nautim

I had just come out of the airport building when it went overhead.

How low was it? Then that amazing climb followed by a roll.... And the sound!

I wished it would come over again, but no such luck. Just happened to be in the right place at the right time for once.

One of my headlamp bulbs went, so I bought a replacement. We couldn't get the fitting to budge so I went to JRJ this afternoon to have the bulb fitted. They did it immediately, only took a couple of minutes and wouldn't take any money for it. And all done with a smile. I'll stick the money in a charity box instead.

Just been out watching - saw quite a few over the space of about 45 minutes. A couple of 'wow' moments that really did look like stars falling out of the sky.

We were at the park fairly early on so didn't have to queue long for anything. We saw John Nicolson, wandered over to Tesco to watch Zoe go by then went back to Clickimin to see the Cauldron being lit.

The whole family enjoyed an afternoon out in the fresh air with some good music in the background. Given the big number of people who seemed to be enjoying themselves I think it was a success.

I reached this stage a few years ago. I did try the two pairs of glasses scenario but what happened was that I always seemed to be wearing the wrong pair. The difference in the prescriptions wasn't a lot so I could manage, but eventually I did start to find my eyes straining, so I took the plunge and got the varifocals.

I got my glasses from Kelly's Opticians and have been very pleased with them. The only hassle with varifocals is having to look down your nose to read through the bottom half of the lenses!

My verdict .. Disappointed.( putting it mildly) the only way we knew it was over was when some people (in the know) Started to clap

In previous years this has been started and finished by the. Coastguard firing a maroon. This was not possible this year, so the show started and finished with aerial shells.

Can you explain what would have lessened your disappointment?

I don't have a kindle but I read lots of PDFs only iPad. I find it useful because I can highlight and annotate the bits which are of interest, but I believe you can do that on the kindle as well.

It is a lot easier than reading on a pc screen.

The local Autism Support Group (who normally meet in the Bruce Hostel on the last Thursday of the month - see the Shetland Times for details) have arranged to have a special showing of films as a Christmas treat. We didn't go because my children weren't interested in the film. The sort of things which get changed to accommodate needs are lower volume, more background lighting in the auditorium and an acceptance from the rest of the audience that you may have people making noises or getting up and moving around.

We waited a long time before we bothered trying to go to a film. When we finally did (we think it was the Simpson's Movie) we sat at the end of a row, next to the exit, with plenty of sweeties. Plan A was to sit and watch the film, Plan B was to keep her quiet with lots of sweets, Plan C was a hasty exit... We managed to stay through the whole film, she did eat lots of sweets, but that was out of choice rather than silencing!

Although we try to give my younger daughter as many opportunities in life as possible there will always be some things that aren't suitable for her to go to. That can be disappointing sometimes, but we work round it, and I love her just the way she is.

I took one home to my parents years ago (20 +). They have a very sheltered garden. It's had to be trimmed to let them see out of the sitting room window which is on the first floor. I think the main factor in it reaching such a height was shelter.

It's not as bad as it used to be (fortunately)

At one point the consideration was whether to strim the grass or hoover it...

We went to Flames today at lunchtime.

The starters were good - garlic bread, garlic mushrooms and chicken wings.

There was a slight mix up over one item on the order, but they sorted it out quickly and gave us the burger and chips on the house (even though I would happily have paid for it). Everyone seemed to be happy with what they got, although another time I would ask them to leave off the cheese slices.

It was busy, and i think that we were lucky to arrive just before the rush, but I think that they more organised.

It's fine to have another place to go to.

For those - like me - who are happy with their own particular "non-belief" and who have a few minutes to spare when the Weaknesses come a-knockin', why not do some good for those of a weaker disposition who might be susceptible to the persuasive arguments (a.k.a. bad science & fairy stories) and have a good old yarnin' session on the doorstep ?

Strange to say I did just that about 16+ years ago. It was a long and diverse yarn covering many topics from medicine, science and developmental psychology. Eventually the man closed his optimistically open bible, thanked me for an interesting chat, and left. I don't know quite what I did, but they've never been back!

The information about when to set off fireworks is here

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/InYourHome/Escapingandrecoveringfromafire/DG_064665

it's also a good idea to phone the coastguard.

Happy Christmas

Nx

neep, onion carrots and tatties

Might have been the neeps - Jemima Walterson from Scalloway used to say they were inclined to go sour in soup, particularly if you were making the soup the day before, so we would make soup, then add the neeps the next day. Sometimes she would use frozen ones rather than fresh if she thought they weren't good enough quality.

Mind you - she also had a very particular method of stirring soup. Pity help you if she found you stirring it wrongly...

Can anybody else recall that during the severe drought in the 70'S , when the Sandy Loch (pre-dam times - which is why the dam was built) got so low that Trebister Loch was routed in by the ditch as a top up (still evident today .

My father took me to watch the digger take out the last few feet of earth - I can remember watching the water flow across.

Ok, ok - it doesn't sound all that exciting, but it seemed to be so at the time!

If you want to buy one of the versions of Microsoft Office it's worth looking here

http://www.software4students.co.uk/

Quick and cheap.

Frosty the Snowman....

You would be astonished how many versions there are. I would swear my daughter has played every one available, and then she finds another...

Damn Spotify!

I didn't see them from my window, but I did wonder whether they had looked at this guide to the Beaufort Scale before setting off...

http://www.sksa-ltd.com/resource/Beaf1.pdf

Folk have been in and out, but you couldna see the lights on because o' aa da volcanic ess on da window.

I bought a box of profiteroles with chocolate sauce yesterday.

Went home, opened them, was eating and aimlessly counting them. 16. Then decided to read the packet (OK - I didn't really need to, but I'm a compulsive reader).

I expected to see 'Serves 4', but no 'Serves 5'. I've spent the rest of the time wondering what precisely you were supposed to do...

1. Fill 5 plates with 3 each, then have the spare one as a reward for doing all that difficult maths and work...

2. Fill 5 plates with 3.2 profiteroles each

3. Fill plates according to appetite (could lead to fights about unfair proportions)

4. Go back to shop to see if all the packets have 16 profiteroles to feed 5 or did I just hit it lucky?

By the time I'd puzzled over all this I'd got fed up with eating them and wished I'd not given in to impulse shopping...

And we cleared away all the stuff used with the fireworks. The only possible thing left from the fireworks might be a few bits of paper and cardboard that didn't burn up.

This is something that confuses me. It's going to cost him £60,000 a year to stay in a cre home, but for this much money surely it would be possible for elderly people to stay at home and personally employ a carer (two or three carers even). Am I missing something?

You're describing the Direct Payments (DP) scheme that was created to allow people to do exactly that. I can't remember which service group it was created for, but in theory it could apply to anyone. The idea behind it was that you could individualise the service to meet the need. The drawback is that you then become the employer - and along with that you get all the responsibility for tax, national insurance, health and safety, holiday pay etc. Most people are put off by that. In some areas people receiving DP got together as a group and had someone responsible for managing all the wages etc, but it's still something that needs a lot of organising.

Bresail mentioned the need for care for younger people - there is also a need for appropriate facilities for people with disabilities and people who need a hospice. Everyone needs help sometime, it would be good to know that the help you need is available in your community for when you need it, but it is dependant on having people to staff it. The staff in any place make the difference between something that is merely competent at providing the resources and something that is a place people enjoy staying in.

How about 'lugteddirt' as a description of someone permanently on the phone?

As long as the canoe isn't coming by the St Kilda mail boat...