In Times of Stress, Turn to Scotland

I’m sitting here psyching myself up for one of the most stressful experiences that can befall a computer user. As I type I am waiting for courier delivery people to drop of a new computer. When it arrives it has to fixed to peripherals and then the old computer has to be essentially ‘cloned’ from the old one.

With Macs this cloning business is relatively easy as each system includes a ‘migration assistant’ which does most of the work for you. Having said that there will almost certainly be problems with some applications, those that use complicated DRM software to tie to application to a particular machine. The biggest problems seem to come with the most expensive software, often packages that have been installed on a number of occasions over the years. I have one program which I’m sure will required me to install at least two heritage versions before I can install the latest update!

But if that’s not enough, well the equipment has not arrived yet. It’s the usual story with internet shopping. The goods were ordered a week ago. Yesterday I was told there was a hold up with on of the components that had to be sent from a third party. These goods had now arrived and would be with me today. Nice that, except a nice man told me last week that the goods would be despatched that day! The website tells me that the good were despatched yesterday. I’ve just seen a courier van deliver an ‘out note’ to net door. I checked to see if they had the right number. They appeared to, but I’m suspicious as my neighbour is in Australia for a couple of months. I’m sure this is no mistake. But you can see how the stress is getting to me.

So, my mind turns to the outdoor world and I guess, at the moment, this means Scotland. There are Challenge routes to finish, distances to measure and height to calculate. There are foul weather alternatives to contemplate, food drops to plan and in a couple of places , final route decisions to be made.

As a prompt to get these things finished quickly the BBC seem to be wanting to encourage mw with their recent programming.

Over Christmas I recorded the new adaptation of John Buchan’s 39 Steps, and I watched it the other night. It was a fairly dreadful piece of work but it did have lots of shots of heather strewn moors and dramatic hills. I could feel the excitement beginning to mount.

The last night I noticed that the BBC HD Channel was carrying the History of Scotland series that has been shown north of the border. It was quite an interesting programme although marred by a dreadfully romantic and over the top production and presentation. Still, there were those hills and lochs again.

I suppose the Challenge is going to dominate my writing over the next month or two, so apologies if you have read it all before. But there is the route to consider and gear to contemplate.

Not a bad way of spending time during these frozen days and night.

Now, must go. Did I hear a delivery van?