Weekly Rambling

Issue 3 – Monday 4th February 2019

The Good

Its that time of the week again. That’s right its a Monday which means its time for me to write a long sugar induced account in the middle of the night about the last week in my life.

I therefore apologise if this drops off in the latter stages as the five chocolate digestives (rounding down) I’ve just stuffed my face with aren’t likely to keep me energised for too long. But now that’s the most cynical section out of the way I have to admit that this has been quite a good week by my standards.

If you inhabit the stunning city of Aberdeen you’ll have noticed it has been given a magical white covering in the last couple of days, with snow making a rare appearance on the Granite City pavements and rooftops.

As I elegantly and effortlessly run down white pavements in my stylish running gear like a slightly slower Mo Farah, popular tourist destinations like Kittybrewster look even more magical.

More exciting and surprising than the prospect of snow during an Northern Hemisphere winter is Six Nations rugby which began on Friday Night with a great game between France and Wales. This was followed by an entertaining Scottish victory on Saturday and a game in Dublin which I didn’t watch and don’t really have any thoughts on.

Perhaps even more excitedly, and importantly, I finally started Uni again on Thursday with a class on Broadcasting. Every lecture so far has been interesting and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in again. I also didn’t get too lost trying to find new classrooms which was a bonus, though being a sheep and following the crowd did help.

I also rounded up the week with a bracing but rewarding walk up Tom’s Cairn, back in Deeside with three mad dogs and my mum. Who is also pretty mad.

The Bad

So I have to be honest about something. In the first part of the blog I was trying to appeal to the many people who love snow, by being upbeat about the white stuff which has fallen from the sky recently. The hope being they wouldn’t read on after that section because they have better things to spend their time doing.

I hate the snow. And the ice. And the sub-zero temperatures. Its just not my cup of tea. A cup of tea which I hold onto tightly when returning from the Aberdeen wilderness with no feeling in my poorly circulated hands. No gloves or socks seem thick enough when the mercury drops below -5 degrees Celsius, a temperature range which I call ‘Bloody freezing’.

Half-running and sliding around pavement corners, I probably look more similar to a dangerously unbalanced and human Bambi, a mess of arms and legs desperately trying to not break any bones. Unfortunately my dislike of the gym is still stronger so running in the icy conditions is a risk I’m going to have keep taking for now.

Also my dislike of the cold meant I didn’t do any more Deliveroo, which in fairness is a really poor effort as I still had quite a lot of spare time. The cold is a truly rubbish excuse and this coming week I need to get back on it and earn some pennies which have been spent on buying stationary and other important uni stuff recently…

The Ugly 

Br-exit eh?

Only joking! This blog is truly unpolitical as noted in the terms and conditions I have scribbled on a ‘Post-it’ note in my well organised and tidy journalism drawer. No what was equally as bad (or much worse, no political inclination shown here whatsoever) this week was sitting on an unheated bus for an hour.

I won’t mention the bus company but you can probably guess who they are. Having spent 2 ½  hours travelling between Aberdeen and Braemar on a largely unheated bus with no toilet in the past, they really need to do better. I realise this has nothing to do with the bus drivers by the way who have been very friendly whenever I’ve used the buses recently.

And having managed to time my inevitable sugar crash with a misdirected and pompous rant, that’s my summary of this week. Well done if you got this far but I don’t give out any prizes. Sorry.