Here’s the deal, A while ago i tried to create a forum for my local area but it’s just not taken off at all really and i’m no good at coming up with content to fill it up with and make it look ‘alive’ I did make a few fake users and tried to get them interacting in a realistic way….but completely ran out of stuff to write about
and i also had another local guy (who runs a tourist directory that my forum is hosted on) make a few and try to add stuff but he was busy with other stuff and also ran out of content.
It’s been ages now since i did anything with it and i really have to do something to try and kick start a community of somesort, and this is where you kind Xangans come in (puts on best winning smile)
If anyone has a few free moments I would really appreciate it if you could hop over to www.newskyes.com then sign up (it’s free and pretty quick and easy)
then once you’ve signed up just post something, it doesn’t have to be much or that regular (though if you could come back every week or two and add some more that would be awesome) but just adding a few more posts or topics for me and my fakes to get started on would be really handy.
To be honest i really don’t like asking anyone on Xanga to help me out with this because it feels like i’m imposing so seriously don’t feel like you have to, but if you fancy making up a few forum posts or writing a joke or even if you actually want to use a forum focused on the Isle of Skye then it would be a big help.
Put aside your wants and needs, To the noisy mind, pay no heed, Plant and grow the quiet seed, on it’s fruit your soul will feed.
For the worlds sorrows your heart will bleed, and on it’s joys you’ll fly and be freed, And when your done return to ‘me’ to play your part and serve your need.
After 10 days of travel, relatives and fun. Right now I’m pretty tired and frazzled and not quite back to normal me but it’s great to be back and able to get onto Xanga again and catch up.
Thanks to all who whished me well on my trip, it means a lot
Now for a brief run down of what I’ve been upto….
Busses, Glasgow lasses and missed opportunities: The first leg of my trip was a 14 hours bus trip down the country, this is always painful no matter what mode of transport but I actually prefer the bus to a car as it’s less vibrating and you get better views and the chance of interesting people.
From the closest town to our house to Glasgow was relatively uneventful and passed quickly, I was travelling with my bro but since we are both pretty long legged we often don’t sit together so as to get more space. The trip was lovely as the scenery is always stunning as you go through Scotland and we eventually landed in Glasgow.
Here we waited an hour before embarking on the longest overnight part of the trip that would take us to London, as is often the case the bus was fully loaded and I’d managed to get on in the first wave and claim a window seat giving me the opportunity to try and guess who would end up next to me, eventually a young Glasgow lass sat down.
Initially she was plugged into an mp3 player so we went on in silence as I tried to figure out what I should say if we do happen to strike up a conversation. A few hours later and we did end up chatting as she couldn’t find the lever to recline the seat (it didn’t seem to have one on the isle seat, so we swapped later on) and she told me she was heading for Canada to stay with a friend for a couple of months. She was friendly and nice and was infact the perfect person to sit next to she even offered me gum and shared her music player.
Unfortunately due to my lack of social fluidity and shyness I didn’t really make the most of the situation and only later realised she probably wanted more of a conversation than I offered so I have to admit to be slightly kicking my self for that but it was nice to feel comfortable with the complete stranger next to me even if I didn’t quite manage to talk all that much.
And finally after a whole night of cramped legs and half sleep we made it to London I wished my bus partener luck with her flight (forgot to ask her name…damn it) and headed off with my bro to get picked up by our uncle who was just arriving outside the station as we got there.
Family, Cars, Boats and the Special Forces. As we left London our uncles range rover sprung a leak in one of it’s many pipes and we had to get hold of many refills of water from a close by grocery store’s tap as he tried to fix it, fortunately he’s an avid engineer and managed to get us back to his relatively quickly, and we then spent several days playing boats and various other mechanical and loud things around the vast flatness that is southern England.
The best fun of the initial few days was a trip out on a river in classic motor boats (classic boats being my uncles passion) near by in Suffolk a friend of my uncles has bought a short stretch of river and lives there in a tiny shack no bigger than a caravan, he’s an interesting fellow who used to be in the SBS (Special Boat Service, a navy special force) and was rude and offensive with everything he said regularly telling almost everyone (including my 13 year old 2nd cousin) to ‘Fuck off’ Fortunately his language and demeanour was just a mannerism and meant nothing of what it sounded like and he was infact a really sharp, capable and friendly guy. He just never dropped the special forces habit of being able to rip the shit out of those around him. He even gave me three books from he large collection.
After a few minor engine issues (3 hours of my uncle fixing the engine) we got out on the river which was lovely my little 2nd cousin is mad about boats like his granddad (our uncle) so it was nice to see him having fun, and I drove one of the boats the whole day which I don’t usually enjoy but this time found really rewarding.
After that we had planned to go again but an opportunity to go to Loch Lomond and boat there came up and so the rest of the 3 or 4 days before that got filled with preparation.
Not only did we have to get the boat ready for taking but I also had to work out how an internet server worked so that I could help my Uncle host his own site and get a photographic print site uploaded that I still need to make, and on top of all that we also needed to help our Aunt lay some gravel in the front garden.
So the next few days where pretty full but we managed to get everything sorted and also amazingly got to spend some good times with everyone down there, including going out to see the fourth pirates of the Caribbean film in an almost empty cinema
It was also supposed to be almost a drought down there but even the second we arrived it actually rained most days, note heavily but it was still a lot more cloudy than it had been acording to out folks :S which was slightly annoying, at least it was sligtly warmer even if we didn’t get quite as much sun as expected.
We also had a brilliant evening playing cards with our 2nd cousins who sadly don’t really get along all that well since ones 13 and a boy and the others 16 and a girl but even so it was brilliant fun.
and we got the garden sorted pretty much and I installed the server (with lots of help from my uncle)
It’s always a bit rushed and confusing down in England i have to admit it really dose feel like an alien enviroment to me despite me being english and speaking with an english accent i’m far more comfortable now with Scotland and the scots, but it’s always nice to have the experiance and to once again be reminded of how lucky i am to live where i do.
The Journey home, Loch Lomond Wallaby’s and the midges. (My camera had run out of power at this point so sadly i have no shots of Loch Lomond, butmy bro dose and i’ll upload them later, so for now enjoy a shot of some lovely pebbles i got on the islands in the loch)
Our trip home was going to be slightly complicated by being combined with a trip to Loch Lomond and a couple days of motor boating, but it would mean we didn’t have to pay for tickets all the way from London and we’d never been to the Loch so it was an adventure.
Unfortunately it was also a bit of a nightmare, involving lots of discussion about which boat to take and some pretty tight time limits, but we headed off and it was in the end pretty fun. The first day on the loch was horrible as we’d arrived late and hadn’t had time to organise a camp site, so we spent most of the evening rushing up and down the loch trying to find one that would take us and after three failed attempts ended up sleeping in a lay-by desperately trying to setup the tent and eat a rushed dinner while midges rose in clouds around us, also at some point during this evening (or day) the front light dropped out of my uncles range rover and was lost, this did not improve his mood when it was finally discovered :S
But the next day we found a camp site and got the boat out on the water, it was gloriously sunny and we had a wonderful time boating around the islands in the Loch and hunting for Wallaby’s that somehow managed to get imported onto one of the larger islands, wandering bare foot through the trees listening for the Thump thump thump of hidden wallaby’s was great fun.
We then returned to a much more organised camping zone had a fitful dinner and as the midges once again rose fell asleep.
The following day was a sharp contrast with much lower temperature no sun and even some light rain, but even though we needed to seriously wrap up and expected to get much wetter we still ventured forth and had an equally great day boating to the very top of the loch and having lunch on a tiny island that had an ancient dungeon on it.
We then returned to Wallaby island and this time all three of us me my brother and 2nd cousin hunted then and we even managed to get a few photos, well my brother did but since my camera had run out of batteries back in Cambridge i didn’t get any.
With the final day done we headed back brought the boat in and bought some supplies to get us through the last evening, including a bottle of whiskey my bro got to say thanks to out uncle. The evening was one of the best with hardly any midges, a great meal and several mugs of whiskey that helped to raise my uncles mood considerably
The people (for the most part) were really nice to see and meet and all around our tent there were tents with small children who would come out and play together in the central field either playing football or blowing bubbles, it was great to watch.
We also met a really awkward but nice park ranger a couple times during our trips out, she was a bit odd but friendly and helpful which is always nice.
And then it was time to go, and after one last night in the tent we packed up (got bitten by midges again) and our uncle dropped us in Glasgow to catch the bus home. The trip was uneventful and quiet allowing time for us to talk and sleep a bit.
And now I’m back, with lots of stuff to get on with including at least two websites not to mention all the other projects I’ve got to get on with. I was also given a really fancy video camera that although a bit old can produce broadcast quality video, so I’ll have to get that going too and see what I can do with it.
So I hope everyone’s well and all my favourite Xangans are doing good. If there’s anything really awesome happened in the past 10 days on Xanga I’d really appreciate a link posting if you comment so that I can check out the latest stuff easier than trawling through the history.
(puts on best winning smile)
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