Bill's Beard

William and Isabella (nee McKinlay) Hunter lived for many years in the coal mining community of Lochgelly where they died in 1925. They had successive homes in Grainger Street, Chapel Street and Plantation Street. I would guess this photo of my great grandparents dates from around 1920. Whilst looking for information about the family I stumbled across online software which can be used to animate old photographs. The video clip below was created using the above image. If you sign up for a free trial on the MyHeritage website it's possible to animate a limited number of portraits. I suppose that in the future image manipulation of this kind will be widely used for those creating and presenting a family history. I'm undecided if I like it or if it contributes much of value. Moving on... below is an extract from the  Hunter Family Tree . Note that at present (April, 2021) I'm sti...

I decided to replace the spark plugs on my Suzuki Jimny. This blog page includes images and comments on fitting new plugs. I've owned my Jimny for about 7 years and never replaced the spark plugs. Whether they'd ever been renewed since the car's manufacture in April 2007 I don't know, but with a current mileage of just under 63K I came to the conclusion that it was probably about time.

I've previously written about my 2007 Suzuki Jimny and explained why I think it's such a great little vehicle. In this post I give an account of how the starter battery was rejuvenated by a 'smart' charger and take a look at the brands and specifications of battery which can be fitted to this model of car.

This blog is hosted by Google. In the past I've considered the pros and cons of using Google's Blogger and why I chose Blogger for this blog. This article looks at how snippets of code can be neatly displayed within posts using a few lines of CSS. I opted for the  Contempo Aqua  theme for this blog, but regardless of the theme you decide to install it's probable that you'll want to customise its appearance to some degree. I decided to keep things simple and not to edit the HTML content of the theme's template. The few changes I've made have been achieved by the addition of  CSS . To add CSS, starting from the Blogger dashboard, follow these steps... Click Theme . Under 'My theme' click Customise . From the resulting menu choose Advanced . Use the down arrow then click Add CSS . Insert and then  Save  your CSS code. From time to time I'll provide explanations of modifications that have been made to my blog through the ad...

Elsewhere in my blog I've posted an article about a book I had published in 1996. It was reviewed by the Sunday Times and described as a trainspotter's paradise . The subject matter was football results forecasting and betting. Football Fortunes is more than a little dated, but even so I spent a couple days scanning its pages to compile a PDF file which can be viewed online. Improbable perhaps, but someone, somewhere may still find something of interest. I hope so!

For many years I've enjoyed a spot of gardening. In fact there have been several occasions over the years when I've been employed as a gardener. That's included both in Scotland and when living in the Northern Territory of Australia. I also studied plant biology as a component of my BSc degree in 1985 at the University of St. Andrews . Having said that, I'm by no means an expert but do try to grow a variety of different plants each year. Unfortunately what can be achieved in my Dunfermline garden is limited by its small size and difficult location.

In 1996 my first (and last) book Football Fortunes was published. It was described by the Sunday Times as "a trainspotters paradise". A curate's egg of a review, although I do confess the book is one for anoraks. The book was written in an age before internet gambling was commonplace and the football pools and bookmaker's fixed-odds coupons were the most popular way to place bets on the outcome of matches.

In the summer of 2009 wood pigeons nested in my front garden. That's not remarkable of course, but on this occasion they chose to nest in a small cherry tree only six feet from an upstairs bedroom window. The arrival of the pigeons coincided with my purchase of a video camera and was the perfect opportunity to test it out. I set up the camera only inches from the slightly open window. The quality of the video (in terms of clarity at least) is excellent.

A few years ago I created a series of billiard ball puzzles. They were posted on my pool websites and on Facebook. Here they are again. Just click on each of the images for a full screen view.

The creation of this blog during isolation has been a welcome escape from Facebook which has become an increasingly grim and unpleasant place to visit. I rarely use Facebook these days but recently logged in to retrieve a few photographs. It didn't take long before I came across a Facebook 'friend' denying the very existence of the pandemic. It beggars belief that anyone can still seriously suggest that it's all been a big hoax, some kind of cleverly crafted conspiracy.