StreetCowboy

You can't judge all Scottish people based on those that are left in the Old Country.

Today’s station-spotting adventure took me and my colleague to Aurora, a single - track station that is being double-tracked with a new platform. My colleague led the way with his Wahoo head unit providing directions that would have been the same as my Google Map plans, barring sieve-like recollection. Alls well that ends well, and we got to the station. The next train home was cancelled for a “police investigation” - my first surmise would be a trespasser hit by train; we could do with some lunch anyway. Following the meal, my colleague set off to ride home via a different route, and I headed back to the station. - To find that the 12:55 was also cancelled! Daunted, but never thwarted, I eschewed the offer of a bus ride to the Highway 407 bus terminal, and said I would go my own way… six checks on Google maps in the first two kilometres called that into question, but once I got onto Bayview Drive, I thought “sod the preferred cycling route home, I know where this ends up”, and 2 1/2 hours of fast but tedious and busy traffic saw me parking the bike at home, a swift few pints of cider and meeting my colleague in the pub as agreed.

I could fair go a potato scone right now, and you can be sure that I would post a picture, if the opportunity arose. I prefer "familiar", rather than 'repetitive'; "predictable", rather than 'boring', "subtle", rather than 'dull', and "plain", rather than 'ugly'.

BSE is a blood disorder. It has severely affected blood donations. Misogyny knows no bounds, but we would all benefit if it did.

I suppose it depends on your point of view. You think you are healthy and don’t need medication; but big pharma needs you to take medication to start the cycle of dependency. You might want to ask your doctor whose side he is on, and see if putting your hand in your pocket could bring him over to your side.

Shame. Our own self-image, our imagination of what others might think, keeps us in conformance with societal norms. when I say “us” , I mean me and probably you, and maybe not me either…

Breakfasts. I normally skip breakfast, so I have a limited social media presence. I like croissants, but I’d not take a picture of one. Id take a picture of a potato scone, if the opportunity arose. Who would not?

It’s a tragedy - older women have so much to offer in an anonymous forum where wisdom can be offered, and regardless of our fantasies about our fellow posters, sex is not a credible option. Back in the day, I used to notice women in the street, and think “she’s nice”; then I aged, and I’d think “I bet her daughter’s nice”, and now I think “I’ll bet her mother’s nice”

Normally, I don’t group myself with braindead a$$wipes. Good on you, for your self-awareness.

I’d gone on another station-spotting adventure, and Google Maps had set me on a route I couldn’t follow, and a motorist stopped and flagged me down - “You can’t ride here - this is the highway, you’ll get arrested, it’s not safe!” Well, I clearly could ride there, since I was, and I grudgingly concurred that it was a highway, and his prediction of arrest I was not going to dispute, but so far, it had been safe enough. Anyway, the long and short of it was that I was not on the right road, and I gratefully accepted his offer of a lift to more people-sized roads. the roads from there on were as bad as I had expected - four or five lane stroads that make cycling unpleasant, but the traffic was light for the public holiday, and it was not unsafe. The stations are basically out of town parking lots, and we are working with the Corporation to turn them into a proper metropolitan railway. After stopping in the pub longer than I’d planned, I was grateful to get the hourly train back to town - with cyclists’ coach!

I got talking to a Dutch colleague, who had planned a trip out to a bike superstore in the fringes of a suburb, to check out a new mountain bike, and I volunteered to join him. It was a 56km ride - my longest ride here, albeit not long in the grand scheme of things, and modest elevations. He was using a way-finding product that took us on some lovely roads that would have been beyond my navigational capabilities, barring a stop at every second junction to check the map, so I might succumb to peer pressure to buy a specialist GPS product, with some form of way-finding. In the absence of that, I went my own way and took a wrong turning on the same on-street detour on the Humber river trail, Southbound on Saturday and Northbound on Sunday. Wrong turnings plural, I suppose.

The family were over visiting, so I missed the game; maybe just as well, though it sounds like it would have been 77 minutes of joy followed by bitter disappointment, in a low-scoring but exciting game. As I say about Scottish football, without the bitter disappointment, the sweet anticipation would be like eating only half a gooseberry.

"friend" is a euphemism for sex for free.

For the office - I prefer a nose down knuckles to the grindstone view of the work in front of you. At home, I like an expansive view, but interesting beats nice. Back in the day, I had an expansive view over Singapore and the highlight was the flare stacks off in the distance wherever they were.

Back in the day we needed a bigger office, and I looked at a place near the top of our building. "It's a wee bit expensive for the size..." "Aye, but look at the view over the harbour" "Ye're right - I'm not paying extra for my staff to stare out the window" My mate told me he was much happier on a low floor, when he could see people outside his window, not views that never changed.

This is pantomime to divert attention from what they are doing. This is why you have the right to bear arms. They are for shooting rich robbers, not poor robbers.

I am not sure about your link, but those shows were great. In terms of music, Hawaii L and Z Cars still have you beat.

I tell stories for a living. I think it's worth mentioning that, to get back on topic, but I don't normally tell people that when they ask the three introductory questions. When you meet a stranger, how do you start the conversation? "What are you looking at?" rarely gets things off on good first step

I remembered "The Count of Monte Cristo" and figured that the quickest way out would be an iron mask. I'm slightly nervous that my escape won't come before my blundering results in physical harm, but you;ve got to have a plan and stick to it, right?

I like bars with contra-rotating carousels. I never got into the mechanical bulls.

I'm lucky I put a blindfold on and never imagined it. Unfortunately, I'm now stuck in a prison in Costa Rica

I had my best Sukhumvit Road experience in After Work, in Sukhumvit Square, but when I went back, it had gone - Sukhumvit Square. That caused me to build up a resentment against men with sledgehammers, though as one such myself, that is perhaps hypocritical. As you may recall, back in the day, there was a DIY shop just down from Piccadilly Station, and I'd popped in there as I had some fencing to do at the weekend. They didn't have epees or rapiers, but a sledgehammer was more appropriate for the fencing I had n mind. It's interesting that you only notice the gaps and errors in your recollection when you put your story to words... I guess I went to Picadilly platfoms 13 & 14 on the way home, and not Oxford Road (that was the gaffer tape and batteries incident....) anyway, as I came down the stairs with my newly-bought sledgehammer, there was an announcement about train delays, and someone next to me looked at the sledgehammer and said "Calm down, mate, its not that bad!"

Is it different when you talk to an expat? In the last 25 years, those have been pretty much the first three lines of every conversation I've had with any stranger, in whatever country. It's particularly important in Chinese, so that you can get to grips with their tonal pronunciation, and actually understand what they are saying, I expect. You need this information so that you can identify the person in your memories - Loud Bob from the Contractor who's come from Taipei - Vietnamese Wong who started in HCM Other people have no choice but to ask bland, polite and non-descript questions. If we gave an interesting answer, it might divert the conversation to the better. I've never really tried that... - Actually, I have "... Where you from?" "Samutprakarn" "Me also Samutprakarn" "Maybe we can share a taxi home" End of limit of English.

Youtube pointed me towards the original, and I can see why the school called social services.