A week since the migraine began, and still the effects grapple with my wellbeing.

Today was a long day, with lots of reasons to think next year will be a long year, but it’s over and time for bed.

Tomorrow I am hoping for rain! Only because I would like a day off. Not too much to ask now and again I think!

What a miserable blip! I will try to do better tomorrow…

There are roses in our house. A romantic gesture thrown towards our youngest lass. What a nice lad she has!

So we thought!

Turns out, they were her idea! A request one might assume, or a demand one might postulate. Nice to see she is taking after her dear mother. I am sure we wouldn’t have it any other way… :-)

Generally I prefer purple, but the powers that be insist on red! Hurrah for rules and regulations.

If I behave, in a couple of weeks I get to use green! Hud me back!

Sitting in Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens enjoying that glorious west coast sunshine, listening to Vangelis, and thinking not much has changed.

The main University buildings still fill me with delight to see and stroll around, though my student days are long gone. And tonight it’s back to my old department for a talk… peculiar.

One.

Two.

Three cranes.

We don’t have a cat!

Half way through my 13 day working ‘week’ and so far, I am still alive! Although I needed a beer, some Tchaikovsky, and a hot bath at the end of the day to take away the pain! :)

Hippy blip night tonight. Not sure if that’s because of the bath, beer, or the Russian symphony. Embrace it while you can!

School trip on the Girl Katherine II today!

The weather was not ideal, and everyone got a little wetter than they hoped! But it was a great morning and always good to be out at sea.

The lighthouse on the Bell Rock is 200 years old this year, and is a wonder of engineering - a treat to visit and see up close! I recommend it!

Was tough getting phone pictures, so this the best I got. I am a little happier with my SLR pics.

For the first time in a few months I had a migraine. Started 40 minutes before end of work. Here’s the routine…

First contact: the world seems a little distant, unsettling, much like that moment just prior to realising you just shared a common world view with your Father. Duration: 5 minutes.

Dawning realisation: despite having suffered countless migraines in the past the time it takes to recognise the onslaught does not change. At this point I should take my super duper prescribed medication - it is 90% effective 90% of the time!

But today. No. Medication. Took painkillers instead.

That vision thing: if you smeared Vaseline in two side by side “W” shapes… thus “WW”… on the lenses of a pair glasses at the centre of your vision - that’s the best I can do to describe what happens to my sight. In can discern large objects and colours, but no chance that I could read, even very large type. Nothing you look at is in focus. In the meantime my head feels like it’s full of damp cotton wool, and I feel like I want to throw up, but never do! Duration: 15-30 minutes.

The payload: the headache starts. Ouch! If possible I should have found a dark room by now. One in which I can sleep. It’s the only reprieve. Avoid light. Avoid noise. Duration: various.

First migraine I ever had last 6 weeks! No, really! And before then if people were off work with “a migraine” I confess I thought they were probably slacking a bit with a headache. Little did I realise. Sorry.

And all that’s before I mention that atypically my arm, hand, then fingers go numb. Very occasionally one half of my face does too. Feels like you are having a stroke! Not pleasant.

And the blip? The weathered flowers, the off coloured lighting, the piercing light source, the vague lack of focus. It is the best I could do to capture the feeling of a migraine - not including the pain!

Tonight when i eventually got home, had an hour of sleep, and recuperated for a bit: we walked the dogs. All’s well that ends well. Apparently!

Today I saw the light. I bathed in it.

Or at least, I blipped it.

Another in the series titled “Obscure Self Portraits Which Don’t Give Too Much Away”…

What is it about not wanting to appear on camera that remains despite loving to take pictures?

And while I am at it, how can I not feel I am imposing by photographing people in the street? I have seen some stunning street photography but, perhaps a result of not liking to be the subject, I never feel like I should do it myself.

My laptop started pinking last night. Got worse today. Worried that it might be the hard drive…

Time for some DIY…

Always bad to drop one of the world’s smallest screws. Always good to find it again!

Timely reminder to reevaluate my backup strategy… if strategy is not too grand a word!

Today my iPhone gained hope. Independence is just around the corner. The possibility of loosing the cable, loosing the computer, loosing the tether, but keeping the connection. Shame it’s only an announcement - I best remember where I stowed that cable.

Until the Fall (sic).

Today we walked along the coast to Scurdieness Lighthouse, just outside Ferryden - a lovely, haphazard, vaguely rundown, old fishing village. A place oozing with photo opportunities, quaint and quirky.

And being the complete amateur I am, I left my camera at home. Hurrah!

The weekend is becoming predictable. Work 16 hour days all week… throw Saturday to the lions, productivity-wise at any rate. Roll on the Summer (which, it should be noted, ended yesterday - again)!

But one dog has a new bed, and the other a toy pheasant that sounds uncannily like a distressed duck when squeezed by the drooling jaws of a hungry, but intellectually challenged hound!

And tonight’s blip? I can haz Chianti?

I was concerned that we had had our Summer. That lovely week in April was a hint at glorious possibilities. And then, in a breath, it was gone.

Okay. Perhaps in a gale!

And now it’s back. And in true Scots mood I would say it’s almost too hot. But I was stuck inside for most of it. Working.

But a dog walk tonight and then a Dr Who catch up accompanied by a fine Chianti, made up for the trouble.

Roll on the Summer!

Compact and bijou rooftop accommodation. One room. Good condition. Nearby amenities.

In the ample grounds of a four/five bedroom house in a nice location in Arbroath, which also happens to be for sale… if anyone wants one. :-)

There are so many times I would like to have lived through, and for each no doubt as many reasons why I would rather not! But I can’t complain about today.

Alvin Toffler described future shock (more or less, so forgive me if it’s not a quote) as the sensation gained from experiencing too much change in too short a time!

Personally, I love it! Give me more!

Today I talked too much. But it was final pitch day. Exciting times ahead if it all works out.

So to be out and about this evening enjoying the clear skies, all calm and peaceful, knowing that the tumult and chaos of recent days is behind us… well, it’s nicely relaxing.

The sun goes down on one hell of a busy month. I’d like a day off now please!

Today it was reported that unannounced figures, whatever they may be, suggested that the world is producing record levels of greenhouse gases. This, despite our continued efforts to reduce our effluence in precisely that area!

I think we must do more. Use less.

As a father to three young girls, I find it difficult to think what shape our planet will he in when they are my age. So much changes, so quickly. I don’t want us to pillage this world before they have a chance to save it.

What a lovely day. Sun shining. Nice and warm. Looks like Summer is trying to return.

Oh, and 30mph and higher winds!

Nothing else for it, time to get the kite out…

Then food. And now Dr Who…