i'm not sure if any one still checks this...

but here goes. It's been well over a year since my last post. Lots happened, most (if any) who read this will already know my life story so nae need to post the details. On Rum again doing some work with Sandy (building houses and extensions) while I wait to hear about the funding situation in New York. Just got in from a wee canoe adventure around the bay... the fish aren't biting. Off to play Risk with mates and call it an early night as work starts tomorrow.

still laughing

Saturday night, 6pm and it's been incredibly dark for well over an hour now. Forgot how quickly the night creeps up on you over here... or, more accurately, up here. Just got back from a long walk outside Musselburgh and into Dalkieth forest. Life's been moving incredibly quickly as of late and I felt the need to stop and take stock.

Didn't come to any profound conclusions and life altering decisions, in fact I don't think anything came of my wanderings, but the walk itself was nice. It also served to stretch out a rather painful calf injury I incured while out running Wednesday. Actually the real painful bit occured after the run in the shower while I was stretching it - felt something shift. (this was about 3 hrs before I was to go out on a wee pub crawl involving a brief stop at the smallest pub in Edinburgh located conviently off the longest set of stairs in Edinburgh).

So... what's new? Lots. First, I am finally a Visiting Lecturer at Queen Margaret University. For the moment I'm more of a psychology support staff, running stats labs and providing some support for student dissertations (to come), but next semester I am actually teaching the evolutionary psychology module... which is uber sweet. The campus is brand spanking new and comes complete with all the hassle and confusion surrounding new buildings and the move from the previous location. That's why it took almost a month for me to finally get on board. But now I have my own desk, pc, phone, and shelving units to place all the books I'll never read. Going to the staff christmas party on Dec 5th. Lol. Everyone is super nice, and I'm looking forward to good conversations over coffee (which I still can't drink). All this and the campus is a 8 minute walk from George and Yvonnes.

Second. I'm staying in Edinburgh until the new year. For various reasons, financial and personal, it makes much more sense to stay put for the moment, and then move to Stirling when I come back from Canada in January. Met a mate, Brian, through Jack and plan to move in with him. Last Friday (wow, seems like ages ago) he and I met up in Glasgow for a concert; The National. It was a mint show. Afterwards I was toying with the idea of going with him to Stirling for a party, but decided to be responsible and get the last train home to Edinburgh. Best decision ever, and brings me to the third new thing.

Usually on the train I stick my headphones in and let the likes of Judas Priest, Mudvanye or Morphine entertain me. However, there was some good banter going on around the train. It was packed with drunk people (myself included) and laughter. Had some random conversations with two guys who just saw the Verve, a couple of older ladies who were passing around a bottle of wine and hugs, and two friends (Kirsty and Allen) that also saw the National. As it turns out, Kirsty is good friends with Chainsaw Dave who currently resides on Rum. It's a small world indeed. Anyhow, after that bit of info came out the three of us decided to go to another gig in Edinburgh and eventually I got home at 4:30 in the morning. Told you I was responsible ;)

Been out with Kirsty several times since, also till obscene hours (got in a half six this morning) and really seem to hit it off with her. Started last night with George and Chris for a chinese dinner, then Garreth joined us at a local pub for some pool (I reigned sumpreme and left undefeated to meet up with Kirsty and her friends in the city). Great time. At 4:30am we were playing amongst the leafs in an ancient graveyward somewhere along Princes St at the bottom of Edinburgh Castle. Not rushing things and there are no labels attached; it's just incredibly nice to meet someone that I get along with under such random and uncharacteristic circumstances. Watching a movie with her tonight.

Long and short? I've had a big, goofy, Canadian grin on my face and a spring in my step all week.

landing on my feet

Had an interesting last few days. Got an email from the Head of the Psychology department at Queen Margarets Uni asking if I'd be interested in applying for a Visiting Lecturer post (covering maternity leave this semester). Ummm... yes please.

This morning I walked to the campus, as it's literally 5 minutes away, and had an 'informal chat' with two psych lecturers while standing in a parking lot. Why the car park? Well the campus isn't finished and it was technically illegal for me to be on the premise, and the student run pub wasn't opened yet. I actually prefered the outdoor setting - fresh air kept me sharp. As it turns out it wasn't so much as an interview but an outright offering.

As for my resposibilities? I would provide support for first and second years with stats and research methods courses. I have no idea what the hours and the pay are, and don't care (to be worked out later this week). The coolest thing is that come next semester there is an evo psych module running and it was hinted that I may be able to get more involved in that. For my first academic interview I must say it went well. No nerves, just genuine excitment. My CV was 'impressive', which was really nice to hear, and they seemed keen to get me onboard (suggsting various other courses I could assist with). Just when I thought my training was useless...

Sometimes I can't help but sit back and laugh.

quick update for anyone who still bothers reading this...

Went to Liverpool for a few days last week. Said goodbye to Robin (moving to Oxford) and hit up the Cavern Club with some friends, which is always a good night out. Back in Edinburgh now and getting ready for my National Insurance number interview somewhere in the city this afternoon. (don't worry, I'll find the place).

Got some disappointing news on the weekend - without formal training in philosophy (ie another Masters) the Philosophy department at Stirling won't take me on as a PhD student. This was to been expected. However, I am travelling to St. Andrews some time next week to meet another interested professor and discuss ideas. Hopefully this pans out...

George has been kind enough to give me a weeks work starting on Wednesday. Mad hours (10-11/day) but good pay.

back in Scotland

Alright... so the MSc foray is over. Handed in the dissertation on Friday, went to the pub, recovered on Monday. As you do. Final thoughts? Well worth it. Strong friendships, good contacts, feel mildly more edumacated, ready for the next step.

Which of course begs the question. Unfortunately I don't have concrete answers at this point. I am back in Musselburgh, staying with George and Yvonne (and Chris) for the time being while I sort out CVs, National Insurance numbers and various other incidentals that creep up when you're a foreign national seeking working in this bureaucratic nightmare of a country.

Yesterday I started by asking myself what I wanted from this coming year. First on paper was the 'recapture the feeling I had while on Rum (minus Annie)'; the intense feeling of being alive that comes with outdoor activity. I was happiest in that position. As I searched through mountains of office job postings, library positions, soft drink salespeople blah blah blah, I realized two things. One, if I had an engineering degree I would be making well over £50 000 this year. Two, Rum is an odd place, and it is unlikely that a lowland city could substitute for the island experience.

Now, many of you might be thinking 'Ian's lost the plot and heading back to Rum.' I can assure you this is not the case. Instead, I've done what any sensible individual would do and applied for a job in a even more remote part of Scotland... Stornoway on Lewis (a proper Hebridean isle). The position is with a mink eradication program that SNH is running in the outer isles (for a conservation organization SNH sure loves to kill off mammals in abundance). From what info I have it involves walking 10-20km a day and doing something with mink (collecting bodies?). Don't really care. It's a 5.5 month post running from Nov 17 to Mar 28th and pays about £14 000. I figure it's a sound way to recharge my batteries and pay off my student debt. So here's hoping.

Of course the job on Stornoway is far from a sure thing, despite my previous dealings with SNH, so I still plan to move to Stirling and find something to keep me busy. I'm also eagerly waiting feedback on several of my ideas from a philosophy prof at Stirling Uni, which could weigh heavily on my plans for the next several years (been several weeks now, dammit!)

that's all folks.

the tentative plan

Stirling... heading there in September to look for a job while I sort out PhD and funding issues. I've always loved Scotland and it's high time I do what I want to do. Stirling is a beautiful place and in the ideal location - close to Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Highlands. Quality.

I've heard back from some of the profs I contacted last week, and things look encouraging. Later today I'm having a phone conversation with someone at St. Andrews (who co-authors papers with Noam Chomsky on the evolution of language) regarding potential projects next year. Also, someone in the Philosophy department at Stirling Uni is interested in reading my theory in order to decided whether or not I could enter the PhD in Philosophy program without any formal philosophical training. Need to put a rush on that one as a copy must go to yet another individual at St. Andrews as well (who specializes in Niche Construction theory).

Project is coming along fine. Got my control group data yesterday. Only thing is I'm not too sure how to analyze my data set. Time to visit Robin. Next week I'm heading to Edinburgh for a few days to hit the festival with George and Yvonne. It also gives me an opportunity to start carting some of the junk I've amassed out of Liverpool and up north.

I'm doing well. Thanks to those who have sent emails and what not... it's always nice to hear from friends and family, and know that one is not alone despite being thousands of kilometres away.

A slight de-railment

Annie and I are finished.

I could go on about being in different places and wanting different things but the long and the short is that Annie was having doubts, and after some fierce introspection I agree. I loved her deeply, more than anyone else so far, but that in itself doesn't make it 'right'. Our interests were diverging. We ended things amicably, finishing off with a trip to the cinema to watch the latest installment of Harry Potter. I may see her in September as she always did promise to show me Hadrians Wall. Until then it's best to stay out of touch if we're to finish our respective projects in relative mental harmony.

I'm ok. It was rough couple of days (happened Wednesday, we talked about it since Sunday) but my mates here have been top notch. I was never one to lean on people in times of personal hardship, but now I see the folly of my previous ways... it makes all the difference in the world. A big shout goes out to Dave and Jack, always willing for a pint at the AJ on campus and some conversation. I'm using this newly 'awarded' free time to pursue my own interests - aikido lessons at the athletic complex, running, lots of walks, spending time with coursemates, Blogging, dusting off my alternative account of evolutionary theory and boning up on scientific realism. My project is coming along well too. I just need my control group and I can start making comparisons. I intend to start writing the methods and intro on Monday (giving myself a break for the weekend).

What this means is I am no longer going to Aberdeen to brave the elements and collect my thoughts while she starts her PhD. I'm quite all right with this. Aberdeen was not my first choice and there were few prospects for my academic interests up there. I haven't a clue what I'm going to do now though. Toying with the idea of returning to Canada but then I'll just have to turn around and come back in December for graduation. Earlier tonight I was scanning some uni pages (Stirling and St. Andrews) and emailing various professors with inquires. If I stay I'll have to jump through some flaming hoops to get the VISA sorted, but it shouldn't be too bad. Life goes on and time will tell. It is a bit late though. Maybe I can get my profs to pull a few strings.

My buddy Nick is in Munich at the end of the month and trying to convince me to come visit for a couple of days... and I'm tempted (I even have some German language software hidden on my pc somewhere). Friends, beer, sausages and incredibly fit German women. Who could say no to that? Have to check the finances first. And make sure I have a proper handle on my dissertation.
well... i'm off to bed.

Project time

The course modules are finished and it's time to get serious with my research project. I'm investigating whether or not musical performance releases endorphins in humans. For the past month or two I've been attending various drums circles in an effort find participants. The most intense is samba drumming, where you stand (or bounce around) in a room with 30+ people who all specialize in making a racket. It's brilliant. The african is harder to grasp personally, as the feeling is a lot different from the straight 4-4 rock I've grown up on.
The general procedure follows something like this: measure participants pain threshold (pain induced by a blood pressure cuff held at a fixed pressure) before and after musical performance as well as have them fill in a few short questionnaires about mood changes and personal experience with the performance.
Why am I doing this? Ultimately it's to explain why the capacity for music has evolved and is present in humans. There are several hypothesis for this phenomenon and they are not mutually independent. Some main contenders involve sexual selection and mate attraction, a mother-infant language called 'motherese', considering music and dance a consequence-free domain for children to develop and interact in, and promoting group cohesion and function. Facilitating group cohesion is the hypothesis I am testing. Music can be considered auditory grooming, and if this is the case, it should release endorphins much like manual grooming (which reduces stress in primates, lowers aggression rates, etc). Listening to music releases endorphins, but no one has actually documented that playing releases endogenous opiates as well. I chose drum groups as aside from singing, drumming is arguably the oldest form of music around. Plus it's something I enjoy.

more to come later.

project time

Alright, first post in a good while (thanks for the reminder Kelly ;).

So what's new in Liverpool? Everyone is settled in the program, the gears are turning and project ideas are being tossed around like mad. With a little luck I'll get to be a subject for several imaging studies and get some nice pics of my brain. As for me, I've decided to investigate the 'high' (euphoric feeling in scientific terms) that musicians often get when things 'click'. Looking at what stimulus exlicits the response (the physical activity, sociality or the synchrony with others) and what chemical mediates the experience (suspect endorphins). I have full control over the design and not suprisingly I've chosen percussionists as my subjects. Specifically, those that frequent drum circles. There's a professional group here in Liverpool that runs clinics, and hopefully will not object to donating a few hours of there time in the pursuit of science.

Course load is fairly light this semester as I dropped one module in favour of doing a minor dissertation instead. My aim, and it's ambitious, is to radically change current evolutionary theory... and I think I'm on to something. That said, tomorrow I'm meeting a prof to defend an essay last semester that received a poor mark. She's on my side, and giving me the chance so I can keep my mark in 'distinction'. Wrote my case out tonight and feeling confident.

Annie and I are great. It's not the ideal situation, her being in Leeds, me in Liverpool, but it doesn't seem to be that much of a problem (she may feel different ;). Lucky bugger gets to go to Kenya for a month in March for some fieldwork, then a few weeks holiday. I guess I can't complain considering the UK is a foreign country for me and this whole excursion could be considered a 'vacation'.

back to the grind.

Howdy

Good break. It was nice to see everyone, and I apologize to those that I missed... time was tight. Got back in Liverpool yesterday around 9am and have wasted no time getting into the swing of things. It's two exams this week and a retarded amount of assignments due the following. Such is the life of a student.

Part of my New Years Resolution is to update this blog more frequently, as well as post more field related theories to gain some feedback. Also, reading the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins has motivated me to become a 'more informed' atheist (no... not by learning more about religions, but by learning more about why we don't need them). Expect some related postings.

cheers,

Ian

just a notice to let those still viewing this blog that i am still alive... just extremely busy at the moment. there won't be any posts in the next few weeks (unless something monumental happens). trying to focus on various projects and narrowing down my MSc thesis (which at the moment looks like it will explore the vast world of music perception and the possible evolutionary implications).

i'm doing well. it' been almost two months into my program and i've noticed big differences in my thought process. and that's why i'm here, to develop my perspective.

i'm due back in Canada on the 8th of December, and sticking around till Jan 11th. Annie is coming to visit for 2 weeks after Christmas, and i look forward to showing her the great white north. well... at least the southern part of Ontario.

cheers for now

more photos

added another album... roughly covering my first weeks in Liverpool. A tad blurry as they're all from my camera phone, but they get the point across.

Darwin rocks

Started a new book this week, entitled 'The Mating Mind'. It's all about how sexual selection has shaped the human mind throughout its evolutionary history. Explains all the elaborate displays (art, music etc) that humans engage in that seem to have little bearing on our overall fitness (reproductive success). Other notable theorists and evolutionary/cognitive psychologists have passed off these traits as merely icing on the cake, or side effects from our enlarge brains and cognitive powers.

For those of you who's evolutionary theory is a bit rough, sexual selection (SS) is not the same as natural selection (NS), although both contribute to an organisms fitness. NS is concerned more with solving ecological problems that pose a survival threat, ie. staying warm in cold environments, having the right beak size to crack certain seeds, echo location to detect flying insects etc. SS drives the formation of traits that increase the chance of a successful mating encounter. Even an animal superbly suited to the current environment is a genetic dead end if it fails to generate offspring. So any trait (behavioural or morphological) that increases the likelihood of successful mating would under go intense selection. Darwin originally proposed SS to explain the bizarre ornaments found throughout the animal kingdom that seem to defy logic, and may actually compromise an organism (peacocks tails - not the best for predator avoidance).

The peacocks tail (and deer antlers, male bird song) is actually an honest indicator of male fitness. Only those well suited to their environment are able to divert energy to such costly displays and still survive. Peahens that have a preference for these traits will in turn have better quality offspring. These offspring by necessity now contain the genes for both the trait (if male) and the preference (if female). It then becomes a positive feedback loop that continues until some equilibrium is met, ie. the trait becomes so extreme that the costs outweigh the benefits. There is some debate over how the 'preference' first appears in an gene pool, but whatever the route (ie mutation) the end result is the same... run away selection. It's always random and dependent on local conditions. Computer simulations rarely follow the same course, suggesting SS is a potent mechanism for speciation.

In humans the scene is a tad more complex. Having extremely altricial young, both male and female invest heavily offspring. This sets the stage for both sexes to be selective when choosing a mate, although there are sex differences in the characteristics desired by each. I'm sure some of you are familiar with the notion of men ranking youth and attractiveness as more important than females, who in turn, favour resource potential. This is what you would expect from evolutionary principles. However, ranked higher and evenly by both sexes are 'kindness' and 'intelligence'. According to a study I read today, the preference for these characteristics suggest that a species specific force is at work in addition to straight inter-sex dynamics. Again, a result of the nature of our young and relatively 'monogamous' mating strategies (rare in mammals).

Being only 70 pages into the book, I can't say how exactly displays like art, dancing, music, humour etc increase an individuals fitness, but I can speculate.

Humans collect information about reality through our sense organs. Based on this information an internal model of the world is generated, subsequently directing behaviour. Any organism with a better 'model' (containing more accurate spatial and temporal patterns and/or more patterns in general) will have an advantage over those with inferior models. Thus, selection should drive us to process relevant environmental (including social) information with increased efficiency and accuracy. We should then have indicator mechanisms to advertise this ability, and conversely, the capability to detect signals from others.

Now... indulge me for a second. I would say that in general, people that do things well are more attractive than people doing the same thing less well. Could be anything, and certainly not all tasks are equal in the attractiveness they attract. But why is this? Same task, difference in performance, different level of attraction. What causes this difference? Ready?

The individuals differ in their models of physical reality. One is more realistic, at least in the context of the task at hand, and is generating the desired result more effectively than the other. If better models are selected for, then surely it's not a great leap to see how skills are attractive and could serve as an indicator of overall fitness. After all, brain tissue is metabolically expensive to create, not to mention the time constraints involved when learning new skills. If you can do that thing you do well, and still function adequately in other domains... chances are you're a catch.

Cool stuff eh? And no need to invoke a higher dimensional being to explain it.

more photos

managed to get Annie's Bulgaria photos on my new pc this weekend, so here's some for your viewing pleasure.

Initial impressions

Ok. Been here long enough to form some initial impressions of this city and the campus. First off, Liverpool is a fantastic city. The night life is unlike anything I've been exposed to. Everywhere you turn there's some new pub/bar/club pounding out music and alcohol frenzied students. It's mental and can be a little overwhelming, especially coming from Rum. Haven't made it to the Cavern Club yet, but it's on my to-do list. There are markets on the weekend (selling LOTS of meat, which is unfortunate as I decided to try vegetarian for 3 weeks), constant live music acts and some nice parks to walk around in (before dark).

The MSc course is proving to be interesting. For once when I read an article, I'm actually generating valid questions and framing relevant thoughts. Before I just glazed over and prayed the next page was the last. The class is larger than expected... 25 people, and each module has around 20-23 people attending as we had some flexibility. I dropped Neuroscience next semester in favour for a small dissertation in an area of my choice. Had enough neurogenesis and modularity in undergrad. So far the best is Fundamentals of Evolutionary Theory. We sit at Robin's feet and listen to him 'twitter' about everything. If you can hold on, you gleam a lot out of that 1hr session.

I've also narrowed down some areas of personal interest, and plan to see a prof this week to get some direction. I'll sketch them briefly here... 1) humans consistently rank intelligence as an attractive quality in the other sex. Why is that so? What advantages to intelligent people have over others? What do humans use to gauge intelligence in conspecifics? Is it relative or an absolute measure? Have any indicators of intelligence been selected for in human/great ape populations? 2) When looking at human (or primate) social networks, one notices that there are individuals that link smaller isolated groups together within the population as a whole. Are there any characteristics (behavioural or morphological) unique to these individuals?

On a completely unrelated note: finding a suitable laptop has been an absolute bitch. Dell and Big Box stores are overpriced, eBay full of scams (a fully loaded Alienware for £700? send payment to Romania? ok...) and PCnextday is now Pc in 5weeks due to high demand. Too bad, cause they have the one I want: Intel Duo 2 Core (T7400) 2.16GHzz, 160G HD, 2 G ram, ATI x1600graphicss (256M) and various other crap that all laptops have. Once I put a new sound card in (7.1 surround), it should be everything I'll ever need. So... should I order one and wait, or settle for something else now? The problem is there is little to settle for. Every other machine I've looked at doesn't come close for the price (Dell was off by £200, almost £400 when you factor in I wouldn't be able to claim back the VAT).

alright... I was drawn away from typing for about an hour now, talking to various people on MSN etc. I'll take that as a sign and end things here.

If you have any PC related suggestions... fire at will.

First week in Liverpool

Moved into the below address on Sunday evening. Registered for the MSc program Monday afternoon, and had intro talks on Tuesday. Our group is massive, and the staff is a little overwhelmed with our number (25). They figured roughly 20% of those who accept never bother to show, but this year it was 100%. We met the profs and ackwardly met each other over a lunch provided. It was quite humerous to watch... all these little circles of 3-4 people in a large square room, with the only way to successfully penetrate being a direct assualt or lurking about on the fringe until someone adjusted accordingly. Some Uni natives lead us on a brief campus tour (libraries, sports center etc) then to one of the many campus pubs. This was when we really got to know one an other. Well, that turned into a pub crawl, and I ended up walking home with some new mates around 4:30am. It was great. Never have I been surrounded by so many like-minded individuals... everyone loves evolution and human behaviour. I got more of a buzz of the atmosphere than the beer.

Fantastic.

Doing my first MSc related readings in the library today, and heading to Leeds to vist Annie for the weekend.

ah yes... I added some new pictures from the spring and summer. Follow the link on the right.

got a house

Here's the new address:

101 Belgrave Road
Aigburth
Liverpool
L17 7AQ

Moving in late tonight, MSc registration is tomorrow followed by a meet and greet.

Moving to England

it just hit me.

Don't have a place to move into as of yet, but I have had some success in contacting people with vacant rooms in the past few days. Plan to head down to Liverpool on later this week for a few days and do some viewing (tried remotely but no one has pictures). Have to admit, it's pretty exciting, moving into a house in a foreign land. Not necessarily as thrilling as a bothy in the middle of nowhere lacking all basic comforts, but exciting in it's own right.

Let's talk Bulgaria. What a country. Annie and I had a week in Sunny Beach Resort, just outside of Bourgas. It's an 8km stretch of the most scenic beach I've been too. We had seven days of sun, with temperatures never dipping below the high 20's. The Black Sea was like bath water, but with waves :) We went into 'historic' Nessebar for a day (Messembria in ancient times), which is the oldest settlement in Europe. It was fantastic. Narrow cobble stone streets and fig trees providing shade in the courtyards. Felt like we were in another time. Wednesday night we witnessed some Bulgarian entertainment at the famous Khan's Tent in the surrounding hills. Dinner and a show, you can't go wrong. Met another couple from Newcastle and went out afterwards with them around the resort. They showed us 'their side' after we took them to a cocktail bar on 'our side' called Mexico's, which featured 2 for 1 cocktails with names like 'leg opener', 'no knickers', 'wet pussy' and so forth. What a bar. They even remembered Annie and I from a few nights back and handed us some free shots.

All in all, one hell of a trip... but be warned, the Bulgarian language and its Slavic origin is a mouthful for those primarily speaking English. I prefer languages whose basic utterances like please and thanks are one syllable. Well... please was ok being molya, but blagodarya for thanks? It's well worth the effort to speak Bulgarian as it results in smiles and the occasional laugh from the locals.

On a personal note, not being around Annie has taken some getting used to. It'll be quite a switch from spending every waking hour with someone for the better part of 9 months to only seeing them every few weeks. We're confident things will work, and looking for a joint visit home to Canada during the Christmas break.

cheers

left a piece of me in the highlands

Well... that's it. My time on Rum has finished for now. We had the mother of all leaving ceilidhs on Friday and I got to my bed sometime around half five. Vaguely remember drinking Jack Daniels out of a shoe, sucking some out of a sock (Lois had spilt her drink) and wrestling with Annie. Come Monday things were a little more sombre, and we had a tearful goodbye with Sandy and Fliss before catching the boat. I left a huge piece of my heart on Rum, and promised to go back and reclaim it in the future.

So... where am I now? Well, physically I'm in Edinburgh packing for a trip to Newcastle (meet and greet with Annie's friends and family) and a week in Bulgaria. Mentally, I'm sound as a pound. I can't wait for our holiday, it one thing I've actually earned.

Ah yes... I've finally been published. Twice actually. Once in the Royal Society of London and again on the New Scientist website. Feels nice. If anyone wants a proper .pdf I can email it to you ;)

Heading East

The holiday is booked. In 16 days time, Annie and I will be boarding a plane bound for the sunny beaches of Bulgaria. Seven days and nights of beach life is a nice way to unwind between jobs and heading back to student life. Beer is 37p a pint.

This past Sunday a few of us decided to head to Skye in Sandy's boat. Great idea... except halfway there we started taking on water, and lots of it. We nursed the boat into the beach, which was beautiful, and assessed our options. What was supposed to be a day trip turned into an over-nighter and pub session in Carbost (home of Talisker Whiskey). With the next day off work, we headed to Talisker Bay for more relaxing on the beach. This was mainly for Sandy's benefit as it was his boat that was toast. A bit more expensive than planned, as we needed to hire a rib to take us back to Rum, but these random events usually turn out to be worth it.

Now I can say I've been shipwrecked on an island.

Heading East

The holiday is booked. In 16 days time, Annie and I will be boarding a plane bound for the sunny beaches of Bulgaria. Seven days and nights of beach life is a nice way to unwind between jobs and heading back to student life. Beer is 37p a pint.

This past Sunday a few of us decided to head to Skye in Sandy's boat. Great idea... except halfway there we started taking on water, and lots of it. We nursed the boat into the beach, which was beautiful, and assessed our options. What was supposed to be a day trip turned into an over-nighter and pub session in Carbost (home of Talisker Whiskey). With the next day off work, we headed to Talisker Bay for more relaxing on the beach. This was mainly for Sandy's benefit as it was his boat that was toast. A bit more expensive than planned, as we needed to hire a rib to take us back to Rum, but these random events usually turn out to be worth it.

Now I can say I've been shipwrecked on an island.

The countdown begins

The village's Internet is shot. Here's what I've been up to over the past month.

• got a raise from SNH to £10/hr (usually work 40hr weeks ;)
• went off to Fort William for a day with Annie. There was a European Food Market on that weekend, and we bought our weight in sausages and sweeties. Also managed to view Pirates of the Caribbean 2 in Mallaig in a mobile theatre (Screen Machine). It was quite a treat. Also got some new hiking boots, the third pair in 8 months. This island is hard on footwear.
• went to Eigg for a night with Annie and her friend for a festival. Absolutely mental. That island can throw a party. Live music, good food and lots of whiskey.
• attended the Small Isle Games on Eigg last weekend. With only 6 people from Rum in attendance we got our asses handed to us (Eigg won) but had a blast. I managed to toss the caber twice for points (only 3 people there could do it), came 5th in the Hill Race, and snagged a bottle of whiskey in the Bungee-Run. There were various other events like wellie-tossing, spud and spoon races, sack races and sprints. All while downing the local beverage (whiskey and McEwans lager) and eating free BBQ'd meats. Awesome.
• finished the stag cull yesterday. So now it's odd jobs around the village (like fencing), herding cattle from one glen to another (a riot), surveying the goat and deer populations, and whatever else comes our way.

With only 3 weekends left on this island, it's finally sinking in that I'll have to leave. But as a few people here have told me... you don't leave Rum, you just take a vacation from it.