Facebook for Kids

I have a couple of friends with young children about the ages of 10-12. Recently both friends daughters have been asking to be allowed to join Facebook. Personally I don't think it's a good idea on many levels. Both my friends think the same way, but feel sorry for their daughters. Anyway, I was musing on this and came across a site similar, but not linked to, facebook. There's a site for younger children and a site for teens too. I don't think this is new, but it's new to me and so I thought I'd share it. http://www.fbfkids.com

A little bit of Heaven on Earth

I have recently returned from Kinloch Rannoch, having spent a delightful week with my sons, my brother and his wife and three very good friends. What an absolutely delightful time we had! We didn’t do much, we didn’t go quad-biking, we didn’t hire a boat on the Loch. In fact we didn’t do much at all, but every second was cherished. Despite a very long (and sometimes frightening) drive up from London, my eldest son and I arrived late on Saturday night to our heavenly retreat. My new (soon to be replaced) Sat-Nav having taken us along the Tourist Route in the dead of night during a particularly nasty rain storm accompanied by some equally nasty gale-force winds. Having been a happy confident driver for over thirty years, this did not at first ring any alarm bells. However, after having driven already for around 9 or 10 hours, I was not happy to be driving in atrocious conditions on a minor road in a borrowed Citroen C5. I couldn’t say where we were exactly when we encountered a bridge we couldn’t cross because of flooding, but it was somewhere near Weem. The Sat-Nav was no help. According to the screen, our car was in the middle of a Loch. (Somewhere I thought we may well end up if I wasn’t careful!) We drove around in circles for a while until we finally decided on a likely road and headed off. Suffice to say after another two hours of driving, sometimes at only 4-5 miles an hour, through flooded roads with no lighting beside swollen rivers and lochs transformed into white-water rapids, we finally arrived at our beloved Lodge. We had seen an ermine on the road as we drove by and had the enormous pleasure to see an owl swoop in front of the car and land on a tree branch just in front of us. We stopped, awestruck and it took a good look at us before it flew into the night, but I have to say I have never been so relieved to reach a destination. Having arrived at the same time as my friends, who had travelled up from Dunfermline , my eldest son, Allen, managed to get me up the 85 steps from the car to the lounge and unloaded the car while I sat on a sofa shaking like a jelly in an earthquake. [Thank you so much to those kindly folk in the office who had brought the key up to the lodge and left the door open for us after a frantic call to let them know we would be arriving much, much later than we had expected.] Anyhoo, we settled in and re-acquainted ourselves with the lodge. I don’t think we’ll ever lose that wonderful feeling we get when we first walk in the lounge. The comfy surroundings, the stunning views and the sense of calm truly sets you up for the week. The cares of the day and indeed of the drive melted away within an hour or two to the happy sounds of good company in cosy surroundings.We spent the early part of the week relaxing, with an occasional excursion to the town for a hearty breakfast in The PosteTaste or to pick up supplies from the shop. Mostly we chatted and we played games. Some of us caught up with a good book and some with knitting or other past-times we are usually to busy to enjoy. We drove out to Pitlochry on Tuesday and enjoyed a long walk (wel, long enough for me anyway!) in the brisk weather around the dam and the salmon ladder before walking to the high street for a bit of shopping and a drink or two in one of the pubs. The day was finished off with a scrummy fish supper and we headed home for a final evening of chat and laughter before my three oldest friends made their way back to the real world of work and life the following morning. The remaining five of us took a slow relaxing drive around the loch that afternoon, stopping here and there to admire the views and getting as much of it on the video camera as we could before the light faded. The following day we’d planned to take a trip to Culloden, (something I’ve wanted to do for years), but instead we decided on a little walk instead and postponed our trip for a day. Thursday arrived soon enough and brought with it a blizzard. This was no ordinary snow, this was real snow! Snow like you don’t see in London, at least not since I was very young. We spent the morning taking some beautiful photographs and filming the scenery; so drastically changed from the day before. It really was a winter wonder-land. Loch Rannoch already had us under its spell and here we were totally mesmerised by the wonderful white cloak Mother Nature had draped over the view outside our conservatory window. We were like little children seeing snow for the first time. My sons have long since become adults and my brother and I are the wrong side of 45, yet we threw snowballs, ate snow and generally larked about in the deliciously chilled air. A marvellously enjoyable time was had by all and we decided to postpone our trip again until the Friday. It continued snowing on and off, but the next day we decided to head off to Culloden anyway and after checking with the visitor centre that they were open, my brother, his wife and I set off, leaving the boys behind to do their own thing. Kindly people would call us naive, the more straight talking folks would call us stupid; either way, we shouldn’t have gone. We didn’t get to Culloden; we had to turn back after a two hour trek through a frosty world, made treacherous by ice and winds and snow-blizzards. The only upside was sighting a herd of Stag roaming the snow-covered hills, completely oblivious to the wintry conditions. How magnificent they were; a most fantastic sight. We should have turned back earlier, but my brother really didn’t want to let me down. Sanity prevailed in the end though and not a moment too soon. The roads that had been worrying on the way up were far, far worse on the way back down. You couldn’t see in front of you and the temperature had reached -3°c. This was worse than the trip the previous weekend! It’s certainly true that the most deadly things in life are also often the most beautiful. I can’t begin to describe the journey back; it was one of the most hairy drives I’ve been on – thank you bruv for getting us safely back to Rannoch – and thanks too, to those heroic snow-plough drivers, if not for whom, we may never have made it back in one piece. Saturday morning we sadly took our leave of the Highlands and set off home, taking a short detour to Pitlochry for some last minute souvenirs. Our week had passed too quickly and as the roads home became less picturesque and more populated we started looking forward to our return next year. Scary drives and inclement weather not-with-standing, there is no place we would rather have been. Each of us had needed a well-earned break away from the world and Loch Rannoch is as far as you can get from the fast and furious pace of city life. The towns-folk are welcoming and friendly, the area is full of history and natural beauty and the scenery is breath-taking. It’s as close to Heaven on Earth as you can get and I am so happy to know that this is ours for life. I don’t think I will ever tire of driving round the bend at the end of the loch towards the lodges. The views fill me with peace and wonder what-ever the weather, rugged and wild or calm and serene - what a haven.