ianbee: this is instead of getting a dog

Bothered at the gym

This poster is outside the men's changing rooms at my gym. As someone who has a thing for electrical safety, it really bothers me. Kids, don't plug your earphones into the mains.

Edinburgh in February

 

Sunny

This week, after 40 days of rain, the sun came out. It set again 20 minutes later, but I saw it and took a photo in case no-one believed me. You can see a patch of it below on the right.

Young Ferrets 4 Sale

Seen last weekend in Yorkshire (pointed out by Emma). Is a fiver a good price? I wasn't sure, so didn't get any. Just to compound the stereotype we then sat outside a pub drinking real ale and surrounded by whippets.

Blue Tee-Shirt Amnesty

I have just washed eight blue tee-shirts. What's worse is that there were seven others that didn't need washing (exluding one I keep for painting in). That's fifteen blue tee-shirts. No man needs that many. How did I get into this situation? A quick blue-audit also showed five blue collared shirts and a blue rugby top. I need to diversify.

Final Tee-Shirt Tally:
Blue - 15
Brown - 1
Red - 4
White - 4
Black - 1
White with red arms and Lego space man pic - 1

Other news this morning: there is a man outside my flat fishing in the canal wearing only a towel round his waist. I'll spare you the photo.

Cow, in an unusual place

Walking along the other day, I saw a psychedelic cow standing the the ruins of La Belle Angel (oh how you are sorely missed). Wonder what they're going to build in that spot? Probably a hotel or posh flats, boo.

One legged kiwi

I stumbled across this news article today. It really seems like some people don't have enough to do ...

Flowery shirt quest

For the concert in May we have to wear clothes with flowers on them - we're talking stylish and contempory, not English country garden. Having failed to win a posh designer shirt on ebay I decided to go shopping in Falmouth with Anna; surely one of the hotest surf spots in Britain would have a selection of flowery shirts for me to choose from.

No it didn't. There was one glimmer of hope, which went a bit like this ...

Anna Robertson: We're looking for a shirt with a flower print on it.
Laid back surf dude shop assistant: Hey, we've got some wild shirts with flowers on them upstairs in the store room. Are you looking for a wild shirt? Want me to have a look?
Ian Braithwaite: Yes, wow, that would be great. WIld is okay.
LBSDSA: (wonders off, then returns empty handed) Sorry, I can't reach them, they're behind some boxes.
IB: And you can't reach them? Oh. But they were wild shirts?
LBSDSA: Yeah, man, they're great shirts. Sorry.

Bus money

The buses in Edinburgh don't give change.  Rubbish isn't it?  When I was a student here they cost 55p, then they worked their way up slowly in 5p increments until they reached 80p.  If you didn't have the right change and were forced to give the driver a pound you were miserable for the rest of the day because you felt ripped off.  As a result, everyone in Edinburgh has these random piles of change in their hallway so they are never caught out.  I've got this plant pot full of silver money so I can just pull out 80p when I leave the flat. 

But ... today I got on a bus and found the prices had gone up - every journey is a pound!  A whole pound!  What happened to 85p, 90p and 95p?  They went straight to £1!  Cheeky bandits, I can't believe people weren't marching against this.  And now, overnight my pile of loose change is, well not exactly worthless, but a bit of a waste of space.

Reflections on a smoke free week

Well, smoking indoors has been illegal in Scotland for a week now, and what a fun week it's been.  The ban started on sunday, and on monday I went for a drink in Favrit and noticed for the first time the smell of other people's food around me (pleasant).  I also realised that I could see the far wall of the bar from a seat by the door, something I've never been able to do before since it was always obscured by smoke! 

Tuesday to thursday i was at work; where you are only allowed to smoke if you change completely out of your uniform, remove your name badge and take yourself outside to a bus shelter that has been specially erected.  It is surrounded by that yellow and black warning tape which seems a bit excessive and only makes the area look like a crime scene, which I guess it is.  Anyway, faced with this persecution many of the nurse addicts are trying to give up.  There's a lot of tetchy people wearing patches at the moment ... I'm realising that I have to back down in almost every argument for safety reasons.   

Friday I went to Monbodo and as I walked in was struck by the smell of hair products, which had completely replaced the odour of smoke.  I was meeting my friend Nick who's up from England presenting a conference paper entitled 'Work-rates in men's collegiate level hockey'.  (He found that men playing hockey tend to either stand around, walk or run.)  Nick mentioned that he had worn the same top out two nights in a row.  It took a minute for the significance of that to sink in - only now possible in a smoke free world.

I went on in the evening to Henry's Cellar Bar for Phil and Dave's Boogaloo Bothy club night.  The first  live band was the Joe Acheson Quartet, who were actually a trio because one of their two drummers (!) had broken his wrist, only no-one really noticed so if I'd been the spare drummer I'd have been nervous for my place in the band.  It did seem a bit less packed that on previous visits and on leaving I realised that there was a pretty good smokers' party going on in the drizzle outside, which looked  good fun.  I guess they need each other now as the rest of us aren't talking to them ...