It's Friday so...Winter Olympics

Today the winter Olympics kick off so how about a little look at some of those Olympic sports just not at they would be able to perform in that competition.

Of course we need that thing of beauty the BBC ident to kick us all off.



First up there is this video of Alexei Yagudin in 2005. I'm sure Wendy Fraser and Caron Lindsay with both appreciate the gratuitous shirt removal half way.



So moving on to the pairs and here we have the odd couple in 1993 at the World's gold medalist Kurt Browning and silver medalist Elvis Stojko 'paired' off with this.



Of course watching this it would be hard to believe Kurt Browning was once a World Champion, or then again maybe not.



Ok what about some British involvement. How about some Highland Ice Dancing from the British stars John and Sinead Kerr. Watch out for a rather unorhtodox lift that gets a gasp from the crowd at 2:41 into this and again at 3:01. Which seeing as my ex used to attend the same highland teacher as these two would be interesting to get her take on this.



So there you have it. Qualifying for the Ski Jumping is first up you can see that at 18:00 on the BBC Red Button, the Open Ceremonry kicks off live at 01:45 on BBC2 and the red button.

Turkey That'll Take Less Time to Cook than Fetch

Kay Ure left her husband in the lighthouse they live in and cafe they run on December 19th to head into town to fetch the Christmas turkey, cranberry sauce, a jar of coffee, dog food and some last minute presents. However the weather come down heavily while she was out and she never did quite make it back to Cape Wrath Britain's most north-westerly point. For the last 4 weeks she has been living 11 miles away at Durness in a friend's caravan.

Well her husband John had yesterday finally made the 11 mile trip in his 4x4 to pick up his wife and her provisions so now Christmas can really begin for the Ures. We wish them a very Merry, if delayed, Season's Greetings. I wonder if they have Sky+ the Christmas television so they can watch it together?

At least there is one thing, the Turkey won't take nearly as long to cook as it did to fetch from the shop.

The Fake Thaw

Was walking up to the flat this evening I thought we'd had quite a thaw today while I was out at work because the road was remarkably clear. I soon found out the reason why.


The ploughs have been here, they have heaped snow up to five a half feet high out the back. Taking up people's parking spaces, in fact they have heaped it up outside on one bay which is a disabled person's parking space. There are three spaces in our section that are unusable. Just after I shot a video (which I am attempting to upload) one of the local residents told me it was just as bad up at her end.



Looks like we'll have a least a few more days of glacial melt water coming down our hill.

Can You Spot the Missing Winner?

The BBC online Magazine has posted an article about the winners from the recent cold snap. They go into detail about various winners.

• Corners Shops
• Soups
• Car washing firms
• Pond life
• Winter Sun Destinations

You know what I think they are missing one very obvious one. Maybe is is because of the local news coverage that I get where I am, but certainly one winner of the recent month of winter has been the Scottish Ski Resorts where business is booming with some of the best snow conditions in Europe at present.

From the Tropics of Positive Temperatures

Boy it feels warm!

And according to the BBC weather forecast it is dipping back to zero as I type. So of course it is not actually warm, but when Edinburgh was up to about 4C today it is comparatively warm. Of course it doesn't help that I am wearing exactly the same number of layers as I did when it was -10C or thereabouts heading to and from work. That is quite a differential in temperature from Friday to today.

Of course one thing this means is that the thaw is on. Walking past some of the ponds that were taking human weight earlier they are now cracking up and would not do so now. Of course there is still plenty of ice and snow around, because we have had an awful lot of it. This morning some of that had melted yesterday but frozen again overnight. So with temperatures dropping below zero again overnight be careful driving or walking again in the morning.

My next guess is how long the 5 foot pile of ploughed ice at the end of my street is going to last from now.

The 'Flash Mob' Bonspeil

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club may have sought and failed the correct clearance from authorities to hold a bonspeil on the Lake of Menteith for the first time since 1979. But the cancellation didn't prevent a return to more innocent times before health and safety held such sway.

A Facebook group that had been set up announced soon after the announcement of the cancellation shouted out:

"Bring your stones, bring your skates if you prefer, or just bring your self. Take heed of the warnings but do it anyway. See you Saturday."

So yesterday 2,000 curlers turned up, to enjoy the once in a lifetime chance to partake in a grand match on a frozen loch or lake.

The rather appropriately named, for such subterfuge, owner of the Lake Hotel Ian Fleming said the event was very much in the spirit of the 19th Century bonspeils:

"It's as we suspected: a lot of people have made individual decisions to come and celebrate the freezing over of the lake for themselves. Lots of people are just walking out on to the lake, because it might be the only time in their lives they get to do it."

Mr Fleming who himself was skating on the Lake on Friday evening said that curlers turned up Midnight with floodlights and so the first 'flash mobbed' bonspeil in history came to be.

Colin Grahamslaw, chief executive of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, who had called off the official event when the authorities and emergency services were unable to give their backing said:

"It's great. What we're seeing is what you'd hope for on a busy weekend in such a beautiful setting. It's nice that people have been able to take advantage of that."

The ice is reckoned to be far deeper than the seven inch requirement that the club say is necessary for such events. Welcome to the 21st Century Bonspeil a mixture of the traditional and the modern.

UPDATE: Pity Kevin McKenna didn't check all his fact before publishing this well written Comment is Free piece today.

Bonspeil a Victim of Health and Safety

It appears that ice conditions on the Lake of Menteith near Aberfoyle is not the reason that the Bonspeil or Grand Match of curling is not to go ahead next week.

The Bonspeil where 2,000 competitors come together to compete in the open may well now be confined to history and the last such event in 1979 may be the end of the road. The emergency services said they were unable to guarantee the safety of the competitors and spectators.

The statement from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club expressed their disappointment that these extreme winter conditions couldn't lead to the event that has captured many peoples imagination. While confident that the ice was of the required depth however, they did state the reason why there will be no match is :

"It has not proved possible to address all health and safety concerns and receive the full backing of the emergency services within the timescales involved.

"Without achieving this it would be impossible to gain the necessary insurance to hold the event.

"Every possible effort has been made to facilitate this unique event but it has been acknowledged that public safety must remain the primary concern."

Curling has been taking place on the Lake of Menteith for the past week. But Supt Davie Flynn of Central Scotland Police has said:

"We understand the attraction of such an event and recognise this is an unique opportunity for people passionate about their sport to participate in.

"However, there are clear and obvious risks and the safety of the public could not be guaranteed."

He also went on to say that it was not known exactly how thick the ice was. He's also tried to pass blame unto other public bodies saying that they were discouraging people from walking on ice on frozen lakes and rivers. Adding that he had concerns about the traffic of people wishing to attend over rural B-Roads.

Here is a montage of pictures from 2001 when it wasn't as cold or for as long as this winter. But even then there was hope of a Bonspeil

Grit Levels Critical in West Lothian

West Lothian Council issued the following statement today via their website.

"We are currently at critical levels in terms of our salt supplies and must conserve these for our main routes. For example, during the recent snow conditions we have regularly treated our major routes five or six times in a single 24-hour period.

"We are actively pursuing additional salt supplies. However we are aware that every other council in the UK is in a similar position. We are also sourcing whindust and ash, which will be used in residential areas. We recognise that this is not as effective than salt nevertheless this will give assistance. The amount of salt used is directly affected by the weather.

"The severe freezing conditions hitting Scotland means that we are continuing to grit our primary routes several times a day. West Lothian Council has already used more salt/grit in the last three weeks than we use in an average winter. We have already used almost 12,000 tonnes this winter. Our next delivery is due on Monday 11 January - however we expect this to be restricted to 1,000 tonnes. Further severe weather is expected and future salt supplies will be under extreme pressure.

"We have been updating the council's website daily www.westlothian.gov.uk (new window) and we would urge people to check it for the latest position."

UPDATE: Sadly I just noticed that a Facebook Group has been set up called. "West Lothian Tax Payers for Gritter Street and filled grit bins.

They ask "are you sick of the council failing to grit your street and fill your grit bins? Then join this group to show your disgust at the lack of service we have had."

Thing is they have been doing a sterling job around the clock in adverse conditions. The main roads and paths have always been clear, I always meet the mini plough out clearing the centre of Bathgate each morning at 6:20 as I head for my bus. It has clearly been down Marjoribanks Street as I noticed on my walk to an from Tesco and along many other footpaths even the one outside my flat the other day the tracks are there.

They can not be everywhere all the time. And now that the snow hasn't fallen afresh heavily for a number of days they are able to do more ploughing. But this is an exception cold and snowy three week period. Very few of us can remember it being this bad. Yet at time of writing nearly 2,000 people have signed up instead of praising the hard work at all times of day and night that these workers have been doing for 22 days now.

Not to mention the work before the freeze took this severe hit. Needless to say I'm not joining nor linking to it.

A Cold Snap-Shot of the British Isles

The BBC have this pic from NASA showing us today. I notice bits of Ireland are still living up to the name the Emerald Isle.

Pickles Says Call For a General Election

Wasting no time with Labour, or at least if seems Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt, in turmoil Eric Pickles calls for an immediate General Election. Admittedly we are weeks away from one being called but this is opportunism and also a very badly timed call for such action.

There is talk of the freeze lasting another three weeks, parts of Scotland have been cut off for three weeks and may well be for another 3. So campaigning, voting and counting the ballots in some of the more remote Scottish areas would be impossible for a 3 or 4 week campaign at this time.

Harry Cole (aka Tory Bear) has repeated this call just now on Sky News calling for Gordon to go to the Palace in the morning. Pickles has been saying call an election now for ages. But now is just not the right time, just yet not when large sections of the country are merely knuckled down to survive the winter. Many of us are constantly watching the weather and getting away as soon as we can, or sooner if we need to from work. I have friends all over the place who are working from home because they cannot get into work. Every screen in my office has the BBC local weather open on a number of windows along with the traffic reports.

So yes while I want to see the back of illiberal Labour I don't want an election to be fought when people's safety and livelihoods is at risk in some of our remotest areas. So in the bleak mid-winter is not the time for such opportunism from Pickles or the Tories. Maybe they;ve realised after 4 days of bloopers that 4 months may well do a lot of harm, bring that on.

West Lothian Council Advice for the Conditions

Yesterday I noticed that the bins were not uplifted. I didn't have anything to put into last weeks having just returned from Northern Ireland. This is due to continued disruption due to snow and icy conditions. The council have full details of what to do here. Basically it sums up as:

• Leave your bin out until it is emptied,
• Please do not contaminate recycling bins with non recyclable materials,
• Ensure all waste is contained within the bin and the bin lid is fully closed or it may not be emptied.

Also be careful about where you park you car to allow access. I know that some residents have not moved their cars here for three weeks, but for those that do take it out and then try and park as best they can, do show care and consideration for others. Also if you can consider what you may be able to take to the coucil refuge sites yourself, but don't do so if that isn't a safe option for you.

The gritting teams have continued to do a sterling job working around the clock always it seems in sub zero temperatures. So while we are all able to get or keep snuggly wrapped up in the warm they are out doing their stuff. Of course there are occasions, especially during fresh falls of snow that they cannot be everywhere at once, so keep on being patient. Tomorrow morning could be one such time as the BBC website is forecasting a heavy snow shower, the highest warning of snow they have given in the last 12 days.

As well as the BBC local forecast keep a check on the West Lothian Council updates on conditions and access.

Council Fail, Community Pass II

It was on Tuesday of this week that I posted how the local council here back home were unable to respond to the chaos on residential streets in this area caused by the freeze of thawed snow.

Well today is bin day. However, I walked out to the shops to get some last minute messages, the the temperature was -9c here last night. So the frost was harsh again. The roads were still quite fierce as were the pavements.

Having gone downtown to get some wheaten bread and some other things I returned to find the road had miraculously become less icy than either pavement, in the same conditions of temperature and sunshine. Yes you guessed it the council work lorries were given a gritted road to get to and from their houses while for the last two days local residents have struggled and slipped and slid down the various slopes that make up our roads.

The refuge collectors however are being treated like the Queen with a freshly painted building, no ice on their route.

Council Fail, Community Pass

Once upon a time when I was the age of my nephews the local council here, and indeed the residents were more able to cope with the onset of quite treacherous wintry conditions. Over the past few days we have only had less than an inch of snow on three occasions.

On the previous two occasions this has usually thawed out totally and there have been no issues a couple of hours after even on the residential roads. Today however is different. The snow turned initially to slush, but the temperatures are sub zero later on and the slush has now turned to ice.

Next to my mum's house is a very steep short stretch of hill leading to a T-junction, it is only 2 doors down the road. Mum had already skidded coming round the bends to get here after a morning shopping. And the postman arriving with his second delivery of the day told up that some o the other nearby roads were have cars piled up. So we took the easiest route out to the cemetery to place a wreath on Dad's grave on his birthday.

On our way home we were getting flagged down not attempt to go down the hill. After parking up in driveway I headed straight back to see if there was anything I could do to help. As it was one car had skidded down two car lengths trying to make the junction, another had skidded trying to go around her.

On that hill every year up to this had been a grit bucket. And every year up to this, in these conditions the local residents had sprinkled grit on the top of this hill to enable people to make the junction. What happened just now was that from about four different households came sand, salt, fire ashes, and anything to help get traction under the stuck car, we did end up getting the car up and off the slope. But not before warning several other cars off trying to make their way up.

There are other ways that you can drive from the bottom section around to the area where we live, it was how me and my mother got back. The local police are stretched with so many accidents and so many dangerous roads, but what I saw just now was that the local community are prepared to do their bit to enable to roads to remain passable, if only the council had provided the tools to enable them to do so earlier. There are three hotspots within half a kilometre from here and presently all three have local residents crying out for why the council has removed the grit boxes.

There are times I'm prepared for the worst back in Bathgate, but I rarely have to use the measures I have taken. Our Scottish local councils prepare far better and more effectively than here, at least the community is kicking in to help out as best we can.