Over the last fee weeks and months there has been growing concern about the reforms proposed by in the Digital Economy Bill which is going today for a third reading in the House of Commons (UK Parliament).

This legislation as it stands is quite frankly horribly Draconian in it's approach and makes a mockery of the legal system's overarching principle of the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

But before I talk about the content of the bill itself, I have to write about the rather interesting event that took place yesterday in concerning the second reading.

Twittersphere/Public Engagement

On Twitter, a medium I quite often ridicule but still watch and occasionally participate with curious interest (I feel our ability to be hypocritical is what separates us humans from the animals :p) we saw a world-wide trend for the tag #debill. Looking at the results flow in during the Parliamentary debate broadcast live on BBC Parliament was very surprising for me. Sure, I expect people to be online discussing every nuance of the latest #drwho as it aired on Saturday. It's a nerdy show (I like it!) and it appeals to lots of people who are part of the "nu media" generation, so it's no surprise that the two mediums converge. But watching BBC Parliament and having a "twitstorm" of comment regarding it was, for me at least, the first time I've seen such public participation in politics for a long long time.

Politicians are often lamenting on voter apathy, but this showed that there is real interest in the political process when the process truly engages our interest. Ultimately I vote in the politician I believe will do the best job for me and those people and causes I care about. That's why I vote. I don't want to have a referendum on every contentious issue. I don't have the time to read the EU constitution and make an informed judgement on it's contents and the legal ramifications therein. I'm have neither the qualifications nor the time to deal with this. That's why my tax money goes towards paying people who are (or at least are supposed to be) qualified and do have the time. Having referendums usually means that the verbal diarrhoea that is spouted by the tabloid press often has major sway in decision making. I certainly do not want that. But it truly dismays me to see what went on in the chamber yesterday. Time after time, politicians stood up and lamented on the way this bill had been pushed through in the wash (the time period before parliament is dissolved before a general election) without proper scrutiny and without full disclosure (several MPs were not even able to read the amendments before the second reading!!), but then went on to say, "but I'll support it". Sorry? Excuse me? What? WHAT? If this is democracy in action, I feel sick.

This debate attracted tens of thousands of people to follow and debate a very important matter for the future of Britain's economy and society. It attracted many young people who had not before taken any interest in politics to listen and debate the issues. This was a real opportunity to engage the young and the apathetic. To make sure they valued and used their vote in the coming election. This is the generate that discuss everything with everyone. For each person involved, their opinions and concerns would have reached five more people. This was social media primed and ready. And what happened? Everyone involved said that the process was flawed but they still carried on with it? This is wrong, wrong, wrong. If the process if flawed, throw it out and start again. It doesn't matter what you are doing, that is the only outcome that can be honourably and morally supported. Time after time, it was stated that if they don't support this flawed procedure it would be tantamount to authorising illegal file sharing.... excuse me? How exactly? Due process not followed, start again. How does that say to anyone: "It's OK to download stuff in violation of the creators copyright"? It doesn't. Anyone who thinks it does is either stupid or has other agendas and thinks we, the public, are stupid and they can get away with this approach.

Sharing is Bad m'kay?

So on to the bill itself. There are many things I've read about the bill that are disagreeable to just about everyone except large media companies who want to protect the status quo. I don't deny that file sharing is something that needs to be more closely regulated - that doesn't mean I support an outright ban. It's pretty accepted that a degree of piracy actually encourages paid consumption. Microsoft secretly loves a degree of piracy as it locks in more people to their walled garden ecosystem. While I don't have any directly figures, the people I know who file share are also some of the largest consumers of paid media content. In order to support the "creative industries" (i.e. the economy) which is a question that must be when analysing any part of this bill, we have to look at how society works and how to encourage legitimate consumption of media. To encourage things in this way we need to stop assuming that the default stance of prohibition and punitive responses to accusations are the right way to go. There are tens of thousands of people scrambling to be part of the creative industry - ways to encourage this are critical and that means thinking about the little guys, not just the incumbent, dominant corporations that have a significant interest in maintaining the status quo.

Virtually everyone in the UK who owns a personal media player (e.g. an iPod, an iRiver, most mobile phones and that one guy who has a Zune), has infringed copyright by converting a CD they own to some other format - e.g. MP3. This is morally acceptable to approximately 100% of people, but yet it is copyright infringement. How many people have lent a DVD or Blu-Ray to a friend or invited friends over to watch a film? Have you ever read the disclaimer at the start of a movie? Sharing is Bad m'kay?

The rhetoric about supporting the creative industries is just that, rhetoric. If they really cared about supporting a digital economy they'd be looking at things with unbiased, fresh and open minds.

Theft

MP after MP stood up and talked about theft. I cannot think of a single example they gave that constituted theft. They are using this term incorrectly and it is biased towards the goals they want to achieve. It is simply not acceptable that they are deliberately skewing the debate via this technique. Theft means denying someone of property. If I break into your house and steal your coffee table, it's theft. If I break into your house and bring power tools and wood, then diligently make an exact replica of your coffee table then it's copyright infringement (assuming the table is a copyrighted work). And it's making a mess and loud noises probably too. But it's NOT theft. To call it theft just shows the complete ignorance of the matter being discussed or it shows that other agendas are taking priority over their responsibilities to debate and discuss things without prejudice. I feel I've had my democratic right stolen from me. No wait... not stolen, violated!

Pipes

The "Internet" is also being seen as a single thing. It's not. It's a myriad of different protocols and services all running on one pipe. The Internet is actually very similar in concept to electricity. I have an electricity supply to my house, using this generic resource I can plug in lamps, ovens, fridges, heating and safety equipment. I can also power my computer. And in a similar way my Internet supply allows me to access my Facebook photos from my digital photo frame, I can watch TV over iPlayer, I can browse the world wide web, I can read emails and I can share files. If I am accused of file sharing and I cannot prove my innocence, this bill proposes that I will have my Internet supply stopped. Excuse me? My whole internet supply? Why not my electricity supply? The Internet is a generic resource, just like electricity. I used the internet to share files, but I also used electricity. Hell in the old days I use electricity to record a record to a tape it's copyright infringement and electricity allowed me to do it! Why is it that my whole Internet supply is being restricted and not my whole electricity supply? I cannot see why one of these drivers for the copyright infringement is being chosen over the other? Why not just exclude me from the small subsection of the Internet that I used to do this bad thing? Oh, because it's possible to encrypt content and tunnel data via proxies and generally hide what you are doing if you are that way inclined. You can't achieve this technically with any degree of certainty, so you just ban the whole lot? I can use electricity for illegal acts just as I use the internet, you can't exclude me technically from using electricity for illegal things, but no-one would even consider turning off power as a punishment.

And this could turn out to be a serious problem. While I believe it's an inevitable consequence of over regulation in any medium, this legislation as proposed will generally foster the use of encryption technologies. The protocols that are quite open and available to DPI (deep packet inspection) will become locked down and very difficult to monitor. The general population will have more knowledge about encrypting and easier access to encryption systems. Information that our security services can snoop quite easily just now will become much, much harder to deal with. Disorganised groups of would be terrorists will be able to organise themselves with a greater degree of privacy. While this is something that will happen anyway, encouragement in this area is hardly likely to please the guys over at DARPA. Now this isn't really a major point of my article but I had to justify the catchy subject somehow.

So back to the main point, the punitive mechanisms here are just fundamentally wrong. Almost everyone accesses the internet via router these days so almost every house becomes an ISP, responsible for dishing out access to laptops, PVRs, STBs, phones, photo frames and desktop machines.... and toasters and fridges and whatever else is "Internet enabled" tomorrow. While those on the outside could potentially prove that some copyright infringement happened on my pipe, the could not prove who within the pipe is responsible. Therefore the owner of the pipe is held liable. That's basically everyone in the UK being held liable as an ISP. And if I as an ISP allowed, it why is my upstream ISP not equally liable? The technical process here is simple too ambiguous to lay any groundwork for sensible action. The principles need to be rethought and better drafted.

Shining stars

I could talk about other parts of the bill at length, but all in all it's not worth it. The third reading is today and there is little time to wax lyrical. There were some shining stars present, Tom Watson and Fiona Mactaggart were two excellent examples and I thoroughly support them in what they said. Keep up the good work.

David Cameron was yesterday talking about "listening to the ignored". Well here is your chance David. Why not listen to the tens of thousands of people who are up in arms about this and are being completely ignored. Take a principled stand and shoot down this bill. If your party gets power at the General Election (and to be honest I really don't know who I want in power right now - they all look like pretty miserable options), then all you'll do is moan about this bill when it all goes wrong anyway. So why support it? Take a stand on principle and throw it out. If you do get power, do it right and that way you'll get all the praise if it goes well.... though you'll also get all the blame if it goes wrong which is why I guess your party is supporting it with one hand while punching it with the other.

Democracy in action. I feel so much more apathetic now that I did yesterday.

I think that one twitterite got it right yesterday when he said: "Excellent, a bill proposed by the unelected, debated by the ignorant and voted on by the absent. #debill"

Having now become quite good friends with Jim and Cat from Pure Mountain Holidays with whom I stayed last year, I reserved a space in their Chalet and booked my flights (from Glasgow as they were about a third of the price of the Edinburgh equivalent!).

I've had six days on the hill. The snow started off a little the worse for wear due to it not having been topped up for about three weeks. This wasn't ideal but it was still pretty good. As the week progressed the snow got a lot worse due to the temperature getting a lot higher (18 degrees at peak!). You can't have it both ways, and the sunshine was really nice even if the snow did suffer.

Jim Barker while out on our big tour

On Thursday myself, Jim and two other guests (Nigel and Ross) went for a fairly big trek up towards Avoriaz and over to Switzerland. It was technically Jim's day off (thanks for being so lenient Cat!) so it was very decent of him to drive us up there and come play with us (even tho' playing on the hill is something I'd also be happy to spend my day off doing!!). I tracked the trip on my phone and you can see the results on Google Earth (or on Google Maps if you don't have Google Earth installed). The tracks are quite hard to follow and there are a few GPS errors but it's pretty smart all in all.

We spend exactly 2 hours, 22 minutes and 22 seconds going downhill (although I did forget to turn off the tracking half way up one lift!) and covered a distance of about 24 miles. I only tracked the actual downhill sections and turned it off on the chairlifts - partly to conserve battery, but also to keep the average speed accurate. I averaged 10 miles an hour, which is pretty slow really, but maxed out at 40mph which I think was a fluke! All in all a great day out.

On the penultimate day, the snow came (as predicted) and while it was pretty wet in the morning the afternoon brightened up to give us some awesome powder. I made some fresh tracks through the trees on a few runs but came a cropper when I followed some tracks deeper into the woods which promptly stopped when they reached a small stream. Undeterred I ploughed on and over the stream and into the bank on the other side which I intended to hike over to get to the piste I knew was just on the other side. It looked a lot bigger when I was standing under it, but I eventually hauled myself over after having sunk to my waist on a couple of occasions!

A massive jump seen from the chairlift

The last day we woke to find it had been snowing for quite some time and as I trudged to the hill, the clouds parted and the sun shone for some of the best power/sun combo I've ever experienced. Pisted runs with about a foot of fresh snow on top made for some great sweeping carves and lovely spray behind. Awesome! It sadly started to cloud over again in the afternoon and the snow came on heavy and visibility became a problem but the morning more than made up for this slightly annoying end to the week.

All in all another great time with Jim and Cat. The other guests were all very friendly and good fun to chill out with. Until next year?

I wonder if the banana I left on my car roof at the airport will still be there when I get back?

We're heading to Nice where we will hopefully manage to catch our ferry to Corsica. There is not much time between our scheduled arrival and the ferry's scheduled departure and we didn't do ourselves any favours by sitting in blissful ignorance in the coffee shop while our flight went to final call! We were last in the plane but still had to queue to get on so thankfully we cannot be blamed for adding any delay!
(update from the future - we made it!)

This week is a bit of an experiment. As our company, Tribalogic Ltd, is a web development firm with our office telephones using VoIP, our physical location often does not matter. So myself and Rob have packed one of the hardware phones into a bag an are heading off to meet our colleague Gerome in Corsica where his family have a holiday home (with an Internet connection obviously!).

We should still be able to answer calls and deal with customer support etc. But time will tell if the theory matches the practice!

If all this works successfully it will maybe make me think more seriously about spending a winter season in a ski resort somewhere. I'd be able to help out on the phone and speak to customers from a little base in the alps so the only problem would be how it would affect our small team if I was away for a period of time. But before I get carried away with myself, we'll see how this week works out technically!

Anyway, read on and bask in the delights of a Polish excursion that
lasted only three days but shortened life expectancy by about three
years..... each.

Well, what can I say about Wizz Air? They were really good, despite the stupid and cheap sounding name!! The planes were all new and the flight was unremarkable as all good flights should be! Bit of a hairy take off, especially with a pilot sitting next to me saying "This has got to be pretty close to the limits of safety"..... but never mind that it all worked out in the end.

I am a late replacement sub, called up from the bench due to Fraser being unable to make it, so the (soon to be) Merry Men consist of myself, Derek, Stewart, Jack, Mike, Dave, Gel and Stimpy.

Jack did a sterling job doing the organising and the Hostel we stayed at was ace. The chicks weren't quite as hot as the ones in the movie Hostel but then multiple deaths were avoided so every cloud....

Little time was wasted before we started spending our  time getting wasted. Good(not to mention cheap) beer and Vodka on tap (well not quite but there wasn't exactly a shortage!). Jonesy had managed to wangle some contacts through work to meet up with us for a blether so we met them (via the taxi of confusion by a man who knew less about where he was going than Jack did but made up for this fact by having the best moustache in the Northern Hemisphere!

A few more drinks down and the evening starts to become hazy... but we make it to a club that was recommended to us and carry on the path of enlightenment (of wallets)..... at some point I got totally lost (the place was approximately the size of my front room so this is no mean feat!) but after stumbling around for a while, I bumped into Jonesy who was in a similar situation. Rather than turn right as we left the club we chose left... turns out this was wrong, but we found a cab and were taken home which was good. In the morning we would discover the club was about 200 yards from our hostel (which we would have probably worked out had we turned right), but let's not dwell on the stupidity.

The next morning was surprisingly clear headed. The co-ed showers unfortunately failed to elicit any gossip (at least none that was shared with the group!), but we soon found our way wandering around the former Jewish Ghetto which was walled in by the Nazi when they occupied Warsaw during the 1940s. Some of the original buildings were still standing and we managed to read about all the interesting bits about 5 minutes after we passed them which was pretty good going.

As evening drew in, we wonder up to the old town and just saw some fireworks exploding over the roof tops as part of the celebrations for the Polish Independence Day which was nice. We then wandered into a Market Square where there were lots of people wondering around and some music floating over from the corner where a guitarist and a saxamaphonist were happily strumming and tootling away. Took a moment just to sit down and soak it up before soaking up some local vodka in one of the many bars.... The night becomes hazy after that.... Gel threw a glass and broke it and then took out his anger on all of us by shouting and swearing in a restaurant, before promptly falling asleep where he sat (OK, he just dropped the glass and Jack did steal his main meal, so I guess it was somewhat justified!!). I don't remember much else about the night but I do remember having a good fight with Derek... don't ever trust that man... I discovered on my return that he must have bitten my nipple in that fight.... must have a bit of Tyson in him.

Next day we didn't wake till about 2pm. I felt like compete shit, and as we made our weary way to the Ice bar for a sub-zero vodka, I could feel my insides turn in all thirteen dimensions. Fortunately, we got there before it opened and we had to eat eight of the largest pizza we could imagine. We didn't think they'd be that big and we had to leave about 1/3 but hey ho, it made me feel about 100 times better so I went to the Ice Bar with gusto! Jack wanted to get naked but thankfully stopped short by only going half way (and I congratulate him on the choice of which half to keep covered - ice chairs.... had accident written all over it!!). Anyways, the Ice Bar was cool (boom! boom!), and set us up for a relatively sedate final night of drinks. We found a couple quiet places and made a new friend in Thomaz who tried in vein to get us into some club or other. Instead we took him to, quite possibly the shittest bar in Warsaw where Jack pushed a large man, covered in studs, off his chair in a argument about which country was better. It seems Scotland won. All was well (thankfully) and it all seemed quite good spirited!

Sad to come home and suffering the post holiday blues now, but such is life.

So, "Poland" - "Tick" - Next?

Aim is a kinda hip-hop, kinda DJ, kinda funky group that is really my kind of music. There is little not to like and when there is a full live band which combines brass, strings, tubs and samplers, you just can't go wrong.

As per usual it was a Liquid Rooms gig, which always sounds awesome. Been to some really good gigs there now. Packed as per usual, the atmosphere was brilliant. We were right in the thick of it as is usual, although I was there with a couple of different groups of friends so it was a little scattered around. Iain, Grant and his missus Suse + Adam, Jeff, Li and Bethan, whom I spent more time with due to there being more in the middle!! I can't help it - I'm a people person :p

The lead signer lass, who Chris fancies the pants off (sorry Andrea!) was there again, still looking very hot!! She sang one of her own tunes aswell as some tracks from Aim's new album, which I've yet to purchase but it's defo on my shopping list.

Jimmy sorted me out with a complimentary round which was good of him, although I've put in a good attendence record for the gigs there so I guess it's a fair exchange

Although a totally different type of gig, I was reminded of the time myself and Chris went to see Andy Turner (main Aim dude) play a DJ set at the old Bongo club..... appart from being shocked by a couple of dinosaurs, the odd thing about that night was that about four days later I found myself in a bar in Gas Town in Vancouver chatting to Andy and saying how I'd just seen him a few days prior in Edinburgh.... he must have thought I was a stalker or something. Regardless, it was an odd experience!

Anyways, back to the here and now, and all in all it was a great night, plus me and Jeff got tickets to see Ugly Duckling on the 16th November for cheap, so that should be a good giggle. Not seem some proper MC/DJing for a while and there is a serious lack of good hip-hop around, so hopes are high.... stay tuned.

Can't beat it - a sneaky day off work and just happen to get one of the nicer days for the last few weeks... 

Ahhh another great day in the water. This takes my tally this year up to two!! Woot!!

Myself, Nell, Del, Adam and Li head up North to the, now quite familiar spot by the North West corner of Loch Earn. Li is just coming along for the ride and Del pussies out like the, erm, pussy he is! So it's down to the three muckyears!

After I slip into my wetsuit (I say "slip" but I really mean "battle"), which quite frankly leaves little to the imagination, we board out vessel for two thirds of our hour.

We've not got Charlie himself this time, but another guy who turns out to be a great laugh and I'm just sorry I've forgotten his name as that does him a disservice!

I get dibs on going last as Nell got that position last time and ended up getting an extended go! So Nell took the water first and put on an astounding show of wakeboarding using the lesser know technique of using his face to cut through the water.

Adam did pretty well too with a couple of notable bails. Then donned the 'board and took up the position at the end of the rope.

I had finally sussed the whole getting out of the water thing last time I went so was able to get up straight away. I proceeded to put on an excellent show and didn't bail once for the whole 10 minute slot despite several turn and, if I'm honest a few hairy moments. Let's just say I'm glad there was a lot of water aroud and the wetsuit central heating....

Our second rounds' all went pretty well too, although I did manage quite a few bails on that attemp, mainly due to the sick and ill moves I was bustin'. I did actually get some pretty big jumps in apparently tho' as the dude said it was due to speed rather than technique, but hey, I'll take what I can get

Fun all round. 

Managed to get a few shows in this year and frequented the good old Spiegel Tent a fair bit too.... 

What can I say about the Spiegel Tent? It's awesome! I love it! For about a month during August every year, George Square is converted into a massive beer garden. Two big wooden "tents" host shows and clubs but it is the Garden itself that is just a fantastic atmosphere! Everyone goes there and you are practically guarenteed to meet someone you know! Although the tourists like it, I'm sure there are a lot of locals there too.

The only downside is the cost. You'll be lucky to get change of a tenner for 3 pints. Ahh well. It's only money!

As well as being Spiegeled, I managed to catch a few shows. Saw DJ Danny who cures the worlds problems by mixing phat shit. It was quite funny, and also saw the Moscow State Circus which, while fun, wasn't that brilliant really (the clowns scared me!)

Also saw Jason Byrne who was hilarious, if quite rude and Rich Hall who was also very good.

Unfortunately I managed to miss the Cat Empire due to my own incompetence but they were not at the Spiegel Tent as they were two years ago, they played in the George Square Theatre. Zeno, being more organised than me, saw them and said it was awesome but the venue was still lacking something.

I guess the highlight had to be the Tattoo. I didn't think I'd really like it much if I'm honest but it was really good and very impressive. We went to the very last performance of the year too, so it was a good finale of fireworks etc.  That also ended a three day bint of Spiegelising and I am now very poor!

The festival doesn't finish officially for a few days, but that's pretty much it. I guess Sunday will be fun as it will be the fireworks. Not sure who's about for it but I'm sure I'll be on the Mound as per usual.

Ahh well, it's been a blast. Cheerio.... until next year! 

Well I caved!

I couldn't stand being bikeless any longer and purchased me a new bike.

Kawasaki ZX6R Ninja

It's a second hand (obviously) Kawasaki ZX6R Ninja.

I bought it of a very nice guy called Lorne who had only had it for a few months. He said he gets a bike every now and then and then loses interest!

He lives over in Helensburgh which is on the West coast past Glasgow. I took a trip through last weekend and had a look and shaked his hand, then drove up North to Loch Earn and met Nell and Oren who had camped overnight. Fi and Ian turned up shortly after I arrived and we all went wakeboarding. Awesome weekend!

Anyway, back to the bike. My mate Grant gave me a lift through on his 'blade to pick it up. We took the scenic route via Perth(!) in order to drop off some parts for a friend of his.

It was good having someone there who is a regular rider as I was a little nervous about getting back in the saddle again! Everything went pretty well and I'm keeping it at Grant's garage just now as it keeps the insurance down!

His garage is a little out of the way for me which makes it a little annoying. Also it's not a private garage so I can't leave my gear there which makes cycling down impossible too. Fortunately, Derek's make Kev has got a garage right across the road from my work and has said I can use that!

Anyway, I'm chuffed as chips at the moment!

Update: My mate Iain Fairbairn has just passed his test too, so that's another member of the biker crew! 

 We all had a great day, my mum looked lovely and there were no hiccups!

The day started pretty early for me. I was up at 7am to finish of my speech. The previous three days for me at my work had been hugly time consuming and more than a little stressful so the whole speech writing thing was put on the back burner. Most of what I wanted to say was already done thankfully, and I just had to tidy up the edges and familiarise myself with it so I wasn't just reading it out (tho' that's pretty much what happened in the end).

I also had to pop up to my Dad's house to print out the speech and to drop of a birthday pressie for my sister, nip to the supermarket to grab some beers in case people came back to mine after and then organise a few more taxis, all before getting my kilt on and getting myself down to my other sister Katy's house where all the girls were getting ready.

My duties there were pretty much limited to looking after my Niece Elle while the rest of the girls got ready.

Taxis etc. went smoothly and myself and my mum were picked up in a nice Merc. We arrive bang on time, but things weren't exactly ready for us just yet so we loitered about a bit and were piped in to the room where the ceremony was being held.

It was a Humanist ceremony which means the religious stuff wasn't there which suited me perfectly. Everything that was said was just perfect. It hit a really nice balance and was very touching.

My mum's Italian friend Ilaria sang a beautiful Italian song and a friend of Brian's sang My Love is like a Red, Red Rose.

The day was lovely and sunny and we spend a lot of time out on the terrace (mostly cooling down).

We moved in for dinner and did the speeches. Mine went really well in the end. While I was nervous and my voice wavered a few times due to that I think it went down well in the end. People laughed at the right bits which was good!  The other speeches were really good too tho' I was too busy being relieved to really notice them!

The meal was lovely and people had already started arriving when we'd finished.

I went out to the terrace for some fresh air and shortly after Derek, Lindsey, Pete and Nicola turned up, all looking very well decked out! Nell, Fi, Stu Millar, Jody and Ian were not far  behind, looking equally smart. It was really nice to see my mates there, made the occasion all the more special for me.

Craig and Caroline (my boss and his wife) were also there which was great. Various strange connections were discovered (Ian was taught by my brother-in-law Pete's dad Sandy up in Inverness), and the night went really well. There was plenty of dancing, we had ceildh, South American and more standard disco style tunes which was a perfect mix.

Afterwards a few folk came down to mine for some of those extra drinks I was wide to purchase that morning.

All in all a great day...

It was great to see her again. Made me realise how much I miss her.... 

It's been a blast having her around again. We hung out loads and she filled me in on all the various stories and happenings from Whister.

We hit the town quite a bit too which was ace to get out and about a bit as I've been pretty crap at doing that of late - I need to get some more socialising in and meet some more people! 

It was good to catch up with Jana too as not seen her in ages either (probably the last time Gillian was back which is scary - that'll be 18 months ago!

Gill, Jana and myself had a great Saturday night out. We went for a meal with Carla at Inca in Bruntsfield. It was ace but in no way Peruvian, seeing as it is actually an Italian restaurant! We then went to a gathering at Adam's flat, tho' as is becoming the norm these days, Adam wasn't there!! It was Sarah's Birthday so a few drinks were had before we headed out. Most of the folk from the flat were headed for Pivo but seeing as Gill and Jana managed to get themselves thrown out the night before (don't ask!) we decided it best not to go there and headed straight for The Venue and Tokyo Blue. What a great night. We danced loads and drank only a little less. Tequila never really did me any favours! Gill got some great photos which I'll hopefully get out of her soon. There is a really good one of me and Jana at the top of the stairs which I really like!  Sean was there too (unsurprisingly) and it was good to catch up with him too as I've not seen him for a while.

That'll be the last time I get to go to The Venue as it's now in the process of being demolished

In various other nights I managed to snap a pic of Gill atop a cow and leave our mate Alan being looked after by a man wearing only leather hot pants..... ahhh good times

Come back soon Gill, I miss you already.... or maybe I should spend some time in Whilster.....