MARIS

Hello from a very pleasantly temperate Sutherland.

New Scottish regional layout proposal soft-launched by YouGov, I see.

100th Munro by public transport today - a very windy An Socach. Currently 51 by train; 37 by bus; 9 by train and bike; 3 by train and ferry; 1 by train, ferry and bike. Many more still very reachable.

I just suddenly remembered Beanscene and felt every one of my [redacted] years. At least some of the 38-year-olds of Bluesky must remember them, surely. Also - is this how being in one of those neighbourhood nostalgia facebook groups feels? (Without far-right-bait AI images, obviously.)

I crested on to this view just as my LOTR playlist hit the section as they run out of the east gate of Khazad-dûm. Appropriate. I stood for a moment and let the music and mountain combine. Fortunately, I don't think that, by nightfall, these hills will be swarming with Orcs.

SNP 41 seats ahead of Labour. It'd have been a brave person who put money on that result on the morning of 5th July 2024.

It is 2032. President Cumming is invested at Holyrood Palace in an independent Scotland. Yet people still huddle round, watching a livestream of the Highland count that has entered its sixth year. Thought has left them. All they can hear is the music. Hear it, but also see it, feel it, taste it.

Just voted. Six a-boards at the polling station, three featuring bar charts: 2021 result on the SNP board, @ballotbox.scot projection on Green, @electionmaps.uk projection on Labour. Being a tactical voter must be so confusing these days.

Well, no one can accuse the pollsters in Scotland of herding, that's for sure.

There are apparently 300 of me. What a terrifying prospect.

Labour doth protest too much about this evening's revelation of Sarwar sidling up to Offord. It's believable because they have clearly been briefing that they planned to do exactly that.

Regret to say I have been on my shizzle again.

Nice weather for a run today.

Growing up I was a kid in one of those 80s/90s households that only ever had a handful of videos, generally watched over and over. This was one, picked up from a bargain bin. It was watched precisely once. To this day it is my goto when someone asks me what my least favourite film is.

Hazel Irvine.

Today I came third in a race in the M30-39 age category. There's just one small problem with that...

Reaction for the ages. #theTraitors

A very Edinburgh problem. Repeatedly seeing a "wee gay hiking club" on Instagram and thinking it looks like a nice crowd and you should join, not getting round to it before its founder ends up on #theTraitors, now worrying if you do try to join you'll seem like a groupie. *sigh*

My take on #theTraitors is that the secret Traitor is great. It bottles a little of that speculated twist of one series just not telling the viewers who the Traitors are. We now get to play the game along with the contestants, though probably with extra red herrings thrown in by the edit.

Came into Morrisons with earphones on. Turned them off when I realised the store music was stuff I'd actually listen to. Not sure how I feel about this, a lot to unpack.

I had a joke about Downsian theory but it's a bit middle-of-the-road.

That is not it at all, That is not what I meant, at all.

Nearly 70 hours spent listening to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack in 2025 is totally normal, right? Right?

Don't ask whether Die Hard is a Christmas film, just drop it in a list of them without comment. I think YouGov is trolling.

I see they made a second season of The Torment Nexus.

At the start of this week I found myself thinking "the weather is unseasonably mild, I wonder if I can squeeze in a Munro or two at the weekend"...

I know it's shallow, but sometimes you do just want people to ask you on Monday what you got up to at the weekend.

When you show up for a race and realise you're in over your head.

How, in the year 2025, is the easiest way to get something from your computer to your phone *still* to email it to yourself?

Total: 85 Achievement unlocked: 30% Progress: 🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥

Scottish mountaintop views. Nothing can beat them.

Morning.

This may look cute, but trig points only do this when they're very distressed.

While it was a furnace at sea level, the mountaintops were a perfect summer's day.

Age verification? I still think of them as Opal Fruits.

When the weather clears, those long Scottish summer evenings do impress.

Today I am grateful to the onlooker who flattered me by thinking I could be in the West Highland Way Race and cheered, a non-jobsworth bus driver, and clouds. Buachaille Etive Mor down and first fastpack done.

Are there any alternatives to Google out there that provide a better search? The last few years I've felt result quality has been sliding and now the answer-by-numbers AI response at the top is just getting too much. Time for it to go the way of AltaVista. Recommendations welcome.

Is there such a thing as too much vitamin D? Asking for a friend.

Ben Vorlich and Stùc a' Chròin. This is a hills account now.

More hills in nice weather.

Beinn Dearg in Perthshire today. Amazing weather.

"Dasymmetric" and "pycnophylactic", yes, it must be a @chanret.bsky.social methodological paper. More coffee needed.

Severance is like... Loki meets Waiting for Godot? Everyone on my feed has been raving about it, but it was not what my flu-addled brain was looking for. I stuck with the Simpsons as I glugged my Lemsip. Sorry, social media, I have failed you.

The things you find in shops.

Not the greatest performance from the GPS tonight.

My mind has been poisoned. I found myself singing 'spurr buh wur wur wur' in the shower today.