Second post

Hello people, its been some time since my last post, which incidentally was my first post. So this one is called second post - how original! We need to worry when I start one off called the last post, maybe some of you will give a sigh of relief.

Since I last wrote the Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie air disaster has been released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds and sent back to Libya. The kerfuffle continues as accusations about trade deals fly about and politicians attempt to score points against each other. I offer you my humble opinion. The Scottish justice secretary took a brave decision to release this dying man on the grounds of compassion. Compassionate release is an integral part of the justice system within the UK and there are a number of precedents for such release. The fact that there would be both a national and international reaction to the release obviously made the decision all the more difficult. I listened to the justice secretary's speech announcing the release and was impressed with his rational approach to the situation. I did send him an email offering my support. The only error of judgement in his speach was to say that the prisoner is now being judged by a 'higher order', this implies that his prostate cancer is a punishment and therefore implies that cancer is a punishment to anyone from a higher order. Notwithstanding this one error in the speech, he made a decision and has acknowledged sole responsibility for making it. I hope that we were told the truth, if we were I fully support this release.

I celebrated my 44th birthday last week. The highlight of the day was receiving hand made cards from my nieces in Australia one was five yesterday and the other will be seven in November. The time and effort they put into it and the 'I love you' is so moving from those so young. My sister also used a painting by the youngest one to wrap my present which was a really nice touch. At the weekend I returned to my native and beloved North East of England for a long weekend. The original plan was to go camping in the lake district. The weather forecast put an end to that plan, and they were spot on the lakes experienced torrential rain for the whole weekend. Instead I went off to Beamish open air museum to finish off my visit which I started last Easter. I visited the manor house, the old engine works and walked through the victorian park. Beamish is really good value as you buy your ticket and if you gift aid the payment it becomes a one year pass which you can use as many times as you like. The Royal yacht Brittania has a similar deal at Ocean Terminal in Edinburgh.

I did some long dog walks. For the first time ever I went down to Crimdon Dene, which is a really beautiful stretch of coast near Peterlee in County Durham. Near the Dene itself are a couple of caravan parks, the Dene is a well kept nature reserve and then you have the beach. It was quiet and peaceful giving lots of time to think, I find the crashing of the waves both soothing and inspiring. Its strange but my best thoughts and ideas are usually generated near water, either when walking or in the shower! Enough said about the shower....

On Monday evening I met up with some friends in Whickham who I last saw on New Years eve. We had an Indian meal in a restaurant and shared stories from our summer holidays. There were eight of us out and six people had been on a cruise over the summer, two of us had been camping in Scotland. I believe we had the better time in Scotland. I got back to Edinburgh on Tuesday about lunchtime and hit my domestic chores. I did not make much of an impression as this weekend is also set aside for domesticity.

About two weeks ago I was driving through Edinburgh listening to Radio Scotland, it was a a Saturday morning. The female presenter from the BBC2 programme Economy Gastronomy was being interviewed. This was my first knowledge of Economy Gastronomy and I set the digi box to record the series. I have now seen two editions. One involved a family of seven spending in excess of £400 per week on food shopping. The presenters gave then some tips, recipe ideas and a budget of £160 for the week. The family managed on this. The next edition involved a group of five students from Cambridge, this produced a good saving too. I wonder how they would sort me out. I guess saving a single person about £20 per week does not make good tv. I have enjoyed these programmes so far and have picked up some good ideas from them both as money saving tips and new recipes. You might find it worth watching.

I said I would end these blogs with an inspiring phrase from someone, so here goes: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.— Maya Angelou

Until next time.