I see no ships (or cars or cyclists or furry animals)

Not the best of days. We awoke to see the first fall of snow on the hills; only a dusting on the tops of the highest hills, but an early reminder of the horrors of last winter. However, even the months of snow and ice last year were nothing compared to the sledgehammer-blow Cameron inflicted on our neighbouring town of Forres today by announcing the closure of RAF Kinloss. So many local businesses will suffer as a result and, even worse, there are still rumours about nearby RAF Lossiemouth facing closure, which would be absolutely catastrophic for Elgin and the surrounding area. Cheers David, thanks for that, you #@%#!


They say bad things come in threes and it was so nearly the case today. My pupil had just turned the car around in a very quiet no-through road. We were passing a road on the left when a car came straight out of the road without even a glance our way. I had to slam on the brakes just as they did the same and we both stopped with a matter of inches between the cars. What had fallen as snow on the hills was just rain at sea level, but if the temperature had been just five degrees colder the roads would have been icy and we would never have stopped in time. Why did the other driver emerge from the junction without looking? I suspect it was because, being such a quiet road, he simply assumed that there would be nothing coming from his right.

A while ago I read a post from a driving instructor about one of his pupils who tried to enter a roundabout when a cyclist was coming round. He asked her why she didn’t see the cyclist and she explained “I didn’t expect there to be a cyclist.” This is not as lame as it first sounds. The pupil was so conditioned to looking for oncoming cars that, although her eyes may have seen the cyclist, it didn’t register in her brain.

Don’t believe me? Ok, time for a little experiment then. Do you think you are capable of counting the number of times a group of people pass a basketball between themselves for a short time? Sounds easy doesn’t it? Click on this link and follow the instructions.