What a catch!

Colindale, London, England // 1.21 am // Clear 0ºc / 32ºf

The last update was written in Scotland. On Saturday night I went out with my friend Stephen to a few places in Ayr. To be honest, I've had better nights out in Ayr; the places we chose to go out weren't the best choices but it wasn't too bad. Went back to Stephen's new house after getting back from Ayr for a few beers so it was quite a late one.

I couldn't sleep too long on Sunday as I was meeting up with my dad at lunchtime. We headed back down to Ayr to see my auntie and her husband and two kids. The last time I saw the youngest one, my cousin Daniel, it was in July for his Christening. Now, he's practically walking on his own accord!

After that my dad and I headed back to Saltcoats for some food, then out in town for a night of beverages, meeting up with my Uncle John and Uncle Mark later in the evening. This is becoming a regular feature everytime I go home now, and usually ends up being the highlight of the visit.

On Monday I had a fairly quiet day, and spent most of the afternoon with my gran while my mum was at work. My gran, for being nearly 70, is doing pretty well for herself. She found a new man a few months back, and has since been halfway around the world with him, and has at least 4 other trips planned next year!

I flew back to London on Monday night, from Prestwick Airport to Stansted. The departures lounge at Prestwick has changed quite significantly since the last time I flew out from there, and now sports a very nice new Elvis Presley-themed bar. For those that don't know, Prestwick Airport in Scotland was the only place the king himself set foot in the UK, ever.

When I got back to the flat on Monday night, I had to fulfill a promise to Elle. So I helped to put up the Christmas tree and decorations. For those that think it was a bit early, it *could've* been done last Wednesday!

Back to work yesterday and it's been a couple of busy days. I have two more evening shifts, before everything changes and I start early shifts next Monday. That entails waking up at 4am and starting work at 5am, finishing at 3pm. I get one day off midweek plus weekends. It's actually going to be quite handy for Christmas shopping, as when I finish at 3pm I'm pretty much in the heart of London's shopping district to buy some Christmas presents. It also means I'll get to spend a good bit more time with Elle in the evenings. Although I will need to go to bed around 9pm.

Those that know me know that one of my main hobbies is DXing, that being the act of receiving distant radio stations, far outside the original target area. Tonight, in fact less than half an hour ago, I achieved my finest ever DX "catch", and something I've been trying to achieve, fairly passively, for the last 13 years. I received my first ever transatlantic radio station on the MW band using just my portable Sony radio. It was WEGP, from Maine in the USA, on 1390 AM. I've never had any real special setup for MW reception, so the fact I heard this on the internal aerial on the radio makes this reception even more fantastic! It will mean nothing to most other people reading this, but I know that at least *I* will always remember this night...

In the last few days on TV I've watched BBC One, UKTV History, BBC News, CNN International, Setanta Sports 1 and Channel 4.

On the radio I've listened to 3TFM (Saltcoats), Soul Central Radio, Jazz FM, Absolute Classic Rock, LBC 97.3, BBC Radio 5 Live, Kiss 104.1 (Atlanta), Capital FM and WEGP (Maine).