a day in the life of ......reynardnursery

July 2010

2010-07-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

Another season , another summer , this time it has been "June" summer that is , with long dry sunny days, as we enter July its raining again. Polish now travelling back to Poland, Thomas , Kamil and Waldek , Janka following next week back to Hungary. Nursery life will return to 6 people for the rest of the year. Work will still seem as busy as staff have been reduced and holidays taken.

My year has been blessed byfirst thermal flight handgliding, first ski holiday with Sandy and James . To date fastwer 10k time of 45.15 set at Troon , Fastest 5k at parkrun SP in 21.17 although im hoping to beat that soon. 2 half marathons this year , chris moon and bathgate also Highland fling relay, Tom scott 10 mile in 1hr 20and 10ks at Balfron, Troon, Edinburgh, Ayr and Strathclyde park with hopefully many more this year.

Highlights in the plant world, no one thing in general , but certainly a passion still in my heart for growing.

easter sunday

2010-04-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

the sadness of an other envelopes me at the moment ,

my last six months in as many words

2009-11-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

skye, dubai, texas, dude ranch, florida and old age and 2 half marathons and 8 kgs heavier

its may ..............im tooo busy

2009-05-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

nth , today a busy day , so much so i forgot what i was supposed to do , its only now ive remebered a multitude of tasks and its now after 11pm , im trying to relax with one glass of wine , im trying to think, its strange for such an apparently quiet day ive been so busy , actually achieving not very much , worrying about an early finish tomorrow incase something suffers due to concequence , but i guess it wont , after all theres email on my blackberry , or not as the case is at the moment . I checked email tonight on pc to find a whole load of stuff including a littel order that ought to have been spotted earlier . Anyway the weather is good , albeit cold at night , sales picking up slowly , labels required , sundries required barcodes requires oil required in lorry,employment details requiredfor some polish worker thats left after 2 weeks , god it takes me a month to say there names , but onre thing ive noticed , i forget things , i let things run so to speak , so do all the other compaies i deal with, so we may be small and i may make mistakes and forget things , but even the big companies do the same , even worse in my opinion. i have a tomato problem thats worrying me i have a surfinia problem thats worrying me , maybe i should google them or ask jeeves , do i brush issues under the carpet , no , we tackle them head on , or at least do our best , do i reckon we are better than most other busnessies in our field , maybe not academicaly but hey you can speak the boss whenever , not pawned off to some other (cant wait for the weekend sort of ..........) I got someone on the phone today , didnt work weekends ok fair enough but dont tell me in may and dont expect me to be nice after endless hours of work , i dont give a toss, ,, spoke to some students today , i enjoyed there company , albeit not many questions but hey ho it didnt matter , the truth be known i was probably more interested in them and there lives than they were in normal horticulture, nonetheless i hope the got some good from the trip even if it was just to sign to twitter. peter pooped in today an old college collegue unfortunatly i was busy and didnyt have the time to spent with him and margaret , its funny this time of year i feel like a doctor , people wait to see me , in my defence i have to wait to eat , today eating didnt happen ... i was to busy , one thing to poiunt out my punctuation aint perfect if it ever is then i aint wrote this ..........time for another glass of wine then sleep , my head is spinning , itll soon be june , wondering if this vocation is the best choice ...........smiling .....of course it is

Week 11

2009-03-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

Well all of a sudden the time runs out , work piles up and stress levels increase, but alas the birds are singing the sun was shining today and i m a tweeting rather than blogging.
Its that time of year when frost causes me worry , midnight checks on heaters, to find at least one has stopped working , tired mornings result in many jobs being started and few finished , none the less at least there started.
On a personal note , i hurt my leg at the weekend , ruptured calve , so my running training is somewhat curtailed this week , hopefully will resume next week without incident , that reminds me in supposed to ice it helps stop scar tissue , anyway nice sports theraphist help put things right and got to the bottom of an underlying issue ,, im a funny shape , not quiet , i run funny , well there you go people saying ive been walking funny for years now i can add i run funny too .
Any im hoping all is well for the mighty deerstalker run in 2 weeks .

its that time of year

2009-02-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

yea its seems to be that time of year again " i cant sleep " im guessing alcohol dont help jugding by last nights foray to a game of "spider" on the pc . Tonight i am hopefully managing to get you tube to take a long awaited video , i dont know how i managed to change the codex but it seems to have worked , anyway thats by the by , comic relief approaching soon , chris moyles climbing kilmonjaro , oh how i wish it was me , on the nursery front plants arriving in and stock looking good , new staff starting every week and my polish a non starter as my language cd dont seem to work , 5 years of russian just to be able to say "ab knee me meanya pazalsta" isnt exactly reassuring for my learning abilities ... its 10pm and im not tired ., at 7am this morning i was knackered anyway off to browse or is it surf , oh i might go and tweet

hanging baskets

2009-01-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

I noticed a strange thing the other day , you know when someone gets killed beside a road there is usually some momentos of the deceased life , ie football colours , flowers etc. Well i was surprised to see 2 hanging baskets hanging on the hedge that the previously unlucky person hit. What a nice way to increase sales . im wondering if the said idea could be adapeted to cemeteries.. I notice that most cemetries have at least a few of these solar powered lights appearing. My idea to add a few posts and brackets and owe what a lovely show could be created for dear departed "granny". Also this would encourage weekly visits and also maybe a national blooming cemetary competion,,, or maybe not . Just one of my ideas .

Im running again

2008-12-30T10:46:00.000-08:00

Oh its hard ,I started Christmas day with a short 2 mile run to the graveyard , admired some wreaths and realised our product only represents 2% of Larkhall cemetry. 1.5 miles run back , the next day an attempt at 4 miles but with the inclusion of a big hill it ended up at walk .
Up to date now , ran 3. 8 mile slast night so uped it to 4.5 tonight to balance out the 0.8. Ran it in 40 mins which is ok , im i reckon half a stones heavier than i was so once i loose this insulation i should ran easier. Running aint easy , its nice to finish but hellish to start.
Oh larkhall has predominatly blue christmas lights. I have been lucky that it has been frosty , thus making the dogshit somewhat frozen and thus avoiding slippy falls.
Tonight during my run in -5 degrees the aroma of chips hung in the air , oh what a joyous place Larkhall is. found this nice blog makes my running look rubbish. http://debsonrunning.blogspot.com

a first ........... www.selling .something

2008-12-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

ok ok its not rocket science but ive suddenly taken an order online for reynard nursery. I kept things simple . Simple web address on display then link on website to my email. Low and behold my first order for a holly wreath. Ok initial set up cost was in excess of £100 but that was just the banners and if its the only order then so be it , its one more order than i would have gotten and one more visitor to reynards website , a site i reckon i need to expand with little hidden gems here and there , little surprises, unlike many sites where you cant find what your looking for ,, no site in particular but on o2 i spent ages looking for a way in to my business account , i phoned the help line they guided me in , via india , .............defeats the purpose a bit .

Oh whilst im on a point ,, air miles not worth a dam unless you book 6 months in advance , that will explain why i now have 250000 of the flying things , monetary value ...........basically £1000.................. £150,000 spend for £1000 in cash .................... american express..................no wonder no one uses you. I will now do a google search ........."fly me to the moon"

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its about time

2008-11-03T15:28:00.001-08:00

about time i started writing these again, albeit in a more candid fashion, or maybe not ... we will wait and see

i kept running

2008-09-16T02:46:00.000-07:00

ok ok i started running a few years ago with Karen my next door neighbour . Be it right or wrong we kept running.

solo ... at last

2008-07-21T00:47:00.000-07:00

finally after 5 years or so coming to wallaby ranch i achieveed my goal. My first sol handglide. It started at 8am ,weather conditons good, 1st flight with Malcolm to around 1200 feet , weak link broke for no real reason , flew down and landed fine, 5 mins later straight back up again with Malcolm, i knew thta this was gonna be my last tandem , flight went well, landing a little long but hey it was cautious, cautious is safe in my books.
The minute i was down then no sooner transfered to solo glider, littel time to think or worry , 5 mins later i was in the air with just me and the little plane towing me. 10 mins of shear concentration and i was up at heightand releasedto fly free.
Flight down was so slow so peaceful, time to look around before my final decent and approach.
Landinging wasnt perfect but hey i was down, no sooner down than back up again,
in total 4 flights that morning, and later on that evening me and ryan went down and did another one each.
A nice day, a hot day a very hot day...in fact one of them days where we all are pink now , one of them days where the pool didnt feel cold.
its 4am here as i write this , seems to be a common trait, writing in the middle of the night,
my kness are hurting i dont know why,

ive been busy

2008-07-18T01:30:00.000-07:00

ok its beeen a while since i,ve writte, guess i have been sleeping well. Work has been exceptionally hard this year , my first sleeping whilst driving for a long time , or maybe im getting old , its funny , now in early forties andwondering where the years have went. Anyway im writing this in florida , i cant sleep , its 4am , well 9am uk time and ive manage to get internet connection.
First time in florida at this time of year , seems hot seems humid , seems wet , ah well , weather back home wet so no difference there. Looking forward to going to wallaby ranch in a few hours to hopefully resume my handgliding training . its dark here still , mind you it didnt get dark till 8.30 last night here which is way different from october when we are usually here.
journery out was ok flyglobespan was the carrier , couldnt fault them other than i wouldnt have let a family on that was sitting behind me , ok they were fine , just one of those people who like s to be heard and called one of her many family Deckland i also think she had her whole street out on this disney trip. I did smile at her commment that she only had wine wine on journeys due to the fact if she spilled the red wine its mark her clothes . She was wearing a size 18 dayglow white number along with the stanadrd gold bits and pieces and aquired tan from somewhere else or maybe just the local tanning shop in sheel suit land.

My running has been going on over the months . Karen and i recently ran the Crieff 10k . what a nice run that is , so scenic and a grass pitch to finish on that outshone any lawn ive seen in a while. A real fun run , faces getting familiar , well ok tommy from greenock the clown , who at 7km was still ahaead of us in full clown gear and carrying a bucket and flag. I have to conclude he must have had a 10 minute start.

Also a few weeks ago did the EK half marathon. My first half marathon. It was a drizzily day and lets face it EK aint to scenic and to run twice round it doesnt make the concrete any nicer. But we managed , so another medal to our collection. Our time wasnt great but hey theres never a rush, i was just so glad we completed it .

I suppose our best run to date was the attempt to reach tinto from our place . Karen and i managed well till i reconded we ran out of time at hyndford bridge. We ran in excess of 14.5 miles , enough to cover that distance to tinto hill. My challenge now is to do it before the year is out and climb it to after the run.
Anyway ryan has appeared up now but i must try and get more sleep before my busy day today ... Shopping i guess

no time to sleep

2008-05-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

its been a busy week this one and last , well last was busy due to press coverage of plane again ,will get links later , this weeks just been busy , was thinking seems ive be working in excess of 110 hours this week , ahh in which case in to tired tio write this in a functunal fashion , ,,,, busy tomoz up at 5 and its now 11 ,, so zzzzzzzzzzzzz for a little while , will write more soon .

the rabbit was caught

2008-04-25T03:24:00.000-07:00

alas my last run ,hoping to be 8 miles or so turned into just 0.45. on 23rd april on big bouncy black vicious labrador decided my legs shouldnt run anymore that day .
The said big dog took exception of my lycra clad legs and proceeded to bite and hold on. 14 puncture wounds later albeit probably 5 to 10 seconds the said dog was pulled away . On first inspection the wound seemed ok , but alas there were more wounds somewhat deeper , , hey i could see my bone .
It was a nice night , seen first swallow of the season and things were looking good .
Anyway i must thank Karen for taking charge of my quick departure to A@E and immmediate first aid . Tricia had to endure the long wait at hospital.
3 hours wait later i was bandaged and sent a packing . A pretty horrible night of pain followed but now all seems better and hoping to run tomorrow albeit prob only 10km .
Lessons to be learned , dont trust dogs , especially ones that have bitten me before. Lesson for person in charge .... dont trust dogs and please please make sure the dog knows its done wrong by at least beating it up a little rather than let it toodle back home with the taste of fresh marrow bone and blood in its mouth.#

was this traumatic .... yes ... to me ...karen and tricia as for the dog well i have my doughts whether it should be allowed to rome loose

run rabbit run

2008-04-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

ok its not a rabbit thats running , its me , what seemed an impossible dream a year ago now seems plausable..... a marathon,
recently runs have been getting longer , the tom scott ten mile race seems to ahve been the key to running futher. A race me and my running prtner karen completed 2 weeks ago in 1 hour 25 mins , ok we werent the quickest , far from it the quickest was 50 mins a time when we were at 6 miles . Anyway last weekend i did my first 13 miles albeit with a little fall and dare i say it severe nipple pain .... new to me but hey it was a good run done in 2hrs 20 mins , the next challange will be 16 miles this saturday , maybe to lanark and back , aparently we should be running up to 40 miles per week, as business is busy at this time id settle for anything above 20 but 30 would be idea , leaving the 40 odd miles to summer , but then we avent run in real heat as of yet the weather has been cool so running has been relatively stress or sweat free.
now im getting the urge to enter yet more races 10km offers the chance to bring our overall time down and with the added bonus that they are well supported and friendly races, its not the time its more the taking part , but its always nice to get a pb .
Soon my dreaded lycra will be gone to be replaced by shorts , my white legs bared to the world , having said that im quiet attached to lycra, ok my legs are thin but do i care , no matter how much squats and weights ive used in the past theyve always been thin, another side effect of running is weight seems to be falling , no bad thing id guess , althought now lost 12kgs i think its about time i didnt loose any more . the combination of work, cooking and running seems to be the best diet plan around, i must add overall appitite has deminished as well, still i love chocolate and the sugar rush hasnt changed.
Do overall do i feel better , of course , i sleep better and the running gives escape from the stresses of business and a sense of achievement. I must add its cheap and run here there is a wonderful array of paths and roads to run , each offering something new to see at a lesser pace than cars. So heres looking forward to my first marathon and hoping we can do it in a reasonable time... i can suddenly see the addiction to this sport ..... its fun ....life is fun on the run

death by text

2008-04-07T13:04:00.001-07:00

Its a few weeks ago now since a text arrived from my sister saying Holly has passed away. Ok Holly was one of our dogs when i was at "Trotterbank". Chips sister in fact, the very dog my wife saved from an early doomed swimming career.
Yet suddenly its passing resulted in a simple text. At first i thought how insensitive of my sister. I tried telling Tricia about Holly and suddenly found i couldnt speak, ...................one of them "Lassie" film moments when something gets in your eyes.
I now understand why the news was passed on this way ,.......... its easy , easy to block out the emotion that we hate to share .
Anyway i sit here watching "cookie" and "crumble" our newest dogs begin there life, hopefully filled with what can only be described as "a dogs life"

one of them daysssssss

2008-03-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

you know its been one of them days , when everything seems to get worse as the day goes on , firsty before the day has even started i had this weird dream about unblocking a toilet which makes me wretch in my sleep only to be woken by my dear wife hitting me , now ive never ever had a dream thats nearly made me sick ......or for that matter anything else .....

early rise get up at 6 to sort out some plug plant orders , ok its been a learning year in the plug selling market , but learning seems to cost me money and there is only so much learning i want to do ........ ................

thereafter a nice bright sunny day , but increasingly windy and cold , tonight i sit here with 2 jackets on with the prospect of writing an invoice in the cold dispatch office .

Anyway we occasionaly get credit claims from certain customers , i personally hate them , because usually there not our fault , but alas this case they were , now there comes a time when i just want to shout and tell the world to bugger off ,,, i was close to this ... probably the best way to stop this is to keep me away from a phone , but alas no sooner has the email been read then the phone was lifted ,, people say you should count to 3 ... id need to count to about 3000 today ,,,,,,,,, a VERBAL SHOUT ON EMAIL DONT HAVE THE SAME EFFECT , and anyway a email written in anger isn,t necessary good for business.

So in short i have survived another day , alas one of my staff havent , when they dont turn up for 3 days we assume either death or they dont want to work . I think the latter is the case here.

i got a surprise las t week when our youngest member of staff told me the job wasnt what he expected,,,,, i think he meant he thought work involve getting paid for doing bugger all , well im sorry if anybody is doing bugger all it will be me. Anyway he then asked for his wages i considered docking a £50 administration charge but since he was only owed £20 i paid him .

Good luck young man in future work and if you need a refernce , mine are always honest .

i am tired today

2008-03-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Never slept much last night , an early start 4.30 am means i tend to wait for the alarm to ring and then when it does its a heartless case to get out of bed . Anyway today i had reason , Firsty an early morning delivery to Glasgow market , the first for 2 years , oh how i havent missed that . Then secondly 7.30 pick up to take a R44 helicopter to Aberdeen for a 50 hours service , well its been a few months since ive flown , oh i hastnt to add Im no pilot Mr C was piloting for an acquantance I was merely along for the ride . Weather was good and trip took just over 1 hour and scenery fantastic .
A quick little breakfast at Aberdeen airport and back to Kintore to await final checks and back home by 2pm . I have to say I, m knackered now though and guess what , severe frost tonight so a 2 am check on heaters sometimes followed by 5 am check ... you know life has its rewards, as in todays flight but its tough as well .

I digress to AOCB of the day

My accountant emailed me to ask if my staff were male or female , he guessed using there first names as a start , well 2 out of 3 wrong ..... now margaretiov is female i thought that might have been easy ,,, maybe i should start doing the sums now as well .....
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

oh i am quiet excited as well had my first blog read in USA in texas ,,,, ah bugger thats where my brother stays ..............and first in Australia ..............ah ripper thats where my Aunty stays .

Sport relief 2008

2008-03-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well today I ran my second 10km run this time in aid of sport relief. Myself and running partner Karen finished the run in 52mins and 9 seconds . A nice fun event and good day had by all , even the weather was good .... well dry . All in all we raised over £1000 pounds between us for sport relief. Money going throughout the world to good causes. We are pictured here with the MBT shoe team .

things that make me smile ........once in a while

2008-03-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hyacinths a happy scent , reminds me of christmas,

Sweet peas memories of childhood and growing my first plants.

Stock again memories of childhood planting these purely for the scent .

Orange blossom takes me back to when i was 14 in Australia near Mildura.

Honeysuckle... summer pony treks along hedgerows .

Lime blossom.. recent discovery beautiful scent on a still summer night .

The first cut of grass always nice to know summer has arrived .

Rocabar soap ok its not natural but i beautiful scent nonetheless.

Little Poland

2008-03-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

Week 10 now over and I have to say life is getting busy staff now up at 15 compared with 4 a few weeks ago. It is strange to notice that our youngest recruits seem to be the illest. No sooner have they started work that theyre off ill. Modern living maybe , maybe i should take them out on a run to improve theyre fitness...........maybe not , I remember doing that before and well going by the gym training im used to , if i inflicted that on such staff I think fatalities might ensue . Public liabilty insurance ...........grey area there......
Now this year more than ever we have a polish element to our staff , i say element looking at it nearly all, .... me wondering when thailand is joining the european communion, happy country thailand .... happy faces and sawaddii ka and cup koon ka ....... so much easier than polish.
Having spent years trying to learn a decent amount of Russian I am now faced with the fact that all i know is useless , our Polish staff no bugger all Russian , so "ab ne me meanya pazalsta" means sweet nothing to them , maybe its a good job.
Anyway the slow repeatitive manner i have of learning any word outwith english is painfull to all.
It was commented at the local supermarket that the reason they had no Polish staff was they couldnt understand English , well I think they can understand its jist he wisha dialect that has them confused....... like wise me to sometimes.
So business wise , weather shitty as ever with a major storm forecast for tomorrow . Oh i hope its not to bad , this year has seen high wind levels and our little glasshouses dont like it , let alone or next door neighbours x polyethene tunnel.
Plugs sales are now beginning to show there true nature as we find our feet , initial uncertainty resulted in complete balls up of orders. As i seen in kenya many years a go , chalk and blackboard did the same job as computor , and in Kenyas case a lot better than my multitude of files.
Overll this year Spring is late in the buying format, So far the wind has been windier , the rain heavier and my junior staff iller than usual .

Roadkill

2008-03-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

I seen a little pigeon the other day all be it dead on the road, and it got me thinking , its life wiped out in a single second, roadkill is never easy for me to accept. A deer a few years ago lieing on the road , broken leg but still alive , only to be destroyed later .
The most recent is two dogs on orange blossom trail in orlando florida , obviously playing on the road but both lying dead amongst the passing cars a very sad sight.
A plastic bag dumped in the road with what appeared to be an animal inside , again i guess this because the contents were somewhat visable .
Why i ask am i so upset by such everyday sights , well maybe its because many years ago i ran ove my own little dog .."sky" i will never forget seeing its little body in my rear view mirror ........... lifes a bugger sometimes when deaths an accident .

guess what i cant sleep again

2008-02-28T16:17:00.001-08:00

Seems like a common problem , insomnia well att his time of year anyway ok its only just after midnight but i should be sleeping . Anyway these blogs or at least some of them should be a record or the business im in , so in years to come i can refer back with fond memories , ok just memories then.
Right technically we are now on week 9 ,getting busy now prims are selling well although we seem to have less than normal, i think this is because more containers are being done, labels as ever arent ordered but im working on it ,, ongoing process , trying to rent accomidation for some polish workers that worked last year , this renting is new to me and seems to be governed by its own unique set of rules , ie expensive and not the easiest to find as we go to press im am averaging £400 pcm and thats unfurnished .
Back to business , first open day tomorrow , we cash and carry open day , maybe thats why i cant sleep , maybe not , things have been planned out well and i have had little to do with it .having said that nothing is straightforward and i see trouble ahead .
Weather a great british concern , well to be honest its no worse than usual just seems to have been a windy year to date , just makes my running phaze all the more difficult nonetheless i seem to gain a sense of timeout from running that has been mising in the previous years. Who cares that lycra and my legs dont go , you might i dont anymore , being forty something now makes me wonder where the years have went , lately its not just the years more the weeks too seem to be rushing by.
So one of my annual nights out tomorrow , sportsmans dinner at lanark this time on behalf of the rotary club of carluke , always a good male night, meal and then speakers talking about a subject i know very little about .... sport , but its funny and filled with jokes i can never remeber in the morning,, usually i cant remeber the morning , but this year i intend to be a little more reserved with my alcohol intake ... must be age creeping up on me ..
Ah was in glasgow today , had to park and required change to make sure parking meter wasnt ripping me off , anyway luckily someone was there wanting change , his poor cup only had coppers , but my request to change a pound coin for a fifty pence was soon accomidated . so i look apon his marketing stragergy as the old ppolystyrene cup and the few coppers , or does he just know that having parked my car i dont want it damaged in anyway , who knows but selling his situation he did well.
the only other reference to begging for money i have was way back when a young , very young 14 ish boy came up to me in edinburgh asking for money , hed been in town to buy his sister a present and lost his busfare home to fife ,, in tears he was , turns out the very same boy 3 months later approached me with the same story ,, owe how i felt so ripped off , the little boy felt somewhat tense from my grip round this collar.........lesson learnt ,,, i thought so , but life will con us all at one point or another ,,,, its sad but thats life aint it ...................so much for my business like blog

its one of those cant sleep blogs

2008-02-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

lying in bed my mind is turning and im thinking, laughter apparently keeps us young, well I laugh a bit , my staff may say otherwise, but i do, but if i think back to when laughter was painful , rel laughter , laughter as a child when it hurt , when you curl up and cry just with laughter, , thats a rare occurance, so much so im thinking when was the last time, well i remeber must be 5 years ago , have to admit influenced by drink , but something so insignificant resulted in uncontrolable laughter, unfortunatley not shared by all , but me and another hurt with laughter.
another time in kenya , again something in nothing resulted in painful laughter, contagious in its effect resulting in histerics amongst the few.
on the opposite side i look at sadness , a deep emotional sadness luckily to date those events have been few , but one will stay with me forever , im sure we all have had a day when time has stopped , for me was when i ran over my dog , killing him instantly , i memory so clear even after 16 years , that day stood still and on reflection they have been more days like that than laughter, ok im looking at the extremes in emotions not to be confused by everyday events.
Images can provoke the same sense of emotion , there is one that sticks in my mind , a child and a vulture , i remember first seeing it in the midst of may during our hellish 100 hour 8 day weeks , the never ending workload, the never ending ringing of the phone , the madness of commerce and then a little picture of a child and this vulture stopped my life, albeit for a thought and tears of sadness ran down my face . A single image stopped my life for a second the same feeling when my dog was killed a raw emotion that makes us who we are . coincidently the picture tells half the story , the photography regreted walking away and couldnt live with it. do i have a moral in all this ......... no ..........its just reflection ..... i cant sleep ..

the picture and story you can see ... just google "child and vulture picture"

technology

2008-02-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

Well this latest technology is new to me and I dont know if i can use it that well. But as ever I am keen to experiment and if you are wondering what it is , you will need sound. It is my first attempt at talking about a picture. I see potential especially with the convair project., but for now it has taken me ages to get this far and i havent done what i was supposed to do . Anyway i hope it works .

Cant sleep

2008-02-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

Common thing at this time of year , to much on my mind , so I cant sleep , Nytol , no thanks makes me dizzy and if you miss the drowsy bit 20 mins in it has opposite effect , anyway seems like Ive spent one and a half hours tidying up our website . It is now more organised with an index page , nothing fancy with flash and gimmicks just a list of links with other links that eventually gets the page , hopefully by now most people will use back button rather than me inserting another back link . So i was thinking just last night , when i was but a lad at primary school and keen to integrate , life was not that easy , at football or for that matter most sports , i was the last to be picked to play and even then destined for the goals . Funny now when it comes to interviewing potential workers i find myself in the opposite position. The same rules apply or are we allowed to adopt the same rules , probably not . Am i now allowed to tell people they re not good enough to be in my team , or destined for the goals , I dont think so ............find another team I think. Is this part of the circle of life ........................lifes what you make it ,, it cant be tails all the time ....................heads i win .

spring is here..... well today anyway

2008-02-12T08:53:00.001-08:00

What a difference a little sun makes , people smile , well i do , and work seems more pleasant , sun is a good thing , feel good factor and when we are in the summer then its need to be feel factor 15 or so . Anyway our little plants seem to like the nice weather to , the green is greener there flowers brighter and of course the buying public more interested .
A variety of customer plants make there way thro here and its been noticed that Focus the DIY store seems content in offering buy one get one free and in the case of conifers buy 1 get 2 free ,, fair enough , i question the fact does the public or buying customer need two . I have been prone to fall for this but i end up with 2 when i only need one , not so good for the enviroment .
Anyway i notice lots of companys have little saying now like tesco " every little helps " and iceland " mums go to iceland " ok something like that .. i reckon we need one , i did mention to a supplier today that they might adopt "keeping china busy " withen there logo .. i have to confess our nursery has been know as little russia ,,, but im afraid to say its more like little poland now and by all accounts glasgow is big poland . Big issue sales people , ity may be an idea to publish a polish language addition .......... time i stopped writing before i get myself into trouble

Speadsheets

2008-02-07T04:11:00.000-08:00

yesterday was a long day .............................my battle to redo a spreadsheet begun in ernest , figures had to be changed .......... now i reckon i need a widescreen monitor so all the figures fit in the one screen , having battled with freeze window and finally mastered it later on in the day , i could sense it wasnt going to be easy .
For speed i decided to edit on pages and copy and paste it to the other worksheets that corresponded .................not a good idea suddenly newcastle figures were birminghams , glasgows were ayr , but luckily undo edit manage to work it s way thro the 20 odd inputs.
Colour was another tool i adopted , lets make each worksheet a separate colour . Good idea until you print in black and white , nonetheless a quick phone call soon ordered new colour printer.
Its like everything in this world if you do something often enough it becomes second nature , the problem is running your own business means i have to do a wide ranch of things but not very often ... so all to often the red tape of the world we live in cant be solved with a quick phone call it now requires endless forms of one code or another the latest being required CT41G by her majesty ..... now if it was a pink one then i might find it easier ..................................just a little idea

scared.....................obviously

2008-02-05T04:28:00.000-08:00

It was with amusement that i see some passengers on the troubled 777 at heathrow are seeking legal advice on sueing. British Airways in there wisdom have offered the traumatised passengers a "fear of flying " course ...... now call me stupid but after surviving a plane crash that isnt supposed to crash to be offered a course on how ton how to overcome the fear of whats not going to happen , when it happens is beyond me .. ok my explantion and grammer aint to clever there but you know what i mean .. I think BA might have aggrivated their situation somewhat.

Takes me back to my parachuting days and the fear i had to overcome ,, a fear which would make me feel sick prior to jumping , but still full in the knowledge that the chute will open ... alas not this is never guarenteed so hence the fear . By again its the fear that made me do it , again and again and once that fear goes then is there any reason to jump, the adrenaline rush gone , well it does go so skydivers push themselves to another level and other skills to keep that rush alive.

Alas my once a year skydive this year met with the same antrepitation, ok only a tandem but as i sat in the plane i wondered why ... why am i doing this again, the mere fact someone was killed two days prior jumping from the said same aeroplane didnt help , but the waivers were signed and the jump completed and that rush of adrenaline made the day complete .

I do think that the crew and passengers of that fatefull flight would have had a similar rush with an added amount of shock to make there day unforgetable .

Well BA its not the fear of flying its the fear of dieing .

quotes ........i like quotes

2008-02-03T01:31:00.000-08:00

These arent mine i found them on another blog , some made me laugh
here are some that i enjoyed..... takes me back to my college days when id compose the odd little saying , etch them on a desk and sign as "sky" .. in my enthusiasm i used to print them up and post them about the college , thus creating the wonder of who is sky , , not that difficult to find out considering my attire at Auchincruive was somewhat none conformist to put it mildly in its farming enviroment.
Sort of a cop out copying other peoples work but my mind is blank , probably the whisky last night.

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live. Mark Twain

I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting. Mark Twain

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. Mark Twain

When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. Mark Twain

Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform. Mark Twain

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure. Mark Twain

Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret.

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated. Alec Bourne

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything. Bill Lyon

I can see a world without hate, without violence and without war. Then I can see us bombing that world cuz they wouldn't expect it.

no-one is a virgin - life screws us all.

war doesn't determine who's right, it just decides who's left

the believer is happy. The doubter is wise.

for every winner, there are dozens of losers. chances are you're one of them.

it hurts to admit when you make mistakes, but when they're big enough, the pain only lasts a second.

in the battle between you and the world, bet on the world.

it could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others…so naive

we are born naked, wet, and hungry. then things get worse.

don't lie - the government hates competition

I don't believe in stereotypes. I prefer to hate people on a more personal basis.

some people say we live in the best of all possible worlds. the scary part is that they might be correct.

i'd like to do my part to make the world a better place, but murder is illegal

i don't discriminate - i hate everyone equally

i hate life, i hate death, and everything in between just doesn't interest me.

those who live by the sword are shot by those who don't

“suicide hotline, please hold”

"I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada." - Britney Spears

War does not determine who is right, war determine who is left.

To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. To the plumber, any liquid in the glass is potential income.

When your a fat little kid, there are no more see-saws...only catapults

I have the body of a god... unfortunately its Buddha

I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either.

There are 3 kinds of people: those who can count and those who can't.

Support bacteria, it's the only culture some people have.

They told me I was gullible, and I believed them.

"F u cn rd ths u cnt spl wrth a dm!"

well having looked at this persons blog , its more a diary ,, or everyday life , i was impressed 4 years and still running maybe 600 odd posts and i hasten to say not little posts either so thank you "backseat driver" for the quotes and the song Joeseph arthur and "honey and the moon". one of these never heard songs that has a certain quaility .

another month

2008-02-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

i am wondering how to boost my enthusiasim these days, i reckon a little sunlight might help, or maybe the bird singing for spring , that always makes me smile, maybe the smell or new plants in the glasshouse and the change of colour in the grass. A few months yet before the trees turn green and nights get short . Now i started running last year bout this time and now after off and on kept it up, now suitably attired in lycra much to the horror of the mirror i look at , looking like a cyclist without the bike and funny thick bit on the bum . The high viss yellow makes it even more annoying for the cars who now can see me between there mobile phone texting . invaribly running is boring and having not mastered my ipod the same 3 songs become repetitive and one of my ears must be funny shape due to fact little earphone falls out . well where does this running talk lead to ,, sore knees and hips at moment and whether glucosamine works or not i forget to take it half the time , my 2 mile runs are now 4 miles going on 5 with a 7.5mile done recently , im keen to run 10 but whether or not i should build to this or just battle on with my runing partner im unsure , im tending to think training but treadmill training is mighty boring albeit we have our own, but running looking at urself in a mirror seems to make 1km seem like 1mile and god forbid ever running more than 40 mins on one , i did try and run backwards to break the routine , not a good idea and now im thinking if it possible to skip on one , needless to say i will let u know . another downside of running is the hills , but on the + side what u run up always means a run down on way home or if u do it in reverse then the opposite applies . Various methods of tackling hills have been tested , but i have to say chit chat is generally a no ... breathing is hard enough although "i spy" would work. i am rabbling on due to the fact im not going on holiday tomorrow but mrs is........... and i cant sleep . also i do apoligise for spelling ect ... what u read is what u get.. its me with my midnight brain . on a final note i must thank my running partner for putting up with my plodding along and general chit chat , i have to conclude that without her my first 10km would not have been run and my goal of half marathon not comtemplated. My 2 mile runs would still be 2 miles , so thank you k for pushing that extra mile.

where does the time go

2008-01-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

where does the time go .................simple in january its dark , just seems to be slept away , difficult to get motivated in such a month and i had a theory that because there is no leaves on the trees and photosynthesis has all but given up , does this mean there is less overall oxygen in the air compared to summer when everything is growing like weeds, we its my theory anyway , im drinking to much co2 ok breathing , but then there is the question what do fizzy drinks do for my oxygen levels in the blood.
I once read the vitaim bible whilst at college , before i new it suddenly i was doing bout 20 pills a day , each one to balance this , other to balance that , maybe the reason why holland and barret are doing so well , by the way anyone who can offer 75% of glucosamine range is potentially charging to much in the first place .
I also see that focus are offering this week special deal on conifers, buy 1 get 2 free , ok ok the one you need to buy costs 19.99 but the other 2 are free and those you can give to freinds .
been trying to get inspired for the new season , things to do list , endless paper to file , russian language to master , ok ive been trying that for 5 years but one day it might all come together , bit worrying when my sabakas (dogs) respond better than me to varying russian commands from my british russian staff . oh yea just when im thinking about it why can we have the extra day every leap year in may or june when weather is better , feb can just be as shitty as jan .

life and death

2008-01-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

its having been to a few funerals lately , i begin to question my own mortality , does death scare me , in the past yes , how it will yes , what will i miss , when will it happen ,who will miss me , who will appear at my funeral , well i reckon when at any funeral we all must ask ourselves similar questions. Alas i am still undecided on the music, wherether moorcheba "rome wasnt built in a day" will be appropriate or " Whiskey Lullaby" or dare i say it "3 wooden crosses" a classic country song only recently discovered by our family . But again as i think time evades me and normal duties now apply , picking up of kids from gymnastic practice oh and the cooking i did early requiring more than a bit of cleaning.

saturday 27th january 2008

2008-01-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

A wet cold windy day today in essence january has been like this most of the time , difficultto get motivated these days but im sure that will change as light levels and daylenght increases. None the less it seems difficult to get excited bout the coming season . This is my first blog and is experimental in a sense as John Stanley reckoned that businesses should now use the likes of blog U tube and photos as in yahoo flicker . Anyway maybe im still feeling the adverse effects of my night out last night ..

27th

2008-01-27T04:28:00.000-08:00

Ok ok i figured if i take a pic on a weekly bases like this as i do the weekly plant pics then i can watch myself getting old . Or a least watch my hair disappearing, Anyway 4 mile run this morning alone , my ipod packed in just after mile 1 , it just sort of froze and there appears to be no reset buttons , anyway it wouldnt even switch of.

Now got a bit of paperwork to do today and some tidying up aftert he storm we had a few weeks ago . Very mild today , cloudy as ever and now i hear the first hints of spring , little birds a singing , they brought a smile to my face as i ran along . Anyway still trying to find a direction for my blog , wondering if anyone will read it or if it will be worth reading , i could be oppinionated but that might cause offence , nonetheless i do speak my mind . Work awaits and monday is close , oh another week but then as we get into feb the light makes thins seem better and my little plants seem to change to a nicer colour of green , hopefully i will change colour to ........... a nice bronze colour will be nice but i reckon needa little more ssun for that .