I have recently got a new mobile phone (yes another one!), a Samsung i600 free from Orange. It is a very nice phone with all the bells and whistles.

The phone got delivered to me at work last Thursday, and I quickly removed it from its box like an excited boy unwrapping his new Christmas toy. Like most gadgets, PDA’s, phones, cameras etc. the screen had a protective film. This time I peeled the film off straight away, usually I leave it for a day or two until it gets all curly at the edges and it is hard to read the screen.

I don’t know what it is about that screen film but it appears that most people leave it on for a little while, some people even leave it on for ages which starts to drive me mad as it is begs to be pealed off.

Still on a sticky subject, I used to always leave the prices on my CD’s and DVD’s, I don’t really know why, I guess I thought they may be worth more one day with the prices on, or I feared the nasty sticky gooo which is left after taking the price sticker off. One thing I did learn was not to use nail varnish remover to try and take off the sticky residue - it melts the case! This is something I found out on a PlayStation game I brought for Simon’s birthday a couple of years ago.

How long do you leave your film on? Do you leave the prices on your CD’s?

“Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.” –Groucho Marx

We are getting ready to fly back to Gatwick from Inverness. We have had a nice time in Scotland visiting my brother and it was a great pleasure meeting his girlfriend’s family, who were an extremely friendly bunch.

Despite forecasts the weather has been good allowing us to go to Loch Ness which is not far outside Inverness, the highlight being a real sighting of Nessie of which I have posted a photograph on my Facebook profile.

We also visited a castle (Claire likes castles), went shopping (Claire likes Accessorize) and went to a kilt makers where I managed to get a small sample of tartan fabric, the pattern of which would have been worn by my ‘Crichton’ ancestors, for my family history records.

I would not have been able to travel back to the south of the UK without bagging at least a couple of trig points up in Scotland. Yesterday Claire and I went on a ramble in search of three trigs, the first Dun Garbh we had to abandon mission due to the terrain being a little too steep for a ‘country stroll’. The second trig at Clune Wood was very easy, and admittedly bagged beside the road, however I think we redeemed this lazy claim after bagging Creag A Chlachain, although not a very high trig it was one huge endurance test climbing through thick heather and battling with swarms of flies buzzing round our heads, I am not kidding when I say at times our vision was impaired by these little flying beasts.

As lovely as it is and as sad we are to leave, I do not think we will be moving up to Scotland, it would be a bit of a commute to work!

“By the beard of Zeus” –Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Claire and I have flown up to Inverness, Scotland to visit my brother, David, and his girlfriend Ruth. We have all been at home in Eastbourne visiting our parents and flown up this afternoon to the picturesque highlands. So far it has been a really nice week spending time with our folks and relaxing in the long awaited sunshine!

Claire got VERY excited getting on the plane, bouncing about, I was concerned that someone had slipped her some kind of weird buzzin’ drugs. I am looking forward to the rest of the week mucking about with me little bro, going to see Nessie, eating Haggis and no doubt bagging a few trig points on top of the mountains. The view from Davids flat of the surrounding landscape is quite stunning and I am quite impressed with his little male-style pad.

“I’m just not the best at making decisions… Or am I?” –Father Dougal McGuire, Father Ted