Hot day in Windsor

Viewers in the Windsor area were today astonished when the BBC weather forecast showed a predicted daytime temperature of 232 degrees Celsius. Talk about global warming!

Gloom for Zoom

Zoom Airlines, which flies across the Atlantic between the UK and Canada, has suspended all flights and is applying to go into administration. Thousands of passengers due to fly with Zoom have been told to rebook with other carriers. This airline is another victim of the rising cost of fuel. Fortunately, I didn't book my forthcoming trip with them... I'm just hoping that BA are more financially secure!

Unusual statue #5

Charles La Trobe, Melbourne, Australia

Unusual statue #4

Franz Kafka, Prague, Czech Republic

Unusual statue #3

Outside the Bukcheon Museum, Seoul, South Korea

Unusual statue #2

Ernst & Young building, Los Angeles

Unusual statue #1

Magic Tap at 'Aqualand', Cadiz, Spain

Under pressure

I've just been hearing about the Ryanair flight that made an emergency landing in Limoges following an incident where the cabin pressure became faulty. Lots of scared people heading for their holiday in Spain had to struggle in their seats to put on their overhead oxygen masks. Ryanair justify their air crew not telling the passengers what was going on because they too were having to put oxygen masks on and therefore could not speak into the intercom. What a ridiculous excuse! They should have masks that include a microphone so that they can still communicate with their frightened passengers. Hopefully, procedures and equipment will be overhauled. Fortunately, apart from a number of people suffering ear ache, no-one was seriously hurt. Phew!

Thistle be a good photo

It was great to have friends Malcolm and Lynne up here in Edinburgh. They were here for the Tattoo, which finished its 3-week run on Saturday evening. We went for a 'Lochs and Mountains' tour on Saturday - the photo was taken by Malcolm up at Glen Coe.

They think it's all over... it is now

The Beijing Olympics have now been brought to a close. Amazingly, the Games turned out to be GB's best performance for a century - with our final gold tally reaching 19, and leaving us 4th in the overall table. 'Host city' status has now been transferred to London, so we now have to spend the next 4 years watching the build-up to 2012. Hope our future Olympians are sufficiently encouraged, trained and motivated so that they too produce a fantastic overall result for Great Britain.

Bad picture editing

Journalists and editors have an array of tools available to them these days to enhance photographs. But they really must be careful!

Suitable cartoon for Sunday

19th Gold

Team GB has managed to secure further gold medals since I last blogged about the Olympics, with the 19th being won yesterday by middleweight boxer James Degale. Adding our 13 silver and 15 bronze to this incredible tally brings the overall total to 47 medals. With only one more day of competition to go, we can be justly proud of our 4th place at the Beijing games. There are murmurings north of the border from certain Scottish politicians that they now want to submit a separate Scottish team at London 2012, and therefore break up the cohesiveness of the GB team. Seems like a bit of a daft idea to me. Why can't the politicians keep politics out of sport?!

Tragedy in Madrid

Just been listening to the news report on the dreadful plane crash in Spain which happened earlier today. It's believed that the majority of the passengers and crew have perished in what is the worst air disaster in Europe for many years. Air travel is deemed to be one of the safest forms of transport, but we must never get complacent. It's the main reason why I get really hacked off with selfish passengers who continue talking while the pre-flight safety demonstrations take place. Yes, we've all probably seen them done many times, but everyone should have the ability to shut up for just a couple of minutes - not only as a courtesy to new travellers, but also so that we all get a regular refresher of what we should do in an emergency. I pray that those who have survived today's plane crash make a speedy recovery, and my thoughts are with the families and friends of those who have died.

Golden wonder

Yet another very successful day at the Olympics. Chris Hoy secured his third cycling gold medal and Victoria Pendleton won the women's version of the sprint. Out on the water, sailor Paul Goodison landed the Laser class. And in athletics, Christine Ohuruogu was victorious at 400m. Team GB's gold medal haul has now reached 16, meaning it's Britain's best Olympic performance for a century. Astounding. The first question is, will we win any more? The second question is who, out of all the success stories at Beijing, will end up winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year?!

More success in Beijing

After a sensational weekend for Team GB at the Olympics, a further gold medal was won today, when the men's cycling pursuit team turned in a world-record performance against the Danes. At the time of writing, the British team are 3rd in the overall medals table, behind China and the USA. Hopefully, we'll still win more - to add to the existing 12 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze. Whatever happens between now and the Closing Ceremony, the success at Beiging bodes well for 2012, when the Games come to London.

Edinburgh Zoo

Strange things have been going on at Edinburgh Zoo this week. Firstly, the Norwegian military promoted their adopted penguin to Colonel-in-Chief. But perhaps more weird has been the exhibit of humans in cage 44. Don't expect to see them every week. It was just a performance for the Edinburgh Fringe.

Gold standard

Great to wake up this morning with the news that British swimmer Rebecca Adlington has won a second gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. And in world record time too, taking more than 2 seconds off the previous record. Let's hope we manage to get more metalwork over the coming days, and may it encourage more people to take up sport - irrespective of whether they'll end up competing at London 2012.

Having a laugh

Had a great evening last night at the Edinburgh Festival. I went with work colleagues to see Mark Watson's "All the thoughts I've had since I was born" show at the Pleasance. It was a 700-ticket sellout and I'm certain that no-one left disappointed. He built up a great rapport with the audience, especially as he spent the first 10 minutes in the crowd. Mark's humour is very much observational. His story of what happened on one of his train journeys got the biggest reaction. If you want to know why everyone laughed so much, go and get yourself a ticket and pop along and see the show. You won't be disappointed.

A rubbish job

Council officials in Birmingham (UK) have been left rather embarrassed. It seems that 720,000 leaflets issued recently that publicised the achievements of the city's recycling programme included a picture of the city skyline of Birmingham, Alabama. Clearly, someone in their marketing department didn't do a proper check when they sourced the photo. It's reported that they have decided not to re-run the £15k print job - which is a shame, as the old leaflets could surely be added to their recycling success? Oops!

Interesting date

Spotted earlier this week just outside the entrance to Deep Sea World in North Queensferry. Oops.

Lucky 13th

Pleased to report that the strike affecting flights into and out of Brussels Zaventem was called off earlier this afternoon. This meant that I was able to get back to Edinburgh as planned, albeit subject to a 50-minute delay.

Unlucky 13th?

Due to an industrial strike by baggage handlers at Brussels' main airport (Zaventem), my flight to Belgium yesterday was diverted to Charleroi. I'm due to return to Edinburgh this evening but as of yet there is no news of the strike ending. I could be stuck at Zaventem for many hours, I could get re-directed back to Charleroi or I could even end up having to delay my travel back home. So we'll have to see whether the 13th ends up as a lucky or unlucky day for me...

Glorious 12th

OK, I must admit that this cartoon has nothing to do with the start of the Grouse shooting season, but it IS bird-related!

Line of succession

Here's a few interesting names (some well-known, some just a bit unusual) that I've found in the line of succession to the British Throne...
21st in line is Xan Windsor, Lord Culloden
27th in line is Columbus Taylor
52nd in line is Tallulah Grace Lascelles
62nd in line is HM King Harald V of Norway
87th in line is Karina de Roumanie Medforth-Mills
190th in line is HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
197th in line is India Tani Ambler
208th in line is Baron Ian de Geer af Finspång
219th in line is HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
272nd in line is Grischa-Alexander Güttler
378th in line is Shoshana Bao
466th in line is Milo Knatchbull
and, in his own right...
484th in line is HRH Duke of Edinburgh

Opening in style

The 29th Olympiad got underway yesterday in spectacular style, with an opening ceremony lasting well over 3 hours. Goodness only knows what the organisers of the London 2012 games will be thinking next week as they sit in their next planning meetings? Probably something along the lines of "we need 10 times more budget"! The fireworks were always guaranteed to be amazing, bearing in mind of course that they were invented by the Chinese. From the other highlights I saw, the whole show provided some amazing moments, especially towards the end with the lighting of the flame. The most important thing now is the competition - let's hope that the GB team get a good haul of medals. Faster, higher, stronger? We'll see...

08/08/08

8 is deemed a lucky number by the Chinese, hence why today was chosen as the start of the Beijing Olympics. I just hope that the organisers will themselves be lucky and end up producing a safe, smog-free and exciting event. Let the games begin...

Bucking the trend

Despite the ever-growing reach of the Starbucks coffee chain around the world, there's one place where the company is currently in retreat. Trouble is brewing. It's just been announced that the majority of Starbucks establishments in Australia are about to close - thanks to the Aussies' preference for the more individual brands of independent coffee houses. Good taste wins the day. Hoorah for local businesses!

Oh Happy Day!

I've just got home after seeing the Soweto Gospel Choir in concert at the Assembly Rooms in George Street. It was a fantastic show. I'm sure even non-believers would've found it an uplifting experience. There were twenty performers in total, all dressed in dazzling multi-coloured costumes - which I'm guessing were inspired by various South African tribes. The close-harmony singing and the excellent drumming was enhanced by the performers' swaying, emphasising the rhythm and emotion of each song. The conductor was the most energetic I've ever witnessed, and he even took part in a lot of the singing. The repertoire was a mix of traditional and contemporary South African songs and spirituals, together with a handful of international gospel songs. Their rendition of Amazing Grace was, well... amazing. It didn't matter that I wasn't able to understand many of the African songs. The whole show was very entertaining - even the novelty item with the crockery and cutlery (go and see the show if you want to know what I'm talking about!). The standing ovation at the end of the concert was well-deserved. A must-see at the Festival... book now!

It's Festival Time

It's that time of year again when Edinburgh becomes festival crazy. Of course, there's the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. But there's also music, comedy, dance and books (and other things besides). Loads of choice for everyone, whatever the age and taste in entertainment. For anyone interested in the arts, Scotland's capital city is the place to be in August.

Shakespeare & Doctor Who

Funny clip courtesy of last year's Comic Relief.

Olympics 2008 - BBC Monkey Film

This makes a change from trailers/titles showing past Olympians!

Clever advertising

Welcome to the dark side

A picture of today's total solar eclipse.