Road Trip 2

Firstly, apologies for a wee break from blogland ... a recharge of batteries and time-out was needed!

On Sunday 3 friends and I got together for lunch and decided to go to a great pub for something to eat in nearby Stirling. If you haven't ever been to the 'Portcullis' I can strongly reccommend a wee visit ... just be warned ... don't eat anything for 24 hours beforehand as the chef doesn't believe in small portions! The Portcullis is right ot the foot of Stirling Castle esplanade ...



After lunch, a laugh and a glass of something fruity we were off again on a magical mystery tour. I said I wanted a beach (why when it was freezing and blowing a force 10 gale I have no idea) but, I usually get what I want :o) hahahaha .. so off we set.

The next known landmark I saw was a place in Glasgow called Milngavie - pronounced "malguy" and then into Taggart territory ("...there's been a murder!" - lmfao .. some of you may have to google good old Taggart!) and then round and about Glasgow. I reminded 'T' the driver, that I wanted a beach, so we headed for Ayr ... the roundabout route hahaha

On the way down the road 'K' and I remembered a place called Nardinis in Largs, so it was off to Largs for a lovely Italian coffee and a famous Nardinis ice-cream. 'T' told me that I had arrived at my "beach" ... LMFAO ... pebbles ffs ... pebbles does not constitute a beach FFS!!!

We then headed through Ardrossan, Saltcoats (or the other way around - I can never remember) Troon, Ayr, Turnberry, Newton Stewart, Castle Douglas (stopped for a late dinner) Dumfries, Lockerbie and then back to Stirling and then home!!



Over 10 hours later and I arrived back to the comfort of my wee abode. We did have a cheeky layby "relief" stop .. god I ain't usually a layby-stop-point-pee type of chappy .. but needs must! hahaha The 2 female friends were very jealous of the two males in the car .. was a bit more of an ordeal for them PMSL!!

Until the next time ........

PS .. there were lots of piccys for this trip but my pc is playing up and doesn't like them! :o(

never assume!

Saw this on ye olde bebo site and had to share it ...



I know this is a lazy post ... but hey ... I am kinda busy :o)

No-one likes a smart-arse!

.... but these are bloody funny ...

SMART ALEC ANSWER 6
It was mealtime during a flight on a British Airways plane: 'Would you like dinner?' the flight attendant asked the man seated in the front row. 'What are my choices?' the man asked. 'Yes or no,' she replied.


SMART ALEC ANSWER 5
A flight attendant was stationed at the departure gate to check tickets. As a man approached, she extended her hand for the ticket and he opened his trench coat and flashed her. Without blinking an eyelid she said, 'Sir, I need to see your ticket not your stub.'


SMART ALEC ANSWER 4
A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at a branch of Sainsbury's store but she couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked a passing assistant, 'Do these turkeys get any bigger?' The assistant replied, 'I'm afraid not, they're dead.'


SMART ALEC ANSWER 3
The policeman got out of his car and the boy racer he stopped for speeding, rolled down his window. 'I've been waiting for you all day,' the bobby said. The kid replied, 'Yes, well I got here as fast as I could.' When the policeman finally stopped laughing, he sent the kid on his way without a ticket.

SMART ALEC ANSWER 2
A lorry driver was driving along on a country road. A sign came up that read ' Low Bridge Ahead.' Before he realised it, the bridge was directly ahead and he got stuck
under it.. Cars are backed up for miles. Finally, a police car comes up. The policeman got out of his car and walked to the lorry's cab and said to the driver, 'Got stuck, eh?' The lorry driver said, 'No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of petrol!'


SMART ALEC ANSWER OF THE YEAR 2007
A teacher at a polytechnic college reminded her pupils of tomorrow's final exam. 'Now listen to me, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury, illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!' A smart-arsed chappie at the back of the room raised his hand and asked, 'What would happen if I came in tomorrow suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?' The entire class was reduced to laughter and sniggering. When silence was restored, the teacher smiled knowingly at the student, shook her head and sweetly said, 'Well, I suppose you'd have to write the exam with your other hand.'

Thank you to David for emailing this ... fitted my sense of humour perfectly!

The Family

My Grandad passed away in 2004 and shortly afterwards I began to get really interested in my family tree. The whole mystery of where we all come from and what sort of life our family led in the past fascinates me.

I have spent a great deal of time here researching my familys past. The actual records building is amazing!! On my first trip I was in the atrium, looking up at floors and floors of records, archived for the likes of me to search through located in a large, round, glass-domed room.

I hadn't really got much of a clue as to what I was doing so I started with ME! It is very interesting to see the amount of information that you can dig up about yourself from birth, marriage and death certificates and all of the previous census documents.

The initial information wasn't great! All of the family records showed that family members tended to die young. Jeezo!! That is until I came across my Great, Great Grandad who was almost 100 when he died.

It got me to wondering ..... was there money in the family? hahahaha Well, money is important! ... especially when you don't have it :o)

Well I was to be disappointed in one hand and proud in the other. No money, well, not any left over the years anyways. My folks on my fathers side were all hardworking land people. Crofters, farmers, forestry workers, stone masons etc etc. The family on my mums side had much of the same really. No money but they were all grafters - who didn't believe in small families!!!!! (13 children one of them had!!)

One disturbing fact reared its head. Why was my dads family surname on my mums family side? I know I have always thought I was Royalty in a previous life; was this the first sign ... inbreeding amongst the family 3 generations ago? hahahahaha

Thankfully in my searches I have found no link to the two families!

So far I have managed to go back to the 1700's on both my dad's side and mum's side of the family but need to go one more generation to see if the story about fighting with Bonnie Prince Charlie and being gifted land is true. I have written documentation that the Clan that my family were part of did fight with him, but I need to see if any of my actual ancestors did. That is my next quest!

I love genealogy so much that friends have asked me to do some research on their behalf. It did cause a wee bit of friction and embarrassement when I had to explain that their father WAS NOT who they thought it was and that their mother had actually been playing away :o) oops ... I had a lot of soal searching before I approached that subject! Luckily for me they did have a little clue that this was the case. I managed to track down the real father to the Canadian Airforce where he is/was an officer.

Today

I have been a complete lazy git today! Here is a breakdown of my day .....

12.30pm (ish) got up out of bed :o)
had a shower and got dressed after slobbing about in a pair of boxys watching some tv
2pm had lunch
txt some friends
posted on some blogs
had 3 calls from other friends (same friend twice - dozy git)
joined Facebook (lol)
Researched my family Coat of Arms - very nice it is too :o)
filled the dishwasher
downloaded some music from itunes
just heading out to collect my dinner from the take-away


to come .....

chat on msn
post messages on blogs

go to bed

What a great slobby day :o)

A GORGEOUS autumn day ...

Today, the first day of my October holidays from work, has been gorgeous! The sun has been shining and I was able to get out into town and have a wander around Stirling in a t-shirt :o)

Last week I was freezing in temperatures as low as 2 degrees C ... today my wee village was basking in the Autumnal temp of 19 degrees C.

As I sit typing this at my study window, the sun is shining down on the hills, bright copper and russet autumn colours and the birds flying around. I was a bit down yesterday (reason unknown) but this has cheered me up 100% ... here's a wee piccy ...