Just realised I haven’t blogged about my jaunt up Ben Lomond last year. Well I did but a couple of short paragraphs doesn’t really cover it. It was a crazy day after all.

It started with the seven of us planning the trip and gradually realising the weather was going to possibly scupper all our plans. Alex ended up pulling out due to a case of the lurgy and one of Willie’s mates gave up as well. In all honesty we possibly should have as well with hind sight.

I guess the first sign that the day wasn’t going to go we the way we planned appeared when we started driving up the east bank of Loch Lomond. Forget the rain we encountered on the way up there. It was definitely the fallen trees on the road that gave the biggest hint.

The rain held off as we got our gear together but thanks to a few errors in the layout of the roads and land *cough* I couldn’t read my map */cough* it took us five minutes which included a walk up a forest road that went nowhere near the summit before we realised we had to head back to the car park to find the real path.

The initial going was good. The weather was a bit crap though. One minute it rained the next it stopped but the wind just didn’t let up. We would get completely soaked by the rain and then by the time it stopped and started again we would have been blown dry. As we started to reach about a third of the way up we really started to struggle with the wind. It gets a little steep at this point and as the hillside is completely exposed once you get pass the tree line at the beginning it started to take it’s toll. Mark decided he just couldn’t go any further. I don’t know if it was the wind or just his body telling him that despite the energy drinks he was stupid to go any further but he was the first to head back and with hindsight I think that’s when we all should have turned back.

The wind didn’t let up at all throughout the climb and in fact just got worse. I read the weather reports when we got back and for most of the climb the wind was gusting at up to 50 miles per hour. Dave and Stoo were determined to at least make it to the half way point which to there credit they did. There is a well about halfway up on the map which they made it passed before they turned back. I don’t know why but I stood for a few minutes shouting to Dave to make sure he knew what to do if something was to happen to them on the way down. I guess it was because although we all had radios with us the mobile phone reception up there is sporadic at best and almost all the survival and first aid gear was either in my own bag or Willie’s ruck sack.

So we pressed on. At times the wind would just hit us constantly for a few minutes and we’d just stand there leaning into it hoping for it to let up long enough for us to walk another couple of hundred yards before the next gust. It was round about this point that we started to meet a few other climbers as they caught up with us. We’d only seen one other person on the hill up until then and he had shot ahead with his dog and you could see his outline as he made a break for the summit. They all seemed nuts if truth be told. We stopped for a quick rest just as it starts to get really steep and rocky just before you turn back around and start the last leg up to the summit. Willie stopped for a breather and I carried on to see how far I could get before I stopped for a bite to eat to let him catch up.

That’s when I bumped into they guy with the dog again. He was on his way back down after reaching the summit and said it was insane up there. As I found out later it was gusting at up to 90 miles an hour up there. He waited until the wind died down before running between rocks and then holding on until the wind died down again. He almost lost his dog three times thanks to the wind apparently. I pushed on and got to within what I thought at the time was about 400 yards from the summit but after looking again at the map it was probably twice that I turned back. It was just stupid to carry on. I took my last picture looking out over the lochs behind the mountain and the camera’s battery died. It’s was definitely a sign.

It turned out Willie had actually decided just to wait where he had stopped hoping that I’d turn back as well. I eventually made it back down to him and just like when I climbed Ben Nevis there was a spring in my step on the way back down. Where we struggled to walk up the damn hill we were almost running down the thing. The worst bit was still to come however.

When we reached the bottom we found out that the hotel was without power. A tree had been blown over and took out both the power and phone lines. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem except all the way back down the hill all we could think about was a nice warm meal and a pint of beer. The kitchen was shut and the beer pumps wouldn’t work without power. We were stuck with warm bottled beer or cans of soft drinks and a scone.

We will be back to do it again when the weather gets better and there are plans afoot to hit The Cobbler in March in preparation. Fingers crossed the weather works out for us next time!

Tags: Ben Lomond, Dave Hogg, hills, Mark, outdoors, rain, Scotland, Stoo, walking, weather, Willie, wind

Went looking for a video i used to listen to on MTV Europe years ago and found this by the same artist. I’m worried

Tags: Dave Hogg, MTV Europe

Well christmas and new year sort of faded into one as per usual. Call me Scrooge but I normally cant get that excited about Christmas but historically I’ve always found a way to enjoy Hogmanay.

On Christmas Eve we went down to an italian restaurant in Cambuslang for Dinner with Vonnie’s mums side of the family. Was very nice but I think the food didnt agree with me as I felt a bit dodgy on Christmas day despite not eating anything else by then. Funniest moment was Davie accusing folk of drinking his wine despite noone else touching it. He’d been constantly topping up his glass and didnt realise how much he’d actually drank by the time the meal was finished!

Christmas day was nice but very stressful. Managed to make it down to the parentals in the morning but by the time we made it back home I was struggling to make dinner in time for Finn going to his Dad’s. In the end Finn spat carrot soup over the table and Vonnie was that worked up about alot of things she could barely eat anything. The food was nice though

Boxing day meant the annual family get together which this year was at my Uncle’s in Hamilton. We made it down there for about half 5 and had a very nice night. Its a complete change these days now that the kids have all grown up and don’t really come along and now they’ve built a conservatory theres space for everyone for a change.

With my week off the idea was to get the house completely sorted but between Christmas and New Year my sleeping patterns been completely off and although Vonnie’s only worked a few days we’ve really had very little time to get anything done. Made a start on our bedroom the other day but we got half way through it and had to leave it for the next day. The problem with this is that we never managed to do it the next day. The house gradually got worse until I had to redo the kitchen a wee bit in order to get my work surfaces back. This meant the living room wasnt tidied though for New Year. We werent expecting anyone over though as our plans were changing right up until the last minute. First off we had to go see family and then round to Daves to see the bells in but at first we didnt have a baby sitter. Then Dave’s party was cancelled just as we got a sitter so we decided to go into Glasgow and see our friends band play in Rockers for the Bells. It came to 7pm and Vonnie was feeling ill and I could barely stay awake so we cancelled everything and decided to chill in front of the TV. That was until Heather came in to say that Georges parents had an open house and wanted to know if we wanted to go over. Finn got his shoes and jacket on and dissappeared with Heather and Kylie over there until 1am while we stayed at home. At was at this point that Vonnie started to Worry about first footers. We spent the 45 minutes before the bell cracking up trying to tide the house. We managed it though but there was several fallings out before collapsing on the couch knackered. And no bugger first footed us!

New years day was round at my mums for dinner where Sasha snarled at Nairn. Shes snapped at him once already so we really need to get something sorted.

Now that christmas is over and done with its back to sorting the house out properly. First up this year is the kitchen. Ours is currently crap and we have no storage space or work surfaces. This has to change so we got the designer guy round from Vonnie’s work to see what he could do. Has he put it there wasn’t much he could really change but he’s fitted in a few extra bits a pieces so it should be all good. Hopefully we’re ordering it within the next day or two so we can get it in the sale. The only problem with this is we can’t afford to get someone to fit it for us. Thats just giving money away so hopefully between Vonnie’s dad and a few folk we know we should be able to get folk willing to help us out for beer hopefully. I’d intended on trying to get some leave to help out over the next couple of weeks but Jenna in work has broke her foot and has a sick line for the next 3 weeks. This means Im by myself until then as Ians got a line until then as well for his broken ankle. I’ll need to talk to my bosses about this as soon as we start thinking about delivery and installation dates

And now onto the bit nicked from Dave Hogg…

Favourite Moment of 2006 - No hesitation its got to be Nairn’s birth. Was a very strange and long few days runing up to the moment but walking out the front door to phone my parents to tell them the news was the first time I can honestly say my face hurt from smiling.

Favourite Book of 2006 - Fatherhood: The Truth by Marcus Berkmann. I can honestly say that without this book I think I would have cracked up. Its a no holds barred look at kids right through from conception to thier first birthday. All the bad bits he actually manages to make you laugh and when they happen to you you end up with a smile on your face. If it wasn’t an audiobook I’d have chosen Bob Brier’s History of Ancient Egypt thats speard over 48 lectures. I need to have another go at that btw as I’ve yet to read/hear anything thats so well done on the subject without getting too technical.

Favourite Gig of 2006 - I went to a gig in 2006? Actually now I think about it I did manage to one gig. The Bloodhound Gang at The Garage was fantastic. Seen them before but theyre support Electric Eel Shock made my night!

Favourite Website of 2006 - I struggled with this one. It shows just how much time I spend on thte internet these days when I pick Alternative Nation for this. Its not that its my favouite its just that thats where I spend most of my time when I am online. Hell I even gave up my supermoderator status in there and I still put it as my favourite. Someone shoot me

Favourite Country of 2006 - Would have to be New Zealand. Looking to the future and emigration is a definate possibility in the coming years with NZ and Canada being the front runners with Cananda edging it in the doability stakes. New Zealand has stolen my heart though in regards to my choice.

I’d originally intended on adding a few more categories but it’s taken me about an hour to type this up so far and i’m fecking knackered. And besides I’m supposed to be dong work

Tags: Bob Brier, Boxing day, Canada, christmas, Christmas day, christmas eve, Dave Hogg, food, food didnt, Glasgow, Heather, Kylie, Marcus Berkmann, Nairn, New Year's Day, New Zealand, the Bells, Then Dave's party, thte internet

Apologies dear readers for the lack of updates recently. Yes I’ve got net access and my own PC back but I’m either sleeping, unpacking, tidying up, or playing pirates. Not much free time to do much else although in saying that i’m getting to the stage with pirates where i’m getting a bit bored with it so I’ll probably have some free time soon enough to unpack more stuff!

So yeah…catch up time.

Went round to Dave Hogg’s flat on friday night after being kicked out by Vonnie so I can see my mates. Headed orund there with Mark who had to wait for me downstairs as they’ve installed the secure entry system finally but we dont have a phone yet to let anyone in yet! Seems it was supposed to be ‘live’ already but after locking myself out last night taking the bin out it seems the front door is still open at the moment so for anyone heading round to the flat go to the door you guys dont usually come through.

Saturday we were supposed to finish of moving the gear from the flat in Govanhill up to EK. Last time we looked there was maybe 2 car loads but it turned out to be slightly more than that but I’ll get to that in a minute. The plans ended up being something like this…I was getting dropped off at the flat to sort everything out whilst Vonnie took Finn to his mates birthday party. They would return with the van and we’d pick it up in one trip and then head to Glasgow Green to see the fireworks for bonfire night.

Iit didnt work out like that…

First off we had lost the invite for Finn’s party so we were struggling to find out where he was supposed to be but thankfully after gutting the car we found it. Then we left the van key in EK so Vonnie had to fight traffic to get to the govanhill flat to let me know she was heading up to get the key. She was stressed out by alot of stuff such as screaming kids at the party and deadly traffic only for her to arrive at teh flat and see the mountain of stuff I’d got ready to move. We knew the cupboard had to be emptied but what we didnt realise was that was full. And by full I mean 7′ tall by 6′ deep by 4 foor wide. The bedroom ended up holding approx half a van load rather than ‘a few boxes’. This done it for Vonnie who almost cracked up on the spot. Bonfire night for Vonnie is like her birthday, christmas and new year all rolled into one so the prospect of sitting in the back of the van whilst I loaded up up all night really didnt appeal to her but she went to get the van key anyway. Vonnie got to EK only to realise I hadn’t gave her the flat key so ended up at her mum’s where she was going to kill something. Mark….thanks for sticking about in case we needed your help when we got to EK.

We’d been spending all day running the car on fumes so there was hopefully enough to get Vonnie to EK were she could get my bank card (which id also forgot) and stick some in. When I hadnt heard form her in ages I started to get worried that the car had ran out somewhere and she was stuck but I eventually got a txt from her letting me know what was going on. We were giving up for the night and coming back the next morning with her family to get it over and done with.

We picked up Finn’s dad and made it to the fireworks just in time for it to start only to find out they had been delayed a wee bit. Met Ryan and a few others so we had a bit of a laugh which I was most grateful for. It was the first time I’d seen Vonnie smile or relax all day. The actual fireworks were a bit of a let down…the Viking Festival ones were better though there were far more actual fireworks on Saturday night.

Yesterday we managed to clear the flat in Govanhill in 25 mins and have it all up in the EK flat with an hour or two. That’s 99% of everything done now. Just leaves my airsoft stuff and Finn’s bike at my parents to get I think. It also means that as there was so much stuff to lift on sunday that any headway I’d made in clearing the flat and unpacking has been wiped out and we’re now buried further than before. Mind you the kitchen seems to be 90% done as regards unpacking and Finn’s room had more work done on it today to make room for his stuff.

Now I’m going to die as I’ve done my back in lifting the spare tiles for the damn bathroom floor. Why didnt I bin them last time I went near them?

Tags: bank, christmas, Dave Hogg, Finn's party, New Year's Day, Viking Festival

Right…camping trip arranging is going to be VERY simple.

Basically if your definately coming let me know by 4pm today at the latest and wether your coming on the Friday or the Saturday.

So far we’ve got these folk coming.

Definates…
Myself
Vonnie
Ruth
Andy
Steph
Gary
Jen
Tony
Dave Brown

Very strong maybes…

Possibles…

Definate no’s…
Shug
Steve
Pauline
Colin
Mark - Get Dave Hogg to go!
Willie
Angharad
Clare
Dave Hogg - assuming if noone else from that group is going he wont either

If I’ve not heard any confirmations by 4pm I’ll book only for those that already have said they’ll be there.

If you decide to come after I do the booking you can either do it yourself by phoning them on 01397 702191 or just turn up on the day and hope theyve got space. They need 4 weeks advance notice for bookings so if your coming on the Saturday youve probably got Friday/Saturday to decide and book.

Tags: Dave Brown, Dave Hogg, Mark - Get Dave Hogg