A new month

There is a freshness to the air. A day of rain, sun, wind. A slight hint of Autumn approaching. I am looking forward to tomorrow for a silly reason. Because it is the start of a new month. I am done with August. Oh, I know there is no magic switch that occurs when we turn the page on the calendar. It just happens to coincide with a reminder that I have choices and one of them is my attitude. So I am injecting more positivity into my attitude. Not too hard to do. We are heading into my favourite time of the year.

I haven't written much this month and may continue to be a wee bit quiet. Work is eating up a chunk of my free time. In the city centre, there is still a bustling presence of tourists. I haven't been up to the Highlands for a wee while so I don't know if the number of coaches has ebbed. Even more reminders of the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow next summer have appeared with the flurry of the first wave of ticket sales starting. I have no doubt the city will shine. 

There is much attention being paid to the recent events in Syria and Egypt. Closer to home, a helicopter carrying oil workers from an offshore site crashed and four people died. With a huge resurgence in the investment in the oil and gas industry up north, the level of risk for the people involved, the wildlife, and the environment makes me uneasy. I am happy that the investment in renewable energy as well as energy reduction technology/architecture is continuing to grow. But will we ever be able to draw a line on the extent we (as humans) will go to extract oil?

On a personal note - While I haven't fallen back into a habit of watching television regularly, I have caught one BBC show - Restoration Home. Fascinating. Most of the buildings are 100-200 years old. Beautiful brick and stone work. In some cases, they have a historical rating so the restoration has to use building materials that match the original. Usually this requires incredible craftsmanship by masons, etc. that have years of experience with unforgiving materials. This last one actually had some cob walls. Pretty different than what this Northwest girl is used to.