The one that got away. After trying the most northerly beach I could find I was looking for another beach but only found this one on the last day, and only a few hours before catching the ferry back to Aberdeen. It was too late to swim. Everything was packed and I didn’t have a towel to dry off. There were a few others in the water, and someone SUPing round the cliffs. It was a blue sky, hitting 20 degrees and look at that sand. It was perfect! But I didn’t get to swim it. If you’re in Shetland through at any time, do check it out!

REVIEW

Ease of Access: There’s a car park right beside the beach – and, when we were there in September, a portable sauna box too.

Water quality:  The beach is sheltered and, with two sides, there’s room to choose a calm spot..

Swim Quality: I’m guessing, like the rest of Shetland, it will be colder than the mainland, even if the water benefits from being in the tailed of the North Atlantic drift.

Other People: It’s a popular spot.

Would I go back: Yes – I definitely missed out on this one.

After several years of using the same running belt to hold my phone when running home, the zipper broke. In search of a new belt I found via a long and detailed search (Amazon then sort by price low to high) a belt by the Chinese company, Fozme.

I knew it was going to be good as Fozme don’t make any other products. Check out their Facebook page: Fozme. It only shows one product – their running belt. And again, on Amazon, a search for Fozme will also only return one product: their running belt.

I thought if that’s all the products they have then they must really know their stuff about running belt. No company is just going to sell one product if it didn’t believe in it.

“It must be the best belt in the world,” I thought.

And I was right, even if Fozme itself was too modest to respond to my emails congratulating them on their achievement. To busy perfecting perfection, I expect.

Anyways, if you’re looking for a running belt that holds your phone and you don’t want to spend too much on it then I have the belt for you.

Link to belt: Amazon

When is a 25m pool not a 25m pool? When it has a wall which rises from the floor and reduce the pool to 15m.

While many swimming pools will have group classes throughout the day, the Lewis Sports Centre in Stornoway is the only one I know that has a wall rise from the floor to split the pool into two while the class take place. You can be swimming only for an attendant to warn you that the a class is about to start and the pool will be reduced.

You can check the class timetables in advance but I’ve never quite worked out which classes trigger the wall and which don’t. Perhaps, the Isle of Lewis’s most famous descendent can answer: Donald J Trump, whose mother was born just outside Stornoway.

Cost: £4.80 as a non-member.

Facilities: Decent size cubicles and nice and clean changing area. However the showers are right beside the pool and open to everyone so not suitable for a proper wash, only a rinse.

Swimming pool: The lap lane is wider to allow more swimmers but it operates an anti-clockwise swimming lap where you don’t swim back and forth but more in a circle as you swim a few metres to the left or right at the end of each lap.

Other facilities? You can pay extra for the sauna, steam room and jacuzzi.

Busy? At the times you would expect and quiet when not.

Recommended? Yes.

This month we undressed our four-year-old daughter for bed and she had a thousand red pin prick spots on her chest and back. That’s when we started to Google “meningitis” and found the ‘glass test’.

The ’glass test’ is a test as to whether the spots fade when pressed. If they fade, they’re unlikely to be meningitis. If they don’t fade, it could be. To check, you use a glass as how else would you see if the spots fade when pressed? You can’t see through a stainless-steel spoon, or a wooden spatula pressed down. You need glass to see the skin when you press. 

We started with a round drinking glass, but it didn’t work as it only pressed down on the curve and didn’t cover much of the skin. 

“We need something flatter,” I suggested as we rolled the glass over our daughter’s back, and we couldn’t tell if the spots faded or not. “We need to press down on a larger area”.

“How about a microwave dish?” suggested TwinBikeWife before she brought a large clear flat overproof dish. 

“Ideal for the glass test and a pasta bake,” I say.

“Not until after it’s washed,” said TwinBikeWife. 

We pressed down with the dish and the spots appeared to fade. TwinBikeChild wriggled and kicked. The glass was cold on her skin, and no one wants to have a cold medical test and be prepped for an oven. 

“We should phone NHS 24,” said TwinBikeWife, which was a good idea. I’d tried watching YouTube videos about the glass test and they were very unclear as to what a successful test looked like. They showed unsuccessful tests. The glass being pressed down and the spots still clearly visible – and TwinBikeChild was nothing like those, but we’re not sure what success looks like. Maybe, instead of releasing videos to show what can go wrong, there could be videos of what can go right? A glass pressed down and the spots fading away? That would be handy. 

While TwinBikeChild didn’t have meningitis – and recovered the next day –  I do think there is a gap in the market for YouTube videos showing people who are not injured or ill. 

“Have you lost a leg in a car accident? Here’s a video of someone who hasn’t lost a leg. They’re doing the hopscotch. Can you do the hopscotch? If so, congratulations, you have not been auto amputated!”

“Do you have a cold? Can you breath out through your nose without producing a giant bodgey? Watch this! Sniff! See, no bogey! Lovely clear nasal passages! You don’t have a cold!”

To be honest, it could just be a video of one person saying “I don’t have scurvy” or “Brain parasites, not me!” or “Chicken pox, not with these flawless features!”, which I will do until I I’ve ticked off every in Dorland’s Pocket Medical Dictionary.

And if I do it everyday it won’t be long for the YouTube algorithm to reward my regular updates by making me the new Mr Beast, but without the accusations of exploiting children’s love of fizzy juice and sweets with substandard drinks and snacks. I will only offer responsible merchandise like see through glass casserole bowls/meningitis tests.

I think I may have found my Dragon’s Den idea…