The Great Barrier Reef

I have a friend, who must now be almost about ten or 11, but when he was a toddler he liked nothing more than watching David Attenborough nature documentaries. 

I totally understand, Dude. I am falling in love with nature documentaries all over again.

This is my latest TV fix. Now that Masterchef is over, that is. Classic David-whispers-at-fish documentary stuff. And it just chills me right out. It's magic.

You see, it's winter in Scotland right now, and I'm a wimp when it comes to the cold. Just totally not cut out for it. Today I gave in and came home past T K Maxx and bought myself a boring (but hopefully warm) black cardigan that is going to become my new work cardigan. Because I have colleagues and they give me funny looks for keeping my coat on.

Apparently (and my google-fu has failed me here) when Titanic came out in cinemas people started complaining that the heating had broken, or asking the staff to turn the heating up. Then (also apparently) when Towering Inferno was on, cinemas had to turn the air conditioning on. People have done the science that says seeing cold things makes you feel cold, and crucially (for me) seeing warm things makes you feel warm. Proper actual science. I think it's a very cool thing (no pun intended) and you should read it.

My new hobby is watching warm beaches and colourful coral reefs and bright shiny sunshine, and trying to convince myself that I too am in some tropical clime where I could wear shorts and flip flops and not die. To trick myself in to picturing nice warm things, even though I am probably fully dressed, in bed, with an extra blanket and a bobble hat on.

There was a moment of great peril last night when a newly-hatched turtle made it all the way to the sea without getting eaten. Many of his little turtle friends and little turtle siblings were eaten by birds and sharks, and I had to be given a cup of tea to calm me down.

There might be another reason I'm getting hooked on this programme. 

We have an Antipodean holiday in the pipeline! Not for time yet, but the saving up and the plotting has begun. We'll be going in the British winter, ergo southern hemisphere summer. I do okay in heat, so right now I'm just thinking warm thoughts and looking forward to a day when I might be able to wear sandals again and have to start worrying about sunscreen.

For the well-travelled amongst you, any suggestions of things to do or see should we find ourselves in Australia or New Zealand?

So, wozhapnin this week?

Last week I told you we were off to do some W-word planning. It was fun and not stressful and really rather successful, thank you.

This week there'll be none of that nonsense. This week is all about tartan and cake, for on Saturday we will eat Haggis and toast a man who wrote lots of poems and died 220 years ago. For this, I am desperately trying to learn to play a tune called The Warlocks. *diddle-dum-pa-dum, diddly-dee-da-diddle-dee* I've played it rather a lot in the last few days and I'm still not sick of it (L might be), so it must be a good tune. 

Come Saturday I will wear my new tartan trousers, eat second helpings of haggis, and then try and play it for you all. Wish me luck.