Laid Back Maverick

Haven't done much hillwalking recently as well...Caithness is a bit flat. Used to regularly walk up the Ochils, either The Law-Ben Cleuch-Ben Ever circuit or Dumyat, and the Pentlands - usually from Swanston up Allermuir Hill then a variety of routes down to Glencorse Reservoir. Also, did a fair bit of walking up in Assynt - climbed the majority of the hills up there (Quinag, Canisp, Suilven, Stac Polly & Ben More Assynt) - as well as a lot of walks along the coast. When I was in the RNR, I volunteered to do the Caledonian Challenge - 54 miles of West Highland Way non-stop from Glen Nevis to Loch Lomond. As training walks we did: Corrour Station (as seen in Trainspotting) to Glen Nevis Sgurr Na Gillean in the Cuillins (the only hill I suffered from vertigo on) The South Kintail Ridge The Lairig Ghru from Braemar to Rothiemurchus, returning via Glen Derry The Pentland Hills from west to east All pretty knackering, but great fun. We finished the Caley Challenge in under 22 hrs. A few pics that I have on Bebo: Stac Pollaidh, 1992(ish) Sgurr Na Gillean, 2004 South Kintail Ridge, 2004 Pentland Hills from Allermuir Hill, Feb 2005

Previous discussion about it here

What about dressing like a twat to get into the paper

The crux of her argument seems to be: 1) The first person on-scene was on the off-duty policeman (who was there dropping his kid off at nursery). He was not named and gave very little evidence. Ms Uttley claims his presence was part of the conspiracy. It was this policeman that called 999 and was the only person on-scene when the first ambulance arrived. 2) The differences between the account of the off-duty policeman (and his presence) first on the scene and the Scene of Crime Officer/firearms specialist - namely the number of guns/holsters and positions bullet holes differ between accounts. She claims the SOCO was responsbile for the crime scene and tampered with the evidence to make it look like suicide. I think my missus would agree that the first person on-scene usually gives the least accurate version of events due to shock etc. As for Ms Uttley's connection with the tragedy, she was an Technician/Paramedic (accounts differ) at Callander Ambulance station and relieved some of the crews that had attended the scene. Her ex-long term partner lost his daughter. He believed there was a conspiracy too, but in recent years though, he has said he longer believes this and has dis-associated himself with Ms Uttley (you'll find plenty of character assassination of him on her website). Although she calls herself a "former resident of Dunblane" and believes she should be told "the truth" for this reason, it might be worth noting that she is in fact English and moved to Scotland in later life.

I binned my MSc graduation because 1) I'd done it all before and 2) most of the folk on the course were w**ks. My Dad was a bit upset with me apparently

http://www.dunblaneunburied.tk/ That's one of the major problems with the internet is that nutters like this woman can spout their rubbish.

I have seen young woman (17/18 years old) display this who obviously don't have children in the car. I can only presume they consider themselves "Little Princesses"

No, but there is a reason we have a private forum

I tried to explain that to him From what I remember all HW's internet access goes via an online proxy cache and it's probably not refreshing right. Apparently HW's IT said that I needed to "refresh my sever" Passing the buck as usual.

When people won't take my word! That really irks me! I run the website for Heriot-Watt dive club. I put up a load of pictures from the loch clean-up the other day and for some reason 2 people can't view those pictures (But can access the rest). They claim that HW's IT guys said it's a problem with the website and won't believe me when I say the pictures work fine - despite me having it confirmed from 5 independent sources! Argh!

The Departed 9/10. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a film so much - hell, I even liked Leonardo Di Caprio's performance! I laughed, I cringed, I had a few "oh ya f'cker" moments too. It really brightened up what had been a dreary Sunday!

Hostel What can I say but fuxake! It's like an hour and a half of looking at Rotten.com. Genuinely unsettling. I haven't watched a film through my fingers like that since Final Destination 2. Just goes to show there's no such this as a free lunch, you want the hot girls, you gotta pay the price! In a Tarantino produced flick it's no surprise that there are several homages (i.e. rip-offs) of older movies, including Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Domino I lost interest around halfway into the film (I have no clue why things happended as they did at the end). The film was just overly "stylish" with lots of flashing screens and stuff and the story wasn't particularly enthralling - ex-model becomes bounty hunter. Woop-de-doo! Keira Knightley doesn't look that great in it, in fact she looks almost boyish. Mickey Rourke plays his role well though. Remember the Titans I love this film! I know it sticks to the real story as much as Braveheart did (in other words it doesn't!), but I still think it's a cracking film about a sports team bonding regardless of race, and how the community can learn from them. Denzel Washington is a great actor and puts in another fine performance. This Year's Love It was on BBC1 last night and I caught in from about 15mins in. Interesting wee film about a microcosm in Camden where a group of people share their partners/ex-partners (sometimes unknowingly) with each other over the course of a few years. I dislike the fact that the mentalist nerd shares my first name though! I think it's touted as a comedy but it's pretty depressive in places. Kathy Burke is fantastic in it as a backing singer to David Gray - who was virtually unknown at the time and plays a pub singer. Because of this, it also features a lot of songs from "White Ladder" on the songtrack (including the title track). Despite it being set in London it does feature a lot of Scottish faces and Catherine McCormack continues using the Scottish accent she used in Braveheart.

Let's see if he becomes injured if he starts losing

Went to see Cars on Saturday night. F'cking fantastic. A cartoon about a race car, what more can you ask

Final Destination 3 - 4/10 - it is only tenuously linked to the first two films and the 2nd film completed the "circle". The deaths were just "blink and you'll miss it" moments, unlike like FD2 which made me wince in places. Also changed the rules slightly but then sequels always do that. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - 8/10 - loved it! Bit over-long though (I sure they could have trimmed 30 minutes from it and it'd still have been a cracking film). Reminded me of Monkey Island quite a bit, which isn't a bad thing (I had my fingers crossed that Murray the demonic skull might appear). I went with the missus and she didn't enjoy it - but she did manage to sleep for half and hour of it . Afterwards she said she didn't think the special effects were good (sorry, but WTF?) and she didn't understand Jack's change of heart at the end, which I thought it really obvious! Hard Candy - 8/10 - quite an un-nerving film. The concept is far fetched but the lassie acts it well. (Despite playing a 14 year old, the actress is actually 18.)

Just finished reading "The Long Walk" by Slavomir Rawicz. Rawicz was a Polish officer, arrested by the Russians for "spying" during WW2 and sentenced to 20 years forced labour. After travelling on the Trans-siberian railroad to Lake Baikal, they are marched 1000 miles to Camp 303, a gulag in the midst of the siberian wilderness. Rawicz managed to escape however, and with six others made the journey south - travelling 4000 miles through Mongolia, the Gobi desert and crossing the Himalayas. A fantastic tale of human endurance, albeit it feels like it was a little embellished by the ghost writer.

I watched "The Ringer" this morning and I'll have to shamefully admit I did laugh at the Special Olympics. I'm so going to Hell!

Just finished reading: "Touching the Void", Joe Simpson - I've heard Joe Simpson tell the story in person, I've seen the film but only just got round to reading the book. A true tale of survival against the elements. "Alive: The True Story of the Andes Survivors ", Piers Paul Read - Another epic tale of survival, with the most matter of fact description of carving up dead bodies and eating human flesh You still have to wonder whether the survivors killed the weak for food, one minute they're fine then the next day "they lost faith and died". Hmm... In the middle of reading: "Mapping the Deep", Robert Kunzig - A really interesting account of the development of Oceanography and deep sea exploration and how our ideas on the seas have changed over the decades.

You're probably right but remember that he'd been living on a Gillian McKeith/hamster food diet before starting his fast food binge!

I watched it the other day and wasn't that impressed with it, but then the book it's based on is one of my favourites, so I'm no doubt biased. Incidentally the book is far funnier and at times darker.

I remember taking a lassie to see it on Valentine's Day (There was nothing else on that day) Seeing the car crash on the big screen was almost too much for me because one of my mates had died in a car crash the year before. Still, it's a very good film.

Aye, I have. And I thought it was absolute gash. I though Dwayne Johnston (sp? The Rock) tried hard but it was such a ham-fisted attempt at a film. First person shooter part was alright, but could have been better. It was at least a bit innovative. The rest of the film was a bunch of cliches sellotaped together badly. Where were the scares? Where was the gore? Did the director/screenwriter call that a plot? So many questions. Let's face it, no film was ever gonna top the first time you played Doom until midnight with the lights off! How freaky could that get!

Were you standing or sitting? The standing seemed to have a large proportion of neds, weans and the blue rinse brigade down the front! Great gig though IMO.

Doom 5/10 - Watchable. The first person segemnet is cool, but just reminds you how fun playing the game is. Not a lot of carnage and frights for what was a genuinely bloody and sometimes scary game. Directors should realiise there isn't much need for plot for a video game movie just guns, explosions, blood & guts!

I'm off to see the Foo Fighters tonight. Pity it's the SECC!