THIS IS NOT A BLOG

This blog isn’t. By that I mean here I cheat as the following is not intended to be a blog as it’s an editorial for a glass magazine that I edit. Its intention was always for the magazine which is called a Journal as its posher than jut plain magazine. Read on or not as you please. I do highlight my plan to write seventy blogs hence using all types of methods to achieve this aim. Next time I promise to be good and write a dedicated blog!

My roof didn’t fall in and ruin my life, but it was close. Listening to the radio as I was tucking into my breakfast, I heard my hometown of Thurso mentioned during the traffic report. I learnt the A9 was closed. I learnt that a road near me was closed. Then I realised my road was affected! All this on national daytime radio. As I rushed out into the street to see what the fuss was, I spied the flashing lights of police cars which seem to match the flashing of my dressing gown. Note to self, beware of what you wear when venturing out and about! The road was indeed closed following a disastrous malfunction of stonework from an old building in my high street. To be honest all the buildings there are old. Not only that but most are built on sand so it could be arguing it was only a matter of time before such a shocking event would occur. Tons of limestone had fallen from parapets three storeys high onto (thankfully) an empty pavement. Occupying the building were several businesses, one of which was a gift shop who was selling my glass puffins. Thanks these survived whereas the businesses are suffering. This is no thanks to an immense arrangement of scaffolding that wouldn’t look out of place in the World championship of scaffolders! As usual the poles went up before any action to make sure the building was safe to re-entry took place. It maybe now as you read this my puffins have been reunited with human activity. They do get lonely.

A few days after this unwanted attention that my town received on television and radio shows I was given a piece of the wall that had fallen. Not sure why the street cleaner (a friend through Scouting) that I would be appreciative of this gift, but I took it with a sense of nervousness. I suppose I could have sealed it inside a glass tube, but it felt disrespectful to those that had suffered. It lies in my workshop looking for a reason to exist which is a bit like how we regard life isn’t it?

Continued with my “fallen roofs” theme then I wish to share an experience of falling heat shields from heaters in a community hall. The heaters were fixed onto the ceiling of the hall and the hall is my meeting place for my Beaver Scouts where I am the leader. Apparently just before a Beaver meeting and during a game of indoor bowls part of the heater fell to the ground but not before hitting the shoulder of a gentleman playing bowls. Sure, put him off his stride, I guess. However, it meant that there was a danger it could happen again thus I nor my Beaver Scouts could enter the hall. Making places where we work and play safe is paramount to a stress-free life isn’t it?

Talking of Beavers who for the unaware are children aged between six and eight years, then I love the way they think outside the box. In fact, it’s pretty hard to get them thinking within a box. A recent activity I organised involved stacking plastic cups on card to make a tower taller than two Beaver Scout Leaders. I had thought that the towers would rise in a vertical fashion but instead the Beavers found it easier to arrange the towers horizontally along the hall floor. My assistant and I laid down and guess what? Yep, the Beavers had made a tower taller than two leaders and it really didn’t matter that it wasn’t erect!

I write a lot, and some might say I write too much but that is subjective so will ignore that. I’m good at ignoring advice. I have a website and write a blog. I thought as I am going to be seventy years young in September then it would be fun to write seventy blogs. Oh, dearie me what a target I have set myself! I am only less than a quarter into this project and run out of things to say. I know, I will just make things up. Isn’t that what everyone does? If I keep on writing different Eds Crack, then I could use these ramblings as a blog. No one would notice the difference. Of course, the reverse is true. You may be reading an editorial of mine which started life as a simple blog. No one need to know.