Le Tout P'ti FC

Bump. I've been reading this series of articles in the Guardian today and the fear has set in. Talks of a generation who can't afford to retire, and a return to mass pensioner poverty. The drop in home ownership exacerbating matters because of permanent rental commitments, where previously mortgages would have been cleared. Most alarming to me was this - the IRRI state that people should put 15% of their lifetime earnings into their pot to avoid pensioner poverty. But 42% have no private pension, and the average fund size is only £47k. This would buy you an income of 47% of those in 30s/40s are not saving adequately, or at all. Over 45s private savings will generate an income of £4k on average. More. 63% of those retiring today do not receive a full state pension. Hints to expand state retirement age to 75 or even 81. My retirement age has already climbed from 65 to 68, so roughly 1 year added for every 5 years I have worked so far. It is quite the most depressing and terrifying list of woe I have read in some time. I'm 38. I saved a little bit privately from graduation at 22 until I was 28, my previous employer did not offer a scheme. It was a modest amount in retrospect. From 28 onwards I've been saving 10% into my work scheme, and my increasing private contributions into my own scheme take me up to maybe 18% in total. So I've put a decent sum aside. But yet every time I read something like this and do a pensions calculator it shows that I'm not doing enough. The whole thing alarms me, and I am a financial professional. Anyway, if you want to share a dose of the fear, read this... 'There's a danger of a generation who can't afford to retire' https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2017/jan/23/saving-retirement-pension-generation-old-age?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Messages

I taught my wee one to say the "everybody be cool this is a robbery" bit from pulp fiction. Carefully inserting "mother frogger" etc. Maybe inappropriate for a 3yo in retrospect.

Meant to add - the poster for the Hydro show is excellent. I'll be hoping to get one of those to add to the collection.

Tickets bought. My first gig at the Hydro. Only downside is I would guess this means they won't be doing any other Scottish shows in 2017. I was hoping for a tour off the back of the new record. Will be interesting to see how they do some of the old songs without John Cummings. Feels odd to have a Christmas night out in the diary already.

There are 19 years between my two nieces! It's a decent gap. I don't think there were many hand-me-downs left from number1 by time number 2 came along. My sister's first marriage broke up. Her ex has also went off and had more kids. Meaning my eldest niece (now 25) has four brothers and sisters dotted around early primary school age. It's an odd state of affairs for sure.

That's the one! Found this article about TAG tonight. Finishes on a cliffhanger! http://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/100-Fan-culture/1367-reverting-to-type-the-absolute-game

That was a Gillingham fanzine, I think. I used to love the page in WSC and TAG which listed all the various fanzines you could buy. On occasion in London I'd nip into Sportspages which had shelves of the things. My favourite obscure fanzine was The Angry Corrie. But TAG was a thing of beauty. Typical issue: Bruno Glanvina column. Book review eviscerating Richard Gough's latest memoir. Some angry letters. And a photo of a junior park taken in a hailstorm. Awesome. I had a nearly complete collection once, I fear it's gone forever. Ach well. There was a Meadowbank cartoon in one issue, it went something like frame 1 wide view of the vast empty stand: frame 2 zoom in on a solitary guy sitting watching game; frame 3 tap on shoulder "excuse me pal, I think you're in my seat"...

My running has suffered last year with the general demands on my time that a two year old child allied to a busy job gives. Managed probably one run per week on average which was poor. Albeit I did do a 13 mile run from Taynuilt to Oban (back roads) in September which was a real highlight. But I've used the Christmas holiday period to get me going again, 9 runs of 4-5 miles each completed (including one in a blizzard which was just braw!), plus one to come tomorrow on last day off. Times coming down steadily. Aiming to keep it going now, 3 runs pw is the realistic target. Will target 50 miles for January post-holiday and then evaluate at end of month. Aspiration is to get back to an occasional run to work (8.5 miles). Childcare drops and picks is the real barrier there. Makes me realise just quite how bad for my general health attending work can be. (And let's not start on the mental health aspects of being permanently over stretched at work.)

Behold the new stand at Easthouses Lily! They had a fenced off public park what seems like a month ago and now they've got a stand and floodlights installed. Perhaps the finest facilities at any of the Midlothian junior and senior grounds now? (Pictures off their twitter) And how it used to be...

All I know about Loch Lomond whisky is that Tarry the dog gets pissed drinking it in the Tintin book The Derk Isle (tonight's bed time story!).

awful

Opened a Laphroaig quarter cask last night. Smoked salmon on the side. Excellent.

He's taken to his bike in a big way, within the last fortnight. He cycled three miles yesterday, mostly downhill admittedly, on cycle path. When we got home we had a bonfire to burn this year's leaves. Brilliant fun!

Caol Ila is lovely. I've got a soft spot for it, as it was the first "proper whisky" I was given to taste. Life changing moment! It's maybe not my absolute favourite these days (that would be Lagavulin!), but I'd still have it in my top five drams easily. They do a very decent tasting tour as well, sitting in a warehouse looking out to Jura. The views are sensational. Not sure how well this photo will come out, it's from an old phone taken in March...

Bloody amazing watching them grow almost before your eyes. This week my wee man - 3 years 3 months - has just flourished. Every time we get a week off together as a family he visibly shoots on, which always makes me massively melancholy about working and what I miss whilst I'm working. Took him up a hill today with him mostly on my shoulders, me almost crying because a) I can't lift him that far and it was sore, but b) I can't lift him that far and it will be sore when I can't do it or he doesn't want me to do it for him.

If you like that, Bowmore Darkest is the way to go next. I've got a bottle in house with 1/3 left but I've agonisingly promised to save it for a pal next time they come round.

Starting strong, ending strong. Excellent line up!

You may have enjoyed Great Canal Journeys on C4 a week or so past, if you missed it will still be on 4OD. They visited Jura Distillery and Timothy West seemed to be settling in for an extensive tasting! I've not made it to Jura distillery yet. Only got as far into Jura as the slipway off the wee ferry from Port Askaig and then jumped back on the return crossing!

I've done a premium tour at all of the Islay distilleries bar Bunnahabhain. I've been taken up to hills above Laphroaig to see the source and cut some peat, I've drank 45 year old whiskies inside Lagavulin warehouse, I've done a flight of expressions of Bowmore outside on their terrace in a gale etc. Each tour is different from the next, and it at the very worst leads to a morning of sampling whisky which you otherwise wouldn't buy in such variety. Almost always a superb trip in my experience. But having said that if there's a bog standard £5 tour to be had then it's still worth doing. I definitely enjoy a whisky more once I've visited the place where it was made, it's just that mental association of taste to place to people which helps make it. Also out of season in small groups of enthusiasts/chancers can lead to erm more "genrous" tastings than when there's a coach party getting dragged around in summer in between their piss and scone stops at woolen mills!!

I had no idea where Dalmore was until now. That's handy for somewhere else we will be visiting so I'll look into that one. Strathisla in Keith seems to do tours. Would anybody recommend a trip there?

that's a good shout, thanks.

Any decent distillery tours accessible from Inverness by public transport? Preferably with a decent lunch spot nearby. Up there next week (without my car), will have some free time. Been to Glenfiddich and Balvenie.

incredible. well done Andy Murray.

Walking up from Port Ellen, collect your rent from Laphroaig, warehouse tasting with Iain at Lagavulin, on to Ardbeg for lunch at the Old Kiln. Can't beat it!

The Night Watch is a colossal painting in every sense. It fills that room and grabs your attention. I've not been to the Rijksmuseum since it was refurbished. Definitely on the must-visit list next time I go back.