch
There’s a Morrisons just to the right of this view from a regular wee trail we walk with a lovely butcher counter. We went in on the way home as we were planning on doing some steak stuff tomorrow night.
Being a bit tired and distracted we couldn’t work out the price for two of the lovely ribeyes from the label on the tray and just hoped for the best. The butcher had a really quiet voice too. Possibly on purpose.
£22 at the robot checkout was something of a surprise. They’ll be lovely. They’d better be.
Maybe this is where the food blog begins.
It’s my lucky day
There’s a lot going on. I caught up on TGO stuff and as I did the last few shots of my best-in-test trail runners I got a ping for the preview link to let me see the April issue so I found a wind-free corner to have a cuppa and a read and it’s just brilliant, I can’t wait to share it properly when it’s out. I was in my glory putting stuff together for that.
It definitely lightened my step on the downhill run which was nice as my right knee’s been giving me gyp. I can still run, the motor isn’t too bad, but the suspension has been mentioned on the MoT.
Then I got home and got into doing dinner. I love cooking and at times I’m quite good at it, why I’ve never written about on here I don’t know. After music and mountains it’s my favourite activity.
While this was going on my phone pinged yet again in a day of pings and it was “You’ve won a prize!”. We all get these emails every day, but this time is from was a known source or at least a convincing facsimile of it. So I went to the source direct, the URL saved on my favourites. I scrolled down the winners: Peter Macfarlane, you have won a…
It’s due here on Friday, if it’s in one piece and it hasn’t been an elaborate and pointless hoax given the low value at stake, I’ll come back to it. The proof is in the eating.
Given that’s there’s folks around me with things not going at all well for them, it feels a bit off having more than one bit of good news in one day. We should all have even one bit of good news or god luck in a day, even if it just a good parking space or a favourite song heard by accident.
I hope you have a good week folks.
Third time lucky
In an occasional series…
Normally you get a rough date for hill photies by what the folk are wearing. Doesn’t work if it’s me.
Has everyone been to the toilet?
It’s a reversal of roles that you don’t see coming. The excited chatter is still loud and constant from the back seat, but now it’s me saying shoosh, I can’t concentrate.
The shops are exciting, there’s cuppas and cake, but it’s me that saying that’s plenty, time to go home.
I’ll take it while I can, they’re happy days.
Surprise!
The sun was going down rather prettily until Arran exploded in a burst of lava and ash. The plume rose quickly through the clouds and blotted out the sunset.
I can only hope MacBraynes didn’t have their last working ferry docked in Brodick at the time.
No, the Fats Domino version
The van was an abandoned block of ice this morning, I think it had been on the road for about half an hour since before the holidays.
Once I could see through the windscreen it was off to save historic buildings from faulty heating which went pretty well for my first proper day at in a couple of weeks.
Kinda sad I’m missing the weather but I’ll catch up with it later in the week. Standing in a heavy metal album cover while testing a suspect frost stat was something of a compensation.
#31
It’s been quite the adventure this past week. Wedding and birthdays, Christmas day and now the new year beckons with the last episode of Stranger Things along with it.
In the middle was another very important event, the tribute night at Ivory Black’s in town for Jimbo MacKellar.
Jimbo was a well loved a respected figure in the Glasgow music scene and long time friend and band mate to my pal Amy. He died in September.
Their band Sequence 369 who I’d played on the bill with playing bass in They Theory and enjoyed their pretty left field sound had booked a tribute gig on 28th December along with 3 other bands Jim had been in. I was asked to come in and add my guitar to S369 to help fill in their two-guitar sound which was a surprise and a proper privilege, Glasgow is awash with excellent guitarists and really not one of them.
I had a proper imposter syndrome attack when I started rehearsals as the other three are properly accomplished musicians but I worked my way into the songs in my own way helped by the others’ friendly and welcoming nature. In the end rehearsals were a lot of fun and by gig time we sounded like a real band.
Gig night was wonderful. Old Pal Alan Bishop’s Red Eyes played and acoustic set to open and 70’s punk survivors The Zips played a set that sounded, well, authentic. I loved them both.
We went on, all wearing one of Jimbo’s hats which was funny for me as my pony tail kept tipping my fedora forward and I could see a thing the whole set. Mince sang brilliantly from behind the kit with a sore back, Eck was rock solid and Amy looked great, but my monitor mix wasn’t letting me hear a note she played which cast me particularly adrift on one song.
It was wonderful and it was over too fast.
As an old guy with a preference for Flying Vees and limited options to deploy one I went into this like it would be my last live gig as a guitarist, I had made my peace with that. Now I really don’t know, because I loved doing it.
I’ve had so much joy playing bass with They Theory the past couple of years, the gigs have been brilliant fun. But having the guitar back on again and having to make it work for the the songs in front of people was something altogether different.
As much as I love playing the bass I often do it because I have to, but when play the guitar it’s always because I want to.
Ach, we’ll see what happens.
#23
Me and Linda Johnston just got married.
Happy times 
#22
Just before the murk descended I made the most of the sunshine. The scattering of good days since I’ve been down manky pits, laying under floors, standing in water etc
The good days will come again, they always do, we just have to pay for them in advance with the grey ones.
#21
I’ll be playing this gig a week tonight as half of the twin guitar attack of Sequence 369.
The last rehearsal was today and now we’ll just have to see what happens on the night. Whatever that looks like, it’s been a joy spending time with these folks sharing laughs, stories and music.
I have to make up for a lack of musical ability with bravado and cheerfulness which luckily sees me through most of the time.
Regardless of that though, I love playing so very much and will do so as long as my fingers and the passage of time allow me to.
It’s something I would recommend to every single person, creativity is maybe the finest human quality after empathy.
Learn to play an instrument, draw a picture, write a poem, sing the tune in your head loud in the shower.
Even if it’s just for you, even if it’s not something great, you made something that didn’t exist before. And that is real magic.
#20
I was on a callout this morning, I had stilsons on leaking pipe before 6am.
I don’t mind that at all. An early start is empty streets and quiet air, extra time to think about things and the peace to do them.
Kinda like the best hills days.
These are a couple of my favourite photies from a day where I never saw a single soul on the hills.
I can still hear my crampons in the hard frozen snow, the cold sting on my cheeks and the slight flutter in my chest as I tried really hard to remember what gully I was supposed to descend in the imminent darkness.
#19
Walking off into the sunset, in a kilt.
I’m always surprised how comfy a kilt is in the hills, high winds and rain aren’t the best environment for it but otherwise it’s great.
I’ve torn every pair of winter trousers I’ve ever had on my crampons, the kilt? Not once.
Paramo haven’t got back to me yet about making me a waterproof one, I’m sure they’re still working on how to do the tartan.
#18
18th. Trail Magazine’s final print issue came out today. The photie is the first cover I did for them.
I wrote for them for years, first as a columnist, then onto features, articles, gear reviews and routes. Matt Swaine the editor at the time took a gamble on an argumentative forum inhabitant (thank you) and started me on an outdoor freelancer journey which continues today at TGO after various stops including online editor, radio guest, TV presenter, guest speaker and still to this day: blogger.
I’m sorry Trail Mag is gone, sitting in the van at lunchtime back in the day reading Trail, TGO, Climber or High was always a joy.
There aren’t a lot of it’s peers left standing, we should look after them
#17
I took this with a borrowed camera from the south flank of Nevis where we were trying to find a different route up to write about. That was actually achieved, we never saw a soul or a footprint until we popped onto the plateau quite a wee while later.
I was with dear friends too, who are now sadly departed.
One to England, one to the USofA.
Maybe that’s why I assault passers-by with chat on the hills now, I don’t have the same tick-over level of banter during the day as I once had and I over compensate.
I suppose we just enjoy moments as we live them and they only become treasure later. It’s nice that, getting two goes at it.
#16
Sweet
