Departure for Devon

The move to Devon was was one that happened very quickly and the time from Christmas to our move on the 6th January seemed to fly past.

The movers from Pickfords complicated things on the day because their van had been involved in a crash the day before and so they had to make several trips to pick up our stuff which meant we left later than we thought we would.  In retrospect it seems like we rushed out of the house without taking a proper farewell.  I think this was because we felt that we would be back before we sold the house so this wasn't the last time.

We had been a bit worried about the trip down  but the availability of the Bluetooth earpieces that Scott and Kirsty had got us for Christmas made a real difference as did stopping early at a Premier Inn  on the Friday and leaving early on the Saturday morning.

We also got to compare the Garmin and Google Sat Nav's which both managed the trip well although to be honest this is a really simple route.

Things you wish you had said

Each day I travel from Cumbernauld to Kirkintilloch to work and as part of that journey use the Blackwood roundabout. Last summer I remember being uplifted each day by the wonderful display of natural wildflowers that appeared on the roundabout. They seemed like something out of an impressionist painting or some of those wonderful meadows you encounter in the countryside.

I remember at the time thinking I should write to the Parks department of North Lanarkshire Council and congratulate them on such a wonderful display and express how much pleasure their work had given me. Unfortunately I didn’t do so at the time.

Last month I noticed work on this years scheme underway and was somewhat disappointed to see that they had changed their approach and were going for a much harder landscaping scheme, don’t get me wrong the current scheme like many of the others around Cumbernauld shows creativity and an attempt to create a positive civic space but I am afraid in my opinion it doesn’t give half the pleasure that those lovely meadow flowers did last year.


Imagine my surprise and disappointment therefore to see the same roundabout proclaimed as an eyesore in the Cumbernauld news and local Councillor Bob Chada and disgruntled resident David Pollock proclaiming their success at replacing the eyesore with the sustainable scheme.

For me it is a lesson learned, when you see something being done locally that you approve of don’t be silent, express your approval letting others know of your support and how you appreciate their work. I would hate for those in the Parks department who had the vision to plant the wildflower meadow on a roundabout not to realise that people appreciated their work and perhaps you might find that you are part of a silent majority which is often it seems ignored in favour of the complainers.

Election Fever

Well the election is finally upon us and try as I might I cannot remain disinterested have started to look for sites that give another slant on the process and the first one I have come across is Unlock Democracy They have a neat widget on their front page which lets you compare your views the the main parties and lets you know which one is the closest match.

Perhaps it's because we havie been building up to this for some time but I feel I could do with some humour in this process so I am off to look for sites that make me laugh.

So I'm a Web Leopard!

If any of you have been watching the Virtual Revolution programmes on BBC then you will be aware that they are conducting a large scale experiment with listners to see what our style of web use is like and whether or not we are simlar or otherwise to the next generation of web users.

I apparently am a web leopard which means that I am:

Fast-moving - Web Leopards like you are adept at getting information from the internet very quickly. Your speed is a trait you share with real-world leopards, which are among the fastest land animals.


Solitary - Leopards live alone, fending for themselves in isolated home ranges. Similarly, the Web Leopard likes to go it alone when looking for information, rather than rely on social networks, or other sites where the users create the content.

Specialised - Web Leopards are best suited to performing one task at a time rather than multitasking. The real-world leopard is similarly specialised, being perfectly adapted to silently tracking its prey before pouncing.

Taking the test was fun and I broadly agree with the results although I am not sure what difference it will make to me however, if you are interested in finding out what kind of web animal you are then head on over to Lab UK site at the BBC and have a go yourself.

Word Clouds

I have been undertaking some work in analysing responses to a consultation and as part of that process came across a word cloud.  You quite often see these on blogs or social network pages and the give a visual representation of the frequency of words within a web page or alternatively a text file.

I thought these would be difficult to create and perhaps need some specialist software so I was pleasantly surprised when on Googling "word clouds" to come across a number of free web based resources that you can easily use to create them.

Have a look at Wordle.net and see if you could use this in your reports.

Time passes so quickly!

I don't think I am very good at keeping up with this personal publising business, I was watching the new series on BBC about the virtual revolution and the impact of the world wide web on our life when the presenter informed us that of the 130 million or so blogs created they reckon over 90% are now dormant.  I am not surprised really since keeping up with online life can be quite time consuming.

I try to keep both a chess and an organisational web site up to date as well as an irregular email update on current matters associated with parental involvement, this combined with the surfing necessary to keep up to date with developments at work and home just seem to gobble up the time I have available.

That's why so far I have avoided facebook and rely on Beth to keep me up to date with what's going on in the family and friends. 

Dinner is ready so have to go - see what i mean :-)

Christmas Concerts

This last weekend is traditionally the start of Christmas for us.  Friday night was the annual CLIC - Sargent carol Concert at the Glasgow royal concert Hall.  This event is organised by a voluntary committee of which Beth is a member and she allows me to tag along and help.

The concert raises funds for CLIC - Sargent which some of you know were a great support to us in the past and getting involved allows us to put something back into a great organisation.  The carol concert is a great way to kick of the Christmas season and if you like a good sing then I would recommend it for next year.