Well it's finally here - moving weekend. Please wish us luck as Catherine, Penny, a van and I transfer my worldly goods from Irvine to Kinross-shire. Now I've just got to remember to tell the gas suppliers, electricity suppliers, Council Tax folks, insurers, bank, Post Office etc. But they all require a different form to be completed.
In some ways I'm very lucky as the bulk of the stuff that is going are my collection of wargames miniatures, books (circa 1200), DVD's, CD's, cooking gubbins and only three or four items of furniture.
The house in Irvine is where I was born and my family have been the only occupants since it was constructed 51 years ago so there is going to be some amount of emotional wrench involved. However there is a huge upside in that Catherine and I get to be together on a full time basis, I'll be living in an attractive rural location, my daily commute from Irvine to Glasgow ceases and becomes a once or twice a week trip from the village to Perth and then to Glasgow (working from home the rest of the time), I'll have my own office/study/wargames room when the large basement is converted and I'll have the opportunity of getting fit by cycling an 8 mile round trip to get my morning paper.
So, farewell to Ayrshire but I'll always be a proud Ayrshireman.
Showing posts with label Ayrshire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ayrshire. Show all posts
Friday, 16 May 2008
Friday, 2 March 2007
At last: Aviemore report back!
A happy band of 5 Voting Representatives from the Ayrshire & Arran Lib Dems arrived
in Aviemore for Scottish Spring Conference, from the 16th - 18th February, this year.
Some descended earlier than others - Iain on the 14th (wearing his hat of Conference
Committee Vice Convener) and Ruby arrived on the 15th (she had a Steward’s briefing)
Jenny & Lewis found baby-sitters for the weekend to allow a peaceful (and possibly a
little indulgent) weekend and Andrew dragged himself away from studying for his finals for
three days. On reflection, the only time when we were all together was at the
"Conference Spin" social event on the Friday evening, where Iain was lucky enough to win
a bottle of House of Commons Whisky which was signed by most of our Scottish MP’s.
Before anyone asks - no he’s not opened it and no it’s not going to be a raffle prize locally!
Conference ran from 1.45pm on the Friday through until just after 1pm on the Sunday,
with debates covering a variety of subject from our vision for Rural Scotland to emergency
motions on flooding and the war in Iraq.
Jenny had submitted an amendment to the health motion, which was accepted for debate
by Conference Committee, so she had to speak to the amendment. She did this with a
great deal of eloquence, despite this being only her second ever speech at Conference.
When the amendments were voted on Jenny’s amendment was approved with only one
vote against - we are assured that Lewis was not the sole nay sayer!
None of the rest of spoke on any of the debates although Iain would claim that he was too
busy running about being Acting Conference Convener. Our friend Helen, who is the
Convener of Conference Committee was there but as she was, and still is, recovering
from a nasty bout of pneumonia, couldn’t do the running about required. Hence Iain doing
the headless chicken act! Iain also Co-Chaired several sessions of Conference prompting
one of his so-called friends to remark "He wis oan the stage mair oaften than Nicol wis!".
On the Saturday afternoon, whilst sitting in the cafe in the exhibition centre, Andrew,
Jenny and Lewis were accosted by a camera crew from the BBC. They appeared several
times on various BBC Politics programmes over the weekend and came across as decent
and sane people. It should be noted that this would not have been the case had they been
interviewed after consuming quantities of free booze at an assortment of fringe meetings.
It would be fait to say that the five who attended had a thoroughly interesting and
enjoyable weekend with a nice balance of policy debate and socialising. This year’s
Conference was the largest yet. There were over two dozen fringe events and about 30
stalls in the exhibition and there were nearly 700 passes issued.
Oh yes, Suzette broke her finger too - don't ask!
in Aviemore for Scottish Spring Conference, from the 16th - 18th February, this year.
Some descended earlier than others - Iain on the 14th (wearing his hat of Conference
Committee Vice Convener) and Ruby arrived on the 15th (she had a Steward’s briefing)
Jenny & Lewis found baby-sitters for the weekend to allow a peaceful (and possibly a
little indulgent) weekend and Andrew dragged himself away from studying for his finals for
three days. On reflection, the only time when we were all together was at the
"Conference Spin" social event on the Friday evening, where Iain was lucky enough to win
a bottle of House of Commons Whisky which was signed by most of our Scottish MP’s.
Before anyone asks - no he’s not opened it and no it’s not going to be a raffle prize locally!
Conference ran from 1.45pm on the Friday through until just after 1pm on the Sunday,
with debates covering a variety of subject from our vision for Rural Scotland to emergency
motions on flooding and the war in Iraq.
Jenny had submitted an amendment to the health motion, which was accepted for debate
by Conference Committee, so she had to speak to the amendment. She did this with a
great deal of eloquence, despite this being only her second ever speech at Conference.
When the amendments were voted on Jenny’s amendment was approved with only one
vote against - we are assured that Lewis was not the sole nay sayer!
None of the rest of spoke on any of the debates although Iain would claim that he was too
busy running about being Acting Conference Convener. Our friend Helen, who is the
Convener of Conference Committee was there but as she was, and still is, recovering
from a nasty bout of pneumonia, couldn’t do the running about required. Hence Iain doing
the headless chicken act! Iain also Co-Chaired several sessions of Conference prompting
one of his so-called friends to remark "He wis oan the stage mair oaften than Nicol wis!".
On the Saturday afternoon, whilst sitting in the cafe in the exhibition centre, Andrew,
Jenny and Lewis were accosted by a camera crew from the BBC. They appeared several
times on various BBC Politics programmes over the weekend and came across as decent
and sane people. It should be noted that this would not have been the case had they been
interviewed after consuming quantities of free booze at an assortment of fringe meetings.
It would be fait to say that the five who attended had a thoroughly interesting and
enjoyable weekend with a nice balance of policy debate and socialising. This year’s
Conference was the largest yet. There were over two dozen fringe events and about 30
stalls in the exhibition and there were nearly 700 passes issued.
Oh yes, Suzette broke her finger too - don't ask!
Friday, 2 February 2007
It really gets on my (Prest)wick
Why on earth do the folk who own Prestwick Airport & certain budget airlines insist on calling the damn place "Glasgow Prestwick International"? The place is 50 minutes by rail from Glasgow and is in the middle of God's Own County (Ayrshire).
It's typical of some airlines to try and make the punter think that they are flying into the centre of their destination when they are actually landing a fair old distance away. Another fine example of this cobblers is calling Charleroi by the name of Brussels South. I've suffered that overpriced and monotonous coach journey into Brussels too many times for it to be fun.
Whilst I'm ranting about airports I must comment on that utterly stupid slogan they have at Prestwick: "Pure Dead Brilliant" - Glasgow patois. Well here's some more - Aye Right! Pure dead s***e more like. Another attempt to con the unsuspecting traveller that they're arriving into the middle of the metropolis.
It's typical of some airlines to try and make the punter think that they are flying into the centre of their destination when they are actually landing a fair old distance away. Another fine example of this cobblers is calling Charleroi by the name of Brussels South. I've suffered that overpriced and monotonous coach journey into Brussels too many times for it to be fun.
Whilst I'm ranting about airports I must comment on that utterly stupid slogan they have at Prestwick: "Pure Dead Brilliant" - Glasgow patois. Well here's some more - Aye Right! Pure dead s***e more like. Another attempt to con the unsuspecting traveller that they're arriving into the middle of the metropolis.
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