Back from wherever

It's usually good to take time out from something you enjoy, just every once in a while.

To get a fresh perspective, I sometimes need to get out of the instant connection to a thing. 

Often a wee lateral thinking game can help change your perspective or look at a thing differently. But, to break out of a rut of giving way too much focus to the minutiae of the digital connection I had across multiple platforms, I needed to switch off a few things and focus my finite attention in other places.

It wasn't about shunning people or technology. Or about trying to be better than anyone. Nope. It was about focus and attention. You guys are great, but you aren't the source of love, hope, grace or peace that I need to more than just survive.

And now I'm back. And so what, I hear you say. Who cares?

So what happened? What did I learn? What mysteries have been brought to light? What creative genius has been sparked?

To be honest; not a lot.

Actually, that's not true. Mrs theWeir and I have had a pile of good times. And I finally sorted out calendar sharing so we know what's going in without having to have a daily meeting. Not that we ever did. Which may have been part of a wider thing.

But no matter.

I also cleared up my to-do list and work email box. Both down to zero before we went on holiday. Some hard decisions had to be made about priorities, but a fixed end date and a strong desire to not change it meant things got done that needed done.

Even better was being away in another part of our beautiful country, being a wee family unit, seeing friends, doing relaxed-pace things and getting to take some pictures.

Having a suspected shin-splint put a swift halt to my running for a few weeks too. Which was quickly replaced by finding longer (and quicker) cycling routes to work.

And I found other things to take the place of reading a Facebook timeline or Twitter feed every few hours. 

Then I started playing Angry Birds.

I'd love to write this and say that I made a more concerted effort to pray and listen for God speaking as I read the bible. And while I certainly did more of both things, there was no earnest early mornings.

But I did pray more. And I certainly read more. But I think I have been listening more. Actually I'd say I'm listening the same, but I'm listening for something different. For a still small voice.

As I re-engage with social media, I'm praying I keep listening. Keep putting God first. You guys are great. But He is greater.

Grace and peace.

Walking vapour

Broken

If you keep an eye on such things, you'll have noticed that the social news service Digg was recently broken up and sold for parts. The name, domain, code and some other bits for $500k. $12m was paid for the Digg team members and $4m for some patents.


And as Alexia Tsosis pointed out, a few short years ago people were begging their friends to vote up their posts.
But it's the way of all things. Not just technology. Sure, there's people still fascinated by cars of all styles and models. People collecting stamps from 100 years ago. And people value a while pile of things.


Something is hot. Then it's not. Sometimes that is through planned obsolescence, other times that's because there's a newer, faster, hotter, cooler, smarter, thinner, efficient-er version or the product or service.


But then if we're honest new is *always* perceived to be better. Often new actually is better.

And it's not really a product of more consumerist society. Not really. We've done this since we started making things. And that's also known as advancement or evolution.

And that's why it's all meaningless.

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”    says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless!  Everything is meaningless.”

With meaning

Actually, the original work is not "meaningless". It's more like "vapour". It doesn't actually matter in the grand scheme of a lifetime. Or an eternity.


I wrote about this a few weeks months back when reflecting on Jimmy's passing.


But vapour isn't hopeless. It isn't without impact.


At the weekend, I ended up in St Andrews at the RVLTN event. A far better musician than me was playing. In fact a whole pile of them were. It was nice to get a free ticket from my friend. Ten years ago, I think the band I used to play with would've been kicking around this kind of event. It was nice to be there without an agenda. Without time pressure. Just to see what would happen.


I had the privilege of meeting and chatting with a pile of people - some old friends I'd not seen for years, some new friends who I hadn't had that long to chat with. There were people I wanted to speak with by didn't want to be *that guy* either.
So lots of conversation. Lots of questions. Lots of experiences to listen to and learn from. And despite the beauty and treasure of those moments, it's still vapour?

Yes.

It's vapour because it doesn't last forever. It's vapour, however, that's preparing us for something. For somewhere. Here and now. And forever. And I don't get it. I don't have it all figured out. But I'm graced with these moments. I want to make the most of them. 

"Just because your present doesn't mean that you're here"

Even if I was to part of the best band in the world. Or be the best person I could be. It's still a twinkling of an eye. But it's not pointless. Because each moment shapes the next one.


The world needs present people. People aware to the moments going on around them and listening for the still small voice (or the really loud one) saying: "this is the way you can show grace and mercy to people. Just walk in it."

***


As a side note, I'm so aware there are people I haven't seen for years and if we've been trying to connect in person and it's not happened, I'm sorry. It's really nothing personal, but like many of is, my bandwidth is limited.

There's nothing new under the sun

This all came to mind as a few different things converged. 


Last week, Jimmy Adam passed away. He was an Edinburgh taxi driver, a collector of *things* and the first person I can (currently) recall being a bit of a technology geek. Certainly the first person I can remember having knowledge of how PA systems worked. He was unashamedly himself, full of life and most of all, I always remember him making time for me if I was around their house or at their church. I wasn't able to attend the funeral, but my Dad said it was quite something - full of life, and amusingly, the traffic jam outside was a sight Jimmy would have been proud of.

It's exam time in Scotland. And in England too. And probably in other parts of the world, but I can't confirm or deny that. Anyway, I was reflecting on other influences on my youth.

For my Higher English dissertation, I wrote about Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Junior. The premise of my essay was that the story was really about there being nothing new under the sun. As the main character in the book shifts back and forward through time, the cyclical nature of his experiences was stark to me and while his cynicism increased, the core of the issue was the same. 

There's nothing new under the sun.

The phrase is taken from a book in the bible. I love the book of Ecclesiastes. Many people don't. But it's wonderfully grounding. And there's some great teaching on it from Rob Bell and others.


The word translated as "meaningless" in this book is more like our word vapour. It's passing. It's not going to last. The writer of the book is calling us to remember that the troubles of life aren't forever. There's ebbs and flows, but the fabric of our physical existence isn't all there is. Jesus would later come along and say “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”


I love how Jesus' overcoming wasn't the aggressive forcing of a worldview or the killing of anyone who stood against him in person. But he overcame by having identity and therefore security based on an understanding of who he was and what that meant for how he lived.


It's liberating to have a wider view than current moments of trial. And this week for me has had a few. I'm sure it has had many for you.


So when I saw this tweet and followed through to the article, it was a great reminder of the repetition we experience in life. The first Santram ad was witty:





The spoof by Nando's was a bit cheap, but had a humour to it:





The reply from Santram was classy: 





But actually, the first ad was a bit of a re-working of someone else's idea anyway:





Because there's nothing new under the sun. Or on the internet.


People will rip off your ideas, your wallet and even your emotions. Trials will come. For those grieving the passing of a loved one, may you be comforted. 


But there's a hope beyond our present experiences that means we don't have to fear those moments of loss. We can embrace them as part of the journey. As how we grow. As how we can become more like Jesus.

Why I don't update the world like I used to

Despite posting over 10,000 times on twitter and having a fairly active Facebook stream, I know that I am sharing less online. Or at least less frequently.

Is it fear of giving away too much? Nope

Is it fear of spam? Nope.

Is it boredom or falling out with the people I have connected with? Nope.

Some stats would speak for themselves:

30 new blog posts - compared with 179 in 2010. 47 visits to the blog in 2011, 1,380 in 2010.

However, my focus shifted from sharing as many little pieces on twitter and facebook, to my eight-thirty project on blipfoto. Which has been viewed over 32,000 times. Which is astounding. And I've been using Instagram.

So maybe I've moved away from the smaller updates, to longer form. A real shift to photographs as well as words, albeit my flickr stream hasn't been quite as busy. It's nearing my birthday again and I'm considering what to do with eight-thirty, and with this blog.

More news as it breaks...

All Change.

Earlier this year, Jenny, Beth and I moved house. It's been a stunning move and we are grateful every day for this new home. I've also been privileged enough, in the midst of significant organisational change at work, to get a new role.

It's not been an easy process to walk through, thinking about leaving a great team, trying to create a CV that told my story in an engaging way and thinking about the opportunities in my current role to have good fun producing some good work, but I was feeling like it was part of this season of change we are walking through.

One if the biggest things I want to take with me in this role is that just because ive been offered something new, doesn't mean I've made it. It doesn't mean I have it all figured out. I'm just joining a new team to continue my learning.

It's been fun reminding myself that im not all that (whatever that is!).

A wise friend once said "never believe your own press" and that's very true. Never take too much out of what people say about you. Recognise who you really are and how much we can all grow.

That said, I'm still excited by what's next.

On such a day as this eleven years ago...

Eleven years ago, just about now, Jenny and I were climbing into the back of a car (driven by my brother-in-law, Graham) and heading off on honeymoon.

Eleven years ago today, Jenny and I got married, looking a little like this and completely unaware of what lay ahead for us.

Eleven years ago today, Jenny and I left our old experiences of our families behind and became a new part of the same families.

Eleven years ago, I cried saying my vows and later a wedding toast that makes me shudder to remember how poor it was (I'm grateful that YouTube wasn't around back then...!).

Eleven years ago, my Nokia 5110 was pretty cutting edge...and now I'm typing this on an iPad! Crazyness.

Eleven years ago, Jenny and I committed ourselves to each other and a lifelong journey of supporting each other through the highs and carrying each other through the lows.

Eleven years ago, Jenny and I might have strained to believe that we'd have had so many wonderful experiences in life, work and home.

Eleven years ago, Jenny and I may have struggled to think that we'd have such a tremendous weeWeir, that Jenny would be a Midwife and i'd get to do whatever it is I do for a living. We'd have been confident of having such great friends and loving family though. ;->

Tomorrow, year twelve of our great adventure together begins as the journey continues.

You are part of that journey, and we're glad that (most) of you are in it with us. For those who have helped us get this far, we are grateful. For those who are still with us now, thank you. For those who've just joined the fun, welcome.

C'mon, Mrs theWeir...let's go...

Wawa

Get yourself over to good.is and watch this video about water.

Then go to one of these places and help people get clean water:

Tear Fund

AquaAid

WaterAid

charity: water

And make sure you keep yourself hydrated too!

You have reached your destination

"Really?", I ask.

"You have reached your destination" chimes the Satellite Navigation again.

"I think you're lying".

How often do we think we've made it. We've cracked it. We can do it.

Then we realise we're nowhere. Or at least not where we meant to be. And we have to re-adjust. I was thinking about the conflict of Maps and Satellite Navigation and GPS. Sat Nat works well when we need to get somewhere and don't have time, but maps let us understand where we're going and why we're taking certain routes.

For the past wee while I've been a little uneasy about work - what am I doing, is it fun (which is important, right?), do I enjoy being there. Just when we think we've arrived, we often find that there's much more to come.

The journey makes life interesting, the people we share the journey with are all the more important.

You share the journey with me and for that, I thank you.

Grace for the road.

W

You can keep your world cup...

I've not had the most enjoyable week at work for reasons I can't quite get my head around. Am I bored? Not really. Do I feel like I'm not working hard enough? Possibly.

Whatever the story, it's done now.

The perfect antidote to it all, after a headwind-tactic bike ride home, was making tea for the weeWeir, getting almost as wet as she did without actually being in the bath and then drawing fish, sharks and crabs for half an hour before bedtime.

You can keep your world cup, just let me play.

(PS, I have nothing against sport or the world cup, I just enjoyed un-mediated interaction!)

Things wot I learned on holiday #3

Got speaks through Sat Nav.

Really, He does.

We were travelling into Belfast to visit some friends last week and following the instructions from the helpful Tom. Tom said turn left at a particular junction - and it didn't seem from the signposts that it was the right one for us, but we took it.

At the top of the hill on this junction was a elderly gentleman with his stricken BMW 3-Series. The clutch had packed in. And his mobile phone wasn't working, so he couldn't phone anyone for help. And he wasn't physically able to walk to the nearest house.

So, we got him on the phone to his wife and to the car dealership and that was that. We left him happily waiting on the recovery lorry and re-joined the main road.

If we'd been following a map, I guess we'd have carried on past the junction. Sure, someone else may have taken that road eventually, but I'd like to think we were put there to help the guy in his hour of need.

So listen to the Sat Nav and see what happens*.

(img source: TeamPolizei, it's not our car.)

*use common sense when applying this advice next to cliffs, power stations or walls.

The banter - part three

If you missed the previous two posts, read them here and here.

This is the chat I had with Alistair Forrest, the UKIP candidate for the Livingston Constiuency. You can find him on Facebook here.

"Sorry to hear that you are not happy with all the candidates I myself am a working man and have been asked to stand for UKIP in the Livingston constituency I am a lorry driver and have a family so I am hard at work trying to support my family and as my wife works shifts in an operating theatre time as you can imagine is a premium. If you wish to find out more about me im on facebook (Alistair Forrest) I have a web site on the UKIP home page http://candidates.ukip.org/ or yahoo messenger and last email abf64@btinternet.com if there is any thing else you need to ask policy wise or local please do get in touch"

I then emailed:

I was really driving towards the idea that we want to know what you're thinking about. Help us connect with you as a person.

Also, using these channels let's you ask questions of the audience too.

However, I totally get that you're not able to commit your days to that level of interaction - we've gotta earn a living after all!?

What's your view on the budget cuts for the Scottish Government?

And Alistair said:

"Im trying to do this campaing on a shoe string no expenses to try and get people to belive in an honest person can do the constituency a good service plus its not nice when people come knocking on your door at tea time or when you settle down to watch something on tv that you like so im trying to do it slightly different.As for connecting with me in person if I had the time available I would but as I said before need to earn the pennies I have two sons who bleed me and my wife dry with games clothes school trips BB camps and the like

"Policies are a guide to what a party wants to do and I feel that some only do this so you hear what they want you to hear.UKIPS main policy is to get a referendum on the EU as it costs us 40-45 million pounds per day for that priviledge and as we have seen over the past few days it may cost us more if Portugal follows Greece into money troubles other items on policy include a flat rate tax get a curb on immigration so as we get a more level playing field of people coming to the UK who have skills we need others can be seen on the web site link below .As for a lot of the local issues these come under the control of the Scottish parliament not Westminster any more the likes of Policing and Health Care

"hope that this helps in some way towards answering some of the questions dont hesitate to get intouch if you need to ask anything else.

Alistair"

I then asked:

It's always interesting how we think of meeting people "in person" as being face-to-face. I've got some really great friends who I've yet to meet in the flesh, but we connect through networks like Twitter & Facebook.

It's great that you messaged me here, for example.

I think the opportunity is for you (and the other candidates) to reach out to people in the constituency by sharing what you're doing online.

I've learned more about you in this interaction than I have from the UKIP site. I might not agree with all your policies, but I begin to get a feel for who you are.

That matters (to more people than just me!).

And it can be very quick (and easy) to share yourself with us.

My question about the funding of the Scottish Government was more about the Barnett Formula and how UKIP view the cuts needed to bring the economy back into balance - are you for huge cuts now & lots of (possibly unrealistic) efficiency savings, or are you all for a more measured approach?

Alistair replied with:

"I myself would like to see a measured approach wether or not this would happen would be another thing, in principal I agree this would be the best for the country as a whole and not the old four way split between North South East & West which causes enough division as it is. I do not agree with all the UKIP policies because I fel that if we all toed the party line we would all be just robots of the autonimous state
machine, and the one thing as they all say is that I am the typical working man but I feel I am anything but that pigeon holed individual"

And you gotta admire the guys honesty, don't you?!

You can contact him here if you've got any questions.

The banter - part two

As you might have guessed, this post is linked to a previous one. This one. Which is linked to this one. And so on. And so on...

Anyway, here's the chat I got from the SSP candidate, Ally Hendry. You can see their blog here. You can contact Ally here.

"Thanks for enquiring about the Scottish Socialist Party, i have attached information about the branch locally, and am sorry we dont seem to have covered the area you live with our election material but we are a growing branch at present and cover all of West Lothian. We do have a west lothian blog which charts a lot of the work we have been doing and you can also check the national web site. I would be pleased to arrange a meeting with yourself to discuss the party further."

I think the most worrying part of the material is the labelling of non public-sector workers as "wage-slaves". Actually, it's not clear who isn't a wage slave from the material.

Funny, I don't think of myself as a slave to money. Do you?

The banter - part one

A couple of days ago, I emailed this to all the candidates for General Election on the constituency where I live.

I've had a few emails back, and I'm going to publish (most of) these over the next day or so. I've asked the permission of the candidates - and they said yes. It might be interesting for you guys, and it might even spark some questions of your own.

First to reply to the email was Lis Bardell of the SNP.

I'm attaching another leaflet (!) though accept that this doesn't necessarily equate to the kind of reach for authenticity through new media that you're advocating....In the use of new media, I feel a bit like I do with French....I understand more than I speak! I understand its value and possibilities but don't always know which button to press...

This election, however, has also brought home forcibly to me how things can get "buried" in email. The volume of messages I have received means that the immediacy of the medium is almost cancelled out by the volume!

Anyway, I'm encouraged that you liked the fact that I put favourite holiday pics on the website...it did seem to me that they give a flavour of what I might be like as a person. As I say, "we're real Scots who like real weather....so we holiday in Scotland!"

That's also the reason I put an old-fashioned CV up....just as one would if applying for any job. The cv lists my real-life work experience and a bit about the kind of community commitment and involvement I've had.
Since this is my first time standing for any kind of political office, these are, essentially, the skills and experience I would bring to the job. I believe it's a good time to be a first time candidate, not associated with some of what has been going at Westminster.
I would like to think that those who have known me in my professional career in public service would say that I had conducted myself with integrity and complete commitment to accountability.

Two major things motivated me to consider putting myself forward to be a candidate.
Firstly, I was enormously angry about the Iraq War....both the decision itself and the way it was made by big majority government in the teeth of opposition from so many citizens and by, to put it kindly, the manipulation of information. I believe, still, that Iraq...and Afghanistan conflicts...will influence for the worse the world my children will inherit and I feel a continuing responsibility about that.

Secondly, when SNP won at Holyrood in 2007 and undertook minority government, I felt that politics in Scotland became more open, inclusive and exciting. There has been more of a chance for individual representatives to make a difference and also get a hearing for the concerns of local constituents. Which is surely what representative, democratic government should be about!

You ask for an idea of what I've been doing "on the campaign trail"......well, today I was out in Blackburn this morning.....delivering letters and speaking to people. Then I spoke to 200 members of the local Mosque in Craigshill followed by leafleting at the Mall in Craigshill and an interview with BBC Radio 4 "The World this Weekend" (Goes out Sunday, 1.00pm). Since I got home I've been answering emails and phone calls and will soon be on to phoning more voters.....who mostly seem to appreciate a candidate calling - even if they don't intend to vote for me! Will also try to get more up on my website since I understand that failure to do so invites immediate obsolescence!

In the course of the rest of the week, I've been in Fauldhouse, Stoneyburn, Breich, Midcalder, East Calder, Kirknewton, Craigshill; regularly making phone calls. Yesterday, I was visiting Livingston Credit Union with Angela Constance and John Swinney and then at the SNP Press Conference on the Economy in Edinburgh.

Earlier in the campaign we had a couple of "Ladies Days" reaching for the women's vote....."Ladies for Lis" and the "Bardell Belles" were out in Broxburn and Livingston.

That's just some of it! I find people, on the whole, very willing to engage which is great because, when I started, I kind of imagined that every encounter would be like Newsnight with Paxman! The public are much more polite and committed to give and take.

Which was pretty good as a starter for ten. We've exchanged a couple of emails since then. I'd asked a couple of questions about what Lis would do for accommodation and travel to/from London were she be to be elected. Here's the reply:

If elected, I would prefer to travel to London by train and hope it would be possible to pre-book....because prices at last minute are pretty frightening...and you can imagine the comments re expenses if...as they requently are....flights are cheaper.

Re accommodation, I would have had no aspirations to purchase....and certainly no aspirations to a moat. I have lived in Craigshill for the last 25 years and holiday in caravans.....I like the simple life. I understand renting may now be centrally organised for incoming MPs.....and that sounds fine. Since there would be a lot of travel between London & Scotland, I'd ideally like to be able to walk to work in London.
I think it would be efficient to have somewhere to leave stuff rather than be always packing......

However, this is beginning to feel like tempting fate!! Outcome still uncertain....It's going to be a hectic few days ahead!

I've got more questions, so we'll see how things pan out over the days ahead... You can put your questions to Lis by email here.

Next up, the SSP. But that's for tomorrow!

Dear people of the world

I wrote an email.

It went a little like this:

"Hello,

"As I was trying to find out more about each of you as candidates for the General Election, I went online. I was hoping to find out where you'd been campaigning, what you think about issues that affect the area, if you were an optimist, if you had any faith or opinions on fair trade, what you though about justice. About Al Megrahi. Or even just what you think about the place we live.

"I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't find these things out.

"So, I wrote about it on my blog. You can read it here if you like (blog.andrewweir.co.uk). Not too many people read that, but it's perhaps endemic that you are all disconnected from people like me who work hard, pay our taxes, do our best to bring up our family well and respect the place we live. Yet we can't connect with you other than by email. Come on.

"Email is great, but there's maybe 76,000 of us in this constituency, 38% voted at the last election. Surely you could reach out to SOME OF US by sharing what'd happening online?

"I might have a question, but it would be different from my neighbour's question. He might think of something that's relevant that i would never think of. By engaging with many people, we build up this clearer picture of you are. And that matters.

"If there's anything recent events in Westminster have taught us, it's that authenticity matters. That being relevant is crucial.

"It's just a thought. Or two.

"I want to vote. I still don't know who I'm going to vote for. I don't know who any of you really are.

"Grace & Peace,

"Andy

"PS - please don't think that a flat website with a biog is anywhere close to revealing who you are... That's like me telling you my LinkedIn profile is everything about me. Nonsense! ;->"

I sent it to 5 out of the 8 candidates for our constituency.

D'you think I'll get any replies?

UPDATE: So I've had a reply (via Facebook) from Alistair Forrest - UKIP, which I'm grateful for.

Gloves. Are. Off.

Well, at least they should be.

I'm more than a little interested in Politics. Actually, I'm more interested in the idea of Politics. I think it was doing Modern Studies at school that gave me that reflective look - rather than being an active campaigner.

If we're brutally honest, there's much in life that we like the idea of more than the actual thing itself. A clean and tidy garden. Spending time with lots of people, all the time. Owning a pet.

Okay, so those are *bad* examples. What have you liked the idea of more than the reality of?

So, having voted in every election since I've had the right to do so, this time I've actually spoken with a candidate for my constituency. Just the one, mind. I'd asked Lis Bardell how she was going to let the people of the area get to know her. "by being on the street and saying 'hello'". Great, but you can't be everywhere, and it's not something that other people can join in with.

How about taking the conversation online? Nope. Can't do it. Don't know how. Risk of failure. People can say things that aren't what you'd like them to say.

Guess what - this is the new world order.

I'm not talking about Tweeting, or checking in on Foursquare. I'm talking about being present and interacting where your constituents interact. There 76,000 people in the constituency eligible to vote, from the numbers I could find online, there might be as many as 20% of these in the 18-35 age range. That's a heap of people who you'll find online. But lest we forget that the silver surfers, so that's another 20%. Oh, and there's just under 30% between 35 and 60.

So, dear candidates. Get yourselves online, connect with people and you might reach another 70% of the voting public that matter to you. At least the ones you say that matter to you.

Still, in all this, I've found out from Wikipedia the names of our candidates are... now to see if I can find out *who* they are!

200.

This is, interestingly enough, my 200th blog post since I moved from iWeb (here) to Blogger (erm, here).

I've known the number was approaching for a while and had a few ideas, but when I was playing with the weeWeir tonight, it all became clear.

You see, Beth is doing what we all do and growing. She's doing it pretty well too. Jenny and I are grateful for such a treasure. Beth is our wee promise in action.

So tonight, I'm breaking with my own position. You can read about that here.

This post is about my family. Beautiful and complex and delightful.

Beth was getting ready for bed and decided she'd like to wear a hat. Off she trotted to find one, but her hats were nowhere to be found. She found a pair of gloves. Infact, she found one mitten, came back asking that it be put on her hand and then went to find the other glove.

Then she was keen on a hat again. So I gave her a hat. It's spring mind, and she's in her jammies. I love this kid.

Then it was time to brush her hair. Not the most enjoyable of activities for Beth, but we got there. I, now sitting on the bottom step in our hall, asked if she wanted to brush my hair (as you do).

Beth put on her hat (at a jaunty angle), pulled on one of the mittens and stood on the step. Next made three intentional swooshes through my hair with her brush and looked intently at her work. She then put her arm on my shoulder, rested her head and smiled.

I could have wept.

Then it was time for bed.

Delightful.

So here's to you Beth, keep bringing a smile to our hearts.

(strike a pose...)

(couldn't resist including a wee snap of Mrs theWeir and I too!)