My favourite weekday mornings...

…are those when Gail works at home for an hour or so before she leaves to attend a meeting…

Sometimes I like to help her with her work.

I study the documents carefully and give her my considered opinion.

Hmm. I am not convinced that a repeat seismic survey after one year's gas production on the Tormore gas field will be useful in helping determine whether additional wells should be drilled, and at a cost of £7 million for the survey, one would have to question the value of the information gained…

It is also my view that the undrilled oil and gas prospects presented here are very risky from a geological perspective, and given the low oil price and the high cost of drilling in the harsh offshore environment of the West of Shetlands basin, I cannot in all conscience recommend that they be pursued further. One feels that if the SNP government were able to see and understand these data, they might be less sanguine about the long term future of Scotland's offshore petroleum industry as a source of valuable tax revenue ...

I wonder what my friends think?

I can't help noticing that there is a certain theme to the names of the gas fields in this offshore 'West of Shetland' area: Glenlivet, Macallan, Bunnehaven, Talisker, Tomatin, Laggan, Tobermory, Tormore, Edradour, Craigellachie…

Is it time yet for a wee dram?

Everyone knows Shirley? And Ludo and Arran...

Today we are taking part in Murphy and Stanley's 'Everybody knows Shirley' bloghop, which aims to spread the word about our favourite blog friends, and thus increase the sum total of worldwide blog happiness. (I have even derived, on scientific principles, an equation which precisely calculates the total amount of delight that this event will generate, but Gail has persuaded me to give the maths a rest for today and to get on with the introductions.)

Well of course there are many blogs that you definitely should be reading, but today I want to sing the praises of my friends the Seaside Shelties,  aka Ludo and Arran, who live in Cumbria with their Mum and TND.

My predecessor Hamish first met Shetland Sheepdog Ludo an incredible seven years ago, when he was known as Ludo van Puppy. Now Ludo is a very grown up Ludo van Doggy and has a little Sheltie brother Arran, or 'Scamp'. TND stands for The Nice Dad. Originally he was TNP (The New Person), the man who loved taking Mum and Ludo on long and energetic walks in the Lake District hills. Soon TNP wasn't so new any more and so he became The Nice Person. Last year Ludo and Arran got to attend a very special wedding and TNP became, officially, TND.

So why might you want to read the Seaside Shelties blog?

Like all the best blogs, the main characters have a warm, wonderful and distinctive 'voice'. The blog is beautifully written (allowing for Ludo's original take on English grammar…) and photos of their many adventures in Cumbria - featuring some of England's very loveliest landscapes - are simply stunning.

Ludo had an operation to remove a cancerous tumour last year but, paws crossed, is recovering well.

Seaside Shelties do not blog every day, in fact sometimes we don't hear from them for weeks, but we always look forward to their posts and, for those of you who haven't yet met them, you are most 'Shirley' in for a treat if you click here pop over and visit.

"Mister Fuzzy Face"

Why does she call me that?

It's been a wet weekend in Torridon

And the "no such thing as bad weather just bad clothes" theory was once again tested to destruction...

Have passport, will travel?

Look what I got this week.

The question is, where to go?

I've done some research, and here's my shortlist of places I would like to visit:

Paw-kistan
Terrier del Fuego
BOL-livia
Bertie County (North Carolina)
Barkina Faso (capital Wagga-dougou)
The Isle of Dogs
Pee-King
Purr-th(?)

Maybe my friends can suggest other destinations?