Wind in the Willows, Sheep at Loch Turret and the Famous Grouse

My last post found us in Edinburgh, staying at Castle View Guest House. A great central location in Castle Street, it had, however, no castle view and lots of stairs – we were on the top floor.  A little drawing of Mole and Rat pulling Toad upstairs while Badger looked on, told us that in 1859 this was the birthplace of Kenneth Grahame, author of the children’s classic, Wind in the Willows – the quote was certainly appropriate! Stairs aside, I would recommend the guest house for the breakfast alone. We had a full British: bacon, mushrooms, sausage, egg, potato scone, and an option of haggis or black pudding – braw! 

 

                                      

  Here we are enjoying the company of Isobel and Kenny, friends and former colleagues at Forrester High School, reminiscing on old times and catching up on news. Incidentally, their daughter, Rachael Macarthur, is the Newcastle-based artist – check her out!

  

 

                      

   

One of our topics was Edinburgh’s new tramway, recently opened to passengers on 31^st May 2014. Initial construction began in June 2008, at an estimated cost of 521 million pounds. However, with contractual and political disputes en route, the eventual outlay came to around 776 million pounds; once extra interest payments of over 200 million are added, the overall ‘damage’ approaches one billion pounds. Given that the original plan for 3 lines was pared down to just one with 15 stations, it’s clear that their budget management went completely off the rails – sorry, couldn’t resist that! Having put up with long-term transport delays and disruption, it may take the locals a wee while to embrace the trams as their own.

                                                  

  Time for us to leave Edinburgh.  At Waverley station we spied The Royal Scotsman, gleaming in all her glory.  Sadly, our budget doesn’t stretch to such luxury travel – a 2-night Highland tour on her starts at 2,350 pounds per person. She is now owned by the Orient Express group, described as a cruise-train, and claims to offer standards of a Scottish 5-star country- house hotel. Her 9 coaches carry a maximum of 36 passengers who enjoy all-inclusive fine-dining on board as well as local excursions.

So, if you want to see some of the scenic beauties of the Highlands in style, then this is the way to go.

                                                

We travel north – without liveried service!  We go thorough Linlithgow which always offers a beautiful skyline etched with the outlines of St Michael’s Parish Church and, to the left, Linlithgow Palace. It is said to take its name from llyn laith cau i.e. ‘loch in a damp hollow’ and it is here, in 1542, that Mary, Queen of Scots was born. We disembark at Gleneagles station where friends, Margaret and Bill meet us.  We drive past the famous golf course there, getting all set for the upcoming Ryder Cup, the biennial golf competition between male teams from Europe and the USA.

This is their lovely house outside Crieff where the actor, Ewan McGregor, hails from. He was the narrator on the BBC documentary ‘Hebrides - Islands on the Edge’ and his lovely soft lilt had me moist-eyed and homesick!

 

     

Margaret and I have lots of catching up to do – I refuse to divulge how many years it is since we last met - over a nice glass of wine! While H and Bill, new-forged friends, bond over a trip in and a mutual passion for open-top sports jobs. 

 

 

  

                                       

There is some seriously good walking in their area and we enjoy the sunny afternoon, walking up to the Loch Turret Dam. The current earth dam was built in 1963 and holds back 18,000 megalitres of water. The reservoir is about 3 miles in length.

  

                                       

We did disturb the sheep’s peace, but they appeared more curious than cautious. In that area can be seen several of Perthshire’s munros, mountains of over 3,000 feet. I’ve never ‘bagged a munro ‘ – maybe next time I’ll bring my hiking boots!

And after all that fresh air we need sustenance so what better place to go to than the nearby Glenturret Distillery? This has two claims to fame: established in 1775, it claims to be Scotland’s oldest distillery. Bowmore Distillery on Islay, set up in 1779, makes the same claim, though excise records  don’t have evidence of Bowmore returning taxes until 1816, with Glenturret  following  about two years later! Now if we take the official operational evidence as the main criterion, then Ardbeg, Oban and Blair Athol distilleries are by then in the business of production too. We’ll let them battle/ bottle it out among themselves. 

Glenturret’s second claim to fame is being the spiritual home of the Famous Grouse, a bird well known and loved by whisky drinkers. There is a restaurant here too so since we felt peckish …..!  Right, that’s enough punning for now. Here we are tucking into lunch – I had haggis, turnips and mash which was very tasty. 

                                                             

Bill said they had had video clips showing their portfolio of television adverts promoting the Famous Grouse. For me they were always guaranteed to be witty and entertaining , so I was a wee bit disappointed to find that was no longer on show. However, their art work did not disappoint. 

 

                                                            

All around were different representations of that proud bird; the one at the entrance certainly is impressive.

But I think my favourite was the bespoke patterned wall-paper ……..in   the ladies’ loos!                                    

A Knighthood for Leonidas, Birthday Celebrations for Jacqui, Auld Reekie and that Referendum!

I’m back-pedalling a wee bit to mid-May when we received  a rather special invitation from the Consul General / Director of the Institut Francais in Thessaloniki. The special occasion was that an old bud, Leonidas Partsanakis, was having conferred on him the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes academiques, awarded for his distinguished contribution to education. Now a regional Adviser in French, Leon is a shining example of a dedicated teacher, so it was very fitting that that be acknowledged, and special  for us to  attend the ceremony. 

 

            

 Here he is with his wife, Joyce - a fine Scots lass - in conversation with the Consul, Mr Christophe le Rigoleur, beside a table spread with delicate morsels.  Incidentally, have you noticed how often H manages to get in on the picture?

  

  And Joyce and Leon had another event to celebrate: the recent marriage of their daughter, Nathalie in Glasgow. Congratulations – na zisete, paidia! Here is Leonidas proudly showing his award – a good Knight, indeed!

 Returning to our holiday tale, we had left Pam in sunny Exeter and hot-footed (by train!) to York for sister-in-law’s birthday. But, as you can see, all was not well. H and niece, Jenny, were concerned about the rain streaming steadily from the tarpaulin and about the 50+ guests who were expected shortly for a …..garden party!

 

 

                         

As my brother and I demonstrate, when it rains, get a hat and make sure there’s lotsa booze on ice.

Fortunately, just before 7pm things let up, the rain stopped giving us just enough time to dry off tables and chairs; H got charcoal burning to heat the area and to grill sausages and prawns.

 

                       

Here’s the birthday girl cutting her cake, one specially designed to family stipulations: depicting her at her easel - she really wields a mean paint brush! -  surrounded by her beloved dogs and plants. 

 

So the day started out as a bit of a dampener, but the evening saw a great turn out of family, friends and neighbours, all in good form. In fact spirits were so high we decided we were on for silly selfies – oh, dear!  

The next day had a slow start, and in the evening some of us were magnanimous enough to help mop up the left-overs. Sue and Dave, it was really nice to meet you!  And here is niece, Jenny - once more (see selfie above!) with husband, Mark. To join us for dinner, he had left off filming flimsily-clad, if not completely non-clad, witches cavorting on the moors in the moonlight. I kid you not, for he’s a camera-man, and his choosing to be with us really is the epitome of magnanimity!  

 

                       

On our last evening in York, yep, here we are back at the table and being silly. So, Jacqui, your birthday was brill and your new house is really beautiful – thank you both for having us stay.

                                                

                                                       Oh, look- it’s Jen again!!        

Our next stop was – yes, that’s right: Edinburgh! So we thought you would like these late-afternoon shots of the Castle from the top of Princes Street. 

 

 Isn’t that Gothic spire in the second shot amazing? The building used to be known as the Victoria Hall, home of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Now housing the Edinburgh International Festival, it is known as The Hub – what a galumphing name for an inspiring spire of delicate design!

 

                              

I take H a walk up Lothian Rd, marvelling at the facelift that Tollcross proudly sports. We walk along the Links and visit an old watering hole of mine - the Golf Tavern. Sadly Mr Chuckity Leaf, my favourite baked potato outlet, is no longer.

 We walk to Warrender Park Terrace, a beautiful old building that was my home for five years. At the top floor on the left, you can just make out the port-hole window - that was my bedroom! Rumour has it that Sean Connery used to be the local milkman, but not in my time. 

 

                         

     

                                                                      

 

  It was in that same block we saw signs of the rift that had developed over the referendum vote – whether Scotland should separate from the United Kingdom.    Here we can see the ‘Yes’ sign  expressing the dweller’s  desire to split while, two windows down, the neighbor flying the Union Jack clearly disagrees.             

Several of you have asked about my stand on the subject.  All Scots love their country and want what’s best for it; the problem is we don’t agree on what that would be.

  For some, there is a sense that Scotland should be freed from her perceived state of oppression by England.  To look ahead, to my mind, we need to look back.

In 1707 the terms of the Act of Union, joining England and Scotland to form Great Britain, allowed Scots to travel to and trade with what had been up till then the English colonies. This access to the wider world is, I believe, what gave Scotland the strong base to develop as she did greatly.  Adam Smith, the Scottish moral philosopher and political economy pioneer, was an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18^th century.  Interestingly he cited a result of the union as, “the middling and inferior ranks of people in Scotland gained a compleat deliverance from the power of an aristocracy which had always before oppressed them.”

David Hume, the internationally-acclaimed Edinburgh philosopher, too, saw positive results of that union: “Trade and manufactures, and agriculture, have increased: The arts and sciences, and philosophy, have been cultivated.”  At that time, Edinburgh was the centre of such cultural and intellectual significance that it became known as the Athens of the North.      

   

 In economic terms now, Scots have little reason to complain about their relative share of the national pie. The GDP (gross domestic product)   is an assessment of the market value of all the products and services produced or supplied by a country in one year. When we compare the UK GDP of 1.6 trillion pounds with the Scottish one of 148 billion pounds, then set the annual public spending per head in the UK of 11,000 pounds against the Scottish equivalent of 12,300 pounds, we see that the Scots really cannot quibble about the size of their slice.

We have always retained our own banks, church, legal and education systems and, since 1998, we have had a Parliament of Scotland which has the powers to legislate on Scottish issues. We have always had a strong national and cultural identity, but perhaps not a cohesive one.

I honestly do not understand how things got so far as to reach referendum stage, but they did. The ‘Yes’ contingent ran an aggressive campaign but had  not drawn up plans for what a separate Scotland might look like; there were no answers as to how she would survive financially. To vote ‘Yes’ was to vote blind on several key issues.

We all know that two negatives make a positive. When we were in Crieff, Margaret and Bill showed us how two positives can make a negative, as in the ironic tones of, ‘Aye, that’ll be right!’

 When I learned of the referendum outcome I raised the saltire on our flagstaff in Macedonia.

(I’d been really irritated that it had been used as a political symbol to denote a desire for devolution.)

 I raised our national flag with pride, as for me one negative constituted a positive: 

 

                        my response to the ‘No’ result was  a resounding, ‘Yesssssss’!!!