They did it for love
I'm at Huntly, in the north-west part of Aberdeenshire, and within an easy drive of both the Moray Firth coastal towns and the Grampian Mountains. In fact today I embarked on what seemed to be a...
View ArticleHome begins to beckon
I'm now down at Garlieston, a little coastal place in Galloway, very nearly at the extreme southwest of the Scottish mainland. Today should be another sunny day - I'm enjoying a sudden spate of them -...
View ArticleHay fever
I'm now at Chirk, between Wrexham and Oswestry on the Welsh Borders. It's been warm and sunny and windless for nine days now, ever since I left cool and breezy Aberdeenshire. Fife was markedly milder,...
View ArticleNot a victim
Last night's Moral Maze programme on BBC Radio 4 dealt with the modern rise of victimhood, and the moral questions arising. Whether, for instance, it was morally wrong to deliberately or heedlessly or...
View ArticleThings I bought while on holiday
It's impossible for a woman go away and not return with some new clothes and accessories! Buying them is all part of the holiday. And it may even be driven by genuine need (well, sometimes!). While in...
View ArticleThe local pilates class
For nearly twenty years I've been curiously detached from the social life of the village. That's now beginning to change. But until quite recently, I knew very few people in the village, and my face...
View ArticleScottish humour
I spotted the above framed print in a backstreet shop window in Huntly, an inland Aberdeenshire town halfway between Aberdeen and Inverness. I was staying there for four nights, and in all had three...
View ArticleFarewell, Top Gear
Or at least farewell to the Clarkson, May and Hammond version of Top Gear. Who knows what Evans and his next-generation entourage will make of it. More on all that at the end of this post. James May...
View ArticleThe perfect bag
There is of course no such thing as the 'perfect bag'. Even if we assume good-quality materials and construction, one bag alone won't be suitable for all occasions and all types of clothing. It's...
View ArticleBreakages
You can't expect to go an holiday and not break something, sometime. It only takes a brief moment of clumsiness, and then something is smashed. I broke a posh dinner plate and a much-loved mug while...
View ArticleNorthwards to Shetland!
My first port of call when visiting Aberdeen was to check out road access to the Northlink ferry to Shetland, and make certain enquiries at their quayside offices. Driving there from Stonehaven was...
View ArticleMum's sewing machine finds a new home - and I get beautifully thanked
Sometime in the 1980s Mum was able to buy an Elna sewing machine - actually, I think her brother Des (the uncle who also left me the money to buy Fiona with) must have bought it for her, or at least...
View ArticleJoan Eardley and Catterline
An essential component of my recent Scottish holiday was visiting the little coastal community of Catterline. This where the Glasgow-based artist Joan Eardley (1921-1963) acquired an old cottage on...
View ArticleRabbie Burns spurned my attentions!
I had a day out with Coline while in Scotland, and one of the places we went to was Aberfeldy in Perthshire. This lies on the upper River Tay, and is a pleasant spot indeed. It has a well-known...
View ArticleThe Thirty-Nine Steps to Sorbie Tower
I don't know about you, but I've always enjoyed straightforward well-plotted adventure stories with a fast pace, a hero or heroine who has an individualistic outlook but is credible and in no way...
View ArticleDesigned by men
One of the things that constantly irritate me when out and about is what I will often find in ladies' toilets only after sitting down for a pee: no tissue within reach. I'm seated, and facing the door....
View ArticleStonefest 1
Prehistoric stone circles are not everyone's cup of tea, but I like 'em, and it's my blog, and I'm going to have a stonefest. Turn away now with a shudder (or a yawn) if you'd prefer to read about...
View ArticleSinging pitch
I haven't by any means given up on learning to sing! It's still one of my ambitions. Oddly enough the subject of 'what kind of singing voice do you have' came up at the Girls' Drinks Night in one of...
View ArticleShaving that unwanted hair
I've finally abandoned wet shaving. I'd been using a Gillette Venus3 razor, but even with plenty of Boots Sensitive shaving gel (which creates lots of smooth foam when wetted), it didn't prevent some...
View ArticleStonefest 2
Scotland hasn't a monopoly on impressive stone circles by any means. In late May, while still in Northern England, on a one-night stopover in the Lake District, I visited Castlerigg Stone Circle, which...
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