martinlittle.com:thinkThin

Two weekends ago, Hazel and I were in Madrid enjoying the sunshine and a few bottles of Rioja. Pictures here. It was SO nice to get away from it all and have some time together, visiting new places and having the chance to sit by the pool and relax.

Last weekend we were at T in the Park, a big music festival where we started with muddy conditions and ended with some very pleasant weather. Those pictures are here.

This weekend I'm doing the Edinburgh Rat Race (here's last year's race). This year I made a small error, in thinking I had a team lined up, when in fact I was being asked to join a team for the Bristol race, not Edinburgh. As with last year, the SleepMonsters forum was my saviour, and I very quickly found Will and Paul. Both these guys seem pretty hardcore compared to me, so it's going to be a tough weekend no doubt.

If you're in Edinburgh, there is lots going on in Princes Street Gardens associated with the Rat Race, including clubs at night, and demonstrations from mountain bikers, BMXers, freerunners, etc during the day.

This weekend is T in the Park. If you're going, you'll probably need wellies sun protection and also the guide to T Times in either PDF, Excel or Word. Enjoy!

You've most probably heard of the carbomb attack at Glasgow Airport last weekend. Whilst it is an extremely frightening thing and closer to my home than previous attacks, there has been something interesting come out of it: John Smeaton. John tackled one of the guys in the car immediately after the incident, and after being interviewed on a number of major channels (BBC, ITV, CNN) in a truly inimitable style, has become something of an internet legend (watch the CNN video here).

A Web site quickly sprang up to have a huge party for John, and over 1000 pints have been put behind the bar for him (I think we were pint 150 or so). There's also people pushing to have John on stage at T in the Park this weekend and others trying to get him fully recognised. Good work from a fellow west coaster, and maybe even a fellow Buddie!

As ever, there's stacks of video on YouTube, including this great mashup with a speech from Braveheart.