Fill 'er not quite up

I noticed on my way home from work that petrol had jumped another 1 pence from this morning (according to the Asda sign). It's now £1.039 per litre. Ouchy. In November, it was even £.89, on a good day. I see here that things are pretty bad in the States too, with an average of $3.22 per gallon (bearing in mind 1 gallon = 3.78 litres, you do the rest of the math). The thing is, the lovely British government now takes a whopping 63.7% cut (i.e. tax) of that petrol figure. This tax percentage has been rising increasingly, which, coupled with an increase in petrol per barrel, means Whitehall is making some serious cash. For our little Fiesta, I now spend £120+ per month on petrol alone, this in addition to road tax (yup, we've got to pay tax to use the bloody road!), MOT, insurance and general wear & tear. On yer bike! I hear you say. If only. My office is 15 miles away and there's no safe way to get there by bike, and quite often I'm driving up north, which is a 150+ mile trip. Any suggestions?

At least we don't have it as bad as these guys, or do we...

A Murderous Friday Night

Last night, Ole & I joined Ole's office colleague Saleh for a murder mystery night, held at the Thomas Glover House. We'd never been there before, but it's pretty cool. It's a Victorian family house that's now a museum celebrating Glover. What is really great though is that nothing is hands off. There are no ropes keeping you off of that sofa or signs saying you can't go in there.

Anyway, the murder mystery was put on by a local theatre group that specialises in this sort of thing. We weren't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be quite fun! Basically, everybody goes into the house where you're greated by the group, in character, handed a drink and given free reign to mill about. Then they introduce the plot - i.e. a guest has been murdered - and everbody (there were about 40/50 there) breaks off into groups and picks a room to base themselves in. Then the characters come by to help you investiagte. You ask them questions, etc and try to figure out who dunnit. You can shift rooms and all, which is fun because you really get to see the house. At the end, you present your Who, Why and What case. We were pretty much all wrong, which goes to show you how good the troupe were in their jobs! Very clever plot and superbly well done acting.

How to lose 1/2 your weight in one morning

Get a furcut!

Before...

After

SNE!

Say what you will about climate change, but we haven't had any snow these past few years and that is very unusual. Except for today, when it snowed off and on this morning. Here's proof!

See - You can't tell what is snow and what is dog, can you ?! It's supposed to be 13'c tomorrow. Ahhh.

The Fabulous Miss Porter Arrives

My dear friend Ellie came up for a long weekend visit. Unfortunately, the weather didn't play nice, but we still went out and did a few things, namely visiting Crathes Castle on Deeside (very near home) and then going up to Speyside on a failed distillery mission. It was SO GOOD to see her! Even though she just lives in London, we don't get to see each other that often; I'm resolved to change that. :)

NB: I can't wait to get a haircut.