Angels and Demons

I've just spent the past week reading 'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown, author of the Da Vinci Code. Although I've successfully resisted the Da Vinci Code (deliberately on my part, due to all the hype surrounding the book), I'm really glad I had this exciting thriller recommended to me. Fast-paced, it's real edge of the seat stuff, and very difficult to put down. Work of a secret brotherhood (the Illuminati) is revealed, and its bitter war against its sworn enemy - the Catholic Church - is played out over a day of mystery, intrigue, terror and murder in the Vatican City. All this is set against the college of cardinals assembling to elect a new Pope. Trying to decipher a long-forgotten trail to find the Illuminati lair is Harvard professor Robert Langdon, together with Vittoria Vetra, the daughter whose father's murder sets of the chain of events at the start of the book. There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot, making it an extremely enjoyable journey through each page. This is one book I highly recommend. A few brands make an appearance, but they're not the sort I would want to market! Read the book, and you'll understand what I mean. Enjoy.

I've won the lottery!

Whether we want to admit it or not, most people in the UK like to think that their lottery numbers would come up, they'd win a huge amount of money, be able to give up work, and enjoy the rest of their days living the life of luxury. Certainly the woman from Glasgow who recently scooped £35m on the EuroLottery won't ever have to worry about anything ever again (apart from maybe the odd acquaintance or two who suddenly want to become best friends!). Anyhow, I was shocked to find that I actually won on the lottery on Saturday. Amazing! Miracles CAN happen. The biggest shock wasn't the amount I'd won (yep, I was one of the 651,684 individuals who had "scooped" £10). It was the fact that, despite paying £2 each week, it had been nearly two years since I'd last won anything from the Lotto. £104 investment for a £10 return. Not the best interest rate in the world. As many lottery winners say, I can confirm that the win won't change my life! If you want to check your own numbers, just log onto http://www.nationallottery.co.uk/

Interviewed by the police

Saturday brought me a brand new experience when, for the first time, I was interviewed by the police. I hadn't done anything wrong (you'll be pleased to hear) - I was simply providing a witness statement to them. Two coppers called at my apartment and spent over an hour with me while I went through the events that had led up to a passenger being ejected from my New York flight in April (while we were still on the ground at Heathrow, just in case you are now picturing some sort of freefall departure mid-Atlantic!!). I won't go into too much detail in this Blog entry, as I don't want to be accused of prejudicing the forthcoming trial. But I can say that it was a strange experience sitting in my lounge on Saturday trying to recall exact details - I must've sounded pretty vague at times. I certainly remembered the incident taking place as it was the only time (in over 300 flights) where I had become uncomfortable before take-off with the actions/demeanour of another passenger. Trying to remember exact colours/styles of clothing and characteristics of the person and his travelling companion wasn't an easy job after all this time. But I ended up providing a good summary of what I had seen, and happily signed-off the statement once I had read it through (it took a lot for me to resist marking-up all the spelling errors etc that had been made by the policeman in his notebook!) More than three months had passed since the event took place and, as I hadn't heard anything from British Airways, I had assumed that the matter had been closed. But I'm glad to learn that steps are now being taken to prosecute the person, and hopefully he will be barred from stepping on board any other BA flight in the future. Dealing properly with unruly or uncooperative passengers is clearly now all the rage.

Photos from the Tattoo

"Tattoo leaves its mark" follows below

Tattoo leaves its mark

Tuesday evening was wet. Very wet. The rain didn't stop at all. However, this didn't spoil my trip to the Edinburgh Miltary Tattoo up at the castle. I was there with mum and Nick with tickets that I had bought last December. Obviously, when I bought the tickets, I had hoped that an August evening would be pleasantly dry and relatively warm. Having lived up in Scotland for six years, I should've known better! Still, as I often say, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. We were wearing ponchos (a bargain at 99p each from Woolworths!) and warm clothing, so we were absolutely fine. We had great seats in the North stand, with clear views all around. For those of you reading this blog who have never seen the tattoo, it really is worth seeing. Even if you can only catch the performance on the BBC, try and have a look. Yes, it's fair to say that there is a lot of miltary music and a hefty amount of Scottish influence with the pipes and drums. But there is also a whole load of amusing moments, and one or two surprises that really make the show very memorable. Modern mixed with traditional, and a good contingent of overseas performers, including some from Taiwan, Russia and Trinidad & Tobago (home to the world's only steel drum military band). Certain events were marked during the performance, including the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War, the diamond wedding anniversary of HM the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, and the centenary of the Scouts movement. Appreciative applause circulated the arena when the troops currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan were remembered. The only downside of the whole evening was at the end - not only because the performance had finished, but it took absolute ages to leave as everyone has to depart through the narrow cobbled street that leads down from the castle. I've been fortunate to see the Tattoo live on two occasions now, and I cannae wait until next year. Tickets do get sold out very quickly, so make sure you diarise for early December and log onto http://www.edinburgh-tattoo.co.uk/

In the Nick of time

I'm awake (4am) so might as well add a new entry to my Blog. I'm up early as I've just said goodbye to my twin brother as he sets off back down south. Like me, he likes his early starts! Hoping of course that he has a safe drive, with no major hold-ups over the 450-mile journey from Edinburgh to West Sussex. Mum's staying on for a few extra days, which is great, and then flies back to Gatwick on Sunday. Unfortunately, I've not spent as much as time as I would like with them as I've had to work, but we've still had a few excursions and some nice meals together. And while I've been stuck at work, Mum and Nick have visited Dundee, St.Andrews, North Berwick etc, taken a trip on the train across the Forth Bridge (something I've not yet done since living up in Scotland) and also made a visit to see Concorde at East Fortune. The main purpose of their time up in Scotland this week was to see the Military Tattoo at the Castle on Tuesday evening. I'll post a separate entry about that shortly. Now going to catch up with a bit of reading etc, before heading off to work a bit later on. I think I'll go and make myself a nice cup of tea!

Scottish sunset

Three pictures taken this evening...

A souper day

First task of the day was to get off the bus in Princes Street and take a photo of the entrance to the National Gallery, currently festooned with 24 cans of Campbell soup promoting the Andy Warhol exhibition. Hopefully I'll get chance to pop in to the gallery to have a look round. Mum and Nick drove up today from West Sussex. It's good to see them again, especially as I haven't been "down south" since the beginning of May. We made a trip over to South Queensferry in the evening to see the bridges and have a bite to eat (yes, I had soup!), before returning to the city for a drive up round Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat. Watched the sun setting over the castle, and then marvelled at a cyclist who went a tad too fast round the road and ended up going head first over the handlebars. Oops. Fortunately, apart from being a little shaken up, there appeared to be no lasting damage.

Raising the bar (again)

A Wii update for everyone - mate Mark has sent me the latest pic of his bowling achievements. An amazing score of 268. I'll be glad to get over 200! The score included a chain of 4 strikes and a chain of 5 strikes. Impressive.

The man who built Britain

There have been many occasions when I've driven in or out of Edinburgh and have found myself crossing over the Dean Bridge. From the top, it's hard to imagine the scale of the engineering, and I had no idea as to its history. Well, tonight on BBC2, I learnt all about Thomas Telford, the Scottish engineer who designed the bridge. The programme was being broadcast to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth (despite the Radio Times claiming it was the 300th anniversary). It was one of those programmes that made me feel that the TV licence is worth paying. A pleasant change from all those home makeover, garden makeover, cookery, quiz or so-called "reality" shows that seem to be endlessly churned out by TV executives these days. Apart from the wonderful background music, I was able to enjoy countless views across the British Isles of all the marvellous bridges, canals and roads (and later in his life, churches and manses) that Telford designed. With such a huge quantity of things created in his lifetime, it's not surprising that a town (in Shropshire) was named after him. When most people, including myself, think of a great British engineer, thoughts automatically turn towards a certain Mr Isambard Kingdom Brunel. However, in future, I shall think more about all the practical things left to us by Telford - such as the Menai Strait suspension bridge, the Caledonian Canal, various harbours and hundreds of miles of roads. Most people I think would like to leave a lasting impression on the world when their time is up. Thomas Telford certainly delivered! For more information, just click onto this Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Telford

A great endeavour

Another shuttle has taken a journey up into space, as 'Endeavour' makes its way up to the International Space Station. It seems odd to think that these space shuttle missions started all the way back in 1981 - I well remember seeing the first orbiter Columbia launch in April of that year (I was at school at the time) and then watching in amazement just a couple of days later when it returned to earth. Two tragedies have occured since that time (Challenger being destroyed on take-off on 28 January 1986, and then Columbia breaking up during its descent on 1 February 2003) - but there are still people willing to risk their lives to advance the human race's understanding of space and space exploration. Amazing stuff. Of course, you wouldn't get me up there - I get vertigo sometimes just looking up at tall buildings! I'm happy to stay on terra firma and just marvel at those who are brave enough to be astronauts on our behalf. Of course, if you have a spare US$200k kicking around (US$20k deposit), and you fancy a fresh perspective on our planet, just check out the Virgin Galactic website http://www.virgingalactic.com/ where bookings are now being taken for flights aboard the VSS Enterprise, due to start in 2009. Make sure you have a look at the preview video "Let the journey begin". It's out of this world!

Why don't penguins' feet freeze?

Today I finished this excellent book published by the people at NewScientist. It's a follow-up to their highly successful "Does anything eat wasps?" and contains all sorts of interesting (and some uninteresting) facts that people often ponder - such as:
What time is it at the North Pole?
Should you pickle your conkers?
Why do boomerangs come back?
Why does hair turn grey? (fortunately not something I've had to worry about yet!)
Anyhow, if you have a spare £7.99 available (and especially if you're one of my friends that has a 'grey' issue!) this is worth a buy.

Right on cue

Due to the recent bad weather, the planned golf was abandoned - my mate Dave and I didn't fancy squelching around a muddy 18 holes. So we ended up playing half a dozen games of pool instead - final result England 4 Scotland 2. So, even though I'd spent the first couple of hours at work, today was very enjoyable. And I even got to see the multi award-winning shopping centre at Cumbernauld. For those of you not familiar with this architectural masterpiece, situated at the heart (or bowel?) of the Scottish new town, I suggest you do a quick Google image search. But if you're not in the mood to do that, check out this little YouTube video instead (and before you ask, I'm not accepting responsibility for the various spelling errors). Whilst the video doesn't show the outside of the main shopping centre, it's an opportunity to share the concerns of the local residents. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCtb-6WbXjU

Raising the bar

Woke up this morning to find the attached Wii Bowling pic in my Inbox. Well done Mark! Not sure if any of my other friends have achieved a score of 248 yet? I'm sure I'll soon find out.

A new week

Here we are at the start of another week. I've really enjoyed the last four days - none of which were spent at work. My batteries have been suitably recharged. But it'll be a short week... I'm planning on taking the day off tomorrow for a game of golf - weather permitting. We've had a fair amount of rain over the past few days, but I'm hoping it'll stay fine. But I'm going to be ok in future if I'm ever stuck indoors because of the weather - on Saturday, I purchased a Nintendo Wii. I'd only seen one of these consoles up and running at a friend's barbecue the week before (yes, it is possible to have barbecue in Scotland!) - and decided it would be a worthwhile investment. My weekend guests helped me put the Wii through its paces - the tennis, 10-pin bowling and golf being the most popular games. It's a little bit addictive, even though I lost most of the games we played. Still, par for the course, as I had lost most of my pool matches we played at the local Sports Bar as well. A Wii bit unlucky, as we would say 'north of the border'. Have a great week everyone... I intend to.

Just for starters...

Anybody who is in Edinburgh will find themselves spoilt for choice as far as eating establishments are concerned. Although International Starters (based at Commercial Quay in Leith) would never claim to have world-class cuisine, the quality of food is excellent. The menu consists of starters from all around the world - this is tapas, but on global proportions. I've been to this restaurant on many occasions over the six years I've been based in Edinburgh, and have enjoyed great food and chat with friends, family and colleagues alike. I was there today with mate Mark and his brother Lee, who were both up in Edinburgh for the start of the Festival. For starters at the Festival, we went to see Australian comedian Adam Hills at the Assembly Rooms. A brilliant show, full of great gags and amusing observations, finishing with his Footloose dancing (he's the comedian with the prosthetic foot) and an unscripted Mexican wave. You had to be there! I've seen Adam twice before at the Festival, and he never disappoints. For starters at International Starters (lunchtime today), we indulged in the haggis, caribbean coconut chicken, buffalo wings, Greek meze and chicken tikka to name but a few.

First posting

Hello world!
This is the first posting on my new 'blogger' page. It's a place where I will share my thoughts and views - hopefully you won't see too many rants! I've set up this blog as a supplement to my travel website, http://www.worldismylobster.com/