Indicator

Thankfully, apart from an early sprinkling, the rain held off ...

Another view

Managed to ascend Blackford Hill again this week. What started out as a weekly activity has become monthly ...

Novelty

Son appeared downstairs, fully dressed, at a quarter past six this morning, so he's ready to go, and here I am, blogging, holding everybody else up - well, it makes a change ...

No go

Offices no more ...

Finished

A tiring and frustrating day ...

Moving

@Work - our old offices are to become a Learning and Teaching Centre ...

World Autism Awareness Day

To-day, I apologise for a plaintive little post - but I shall say this only once ...

When I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, nearly a year ago, I thought that my diagnosis would unlock resources that would help me through the various difficulties I was experiencing. In one respect I have benefited: I have found riches in the catalogue of Jessica Kingsley Publishers - books within which again and again I find resonance. And personally, I understand myself better. But I have been disappointed that no practical help has been forthcoming.

I am fortunate. I have a full time job, and a family. My impression is that, for those who have neither, there are places to go where people will help. But faced with the challenges posed by trying to cope, I find myself still struggling to craft my own solutions. I probably spend too much time in front of a computer - inside and outside of work - but am grateful for those tools which do make a difference. My latest discovery, through the auspices of computerAct!ve magazine, is the Chandler Project, which allows me to pile all the stuff in my mind into a heap.

But working, parenting adults with AS could do with some help, and find it difficult to go about asking for help ...

The cat

Is less scruffy than he used to be, we're told ...

An injured cat

Who's been in a fight ...

A confused cat

Who doesn't know that the clocks have gone forward ...

An ex building society?

Anxious for news of the Dunfermline Building Society which according to the news websites is about to be broken up, but which according to its own website is still doing 'business as usual' ...

The cat

has made himself comfortable ...

What happened to spring?

On the other hand, though, this is the kind of night when it is especially nice to be indoors and tucked up in a warm bed ...

Another cat picture

Catching the sun ...

Alarm cat

At 5 am precisely, the cat was scratching my bed. I wasn't sure whether he was hungry, or wanted out, so I took some food outside for him (a tactic developed when he was a visitor, and I wanted him to go out). So where has he acquired this sense of time? The only explanation that I can think of is that he hasn't been sleeping rough, but has been spending the night with someone who routinely gets up at 5 in the morning.

To begin with, when he started visiting us, we would make a point of encouraging him to go out in the middle of the evening, with time, as we thought, to find his way home for the night. But frequently, he would be on our window sill so early in the morning that we arrived at the conclusion that he had simply spent the night prowling.

So I wonder if some kind person was giving him shelter. There's been no indication around the town that anybody has lost a cat. I think that he's happy with us. And I'm hoping that when the clocks go forward, I'll reclaim an hour's sleep (or have I got the arithmetic wrong?) ...

Settling in

From our perspective, a week to remember. Our daughter was away at school camp. The cat has started sleeping on her bed, so I wondered how he would react when she returned.

The cat's first week with us hasn't been an unqualified success. He likes to have his breakfast at 5 o'clock in the morning, which is just about bearable during the week, but a disaster on a Saturday ...

Home

We discovered last weekend that the cat who has been visiting us for over a year hasn't an owner (or, at least, we couldn't find anyone who would admit to being his owner). He had been injured, and so we contacted Lothian Cat Rescue, who have been looking after him until yesterday. But yesterday, he became our cat. He wasn't exactly overjoyed to see us when we visited the shelter to collect him, but he's much happier now, although he's making it clear that he intends to remain fairly independent ...

Symmetry

No prizes for the photo

Auld Reekie Express
Originally uploaded by Glaswegian

But a unique occasion - Tornado on its first run to Edinburgh, hurrying through Wallyford Station - at the head of the Auld Reekie Express. For me, it was a short experience - a few seconds as the train rushed by ...

It rained

So I didn't take any photographs, but I did reach the summit of Blackford Hill yesterday ...