Sheer Ineptitude

~~Backblip~~

This chap is an ornament that belongs to my mother. She calls him "Thinking Man." I call him "Man on Shunkie."

I thought the thinking man was quite appropriate for Tuesday's blip, as that day will go down in history, having seen the coming together of some of Scotland's greatest contemporary thinkers... but then The People Twitcher's children had more important things to do, so they left us dithering old fools to babble at the table.

I had a great day. Had an early start (it's unusual for me to see 2 seven o'clocks in one day!) to get from Tranent to Dundee for a work appointment. I made it in remarkably good time. That didn't last too long, so after that I met my friend, Martin, and he treated me to a hazelnut hot chocolate in Starbucks in the Overgate. Now I have issues with Dundee Starbucks... they are by far the steengiest I have encountered with the Hazelnut syrup. Even more so than Aberdeen. The league table looks like:

Swansea - Loads - perhaps too much, a little over-zealous
Cardiff - Quite a lot, niiiiice
Aberdeen - Meh So/So
Dundee - Really? I saw you faff about with the bottle, but why bother with your 1/2 squirt?

Anyway, it was still nice hot chocolate, and it was great meeting Martin. I left him to get his hair cut, then...

... it was off to meet said Twitcher of People! It was great to see her again after three years - the last time we'd spoken face-to-face was at our Grad Ball when we'd had a huge sometimes-ranting, other-times-meandering conversation about subjects neither of us can remember. I do remember being slightly concerned that we may have been boring the life out of poor Mr Twitcher, who seemed to have given up on trying to get a word in edgeways, but on Tuesday it was really nice to hear his considered thoughts on each and every subject we slalomed between. It was also nice, but slightly intimidating to heft the substantial weight of his fancy kit. I'll stick to my wee Pentax as it's about all my puny arms can manage!

Also in attendance was Keir, who was twitch-blipped for the day. He was also at uni with us, but we never ever had much of a chance to chat before. This is kinda sad, because I can now see that I missed out on the chance of some intellectually scintillating (and some impressively daft) conversation during that four years. However, always looking forward! He also went to school with somebody called Dave Cool, which is just awesome beyond measure.

I have rarely felt so at ease so quickly with an entire family. Normally when I say of people's children: "They're not shy," it's code for "precocious little brats." But nothing could be further from the truth, when it comes to the twitchletts. They're not shy, just thoroughly pleasant young people that it's possible to have a proper conversation with.

The weather conspired against us. It was nice and sunny while we ate sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, and lotto-crisps. Coffee and Cola were consumed. Much chat was had, much laughter too, and then Keir had to go pick up his other half. We decided it was time to head out and try for some blips... and the heavens opened. We both snapped some shots of rainbows and the like, but it seems that Gail's were as disappointing as mine. I'm just glad she got such a good shot of Keir - she's right about that being the lens for beards! I'd hoped for the chance to take her portrait, but it never really happened - again, thanks to the evil Scottish weather.

At some point I realised I'd better be getting back home. My mother had booked a table for eight o'clock in Joppa, and it was already 7, with me still in Broughty Ferry. Ambitious to say the least, but my mum is rarely on time for anything, so I decided to chance it. I got on the road, but the sat nav told me I was facing an hour and a half journey (I thought it would've been maybe an hour/75 mins). Table cancelled, and rearranged for Saturday. Not so good that I think my mum and step-dad were looking forward to going out for a meal, but still a great day :)

Is this my longest blip ever? If so, thanks and well done for getting this far ;-)