Sunday 24th September - London

Back in London. In the last month I've;

...been to Cheltenham, Devon and the far north of Scotland...

...drove 2,096 miles around Scotland and back

...spent only 3 nights in my London flat sleeping in 14 different beds/sofas...

Tomorrow - back to work, to South West trains and what passes for my 'normal' life.

Thursday 21st - Saturday 23rd September - Birmingham

Stay in Birmingham for a couple of days and catch up with friends and family. Sometimes I wonder what might have happened if I'd stayed or returned to Birmingham. Would my life be much different - better, worse, or just different?

Even having spent a a week or two in Scotland in the wonderful countryside, I know that I'm a city boy at heart and, if you're going to live in a city, for all it's annoyances, grief and hassle, London is the place to be. Never say never - but for the foreseeable future I guess I'm committed to London.

On Saturday I end up at the Scarecrow Festival at Belbroughton just outside Birmingham. It's basically a local village fair but with a scarecrow theme and with various scarecrows throughout the village - a pleasant way to spend the afternoon in the glorious September sun.

Wednesday 20th September - Dumfries to Liverpool

Take the chance to stay over in Liverpool and catch up with someone who I don't see too often - not sure when I'll be back in the north west so figured good to take the opportunity.

It's after midnight and two women are attempt to wrap large, and frankly quite ghastly, vase without using the box it came with - no, I'm not sure why either. They do a good job but I can't help wondering whether their time could have been better spent...

Tuesday 19th September - Inverness to Dumfries

Nosey around Inverness for a couple of hours before heading south. Drive through the Cairngorms, over the Forth Road Bridge, skirt around Edinburgh before driving through the Pentland Hills and across to Dumfries.

Again the scenery is wonderful. I'm driving through parts of Scotland I don't know that well and wish I had more time to stay - I'll have to come back. Stop briefly in Biggar. It seems a slightly eccentric town - it has several museums (including one about the gasworks) as well as puppet theatre! I don't have enough time to spend here and make a note that I need to come back to this part of Scotland - central belt and the borders. Pull into Dumfries - the English border is near...

Monday 18th September - Lewis to Inverness

It's time to leave the Hebrides. It's been a fascinating place to visit. All the islands have different personalities and landscapes - some with mountains, others with lots of lochs, others wth amazing sandy beaches and bays. The Western Isles definitely feel like being in a different country. There are the usual differences of being in Scotland - the different accents, the different radio and TV stations and the different banknotes. Added to it is the strong local identity and the gaelic language. The roadsigns and nameplaces are bilingual and often in gaelic first. On several occasions you overhear people conversing it - it has all added to the feel of the holiday.

I have a waddle around the grounds of Lews Castle before heading to catch the ferry. Isles FM - the fantastic and eccentric community radio station for Lewis and Harris - confirm that Ben Fogle has now left the islands after his secret honeymoon on Taransay. Apparently having nearly died on his recent Atlantic rowing trip he proposed and married his girlfriend - the old romantic.

Incredibly as the ferry pulls out of the harbour a bloke produces set of bagpipes and pipes the ferry on its way. Ferry arrives in Ullapool and I drive down to Inverness - traffic is a bit busier than I've been used to for the past 8 days...

Sunday 17th September - A Stornoway Sabbath

It’s the Sabbath. Lewis and Harris are very protestant and the Sabbath is observed on these islands. There are no sailings, only one petrol station/shop is open as is only one bar; everywhere else is shut. The Uists to the south are more Catholic and have a slightly more relaxed approach to the Lord’s Day; hence I was able to get a sailing into South Uist arriving on a Sunday. Both the gallery owner (yesterday) and the guest house owner have ’warned’ me about Lewis on Sunday but, to be honest, I already knew and I thought it would be interesting to experience.

I head off to one of the numerous churches in Stornoway - the main Church of Scotland church which was built in 1794. I feel underdressed; everyone is in ‘Sunday best’ and many of the women are wearing hats. I almost feel I’ve gatecrashed a wedding. The service is fine (similar to many ‘middle of the road‘ CofE services), the organist and several others are in kilts and the hymns are once again sung with a Scottish accent - the church is full. Leave the service and, with many other church services also finishing around Stornoway, the traffic is the heaviest I’ve experienced since Glasgow over a week ago - this is rush hour Lewis style!

Potter around the coast for the afternoon, finding one or two beautiful sandy bays, and take the plunge in the evening - I’m off to the Free Church of Scotland service.

Again it’s ’Sunday best’ and the church, which is a large building, is full. There are at least half a dozen other churches within half a mile of this, and all seem to have a steady stream of worshippers heading towards them. Church attendance here is a serious business; way above the national average.

The service is strange. I know the Free Church is strict, though not as strict as the Free Presbyterians, and I’m handed a songbook solely containing psalms, and a Bible as I enter. I’m slightly surprised that it’s a new version (English Standard Version) and not the old King James Version. Only psalms (or rather portions of psalms) are sung, no hymns, and all are sung unaccompanied. One man at the front leads the singing with the Minister having announced the tune (“we will now sing the first 5 stanzas of Psalm 29 to the tune Kilmarnock). Again the singing is impressive, and again with a strong Scottish accent. Interestingly the congregation sits to sing and stands to pray. The sermon is as expected, though I am surprised how radical the minister is about some issues - green issues are not for Christians to ignore and be left to the realm of ‘politics‘, there are for everyone and Christians should be at the forefront is his thrust. (If only other churches felt the same!) He also noted that if an employer says your hours are 9 to 5, then demanding staff to work late is tantamount to theft, and he aimed this at the employers in the congregation. Again, radical stuff and once again my preconceptions are challenged. One thing that did surprise me was that once the service was over the church emptied straightaway - within 3 minutes the church was empty, although the chatting/gossiping was done in the car park for several minutes afterwards.

Overall an interesting day - not sure I could cope with it too often, but as a one off definitely worth experiencing.

Saturday 16th September - Butt of Lewis

Go right to the top of the Hebrides - the Port of Ness and the Butt of Lewis. Take a bracing walk around the extreme edge of the island and look out - there is nothing between here and Canada or Greenland. The view is very clear and in the other direction I can see across 'The Minch' to the highlands of Scotland.

Pop into a gallery and end up chatting with the owner/artist. Turns out he's originally from Stoke on Trent and came out here 13 years ago. Head back into Stornoway and potter around the town and the excellent museum.

With tomorrow being Sunday the harbour is filling up as the various boats return.

Friday 15th September - Lewis

I've admitted before that I like stone circles and 'henges' so I go and look at the standing stones at Callanish, "the second most important site after Stonehenge." The Western Isles has several standing circles and Neolithic monoliths, although sometimes you do end up looking at something and thinking is it a Neolithic site or just a large rock that happens to be there? Am impressed with Callanish - is a beautiful site at a great location overlooking a couple of lochs. One thing I love about stone circles is that we still don't really have a clue why they built them all those millennia - yes the exhibitions have numerous 'artist's impressions', but read the small print and we don't really know.

Then head to the Blackhouse at Arnol. A blackhouse is how the islanders used to live - a living space at one end of thatched barn and the animals at the other. Incredibly this blackhouse - so named because of the smoke from the indoor peat fire - was still lived in until the early 1960s. As 'swinging London' was happening people were still in effect living in barns with animals!

Is a ground breaking football match taking place - the first meeting (outside the inter island games...) of the Western Isles versus the Shetland Islands. Not sure whether this is strictly speaking an international fixture, but they are optimistic that this could be the first of a regular bout of fixtures, hopefully also including the Orkneys.

Arrive for the scheduled kick off time of 6pm - it's a small non-league style ground and there are a couple of hundred people there (who all seem to know each other and the players). Then there is annoucement - the kick off will delayed as so far only 5 to 6 of the Shetland team have arrived, but their plane has now landed so we are just waiting for them to get across from there. The match kicks off at about 6.45pm. This could be interesting - there are no floodlights. Even with only taking a 5 minute half time break the match ends in virtual darkness at about 8.15pm. In a fairly decent match, the Western Isles win 3-1.

End the evening at the Stornoway Balti House; the staff of which probably constitute the entire Asian population of the Hebrides. In what is the most northernly and remote Balti house I've eaten in, I have a thoroughly good meal.

Thursday 14 September - Harris to Stornoway

Head off down a couple of roads which don't particularly led anywhere but have beautiful scenery. Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere I come across a tennis court. A beautiful location and backdrop against which to play tennis - just seems a bit bizarre to have this court here - the nearest thing is the local primary school which is over a mile away.

Leave Harris and head across Lewis to the bright lights of Stornoway, the major town of the Western Isles. Again the scenery is different, from the mountainous background of Harris to the flatter moorlands and lochs of Lewis.

Enter Stornoway which, having been in remote parts of Western Isles for a few days, is suddenly a sprawling metropolis - there are traffic lights, roundabouts and even a traffic jam or two! Also seems to be a fewboy racer types with their souped Saxos and flashy Astras.

Have a brief look around Stornoway. It has a new and fantastic arts centre - complete with gallery space, a cinema/theatred a cracking bar and restaurant. Have a splendid meal there overlooking the sea/harbour as the sun sets.

There will be more...

....including photos but my internet access is very hit and miss - hang in there....

Wednesday 13th September - Harris

Head off down the west side of Harris. Stop at a Harris tweed place, which seems to be an old woman running a couple of looms in her shed. Resist the Tweed jackets but make a purchase of a present - hope it gets received well as the Tweed teddy bears were frankly very scary. Coffee stop is taken at an art café in the middle of nowhere - the art, the café and the hot chocolate are all wonderful.

Stop at the 15th century church at Rodel. Memorial notes that the man married his third wife “in his 73rd year” (it doesn’t say how old she was) and went on to have nine children before dying in his nineties - guess there is hope for me yet!

Complete the circuit of Harris by again driving up the west coast. Take a little walk and come across (see photo) something on the beach. Guess it’s real but not quite sure - could be an art installation (don’t laugh - the Uists had quite a few pieces of public sculpture). Stop to take numerous photos of the views - particularly of the bay and Taransay. Not sure I’d fancy my chances in the wind on this golf course though.

Pull into the hotel. A 4x4 pulls up. I look at the driver who seems familiar. Surely it’s not? OK - this is now getting very weird as Ben Fogle gets out and heads to the hotel. Glamourous wife is in the passenger seat and his famous black labrodor is in the back. I’m in the middle of nowhere and I then come across a minor celeb… One whose ‘break’ is associated with where I am… Head into the hotel. Rumour is he is here on secret honeymoon…

Wonder whether me thinking about stuff and then the celebrity involved suddenly appearing is a new talent I've acquired and if it only works on minor celebs? Think about how great an actress Sandra Bullock was in Crash and how Speed was her big break. Regretfully she does not appear to enter the hotel...

Tuesday 12th September - North Uist to Harris

The weather is very changeable - the cloud is meeting the sea, it then takes a brief tea break and allows a glorious sunny spell before deciding enough is enough and it really wants to meet up with the sea again.

Potter around North Uist and, as is often the case in Scotland, come across an immaculately kept cemetery in the middle of nowhere but with a beautiful view over the sea. Love the inscription on one monument - like the fact that the person’s height is mentioned and then immediately it’s pointed out that he was ‘without pathological defect’. It’s almost saying that you’d expect someone that tall to be a nutter, but not this bloke. I think it’s a lovely epitaph.

Get the ferry across the Sound of Harris. This time it is an Alfa Romeo owner who doesn’t turn their alarm off… The crossing is slow and very zig zaggy as the ferry pick its way between the smaller islands and rocks. On occasion it slows to a virtual standstill as it navigates between the markers. The crossing is sunny and breezy and the view stunning.

I’m not particularly a ’driver’ - for me as long as car has a wheel in each corner and gets me from A to B safely and reliably I’m happy. However, the drive from Leverburgh to Tarbet around west Harris is fantastic, with views of orgasmic beauty. The scenery changes from sunny beaches to rocky outcrops with an almost lunar quality. In the distance is the island of Taransay, famous as the place where the BBC filmed Castaway back in 2000 and the series which gave us Ben Fogle. I reckon the two most successful ’reality’ TV stars are probably Ben Fogle and Jade Goody; still, one out of two isn’t bad. Noticed a few weeks ago that the producers of Castaway are about to film a new series, but in a warmer location…

I pull into the only petrol station in Tarbet. Diesel is an eye watering £1.06 a litre - but with scenery like this it’s worth ever single penny.

Monday 11th September - The Uists and Eriksay

The weather in England is going to be hot and sunny - I pull back the curtains and discover a damp and windy day and I wouldn’t want it any other way. As Billy Connolly says “there is no such thing as the wrong weather, just the wrong clothing.”

It’s no good, I have to find out how the young Australian receptionist came to be here. Turns out that her wider family own the hotel; she is back for a few weeks for a family wedding and as she works in hospitality in Australia she is helping out whilst here. Her parents are born and bred Scots but emigrated as teachers on a £10 ticket!

I head to Eriksay, an island which has only been linked to South Uist by a causeway for about 6-7 years. I wonder how much impact the causeway had on day to day island life… Eriksay is famous as the location where the ship which the Whisky Galore story is based upon ran aground; indeed the film was made on location here and on the neighbouring island of Barra. I scout the beach - well you never know - although all I find is a more modern day Scottish drink.

Head to North Uist and, bizarrely, on the Isle of Benbecula come across a café offering free WiFi access. Sadly I check my emails, but also enjoy some coffee and excellent banana cake. Drive past a bay known locally as ‘Stink Bay’ due to the smell of rotting seaweed - it lives up to its name.

Sunday 10th September - Oban to South Uist

Wake up and look nervously at the weather - the 6.5 hour ferry ride seemed a good idea at the time, but if the seas are rough could be a really dumb idea. Fortunately the weather is fine. Go to the Church of Scotland service in the morning - a full church with gusty hymn singing complete with Scottish accents. It's like the Proclaimers mets Songs of Praise.

Get on the ferry. As the boat leaves the harbour it starts to rock and this sets off two car alarms on the semi open deck. Who do they think is going to steal them and, more importantly, where to they think they're going to take them? An announcement on the PA "could the drivers of a silver BMW and a black Range Rover please return to they vehicles and disarm the alarms." It had to be BMW and Range Rover drivers didn't it.

Sail past Tober/Balamory and I wave to Miss Hoolie - though I doubt she saw me. I have a soft spot for Miss Hoolie - she always seems so cheerful and, considering the school is a small one on a Scottish Isle, she has a remarkably multi-ethnic class...

Eventually, after a stop at Castlebay, Barra, the ferry pulls into South Uist. It's 9.45pm on a Sunday in the Outer Hebrides and I pull into my hotel - the receptionist is a young Australian...

Saturday 9th September - Oban

Can tell I’m in Scotland. By 11.20am I’ve had a magnificent cooked breakfast, been on a tour of the local distillery and sampled 3 whiskys.

I'm the only one on the tour who is neither German nor Swedish and once again I embarassed by my lack of linguistic ability. All of the others on the tour are hearing a very clear guide, but with a distinct Scottish accent, and are able to understand and ask intelligent questions in their second or even third language.

I sample 3 different whiskys as the tour guide - a lovely local Scottish lass - tries to find me one acceptable to my unsophisticated southern palate. One is successfully found - apparently it's either 'one for the ladies' or a 'training' whisky', depending on how macho I need to feel.

Local attraction tonight is a Ceilidh featuring Michelle McManus of ‘Pop Idol’ fame as the special guest. I am able to resist, though also find it slightly amusing that the local cinema in showing ‘The Wicker Man’ - I know it’s the remake but still seems funny.

Friday 8th September - Liverpool to Oban

Have no destination mind other than ’north’. I need to be in Oban by Sunday to catch a ferry but between then and now I don’t have to be anyway particular. Once the road gets past Lancaster the drive is accompanied by wonderful scenery as you skirt the edge of the Lakes and then enter Scotland.

The beauty is abruptly ended by the journey on the M8 through Glasgow - a stretch of motorway that makes the M25 seem a Sunday afternoon drive in a rural tranquil setting - but before long I’m alongside Loch Lomond. Look at the time and decide I can make Oban easily tonight.

Pull into Oban and head for the Tourist Information Centre to sort out accommodation for a couple of nights. It’s busy in town but they find somewhere. I’m in ‘hotel’ above a ‘vibrant’ local backstreet pub; it’s not a quiet night!

Thursday 7th September - Liverpool

Set off for the Outer Hebrides but stop off at Liverpool to catch up with someone I don’t see enough off.

I find Liverpool a complex city. It’s currently undergoing massive regeneration as part of being the 2008 European City of Culture so much of the place is a building site. I spend some time on the waterfront and then visit the magnificent Catholic Cathedral.

It’s a city with some fantastic architecture and a potentially magnificent riverside, but so much of the city’s identity seems tied up with the Beatles or football. It must have been a truly bustling metropolis early in the 20th century, I guess it just needs some catalyst for it to return to its former glory.

Spent a great evening catching up at a fantastic bar/café called tabac - the sort of place you want in your own neighbourhood as your own local catch up spot.

Follow my lead?

Apparently we have now moved into a ‘post-heroic’ phase of leadership. ‘Quiet’ leadership and ‘Servant’ leadership are in vogue. Finally my time has come? Cometh the hour cometh the man?.?.?.

What did HR trainers do before the invention of flipchart paper and post-it notes? Do they sometimes awake in a cold sweat fearing those dark days will return?

Access to web is slightly random at the moment as I'm in far north of Scotland - will be like buses - nothing for days then 5 updates at once.

Leader of the pack??

Have commenced 'leadership development'. Not sure I'm approaching this entirely right. Had to answer some pre course questions, for example;

Do you identify yourself as a leader? Say out loud 'I am a leader'. How does that feel?
My initial thoughts are, no... very weird...

How do you think others perceive you?
Well... that's between me and my therapist surely...

Who is your leadership role model?
Suppose I ought to say Churchill or Branson but for some reason I actually want to say Top Cat. Well, he kept Benny and the others in line and regularly got the better of Officer Dibble.

Later I will be asked to describe my 'leadership brand'.

Smittyonline - because I'm worth it...

Subtle hint??

Returned to London to attend a course for the next few days. It's about 'Developing Leadership' - which in itself is slightly weird for me, but the really ironic thing is that it's run by an organisation called WIG. It is a hint??

Attended a church in Devon yesterday - *good* to see the 'ministry of flags' is still alive...

Red or Green?

Have spent a nice few days in North Devon catching up with people and yesterday enjoyed an afternoon wandering around Croyde and enjoying its beach - very pleasant.

Whilst having a drink saw a group of men returning their surfboards to the hire shop. Wetsuits are rarely flattering and these men, some stripped down to the waist, had rarely been at the back of the dinner queue and were already starting with a disadvantage - wasn't a particularly aesthetic sight.

Mind you, I foolishly weighed myself yesterday and am aware I'm not making this observation from a position of strength - then again I'm not wearing a wetsuit either (and I can hear the sighs of relief).

Still, have been learning all about 'red' and 'green' days and 'sins'...

Redemption Reflections

The dust has settled a couple of days , so a few thoughts about my Greenbelt 2006.

* it was a very successful festival - the programme, the site and the overall 'vibe' were all fantastic. Not even the rain showers could dampen the 19,000 festival goers fun.

* for the second year running (for various reasons) I went into the festival 'frazzled'. Me + lack of sleep = grumpiness. The festival was very busy, which exacerbated the situation, and people probably saw the worst side of me; I apologise if you got caught up in it.

* people often talk about 'Greenbelt moments'. This year for me it was, on a couple of occasions, snatching a few minutes with one or a few people sitting high up overlooking the site. A cup of coffee or a sandwich, just looking out and taking it all in. It's a real privilege to play a small part in something so wonderful.