insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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The warm fuzzies
We’ve published a page on Sustainability at my company and I’m very chuffed about it: https://www.awardforce.com/sustainability This is something I have worked on and to see it go live is very important to me for what it represents. We’ve offset all our emissions through tree-planting which is wonderful. I see Australia letting the world down…
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Malt whisky country
We finished our weekend in malt whisky country with a trip to the Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown. Before leaving Glenlivet this morning – which is where we spent our weekend – I got this nice photo of the Glenlivet distillery from afar. The drive from Glenlivet to Glenfiddich is not very far: about 10 miles…
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Autumnal snow
It’s not often we get to see snow and autumn colours simultaneously but that’s exactly what we got today. We drove past this next distillery on our way to Grantown on Spey and the building looked particularly striking in the snow. It was one of those, “Wow, look at that!” moments in the car. I…
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The Glenlivet
The Glenlivet Whisky Distillery is about 1.5 hours north-west of Aberdeen in a beautiful, rural pocket of the Cairngorms. It’s surrounded by forests, rivers, hills, and farmland. The buildings are black in this next photo because the whisky production process attracts microorganisms causing it to go black. A fungus – Baudoinia compniacensis – feeds on…
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Beetroots, beans and bikes
We went to the allotment today and the kids harvested a couple of beetroots. The allotment is giving us beetroots, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, and herbs right now. The other crops have either died away with the cooler weather or have been harvested already. We have an abundance of kale which should see us right through…
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Cycling advocacy and cross-country skiing
We had a fantastic day today. I’m on holiday and this morning I handed over one of the copies of Designing for Cycle Traffic to the Aberdeenshire Council. Two copies were crowd-funded by the Aberdeen Cycle Forum – one for Aberdeenshire Council and the other for Aberdeen City Council. The Evening Express asked for an…
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Aberdeenshire in the Autumn
A photographer friend of ours visited for a few days this week and took off before dawn each morning to capture the sunrise. One morning he got this shot of Dunnottar Castle which then made The Times the next day: Isn’t is marvellous? You can see the full version on his site at https://www.bigladder.co.uk/ We decided…
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Killing machines
I want to demonstrate a similarity I’ve noticed between racism and bias against cyclists. Have you ever noticed our unconscious bias towards minority groups like Black British people or African Americans means that if one member of the group does something wrong, the entire group is tarnished? If one African American commits a crime then…
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Smacking is a euphemism for assault
Smacking is to be banned in Scotland, hopefully from next year, and I’m very happy about this. But apparently only 30% of Scots support the new legislation. I find this surprising. Hitting a child is assault. It’s always done in anger and it can cause long-term psychological harm. Once upon a time it was legal…
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ET phone home
They say you can’t cycle in the rain. Well poop to them because that’s exactly what we did today. Every Saturday I take Elizabeth to Highland Dancing by bike and we cycle on Deeside Way. It is particularly gorgeous right now with autumn colours. The kids watched Netflix in the bike on the way. My…
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Cyclists are better drivers than motorists, says insurance firm
This week as I walking home from school I saw a mother crossing the road with her young daughter. The mother was on a bike and the little girl, who was only about 5, was on a scooter. The mother did what every parent would do: she sat in the middle of the road on…
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Designing for Cycle Traffic
I’ve just run my very first campaign as the new Campaigns and Communications Secretary of the Aberdeen Cycle Forum. The campaign was to raise money for the purchase of two books on Designing for Cycle Traffic for the Aberdeen City Council and the Aberdeenshire Council. If you check our Go Fund Me page we raised…
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A lemon tree in Aberdeen
I know I shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch but I’m so excited about these little babies growing on my lemon tree. I bought this lemon tree about 3 years ago as a tiny plant and it has tripled in size and this year has lots of lemons. Last year it started to produce…
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The road to hell is paved with chocolate and cars
I can’t resist temptation. Buy me a block of chocolate and I’ll eat the whole thing in one day. Replace my bike with a car and I’ll drive everywhere becoming fat and lazy. This is why I don’t have chocolate in the house and don’t own a car. I have no willpower and I don’t…
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Courgettes and tomatoes
I’ve been so busy this month with cycling-related activities that I’ve neglected my plot. However I managed to get out there today and brought home more courgettes and tomatoes than we can eat. I also got a couple of cucumbers and some broccoli and kale. I’ve got masses of kale but kale will grow all…
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The People’s Front of Judea
So much of life is like a Monty Python sketch. They were so cleverly able to turn life into the absurd and make it funny. Last night I attended an evening of talks for the launch of a new cycling group in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. I gave a talk too and this time there were…
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When no one comes to your talk
Yesterday I gave a talk at the Aberdeen Science Centre to, er, 6 people. That’s embarrassing enough as it is but 3 of the 6 people were Daniel, Elizabeth, and Ben. The other 3 were staff at the centre. I won’t give up my day job for paid speaking gigs just yet. My talk was…
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Pollution from cars is harmful to children
Air pollution from motor vehicles is harmful to humans but especially harmful to children. We know it can damage the growth of their lungs, raise the risk of asthma and allergies, affect brain development and intelligence, raise the risk of heart disease and cancer, and it even affects unborn children in their mother’s womb. But…
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Street art
I saw this fantastic street art in Aberdeen yesterday. I think it’s new because I haven’t seen it before. It’s on Justice Mill Lane near the junction with Bon Accord Terrace.
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AWPR demo recap
The demonstration organised by Aberdeen Cycle Forum and members last Sunday was a huge success. It’s the third such demo I’ve helped to organise and it was by far the best in terms of turnout. Aberdonians are conservative engineers who don’t protest. We go to go work, keep to ourselves, and don’t complain. However people…
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