Category: Journal
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Street art for Deeside Way
Earlier this year I applied for a grant from Sustrans on behalf of the Aberdeen Cycle Forum for art on a popular walking and cycling route in Aberdeen. Sustrans have an ArtRoots fund especially for projects like this. The funding application was successful! This was a very different campaign for me. I’ve organised protests, cycling […]
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Who would be king?
The Monarch’s Song from the terrific children’s BBC production, Horrible Histories, helps young people learn the names of all the monarchs in British history. However it has always bothered me that it starts with William the Conqueror because he was not the first King of England. The very first King of England was Æthelstan, the […]
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Hövding deployed, a birthday and a BBQ
Yesterday my Hövding helmet deployed the airbag and I wasn’t even on my bike at the time. The Hövding is an airbag helmet. You wear it around your neck and in the event of an accident while cycling, it deploys an airbag around your head. It’s got much higher shock-absorbing ability than a plastic helmet […]
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I am a British citizen
Today I took my affirmation of allegiance to King Charles III at Aberdeen’s Marischal College and in return I received my certificate of British citizenship. They didn’t reject me for my convict ancestry or my endless campaigning for cycle paths and so I’m very proud to say that I’m now a fully fledged British citizen. […]
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Finding comfort in science
I’ve been very hard on myself this past week about Bella and so I took some time last night to do some research into the disease the vet diagnosed her with. He said it was proliferative ileitis which is a bacterial infection in the intestines thought to be caused by the bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis. It […]
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Two deaths in one week
Bella, our hamster, died on the same day as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on the 8th September 2022. Bella’s death hit me harder than I was expecting. We haven’t had her for very long but I noticed over the past month that she was losing weight. I started to weigh her regularly to see […]
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Clever crow stealing peanuts
I felt bad recently because when I replaced my bird feeders with ones that had a protective cage to keep pigeons away I realised it would also prevent blackbirds from accessing the food. Blackbirds are ground feeders but I did see them occasionally use the hanging feeder. I remember it because there were two of […]
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Braemar Gathering 2022
We had a splendid day at the Braemar Gathering today which finally went ahead after a two-year hiatus. We previously went in 2017 and 2018. Friends of ours invited us to stay with them in Aboyne overnight which made it a much shorter drive to and from the games. We arrived late to avoid the […]
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Ross Ainslie live in Braemar
We went to a Scottish folk music concert in Braemar last night and it was amazing, to use Daniel’s words. We were worried Daniel and Elizabeth would find it boring or want to leave early but they both loved it. Daniel even described it as a great memory he’ll never forget. Ross Ainslie played with […]
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Feeding and bathing the birds
The magpies and slugs now eat the food I leave out for the hedgehogs. I know because I leave the camera out on it overnight and there’s very little activity from anything else. Something that did surprise me is how popular a bowl of water is. I was going to throw away a chipped pasta […]
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Wildfarmed flour, giant vegetables, and bicycles
I was very excited to discover today that Bandit Bakery sell Wildfarmed flour. Wildfarmed flour is the future of farming because it prioritises soil health by growing perennial plants alongside crops like wheat so rather than having a giant field containing one single crop it’s a more natural and sustainable biodiverse ecosystem consisting of several […]
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The book of Deer at Aberdeen Art Gallery
We went to Aberdeen Art Gallery today to see the Book of Deer which is a 10th century manuscript thought to be of Scottish origin and which references the monastery of Deer in Aberdeenshire. It’s currently on loan from the University of Cambridge where it has lived since 1715. The book is written in Latin […]
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First blackberry crumble of the season
It’s blackberry season – yay! This means lots of blackberry crumble. Ben went foraging and collected a huge container full yesterday, half of which got eaten last night. There are so many wild blackberries all over the place in Aberdeen and the fruit ripens at different times – I guess depending on how sunny a […]
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D&D, cargo bike, summer, and gardens
The kids played Dungeons & Dragons at Geek Retreat in Aberdeen yesterday. This was their second time playing and they love it. They went with friends this time which would have made it even better. On Saturday afternoons you can book in for a beginner’s session and learn how to play. Their first game was […]
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A computer game and a highland dance update
Daniel wrote a game in Javascript. It’s a re-creation of the snake game. You’re the snake and you move around the screen consuming fruit. Each time you eat a piece of fruit you get longer. If you touch the edge or yourself you die. Movement is via the keys W, A, S, D on your […]
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The Aboyne Games and foraging for dinner
Yesterday we went to the Aboyne Highland Games and Elizabeth competed in the highland dance. It’s the first time we’ve been to the Aboyne games and the first time it has run since before the pandemic. Elizabeth came last or second last in her dances. The other girls were quite a lot better and I’m […]
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Happiness is …
… seeing our first guest in the pond hotel. Can you spot him? We hope you liked it, Mr Toad!
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Celebration at the Flying Stag and more swimming
We went out for a celebratory dinner at The Flying Stag in Braemar last night because this week my application for British citizenship was approved! I just have to go to the ceremony, give my oath of allegiance to the Queen and then I get a certificate of citizenship. I feel honoured and overjoyed to […]
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Linn of Quoich
We had a delightful walk at the Linn of Quoich today. We walked upstream along the Quoich River further than we’ve gone before and I found myself having to stop over and over again for photos because it was just so pretty. It was very quiet too. Practically no-one else there. Daniel pooed on the […]
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Swimming in the Clunie
We swam in Clunie Water in Braemar yesterday in the same spot we swam over the summer last year. It was a lot colder this year. Absolutely freezing in fact so we used our wetsuits. It was still lovely and clear and we could see fish in it which is always reassuring. The colder temperatures […]
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