Ebb tide from the mouth of the River Ness, where it meets the Beauly Firth. Some gulls having a wash, and a Port side channel marker for boats/ships entering Inverness harbour and marina.

Beautiful day today - sunshine, unseasonally warm, and dry for a change. There's more forecast too, for the next few days.

Cycled into Inverness for: an overdue haircut; a swim; and some shopping. It always seems strange travelling along my work cycle route, at a different time of day from normal. The sun's in the "wrong" place (heck you can see it, for a change!), the traffic's different, and a host of other things too. Did a few good deeds along the way - clearing a couple of verge drains so that water flowed off the road; cleared some large branches from the cyclepath, along with some bits of broken glass. All little things that are potential hazards (and annoyances) for myself, and others. I'll try and keep doing a good deed of the day for a while, however small. Something achieved so far his year, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it a resolution.

The swim started well, nice and relaxed, but too many weeks off, and an excess of inactivity lately, soon slowed things down. Lots of sore bits now.

A dozen or so Waxwings flying about the neighbourhood. My neighbours on one side (serious Twitchers!) were trying to persuade me to take some photos of them. But even with my longest lens, and a teleconverter, I knew I wouldn't be close enough to be near filling the frame with them. Different if they're in your own garden.

My neighbours on the other side, have sold their house. Well near enough. They move out at the end of the month. So lots of sorting stuff out going on. It'll be sad to see them go. Met them years before moving here, through involvement with the local swimming club - me doing the electronic timing, and other bits-n-pieces. When I did move here, I opened the door as they did the same, and a daft conversation ensued...

  Surprised neighbour, "Hi there!"
  Me, similarly surprised, "Oh hello! What are you doing over here?"
  "I live here! What are you doing here?"
  "Well well. The bad news is, I'm your new neighbour!"

No falling out over the years. Must be over twelve now. Shows how observant I am, that I hadn't noticed the sign change from "For Sale" to "Under Offer." For those unfamiliar with how the Scottish property system works, that basically means a Buyer's made an offer that's been accepted by the Seller. And other than the transferring of monies, and keys at the entry date, it's a done deal. Only a few have problems over this stage.

Lift to Elgin tomorrow for lunch with my folks, and my younger brother's family. Haven't been over there for a very long time - usually it was just for 10k running events. The last time I did one in Elgin must've been about 1998. Scary how time flies...