Sturgist

So. Surprisingly? Canada is quite large! I have yet to be to a place in Canada that shares its name with a place in Scotland, and ALSO the place in Scotland. I'm from Vancouver, so West Coast (bestcoast) of Canada, and there's a few....

I've been to a bit less than half, and not a single one of the Scottish namesake.

Though, every time I go to the Highlands I'm struck by just how very much it looks like BC....just a wee bit more wee....

Surprisingly not that long. I still struggle with some things. Like I recently discovered that I have been using the term "The back of 4"(put any hour of the day in) incorrectly. I had thought, probably because my friends I'd made when I first moved over, that the back of whatever means just before the following hour. In actuality it means between the hour but before half past.

I can only assume that no one has corrected me because they either assumed I had the punctuality of a half dead tortoise, or they also were never on time.

Once in a while I will have to ask someone to slow down or enunciate. D'nue was a bit tricky for me. It's actually The Now. As in:

You going to be here soon?

Bit late, just on the bus d'nue.

So, not a joke, but a real lived experience. And then after a Stoned Mason joke.

My best friend at the time, his gf, and myself had eaten....a substantial dose of mushrooms. We'd started at 10 am and were catching the last bus from the city to the town we lived in, was just about 1am.

So it's the 3 of us, we were all around 20, and a probably 40ish year old grung-punk skater on the bus. We were all sat at the back, having a chat and the following:

Guy:

Hey, you guys wanna smoke a joint?

One of us:

Sure, but uhhh, we live about a 4 hour walk from here. Where you hopping off?

Guy:

Naaaaaahhhhh maaaan! We'll just open all the windows in the back here and smoke where we're sitting!

Us:

Uhhhhhhhhh.... aren't you worried about getting kicked off the bus? There's like....mirrors and shit, the driver can absolutely see us....

Guy:

Don't worry man! Don't you know the saying "Smoke in Mirrors"? It's called Smoke in Mirrors because you CAN'T see smoke **IN** mirrors!

My own thoughts:

Jesus... I've eaten enough mushrooms to down a large dog and even I can tell this man has smoked himself within a C-Hair of his last brain cell.....

Stoned Mason Joke

This took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out was actually a joke.

So my old work/business partner back home is...a character.

Was a mega rockerboy through the 70s and 80s, plays bass with the same band he's played with since '78.

He's got some bits he likes to do. Ozzy, Jagger, what I'm pretty sure is the English guy from the first Wayne's World.

We're working away. He picks up a stone to install and inspects it. Then he says, in an absolutely...and I mean horrific, English accent:

And there I was.....just.....hangin out with the stones!

Shit....uhmmm.....let me check? I have the one I usually put the hot sauce I make in the cupboard somewhere. I'll get back to you!

Make sure your certs are valid here, as soon as you're able to take the CSCS safety course, and get your trades card. Cost of living isn't insane, but wages are pretty low. Do not expect to be able to purchase alcohol at a shop before 10am or after 10pm.

Here's a link to figure out how your qualifications stack up in the UK.

Right. So most of what I worked with in Canada was granite and basalt. And the style of Random we mostly did back home is a very different kind of Random Rubble than what gets done here in Scotland. Third picture.
Pictures below 👇

Can't really say what's my favourite stone. I miss doing stuff like what's in the first and second picture in granite. There's a lot of sandstone and whinstone(this is kinda a catch-all, includes: basalt and dolerite [igneous] and chert [sedimentary]) used in the part of Scotland I'm in.

I guess my favourite stone to work with is the one that looks really fucking good when I'm done?

Below is not something I built, it's a maintenance job. Remove the fucked mortar and repointing with new.

They don't know what they're doing, so I'll wager that they're not on the square, nor the level.

Surprisingly only one! That one person was quite drunk.

Though my grandfather on my dad's side was a Freemason, I was never really tempted to join. That said, it would probably do wonders for my side hustle, I'm not great at selling myself. I get most of my side work from word of mouth, and really can't be bothered to make a website or FB page.

TL;DR - He's been under psychiatric assessment. His lawyer requested further assessment. Crown Prosecution agreed. He's due again in court on 26th of July. This time he was attending remotely, on the 26th he will attend in person.

I'll update again, probably tomorrow, just didn't have it in me to put more than 15 or 20 minutes in after work today.
The quest marker is labelled "Backpack" and I spent most of the time in game trying to find a way to get to it. Should have taken a screenshot, didn't think of it. 🤷

Nah, more like Cartman mixed with Roger from American dad. Bit of an idiot, but also a major sociopath. No real idea what the world is like because they've essentially never been denied anything, or struggled for anything. No empathy because all of the real people around them are staff and so not really people.

HA! MAY CAR IS WAAAAAAAY NEWER THAN YOURS!

......2006.

When I bought it, it had an even cheaper android stereo in it. When I was looking for a interim replacement before I spent over £100, I found the one that was installed when I bought it.....for £12.
Ended up with an ~£80 deck that came with a half decent reverse camera, which was almost the only requirement for me other than Bluetooth.
I honestly kinda wish it had come with a tape deck, being on the edge of old I still have a bunch of tapes. Used to have a load of CDRs, but rot got them. 🤷
I have about 60Gb of music on my phone, I'll occasionally switch some of it out for new stuff. I had Google Play Music back in what is now considered "The Day" and now I pretty much refuse to use any streaming service.