Never mind 1st Xmas tree, check this out

I was out at a Mandy's on Friday night where we were getting 'treated' and I use the term loosely, to John McKendricks culinary delights courtesy of Mandy and Jenny winning John's services for the day at last years TACC Xmas Party. Perhaps next time you could get him to clean your close stairs or wash the car and we'll just bring in some takeaway :-)

Anyway we were all rather perplexed to notice that her new neighbours already had their Xmas tree up and we all thought "is that not a bit early?", however the bottom line is we could all say "well we've seen our first christmas tree of the year".

Fast forward to Sunday lunch time and I took the opportunity to nip down to the local barbers in Newton Mearns and get what's left of my hair cut.

So after seeing my first Xmas tree of the year on Friday, you can imagine my surprise and delight to see my first "Hampden to Loch Lomond 2013" t-shirt of NEXT YEAR as I clapped eyes on todays Blipfoto picture, James Birkmyre.

As I sat their grinning, James jumped in the barbers chair to have a number 4 all over, which was obviously to provide the correct aerodynamics as he kicked off his 2013 training regime.

It turns out this will be James third kilt walk and a bit like myself, James isn't a 'natural' walker. Therefore walking 26 miles isn't something he would normally do, however when he first heard about The Kiltwalk on Real Radio he thought it would be a good thing to do and there has been no holding hime back.

James motivation is his three year old daughter, who is in good health, however it made him think that if the unspeakable ever happened and she became ill, he may have to rely on some of these wonderful charities and great causes.

James has raised over £1,000 on his two previous Kiltwalks and with the help of his wife Maria and some friends he hopes to raise well over this figure next year.

He is really looking forward to next April as he says the atmosphere is great and the support from everyone including the organisers, fellow walkers and the public on the day really keeps you going and the sense of achievement at the end is amazing.

Looks like I may have to revise my "start training in March" plan :-)