The most northerly beach in Scotland I’ve ever been to, I think. It can be found on Yell in the north of Shetland. The water is rather cold considering it’s in the middle of the Atlantic, but the sand and light on a sunny day are just brilliant.

Another quite remote beach can be found at Huisinis (Hushinish) in North Harris at the end of the B887, a long and winding single track road. A very popular beach on a sunny summer Sunday, but the colours of the beach, the clear water and the machair are just fantastic.

The first of the two beaches on Islay I’m going to include in this list. A favourite for many people visiting Islay. Wide panoramic views over golden sands and rocky shorelines make it easy to understand why it’s so popular. Great for summer sunsets.

Probably one of the most photogenic beaches in Scotland. Kiloran Bay on remote Colonsay requires a bit of effort to reach it, but it’s worth every minute of the long journey. Beautiful bright sand, blue seas and a on a clear day views to the Isle of Mull.

Somehow I always return to it. Not entirely sure why, but it has some special magic for me. The huge beach in particular at low tide, the waves coming in, the high cliffs with the old radar installations, the dunes backing the beach, all of this contributes to it. Great at any time of the year, some of the best views of Machir Bay I’ve had on clear and crisp October mornings.

Don’t we all love call in shows, with various nutters talking about their pet hates? Even the Guardian likes it, so Down the Line with Gary Bellamy must be good. Unfortunately it’s off air as I’m writing this, I hope it will be back soon with another series.

The Lawrence Sweeney Mix is improvisation at its best. The audience suggests a topic and they talk about it. The most recent series seems to have finished this week, so go to the listen again page while you can. And hope for it to come back.

I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue how to describe this programme. It calls itself the antidote to panel games. And is really good.

A classic. 35 (!) years old and still going strong. Just a Minute. The rules: Talk about a given topic for one minute without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Just brilliant. And with Nicholas Parsons. And Paul Merton.

I think they call The Now Show topical comedy. Comedy about current affairs. Very funny. Unfortunately also off air at the moment, but I’m confident it will be back at some point.

A long time ago, but it’s still great music. I can’t help myself singing to it, there’s just something about you.

For once in my life I’ve got something to say: If the kids are united, they will never be divided. Enough said. Actually, no. Hurry up, Harry.

Great name. And Natalie Merchant. Scorpio Rising, These are the days, some say doesn’t compare to Patti but Because the night is still worth a mention. And finally playing together with the great David Byrne.

From the 70s to the early 90s. Anyone still remembering them? I do. Tell It Like It T-I-Is. Love Shack. Rock Lobster. Roam. And Kate’s voice and hair.

Don’t know much about their music, but I think Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster is a great name with a number in it. Which takes them to number 1. That’s all.

Apparently Yes play ‘progressive rock’. Can’t claim I’ve ever really listened to them, but their logo(s) I kind of know for some reason. And according to Wikipedia their name was chosen to be short, direct, and memorable. Good enough for this list.

A band I vaguely remember from my youth. ABC had a few hits back in the 80s. Some New Wave and New Romantics stuff. ‘The Look of Love’ and ‘When Smokey Sings’ were two of their hits, in case you can’t remember them.

Can is the name they’re known for, even though it apparently stands for ‘Communism-Anarchism-Nihilism’ which would make it rather too long for this list. But then listing them allows me to use the word ‘Krautrock’, which is good.

Short name, loud and great songs, that’s Ash. Just think Burn Baby Burn, Starcrossed and most importantly Sometimes. Even when they play a cover they have taste and play the best song ever (according to John Peel).

That’s the shortest one I can think of, at least in the written form. They even have one of the few two character domains for their website, U2.com. No comments about the music, apart that obviously the old stuff is better. Obviously.

That’s good enough for me.

You have handys, smokings, moonshine-tarife and much more. Shouldn’t be a problem for you then.

You read enough German every day. As keen readers of this blog I can make you read more English. You know you want to.

Like thingymajiggy. Sometimes mistyped as thingymahjiggy. Not that it matters. Still a nice word.

Schuer said: English, please. So here I am.

Any song with the great man in the title must be good.
Sons and Daughters – Johnny Cash

People with cameras instead of heads. And lighthouses.
Foxface – Last Waltz

Roddy Woomble. Idlewild. Enough said. Oh, and DISCO.
Idlewild – No Emotion

This leaves me stumped. Can’t think of a witty comment. I just love this song.
Sons and Daughters – Gilt Complex

I just hope he won’t lose the accent once they are signed to a major label.
Glasvegas – Daddy’s Gone

Already covered in 144,987,341 (rough estimate) other blogs and other techie websites. And another 556,873 will still write, trackback and pingback about them. Boring.

I’ve been to the cinema exactly 0 times this year. And the DVDs were from approx 15 years ago (yay for nostalgia!). Not much to go on there, is it? Apart from that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is still a great movie.

Hey, you have to show that you’re not only staring at the computer screen, so better include a list of books. I just can’t be bothered to try to remember which ones I read this year. I’m sure there’s been a Christopher Brookmyre among them somewhere. And I’m certain it was good. That’ll have to do.

I don’t have an iPod (or any other player for that matter), therefore don’t use iTunes or any similar software. Meaning I can’t run off pointless statistics how many times I’ve listened to which songs and create a ranking from it. Thinking about it, I think I’ve only bought about 3 or 4 CDs this year. Concerts? I’ve only been to one. That was Idlewild, who also make good CDs every once in a while. I think one might have been this year.

Well, that would be a bit pointless coming from me. After all I’ve only been to one this year. So I haven’t really got much to rank and compare. Call me boring if you want.

Which is what I’m doing just now.

Like a good Laphroaig Quarter Cask. Which I had earlier.

Like this one. Yes, it’s been grey and dull and generally dreich in Bremen where I am at the moment

Mother’s Bremer Klaben is the best. Even better than mine, even though I use her recipe.

Like this one. Has lots of strange Christmas presents in it. Whoohoo!

Passport control, security control, a queue here, another queue there. Do you have any liquids, Sir? No, sorry, I’m not that stupid to take any liquids on to my journey. Please take the laptop out of the bag for xray. Keys, wallet, coins? Already in my bag, I’ve flown before and know how to get through security quicker, thank you very much. May be shouldn’t have done it this time, plenty of time still to waste…

The whisky selection is not that great. Sure, they have some Islay single malts, but just the standard ones you find everywhere. Or the hugely expensive. Come to think of it, most seem quite expensive anyway: €50 for 1l of Laphroaig? I think I can get 0.7l for about ¬£25 in the UK. So I bought a digital voice recorder instead, something I had planned for quite a while.

€6 for 30min? €10 for a day? They must be joking! But then it’s Christmas only once a year and I’ve got a few hours to kill. Now where was that credit card?

Hey, I just spent €10 for 2-3 hours of internet access, might as well use the opportunity to call her for free. Even if we’re going to see us in about 4-5 hours. And we don’t really have that much to say over the phone anyway as we’re going to talk properly in a few hours. Still spent 30 or so minutes talking with her and my sister.

Hey, that’s what I’m doing right now. Writing a completely pointless entry about wasting time at the airport. Whoohoo! Only 1.5 hours to go until departure now…