Hi All, one of the reasons the forum has been very quiet recently is because we have just moved house (from Livingston in West Lothian to Denny in Falkirk) and as yet we don't have internet access set up in the new house! Hopefully we will soon, but in the meantime we are having to get on-line away from home!

Anyway, we will get the voting for the Photo of the Month started tomorrow and any photos that have been sent in will be added! Hopefully soon after that normal services will be resumed... but as its a brand new house as yet nobody recognises the address so getting anything set up or changed is proving difficult to say the least!

That's us been in the new house for a whole week and we're no closer to getting internet access... and we're having to make do with 'council tele' as well!

Having said that, we're glad we moved; being nearer family (especially the grandkids) makes it all worthwhile. Tho internet access and a few more tele channels would be nice!

That's us been two weeks in the new house now and things are starting to get better; the weather has certainly improved (we actually had to turn the blinds to keep out the sun the other day!) and in a few days we will have something more than council tele... and a phone line and internet access might even follow soon!

Hopefully over the coming weeks we'll get a chance to get out an explore our new surroundings and, despite Denny's recent (successful) quest for the Plook on the Plinth there are a few places of interest in the town itself (and in neighbouring Dunipace!) Its also a good location for exploring a wider area: both Stirling and Falkirk are only a few miles away and its near a main motorway junction that gives easy access to the M80 and M9 so Glasgow, Edinburgh and even further afield will be easy enough to get to!

It feels like its been longer, but its only been three weeks since we moved. We now have proper (as in non-council) tele and will be getting internet access this week (so the forum will soon pick up a bit)!

I've also had a chance to explore a bit of the surrounding area; I hope to get some pics online soon of Torwood Castle, Tappoch Broch, the mysterious Blue Pool and the great views from Torwood hill!

Good to hear you are settling in!

All the best in your new home Bruce and Linda
Found an interestring link on Torwood castle and Tappoch Broch
http://www.ntgraphics.co.uk/walksandwoodlands/torwood.html#broch

Thanks wee flower... and thanks for sharing the link too! I actually met the man who runs that site when I was heading for the broch; he gave me directions to the broch itself then we stood and chatted for ages... I bumped in to him again later and we headed for the Blue Pool he mentions on his site!

Today's the day we should get internet access at home and not have to rely on mobile internet anymore... tho having said that, being able to get on the internet on a mobile phone is great, but its just a bit too limited for my liking!

We were expecting to get our home internet access sorted out today, but this morning we found out we might have to wait another three weeks... I'm not sure what the problem actually is (I think its something to with the phone line coming in to the house?), but I hope it will be sorted sooner than the 30th!

As I said above, I think the problem is the phone line, but as the phone just rang I guess that is working... tho it was a wrong number!

As I said before, we had hoped to have internet access at home by now... however, for various reasons (most of which sound like passing the buck) we still don't have it and its likely to be another 7-10 (working?) days before we do! Of course I hope to get this month's Photo of the Month tie-breaks sorted before then as well as getting next month's competitions sorted!

Its been a while since I added much in the way of news stories (or anything else for that matter), but I hope to rectify that soon. I won't bore you with the details of the proper home internet connection we still don't have, but hopefully that will be sorted out soon*; in the meantime I have managed to get my mobile phone to work as a modem and have a connection that at best can be described as... better than nothing! Actually, that's maybe a bit unfair; its not bad considering the signal for using the phone as a phone isn't always that great!

Anyway, as I said, I hope to get more posts added on to the forum and I hope that more activity from myself will result in some of the rest of you posting a bit more too. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support of the forum (especially with the Photo of the Month competitions!) and look forward to sharing more of Scotland with you all over the coming months and years!

(* we had a letter from our internet provider today that makes me optimistic that this week it should all happen! )

We now have a proper home broadband internet connection! Its maybe taken a lot longer than we hoped, but its finally here (and only a day later than the letter mentioned above said it would be!) The main thing is now we can dispense with using the mobile as a modem, but at least we know that works so that when we're away from home it is a possible way to stay connected!