Compo

It's New Year's Eve once again and those of you who know me will remember that it is time to get the tent pitched and ready myself for a night out in the cold. This year the temperature is several degrees above freezing and so for once, I shall have the pleasure of pitching the tent on soft ground instead of it being frozen solid. Here's hoping the temperature stays above freezing tonight!

Sorry to hear about the cat, Ben, It's always heart breaking to lose a fmaily member, especially yat this time of year. On a slightly different but related topic...I have often wondered why so many people die over Xmas week. When I worked at Overdale Crematorium we could guarantee a "Full house" of 120 cremations during the holiday period. without doubt it was the busiest time of the year. So many of my family and friends have died during this period too. My father was suffering from terminal cancer and to his credit would not let his grandchildren see him before Xmas because h

Re the service plates: SV is stop valve so I think the team have it with 6" sewer, 8½ft away. the plate are close to each other, near the bottom of a steep hill. Next time I'm down that way I will take a look and see if there is an access hatch 8½ft away in the road.

Remember when: You listened to a wireless, not a radio. Bald people wore a wig, not a toupee or hairpiece You went to the seaside, not the coast You went on holiday, not a vacation. You got tablets from a chemist, not a pharmacy. You ate a biscuit, not a cookie. It was birds, not people, who used to tweet. MacDonald had a farm, not beef burgers. As a child you had sweets, not candy. You had coke on a fire, not a drink in a bottle or drugs. You went to the pictures to see a film, not a cinema, to watch a movie. Remote was something far away, not a device for operating

Paper chains came in packs of ready cut strips. We always made them up to decorate the primary school classrooms. Poor old janitor would have had to take them all down after school closed for the holidays.

Spotted these service plates on a wall in Wick the other day. Note the real measurements from pre-EU days. I know that the "H" was a hydrant but anyone know what the "S" was?:

Our general science teacher had the tawse in the middle. He named it "Willy". His threat to misbehaving boys was "If you don't behave I will get my Willy out to you, boy!" This always caused a roar of laughter and the misbehaving ceased, pronto. Of course, he would be locked up for such a comment in today's snowflake society.

Sadly, there will be few proper pubs left in England before long.

Worrabaht 'The Greenwood Tree'? Is that still open?

Looks vaguely familiar but I can't put a name to him...........Unless it's Stanley Unwin?

Thanks and have a great trip, Ian. Here's a photo I took in the Andes in Southern Chile. A mountain glacier:

I have been reading a post about gardens and Xmas decorations in a fb forum. A friend was musing over the sad demise of such delights as productive gardens and home cooking. I always make my soup from scratch and never buy it in cans or packets. I have to say that I know very few people who still make soups, which is such a shame because they are cheap, easy and very tasty. I offer as an example: A few days before Xmas a local store was selling off its stock of mushrooms. I bought 3 x 400g tubs at 20p each and for several days enjoyed home-made cream of mushroom soup. This weekend I in

Ian, I have travelled extensively over the past fifty years and South MAerica is the one place that I have been robbed. It happened a few weeks agom in Quito, Ecuador, so may I offer a small piece of advice? You are almost certainly travel-wise but don't put your bag down on the floor in South America, unless you put your leg through the strap. The bag thieves are expert at lifting bags...even from under your table.

Just testing Canon Irista. Flickr are now limiting the amount of free storage space and consequently, I need a new store for my digital photos. This site came with the camera but I haven't yet mastered the art of using it. ....nope, the image address is not being recognised by the forum. https://www.irista.com/gallery/d5el3wj3ov2a So, it will recognise the link but now how do I get the link to show the image on the forum page, I wonder? Ah got it. It seems that you have to put the photo into an album before you can get the image address out of it. This is just a test p

The mountain is in the south of the county and the Loch, village and harvest location is just across the road from my house, Gem. Here's one I have posted before, taken from my bedroom window:

Looking at the picture, Ian, I am tempted to ask: "What happened to footy in the snow, rain, ice, etc.." It seems that matches are postponed for any but the finest of weathers these days!

Just finished "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton. It is somewhat over-long at 645 pages but holds the interest throughout. The story takes place over a century in the life of a family, separated by a series of events. Not a bad read but I would have preferred it condensed into perhaps 400 pages. My new book is "The Dark Angel" by Elly Griffiths. I'm currently just under half way through and still interested in the plot

I said as much to the press office when I went in to collect my "prize" of one free calendar and a 'Caithness Memories' A4 format book of images. ..........and only you and the bloke down the road had a camera! ...and his doesn't work!

This year I left some broad bean pods in the garden to ripen for seed whilst we were away on holiday. When I returned every single bean had been taken out of the pods by rodents! Teh littlel blighters

So, this year I have two photos in the "Caithness County Calendar 2019". I submitted four photos and these two were selected for inclusion: 1: Morven through a window at Wag: 2. Watten Harvest:

Which legs, Brew?

My ex-wife with the neighbour's pet cat in Ethiopia 1985:

"Monkey Puzzle Dawn", taken yesterday morning - can you spot Venus?

Oh yes I do! I am able to ignore this because it is usually out of sight. For example: you should see me when I park the car, pass a crooked photo frame, or see cutlery in the wrong positions!

Lanender: The film was a 1957 Ealing comedy called "Barnacle Bill".