as my Aussie pal Peta used to say, back in the days when we were Primary Shool Sports Coordinators in Inverness, responsible for cajoling volunteers into coaching a variety of sports to eager kids, who were grateful to participate in anything that meant running around, and basically getting them out of the confines of a stuffy classroom. It wasn't easy of course, good volunteers are always hard to find, but we were a pretty good team back then, and if any opportunity arose to

So as the clocks have gone back, I thought it was time for a wee update on the swimming challenge and I am proud to say that, hopefully, I'm winning the bet. Hubby hasn't actually told me what his bet with himself is yet, so consequently, I'm still going in and still haven't got a wetsuit. Roxy has been a bit ambivalent depending on her mood. She was in season this month and maybe decided that she couldn't face it and instead watched dutifully from the beach, but this morning

especially if it's made of plastic beacause, for me, this weekend has been a real eye opener. For those of you who don't know me well, I've always been a bit of an environmentalist, my nickname amongst hubbies pals is 'Save the Whale', but I'm getting increasingly frustrated with both myself and the world I live in, for not being as plastic free as I would like. I could go on all day about it, but I won't, because I want to tell you about my sunday morning which involved taki

once said the indomitable icon that is Dolly Parton, and as I thought about this, I wondered if dear Dolly would ever have considered plunging into the Moray Firth on a grey murky morning, with the outside temperature lurking just below double figures. She probaby would if you asked her, she seems like that kinda gal. So yes, I'm still going in but the quote about bravery is not about the daily dip. The bravery bit or lack of it in my case, refers to the next step of actually

Yep, three weeks since I first took the plunge, I am happy to report that I'm still going in and have only actually missed three mornings. It's become a ritual now and even though when I wake up, the prospect of a sea plunge isnt always instantly appealing, by the time I've walked through the fields, woken up and warmed up, the sea dip halfway is now an essential part of the day. Now dont get me wrong, Iron Woman I am not. I'm not a great swimmer, I'm actually afraid of water

because I honestly just didn't get it, but I am now grown up enough to admit, that a dog really can change your life. My hubbie and kids are furious, of course, because if I said, "look, we are not getting a dog and that's final," once, I said it a thousand times throughout their childhood and I can appreciate their frustration, in that now they're all grown up and flying the nest, Roxy dog moves in. Mum, who didn't like dogs, is now hopelessly smitten. The thing is, I was ne

As I settled down to my hearty bowl of porridge the other morning, my eyes strayed casually to the cereal box in front of me and as I fixed my gaze once again upon his taught torso, I experienced the sudden realisation that the The Scott's Porage Oats Man and I, actually go back a very, very long way. You see it all started in the small Cotswold town of Witney in 1976, when I got my first job at the ripe old age of 13, a paper round for which I slaved for the princely sum of

As one of my 2018 mid-life crisis resolutions was to be more spontaneous and random, on a whim I called upon two simarly like-minded friends to drag themselves out of their toasty homes on a bitterly cold January evening and accompany me to the tiny fishing village of Burghead on the north-east Scottish coast. The conversation had gone something like this. "Do you fancy coming to the Burning of the Clavie festival in Burghead?" "What's it about? Is it Viking?" "I dont reall