Cuillin Mountains, Scotland

Three years ago my friend Adrian and I climbed Sgurr nan Gillean, part of Cuillin Ridge, a chain of 22 peaks stretching over 12 kilometres on the beautiful Isle of Skye, Scotland. We were lucky with the weather, 28degC, rarely heard of that far north! The guidebook said, " Cuillin Ridge offers the most challenging mountaineering environment available in the British Isles...   ...exposure is incredible, vast yawning expanses of emptiness either side of you. The views are exhilarating..." Height is 964m or 3167ft (A Munroe!).

So we packed our brown underpants and off we set. Here are some of the photos. Thought I would share them! 

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Isle of Skye

iPhone 3Gs

So I gave in and finally joined the revolution. Two weeks ago I got my iPhone 3Gs and I'm still learning to use it he hee. Weighs a ton, makes one side of my denims lower than the other, but boy is it Coool. It does everything, even GPS moving maps for when you can't find a client in Hammersmith (happened last week). It took me the first week to find out how to turn the alarm off at 06:30am. It seems to "snooze" by default. There are no instructions to speak of. The Apple website has a load of cool videos which extoll the virtues and benefits, but don't tell you how to do the simplest of tasks. It was obviously designed by teenagers who never read manuals anyway. I guess I just need to get stuck in and hit buttons to see what they do. Learning by doing. Burn your finger once and you don't go there again - sort of thing. 

I remember when you used to get a one inch thick manual when you bought a 10 quid calculator. I suppose it saves trees but I am sure it puts greater pressure the psychiatric wards. Anyhow, I can answer phone calls and at the weekend I cracked texting so I am getting there. The first week I decided to tell everyone my new (obligatory) O2 number. I texted it once and "sent to many". Then one of the recipients, my daughter Lizzie, phoned to say I had sent it as an MMS and she had to go onto a website to retrieve it! Oh no! 67 MMS texts at 50p each. Found a little switch in the system settings for sms/mms which cunningly defaults to MMS (cos they make much more money this way). I switched it to OFF and now I can txt lik evry wun els. So if you get one, beware - it's a beast. You may also need to go upmarket with your jeans too. Diesel I find, have very strong pockets. Tee hee.

Pirates are at it again

Those "Pirates of the Californian" are at it again. Ordered a beautiful new 24 in Cinema Display for the studio at 4pm on Wednesday. Over 600 quid. It arrived as usual the following day. Cables and connectors however were for a MacBook (laptop to you Windowphiles). Uh? It won't connect to either of my relatively new G5 big boy computers. Dialled the 0800 number and said that I could only find two monitors on their entire website. "Yes that's right", they agreed, "only 2 monitors available now". "But it doesn't fit any of my computers! "No", they agreed, "they are designed for the MacBook and iMac range. Apple no longer supply monitors for any of their computers except very recent ones which have the correct connectors.

So folks, they have deleted all monitors from their range, for their own computers - unless your comuter is only a couple of months old, or brand new. Meaning 90 percent of everyone on the planet with an Apple computer can no longer buy a compatible Apple monitor for it. You need a new computer to fit the new monitors. Apple did recommend Hewlett Packard (HP) monitors. Charming. So, this morning I demanded a return of their useless (but beautiful) monitor and a full refund. They said, "OK".

They are shafting their own customers. What's going on Apple?

The Needles at dusk.

Photo taken on Sony Phone at dusk from our (unofficial) camp on the IoW. If you avoid the Victorian tourist towns on the East coast this is a really unspoilt island. The only town I would visit over and over is Cowes. It's very colourful and jolly, loads and loads of boats, pretty little streets and marinas, shops and eating places. Just love it! Like being "abroad" which I suppose it is as you have to get there by boat! W :-)

Isle of Wight

Was supposed to go to Knoydart again NW coast of Scotland but the forecast was severe gales, horizontal rain and 1 deg C. No fun there - so finished up on the Isle of Wight. Camped at an 1860's battlement hiding from the wind and overlooking the Needles. Lots of sunny weather and some great cliffs, some are higher than the White Cliffs of Dover. (not many people know that!) Here are a few pix taken on my phone... 

Melvyn Warren-Smith Exhibition

Well. First night was last night for Mel's art exhibition. Fantastic turnout. Sold quite a few paintings in the first hour. Loads of magazine articles published about him. Show goes on until Monday 4th May. Must get it all on his website now! Lots of nice comments about the website and all the print items I did for him. Including two wacky posters to use as direction signs for his remote location. Met a lot of cool people there!   Warwick. :-)

Go see his paintings at  http://www.melvyn-warren-smith.com