I remember back twenty years ago, when I was a growing boy, in the summer just as it was breaking up for the school holidays that there was a buzz in the air about a movie that was being released in the cinema. A new movie which was groundbreaking in terms of it AI and special effects. A movie that was subject to some controversy over which rating it should be, either a PG, or a 12, due to the supposed scary, and violent scenes that were featured through the duration of the movie, scenes of blood and gore, and of children being chased by monstorous beasts...that's right folks, we're talking of Jurassic Park.

The Steven Spielberg movie that even his own kids were unable to see because of the ratings in America, ratings which were closely copied by Britain shortly after its release, when the 12 certificate became a 12A (12 years and over only, unless accompanied by an adult.)

This movie was a blockbuster, and became the highest grossing movie of all time, shortly after the time of release. Everyone I knew loved the movie. It was all the talk of the school even after the holidays had ended, with people wanting to know if there was anyone who actually had NOT seen it? People even had competitions regarding who had seen it the most. To be fair and honest, I think I must have been right up there with the highest attendees, as within four months I had already knocked up an impressive (or geeky) fifty-two viewings of the film. I remember this specifically as I kept track because of my other friends at the time also gunning for viewing glory. In fact, Jurassic Park became, and remains to this very day, the first and only movie which I went to the cinema to see more than three times. In the first fortnight I believe I had notched up 8 cinema viewings, but I remember my total cinema outings for this movie reached fourteen, which for me is completely unheard of, because I really need drive to go and see something in the cinema. It has to be relevant to my interests, and something that looks exciting, and has to be a mixture of all kinds of cinema genres, ie: action, adventure, comedy, drama, SCI-FI, and or fantasy, whether or not it is live action, or animation is usually irrelevant.

The movie sparked a whole world of excitement and imagination in my head, and brought out the best of my childhood in the years when others of the same age would be starting to grow tired of playing and carrying on with friends.

I became engrossed with Jurassic Park, almost obsessed to the point where I had to own all the action figures, all the dinosaurs, all the vehicles, and any T-shirt that had the JP and / or dinosaur skeleton branded on it became mine. I got Dinosaurs for Birthdays, dinosaurs for Christmas, and even remember playing in the attic of my old house with my brother, cousins, and friends with all the Jurassic Park toys and making the floor of that room a park in itself, with enclosures, and visitor centres, and tracks for the vehicles to follow, and of course the inevitable disasters that would happen when the dinosaurs escaped.

Michael Crichton (rest in peace) the author who wrote Jurassic Park, became my instant favourite author, overtaking my previous favourite, Stephen King, who for a twelve year old boy was a very cool favourite author to have. Jurassic Park became not only the first movie I ever watched in cinema more than twice, but also the first book I ever read more than four times, and also the first book I ever read twice back to back within two days. I remember staying at my Gran's house during the holidays that year when my parents were working and taking a novel over to read, and again being totally engrossed with it over the course of the forty hours or so that I was there, stopping only for food and sleep.

I also have fond memories of my friends from school staying overnight at my house, and watching it on VCR, yes those were the days before DVDs and Blu-Rays, and downloads, videos...you know? Those things with the tape that spun round as it played, just like a mini cinema reel...anyway, we must have watched that video fifty odd times over the course of six months. We started creating 3D drawings of our own, using cut out drawings of characters from the film, and pasting them into scenes also from the film, the one which springs to mind most freely is the scene with the velociraptors in the visitor centre kitchen with Tim and Lex trying to hide from them whilst their claws are tapping on the floor, you know the one, right?

Ian Malcolm, played by the amazing Jeff Goldblum, became my hero, as with his timely wit, the film became a great comedy amidst all the trauma of ripped flesh, and death, and decapitated lawyers, and the best of the jokes came from when he mentioned that line of "Yes, John but when the Pirates Of The Carribean breaks down the pirates don't eat the tourists!" That floored me every time.

...and so, with all these fond memories, and more, I would just like to salute one of the greatest movies, if not thee best movie, ever made, Jurassic Park, and say with much fondness, joy, and above all else, thanks... you made my childhood complete in more ways than you could even imagine. Crichton, Spielberg, and everyone who was involved in the whole JP saga... congratulations on your twentieth anniversary.

I would just like to finish on a geeky note by saying that my total movie viewing tally of Jurassic Park (the first one) stands now at 137. Thanks for reading.

Having climbed up Ben Nevis, Britain's highest peak, last July and having a fear of heights back then, I kind of considered myself brave, or stupid, or both, but was nonetheless very, very proud of my achievement. After all who can say out of all of you guys that you have did the same, and have faced their fears face on like that in such an extreme way?

However, when I say climbed Ben Nevis, I actually mean walked up the Ben Nevis Path, which is a very easy, allbeit, very long route to the top. In fact, the route is so accessible that it is possible to drive a car all the way to the top, as I discovered via my guide on the first trip.

This does not take the achievement factor out of the climb, but merely adds to an ever growing thirst for adventure that seems to be developing within me these days. Having run a Half-Marathon also last year just a few weeks after my ascent up Britain's tallest, I have since became hungry for challenges of the physical variety, contemplating swimming the channel, walking the West Highland Way from start to end, cycling from city to city across country, possibly doing a full marathon (Loch Ness perhaps), and EVEN cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats AND BACK, with my ultimate goal being to walk the entire coast of Britain.

It seems I have woken a fiery demon inside of me, one who wants me to kill myself with over-exertion most likely.

My family and I just got back on Friday from a little cottage break in Fort William, "Britain's Outdoor Capital". The views on the way up and back of the snowy mountains, the valleys at Glen Coe that stretch for miles, the greenery of the countryside, the fresh air, and the beautiful sights along the many loch's of the Highlands were all simply breathtaking. However, with the fiery beast in my belly burning hot, and with the reunion between myself, and Ben Nevis which is situated within Fort William, I simply had to have a go at it again.

On the morning of our first full day there, I checked the local weather, and also the forecast for the high grounds, and to my absolute delight it was predicted that the skies would be cloud free, there would be little or no wind, and there was no rain, or snow forecasted for that day.

It didn't take me long to persuade the family, (my wife, and two girls aged 5 and 8) to take a stroll to the foot of the mountain and then have a go at climbing up the main path.  

It all started off really nicely, despite the freezing temperatures of -1*C at the early stages, with my good self in the lead, holding my youngest's hand and guiding my family up. We passed by the stile just a few hundred yards into our ascent without hiccup. Next we started to tackle the steps of rock and pebbles and continued on our way for another 15 minutes walk or so. As we approached one of the small waterfalls however, we knew there were going to be problems as ice was spotted on the pathway, and without any proper climbing equipment, ie; a pick axe, we grew instantly cautious of our surroundings, but in good spirit we carried on. Up we climbed for another few hundred yards when we got to the first twist in the path were you are forced to change direction.

At this stage my youngest was beginning to grow apprehensive of larger steps between rocks, mainly because her size wouldn't allow her to step across the gaps, but again we marched onwards and upwards. We turned the next corner in the path putting us in the direction we started off facing, but this time we were higher up, and as we started to walk further, it happened...

SNOW!...

It wasn't much to start with to be honest, but as we were only about a fifth of the way up, and with inexperience in mountainclimbing, even hillclimbing being a major factor, especially for the girls who hadn't done any at all, I knew (although my heart sank) that it was time to turn back.

There would be absolutely no point whatsoever of continuing up a mountain path with inexperience, under ever growing treachorous conditions, and having already walked for over an hour by this point, and the snow coming in, we thought it wise and increasingly important that we turn around and head back to the bottom to re-group. With that thought, the idea of reaching safe ground and treating ourselves to a nice hot chocolate, or a hot bowl of soup seemed heavenly.

That evening as we were all cosy and wrapped up we were hearing news of avalanches at the Cairngorms, of people who had died whilst mountain climbing, and with the recent avalanche at Glen Coe killing two people also, I couldn't help but think, "If we had continued it could have been us!" Whether or not that would have happened is a different story, but when it comes to protecting your family, and yourself for that matter, perhaps its better to NOT climb highest mountains.

...I will however be returning again to the foot of Ben Nevis to try again to reach the summit, and my eldest daughter is determined that she will be coming along too, so watch this space.

There is a lesson to be learned from this, though, don't count your chickens before they are hatched? I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but there is a lesson to be learned somewhere...

Well, all you Scots, and to all who celebrate it, the time has come again to remember Scotland's National Hero, (one of many), Robert Burns, born on 25th January 1759, and died at the young age of 37, on 21st July 1796.

Born in Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland, his poems and love songs have been translated into everymajor language, and his influence and relevance is stronger today than it was during his lifetime in the late 18th Century.

Around the world tributes to Robert Burns are held through the ritual of Burns Supper. Originally started a few years after his death by a group of his friends and acquaintances, to honour his memory, the suppers are now celebrated annually on the date of his birth.

Having myself turned vegeterian within the last year, this Burns Supper will be the first one I have experienced as a non-eater of meat, therefore I will be having vegeterian haggis, with neeps (turnips), and tatties (mashed potato). I have tried it before and in many many ways it is better than regular haggis, or at the minimum just as good.

Now, with all this talk about Burns Suppers, and haggis, I thought it only fitting to leave you all with a taster of the Man's work, so here, from BlogDangerous, is our tribute to Rabbie Burns, Address To A Haggis:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!

Aboon them a' yet tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy o'a grace

As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,

Your hurdies like a distant hill,

Your pin was help to mend a mill

In time o' need,

While thro' your pores the dews distil

Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,

An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,

Trenching your gushing entrails bright,

Like only ditch;

And then, O what a glorious sight, warm-reekin', rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:

Deil tak the hindmost! On they drive,

Tilla' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve

Are bent like drums;

Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,

Bethankit! hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout

Or olio that wad staw a sow,

Or fricassee wad make her spew

Wi' perfect sconner,

Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view

On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,

As feckles as wither'd rash,

His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash;

His nieve a nit;

Thro' blody flood or field to dash,

O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,

That trembling earth resounds his tread.

Clap in his walie nieve a blade,

He'll mak it whissle;

An' legs an' arms, an' hands will sned,

Like taps o' trissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak manikind your care,

And dish them out their bill o' fare,

Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware

that jumps in luggies;

But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer

Gie her a haggis!

...And on that note folks, i'm awa' tae gie her n aw ma faemlie a wee haggis an aw! Cheers

Happy Burns Night! Enjoy everyone.

In our opinion, the short answer is a resounding, YES!

Gone are the days when if you wanted to talk to someone, be it friend, or family, or anyone else, you would have only two choices... Pick up the house phone and give them a call, OR (God forbid) you would have to go and visit them personally and make the human effort to be nice and civil.

These days it is far too conveniant to just pick up your mobile phone, while sitting on the couch at night, open up your FaceBook, or Bebo, or Twitter application and sit there for hours, having typed only one message in to it and have it posted on your status, then sit there like a vegetable waiting on a reply from some co-worker you knew about eight years ago, only to say "Lol", or have your GrandMother's neighbour actually post something saying, "aaw, that's lovely!"

Meanwhile your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife is sitting on the couch right next to you, doing the exact same thing, and all the while the television is on in the background with a reality TV Show on the screen (something like "My Best Friend Wants to Marry My Dog", or , "Dancing In The Jungle With My Teacher"... something pitiful like that). All the time that you are trying to gain internet popularity with your former associates, and ex-girlfriends sisters, and co-workers that you dislike, you could easily be having a proper conversation, a meaningful one at that, with someone who actually matters to you.

I think the government should take a new direction when trying to make Britain healthier, by instead of banning smoking ( which I am totally for, by the way), and reducing alcohol price cuts (which I am totally against by the way), they should put a ban on social networking, or at least a limit to how much time people are allowed to spend on these sites a day. Perhaps then people would actually get off their backsides and do something constuctive?!

I, myself have written a song about the unsocial ways of social networking, because I have been so riled up in the past over how tedious and boring it can be. One of my pet hates involving FaceBook these days, is people liking comments that someone they used to know posted on a friends activity which was liking a picture on a page with ridiculous photo's of babies swearing at each other in a joking manner to make a comedy sketch....REALLY?!! Who cares?!

Another irritation of mine, are people who play games on FaceBook. That's why we have Playstations,X-Boxes, PC's, even mobile phones these days, not to mention Wii-U or Wii's, DS handhelds, PSVitas, etc, etc. If for whatever reason you can't afford any of these then fine, but don't keep sending me a request to play Bingo Basher, or Candy Calamity, or FARMVILLE....THEE single most annoying game EVER invented. (I may of course be wrong having yet to play any of the FaceBook games and various other apps in iOS). However, I would just like to state (for the record) that I am not totally against Social Networking. It CAN be a useful tool, if for example you have relatives or friends who have moved to the opposite side of the World, Australia in my case, and a telephone call might not always be an affordable option. Social Networks, and in particular Skype are very handy in those kind of situations, enabling folk to interact with each other from thousands of miles apart and all the while being able to physically see each other. That, my fellow Bloggers, is actual progress and proper use of the internet, and how Social Networking should be.

Whilst I was optimistically hopefully at work last night, in neighbouring town East Kilbride, that the snow had finally arrived here, witnessing a slightly heavy fall which lasted approximately an hour at 5am this morning, I have yet again awakened to a vast nothingness.

I am hearing all the time of further disruptions to traffic, flights being cancelled, schools closing, people abandoning their days to go sledging, and I can't help but laugh at the lack of winter weather here.

Looking out of my window I can see about five snowflakes every ten seconds, kind of like if a giant was passing by with dandruff or something, you know? A really pathetic amount... It makes it truly comical to think that maybe this is what the rest of Britain is experiencing too, and panicking over a few flakes?!

I understand however, that this is not the case, but still, my mind, it tends to work overtime.

The thought of the sheer chaos of snow brings to the fore front of my head this concept... I awake after my 3 or 4 hour sleep, look out of the window, and see absolute disruption on a grand scale. People laying injured on the ground from slipping in the snow and ice, overturned cars that have crashed, or skidded into something due to the treacherous conditions, lampposts standing thrawnly from smashes, snowmen with machine guns terrorising the city folk with their evil ways...! But it just isn't happening.

This will be the last I have to say on this subject, unless of course (he wills wholeheartedly) it does actually snow heavily, in which case I shall update on how many hills I've tabogganed down, and how many different snowmen or creatures I've made with the girls.

On that note, I think I shall walk to work tonight in the hope that my actions spur on the chaos. Stay safe folks!

The joys and pitfalls of a nightshift job can be plentiful on both accounts, (stemming from my own eight years worth of experience).

It is often a joy knowing that every single day, I will be off work, free to do as i please, wether it be shopping, watching TV, playing video games, taking my two girls out to the park, venturing out to the cinema, or even a nice lunch or dinner out if the occasion calls. There can be numerous advantages to being available all day, every day, EG; come the festive season...normally everyone is at work and struggle to find the time to do their Christmas shopping. Uh uh...not me! After all what else would you do if you had so much "free time"?

Here is what (and here comes the pitfall) ...SLEEP!!!

People forget that, just because they have had sleep at a reasonable time, or the fact that they are up and about and working like most folk during the day, that some of us nightshift workers haven't had a wink of shut eye yet, because we do all of our "awake time" at night. We have our dinner at 3am and think nothing of it, we come home when it is light outside and the Sun is just rising, and we think nothing of it, and sometimes, sometimes, we EVEN come home and have that hard day (or night) at work I need a beer thing at 7.30am, not because we are alcoholics, but because that is our come home and relax time.

People neglect to remember that when it is time for them to get up and start their day, often it's time for us nightshifters to go to bed and get a sleep. However this plan is often foiled, especially when you have two girls, or boys, or dogs, or monkeys, or whatever?! There's the school run to do, the washings that need done, the ironings, the shopping, and before you know it, you have become a house-husband, or a house-wife, by day, and a paid worker by night. If I could say it was an alter-ego and treat it as a Clark Kent/Superman thing then it would be great, unfortunately that isn't how it is at all. 

Getting some sleep becomes such a chore at times that you can't even be bothered doing that, and before you know it you are living and managing (barely at best) on roughly two, to four hours sleep per day. I mean it doesn't help that you tend to have several cups of coffee to keep your caffeine levels up, so that you're able to stay awake to pick up the kids, and to make the dinner for your other half, because too much coffee followed by lying in bed trying to sleep is a big no no! You end up spending hours lying there with your mind swimming with ideas like, "did i leave the gas on?", "i need to remember to book an appointment with the dentist, for my daughter", "I wonder what we can have for dinner tomorrow night?", "Maybe i'll go to the shop in the morning and have a look about for new shoes because my current ones are done in?!"....... It becomes an impossible reality...

On that note, and the fact that I have again been awake having only had three and a half hours sleep today again, I'll leave you non-nightworkers with a thought...Have mercy on us!?

Well, another day of disappointment as, despite a teasing trickle of snow overnight, still no blanket of white on the streets of sunny Glasgow, Scotland.

It seems that even though England, and Wales are all set to rough it out in the “fluff”, us Scots still have some wait ahead of us before anything major happens up here in terms of wintery weather.

Maybe it’s just the big kid in me that wants to come out and play, or maybe it’s the pictures of snowmen we’re seeing online, and on the news that’s getting to me, but I personally find it extremely unfair that i’m being denied another white winter when the rest of Britain are all moaning about traffic delays, and grumbling about being stranded in places.

I long for that moment when I can put on my hiking boots, open the front door of my house, and take my first steps into the snowy wonderland. There really is nothing like a stroll in the snow. Personally I like walking anywhere, anyway, especially because it gives me the chance to listen to some music on my ipod, sometimes even an audiobook, where this is not always possible if I’m in my car, or indeed sitting at home with my girls. (Peace and quiet is a rare thing these days...mum’s and dad’s, you know what I’m talking about?)

I can only sit and hope that (to quote a certain Black-Eyed Peas song) tonight’s gonna be a good night, and on day 3 of ‘blanket Britain’, my hopes and wishes will come true.

In light of all the people running around with their hands in the air going, "THIS IS THE ENNNND!!! SAVE YOURSELVES!", I kind of couldn't help but feel embarassed to be a part of a nation that can't handle a trickle of snow. Look at Russia for heavens sakes! They go about their everyday lives knowing that it will probably snow at least twice every week. They work, they shop, they eat, they drink, they play, but here's the thing...they DO NOT panic?!  

I want the snow to come here, and i don't care how much snow there is. If it means I have to walk to work and back every day (an 11 mile round trip) then so be it. Isn't everyone saying how fat Britain is getting anyway? The exercise can only do us all good, right?

I eagerly await news of snow heading my way, up North to Bonnie Scotland, until that time, stay cool folks.

I woke up this morning eagerly anticipating (unlike the majority of Britain) that a heavy snowfall would have occurred overnight, and that the ground would be a blanket of white, fluffy, playful snow. I was dreaming of taking my two girls out to play in it, letting them build snowmen, and make snowangels on the garden lawn.

I was deeply upset when i awoke to another snowless, dry, cold, winter morning in Scotland, after a very unChristmassy December, in terms of the weather that is. (I actually had a fabulous Christmas day, with good food, great presents, good company, and being my first Christmas as a vegetarian, I didn't have to fight off all the grubbers at the annual family gathering, for turkey and sausage stuffing sandwiches. This was nice. More room for alcohol, eh?)

Apparently though, in England and Wales, they are panicking over no public transport, panic buying in case they are trapped inside their own homes, or even worse, work.

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