12/08/2022
This week was hot! “UK set for new heatwave as temperatures head to 35C”. It must be bad when Scotland is running out of water. We had to get out of our insulated house in the evening. In the heat of the moment Eloise had a falling out with Foxie, who had been handed a life sentence of time out. This meant that “Waa waa” was along for the ride.
Tuesday morning, Lachlan made sure that he was staying hydrated. Luckily it was not too hot overnight so we could cool the house down. Eloise and Foxie had made up and Eloise made sure to feed her breakfast. The kids have lived outside this week which has been good for them.
With Eloise at dance, Lachlan was flying solo at the playground.
After Curious George’s drum lesson and watching the Scottish Pipe Band Championships, Eloise has been working on her skills, sadly not the bagpipes… That is a work in progress… C’mon one of them have to pick them up.
It was a half five (05:30) alarm Wednesday morning and back to Glasgow Airport, where after finding some breakfast I checked in on the kids. It was a sleepy early flight down to Bristol on my first easyJet flight, surprisingly nicer than British Airways.
It felt like I had landed in a sauna. Even back up in Scotland the fish were feeling it. Hopefully, the roads and runways were not going to melt like the previous heatwave in July.
The kids were a bit confused about where Dad had gone, but the show must go on. Back to the cool loch.
Lachlan had hit the jackpot today, Super Mum had found packs of dairy-free chocolate brioche rolls. Lachlan will literally do anything to get his hands on these.
After a tough day it was then back to Bristol Airport for Liam. Sadly no time to have a look around Bristol. I did pass under the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, an impressive structure.
The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provides funds for its maintenance. The bridge is built to a design by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw, based on an earlier design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is a Grade I listed building and forms part of the B3129 road… It is 245 ft (75 m) above high water level the height of towers: 86 ft (26 m) above deck, overall length: 1,352 ft (412 m).
Meanwhile at home, Eloise and Lachlan had bought a new sprinkler to get through the heatwave.
The kids caught Dad on his flight home. It was getting late so they had to quickly prepare dinner for him.
Thursday morning, Lachlan was straight into Eloise’s room to see how she was going, he then took over her bed with a few books, making himself comfortable.
It was another hot one, Lachlan had a good setup but the heat was starting to get to our Glaswegian. It was to the bakery for lunch and plenty of vitamin D.
After a couple of days of looking, Super Mum and the kids had finally found sand. The kids were excited to make magic sand.
It was not long before firing up the sprinkler again, there was just one problem. We had to get the sprinkler off of Lachlan first.
Lachlan was struggling as his Eloise chickpea countermeasure which he deployed earlier in the day was now backfiring.
This morning the children got their playground fix early in the day.
After a long and tricky week as soon as the clock struck midday we were off. You could not have asked for a better day for the Falkirk Wheel. Now we have been to the Falkirk Wheel a couple of times, but today we had tickets to ride the world’s only rotating boat lift. The water play area was packed. Eloise wanted her own mini boat but was unfortunately too young.
We made our way onto the boat. Lachlan was buzzing, Eloise did her best to keep him under control, “nooo Lachlan, oi, no, come back here Lachlan, Lachlan, MUM!!!!!”.
After approximately five minutes we were rotating upwards on this amazing feat of engineering.
Once our boat had made it to the top, there was a short return trip through Roughcastle Tunnel towards the Union Canal which leads to Edinburgh, before rotating back down to the Forth and Clyde Canal. You are allowed to ride the wheel and canals on stand-up paddle boards, that would be a fun trip.
It was a cool wee trip, we are still blown away watching the wheel operate. We took a video which is sped up x5 speed.
A little cheeky someone wanted one final run up to the Union Canal, before we headed home after the sun had drained all our energy.
On 24 May 2002, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Falkirk Wheel as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations… The Falkirk wheel is a rotating boat lift, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It was opened in 2002. The wheel has an overall diameter of 35m, designed to look like a Celtic-inspired double-headed axe. Rotating two diametrically opposed water-filled caissons with a capacity of 250,000 litres. It takes 22.5 kilowatts (30.2 hp) to power ten hydraulic motors, which consume 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5,100 BTU) per half-turn… The caissons or gondolas always carry a combined weight of 500 tonnes (490 long tons; 550 short tons) of water and boats, with the gondolas themselves each weighing 50 tonnes (49 long tons; 55 short tons). Care is taken to maintain the water levels on each side, thus balancing the weight on each arm. According to Archimedes’ principle, floating objects displace their own weight in water, so when the boat enters, the amount of water leaving the caisson weighs exactly the same as the boat. This is achieved by maintaining the water levels on each side to within a difference of 37 mm (1.5 in) using a site-wide computer control system comprising water level sensors, automated sluices and pumps. It takes 22.5 kilowatts (30.2 hp) to power ten hydraulic motors, which consume 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5,100 BTU) per half-turn, roughly the same as boiling eight kettles of water… Boat trips on the wheel depart approximately once an hour. Since the wheel opened, around 5.5 million people have visited and 1.3 million have taken a boat trip, with around 400,000 people visiting the wheel annually.
Archimedes was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Considered to be the greatest mathematician of ancient history, and one of the greatest of all time.
For dinner, it was Lachlan’s favourite. He was upset he had to wear a bib, Eloise quickly grabbed one for herself to help cheer him up.
On Friday, “the shortlist of UK cities that could host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest has been revealed, with seven locations [including mighty Glasgow] in the running”. We will do our best to get tickets, probably the only chance we will have to watch it.
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