Well done, Vikki - another PB

Phew. What a weekend.

I was fair shattered and I didn't even run a half marathon, unlike Vikki who completed her first in approx 1hr 55min (yes, that is quicker than me!).

We went up to Aviemore on Saturday morning and took the boys (except Magnus who stayed in Stoney with Vikki's mum and dad) to Landmark where we all had fun on the water coaster and climbed the big tower and watched the squirrels. We camped at Rothiemurchus which was really nice - a fairly peaceful camp site with nice clean toilets and showers. We went to bed expecting to either freeze to death or drown in the middle of the night, but were lucky in that the weather stayed reasonably mild and dry.

Our friends, Pete and Eifiona were staying at the same place in their VW camper and were kind enough to cook up some porridge and tea for us in the morning. Eifiona was also running in the half marathon and got an excellent time as well. Looks like I've got some serious training to do in the next couple of weeks to keep up the high standards being set round here.

Click on the picture below to see all the pictures...

2008-18-10 Aviemore

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

It's been over 10 years since Vikki and I last went to a big music festival which may seem surprising when you consider that:

• We generally love live music
• I like beer. A lot
• I like camping. Waking under canvas and getting up to cook bacon on a wee stove is one of life's simple pleasures.
• I like looking at women in short skirts or shorts and black or brightly-coloured tights.
  

However:

• I'm not a huge fan of big crowds
• Trudging through ankle deep (and deeper) mud several times a day is not much fun
• I hate people who become obnoxiously loud and inconsiderate when drunk

Connect 2007 featured all of the above items and a whole lot more, much of which we didn't have time to take in.
The best stuff (as far as I was concerned) was:

• the music - will post more but generally I thought the music was very good. Highlights included Mogwai, JAMC, and Jarvis
  
• the Fyne Ales beer tent - lovely beer
• Bumble puddings - the Sticky Toffee and Ginger Spice were brilliant
• Inveraray village - nice toilets, a phone box, good cafe, friendly locals, great scenery
• managing to meet up with Liz and Dave on Saturday
  
• free hugs
• the kids collecting the drinks cups and making heaps of extra pocket money
• the blokes in tweed jackets
  
• our bucket
  

Not so good stuff included:

• the distance from carpark to campsite - this was a killer while laden down with camping equipment
  
• mud
• drunken idiots making far too much noise when we were trying to sleep - particularly the ones who were cheering as people slipped on the muddy slope in the campsite
• not getting a mobile phone connection and not being able to meet up with Liz and Dave on Friday
• festival toilets - probably better than expected but still not nice

Those are my general impressions. I'll list the bands we saw in some future posts with some more comments. If anyone happens to read this who was also there, please leave a comment - it would be nice to get some more impressions of the weekend.

Who needs campsites?

Another fun weekend. I'd mentioned camping to the boys which they thought was a great idea (Father Of The Year Points: +1) but I didn't fancy a long drive or going to the effort of finding a campsite (FOTY -1). So I said we could camp in the back garden on Friday night (FOTY +1) which also meant no car sickness, not forgetting anything and no cold toilet blocks (FOTY +1). We even managed to have hot chocolate cooked on the stove (FOTY +1) and persuaded mummy to come out and join us (after Big Brother). It was all good fun but Calum woke us all up at half past one to go to the toilet (Husband of the Year -10).

Saturday was a fairly lazy day (after an early morning run). We went for a wee walk down the town to get the boys some school shoes (Calum's first ever pair) and a school bag for Calum. After much mucking about, they both ended up getting Clarks shoes with toy cars hidden under the insole (no, I didn't really believe it either but check it out here if you're interested).

Today, we were down at Mugdock Country Park near Glasgow for the Albinism Fellowship barbecue. Calum was car sick about five minutes before we got to the car park but it was a nice day out for all.