August is bombarded by high winds coming straight off the Atlantic. We are slowly drowning under the incessant rain.
Everyone staying this week has been visiting the Cowal Games in Dunoon, the largest Highland games in the world. People come from all over the globe to enter competitions in piping, dancing, and athletics. The athletics being traditional Scottish feats of strength, including , hammer throwing, tree throwing (called caber throwing) and wrestling, as well as evening entertainment. Local bands and a riotous and boisterous ceilidh.
One father had brought his son down from Aberdeen to enter into the solo piping competition. His wife had arrived earlier to introduce her daughter to all the regional dancing competitions, before this weekends main events.
Another guest from the states just wanted to experience the Scottish scene and immersed herself into the activities. On Friday she joined the Gig at the Gathering, getting back just before midnight. Then out first thing the following morning to watch highland dancers, pipe bands and the traditional highland sports. Some stamina.
Fortunately the weather this week was especially kind, well on two of the three main days. Absolutely Mediterranean in feel.
A Royal Navy Nuclear Sub Just Spent 6 Months Underwater. The Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine glided back to its port of Clyde Naval Base in a zombie-like state-the sound-dampening anechoic tiles on its hull bleached pale white by barnacles where they weren't stained sickly green with algae. It was the very image of tired.
Would imagine the sentiments would also relate to the 130 crew, as the craft is believed to have spent a record 195 days on patrol, the vast majority of it submerged. According to , Navy Lookout, however, its sister ship Victorious may have endured a couple weeks longer, completing a 207-day patrol in 2021. The website claims that Vanguard-class patrols are averaging 163 days (5.5 months), up from the previous 3 months average.
As I sit sipping my refreshing breakfast espresso, the Sun is streaming through the bedroom window. The last throws of summer. It is only 10° outside with an autumnal feel about it. A real change, and a pleasant one that is definitely needed from this summers dreich weather. Dreich. An appropriate word that truly describes the Scottish climate at times. Dreary, bleak and gloomy, where everything looks dull and grey and totally uninviting.
It’s the type of weather that encourages you to hunker down in front of a roaring log fire. Thick socks and sheepskin slippers resting on a footstool. Good novel in one hand and and a glass of golden nectar in the other.
But as the sun is beckoning, it’s great to escape out into the warming rays. To take advantage of this unexpected Indian summer.
So much to do in the garden.
August is the month for cutting back the tall grasses. The wild seeds should have set. But it’s September, and it’s been sodden underfoot. Definitely not the best of conditions to get the scythe out. End up slipping and lopping my foot off.
In the end manage to attempt, or at least start the process with the petrol strimmer.
After an hour l had broken the back of the cutting. Another hour later, stripped down to t shirt and shorts, ringing with sweat. Not necessarily a pleasant sight. l had raked all the grass into mini heaps to dry.
As it materialised, within the hour, the liquid sunshine put an end to my efforts.
So now in colourful storm gear, spread all the cut hay over the living fences. Warmth and sustenance to all the little creatures that call it home.
Escaped into the green house, appropriately named. It’s literally heaving with green tomatoes. A bumper crop. Yet not sure if they will ripen in the failing light of September. Temperatures are fluctuating dramatically. Yesterday the greenhouse didn’t get above 16°, whereas today all the doors are open and it’s hitting 30°.
Can’t complain, we have had a fair few tomatoes and dozens of the torpedo shaped cucumbers.
Can see Judith will be busy canning green tomato chutney.
GREEN TOMATO CHUTNEY
Slice 1kg of green tomatoes and finely chop 200g onions. Layer both in a large bowl with 1 tbsp of salt and leave overnight.
The next day, chop 200g sultanas then core and chop 200g cooking apples.
Pour 200g sugar (muscovado is preferable, but use any) and 500ml vinegar into a large pan, stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to the boil. Add the sultanas and apples, then simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the tomatoes and onions in a colander (don’t rinse them) then add them to the pan and return to the boil.
Simmer and stir occasionally for about 1 hour, until the mixture is thick and pulp-like.
Transfer into sterilised, warmed jars and cover with lids.
Paralympics commence with a flourish in Paris. Many years back, ignorantly, l couldn’t understand or see the benefit of these games. Now l am truly amazed at the ability and dedication of these athletes. We sit and watch with awe as the individuals perform in front of packed stadium's. A testament to their dedication, resilience and determination.
From the start back in 1948 at a hospital for war veterans in Stoke Mandeville, the games have steadily grown in force. But it wasn’t until 1988 that the pace changed, when for the first time in history, the Paralympic Games were held at the same site as the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.
3,057 athletes from 60 countries participated.
French Paralympian Mustapha Badid stole the headlines after winning gold in the men’s 200m, 1500m, 5000m, and marathon wheelchair racing events, as well as finishing first in the 1500m demonstration event featured at the Olympic Games. Dennis Oehler (USA) makes Paralympic history in Seoul by becoming the first leg amputee to run 100m in under 12 seconds; the American claimed gold with a time of 11.73 seconds. (More recently Salum Ageze Kashafali the Norwegian athlete managed a time of 10.43 for the 100m sprint in the 2020 games.)
In 2012, The London Paralympic Games ran with 164 countries competing. 2.7 million tickets were sold — a new record. 4,237 men and women competing and for the first time events for athletes with intellectual impairments were reintroduced.
Channel 4, which held the broadcasting rights at the time, showed over 150 hours of live footage, achieving a record audience of 39.9 million people — 69% of the population of Great Britain.
And now at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, more than 4,000 athletes from around the world compete in 549 medal events over 22 different individual and team sports. From Archery, to blind football, Athletics, swimming and Triathlon. The list covers a multitude of skills.
Canoe, badminton,cycling, Equestrian , goalball, judo, powerlifting, rowing,shooting,volleyball, table tennis, Taekwondo, basketball, fencing, rugby, tennis.
Great Britain reached 100 medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympics as wheelchair tennis stars Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid completed a career 'Golden Slam' in the men's doubles to help the team surpass the number of golds achieved at the Tokyo Games three years ago. But there is still more to come
Games come to an end
Whilst over in Port Glasgow and Greenock this week the familiar deluge of crew members delving through the stores highlighted the fact that another cruise liner was in port. Turns out that it was the attractive Disney Dream.
Learnt afterwards that the Disney company had charted a special ScotRail service to take them all the way to the capital, Edinburgh for a day out. Very ingenious. Not only do they have a smooth non interrupted trip without the usual traffic jams, they also manage to see some of the Scottish countryside from the elevated position of the railway track.
Yet it didn’t go down well with the locals in Greenock who have been suffering from an ever decreasing rail service this year.
Local newspaper headlines read
SCOTRAIL bosses who laid on a huge train to shuttle Disney cruise passengers directly from Greenock to Edinburgh stand accused of leaving Inverclyde with a "Mickey Mouse" service.
Local people - who have been left with a reduced timetable along the Gourock to Glasgow line for months - were left stunned when the publicly-owned operator had a six-carriage train roll in to Greenock Central for tourists. Realistically, the company would have been stupid not to have done so. It makes a change for the publicly funded rail service to make a profit from its operation. Normally it just leaks taxpayers money, providing services to the ever decreasing number of travellers throughout the vast swathes of underpopulated areas of Scotland.
overtourism is an increasing problem. From the Isle of Skye to the sinking island of Venice, communities feel increasingly overshadowed by tourists. Yet a far more common problem around the globe is undertourism.
The value of tourists is rarely appreciated. Besides bringing ourselves, our cases and our cameras, we visitors bring cash. We eat, drink, support local businesses and create jobs. And we also bring joy. Whether beside a postcard-perfect Mediterranean beach or exploring a new city, tourists radiate pleasure at our good fortune in just being there. The problem is: there are too few of us to go around the many parts of the world keen to share their sunshine, scenery, culture and cuisine.
Albania is looking for tourists, and after watching channel 4s Bettany Hughes' Treasures
of the World, a definite visit is on the books. Not sure how safe it is in the van. Need to check it out.
It’s truly amazing how people add all manner of abbreviations in their text & what’s at messages. What’s happened to pen and ink. It’s the price of stamps and the inconsistency of delivery. But back to abbreviations, of which many truly baffle me, l haven’t an idea of what they mean. The majority l just make up. For years l thought - lol , meant love. Instead of (laugh out loud). Now Vera has come up with a definitive guide, for us withering ancients, although l doubt whether l will ever use them. SMH (“Shaking my head”), POV (“Point of view”) and NSFW (“Not safe for work”).
They are beyond me. Although l do feel that the following are quite relevant. And my favourites - TL;DR (“Too long; didn’t read”), IYKYK (“If you know, you know”) and LMAO (“Laughing my ass off”) are truly worth a gambit.
Then again it’s young speak, for the new generation. Generation Z (circa 1997 to 2012)
These new kids, are definitely making their own mark. A bit like the free loving Baby Boomers in the 60s and the advent of Generation X, 70s/80s were both parents went out to work, latch key kids became the norm and the emergence of Thatcherism.
The Gen Z’s are definitely different. They keep away from alcohol. Only 27% of the 18- to 24 year olds own a corkscrew, compared to 81% of the over 65s. The wine buff, Olly Smith will be put out of business if this trend continues. Especially as us elderly wine guzzlers become the minority and fall off our perch.
28% of these youngsters say they haven’t had an alcoholic drink in the past year. One wonders if they get their kicks from some other substance or activity.
By the way, if you like wine or drinks in general switch onto Olly’s pod cast A Glass With. Podcast - Olly Smith
Glen Shannon the long awaited ferry sails past on more trials.
The ship and its sister vessel, Glen Rosa, were originally due for delivery in 2018 but have faced repeated design and construction challenges.
Delivery of the long-delayed Glen Sannox ferry has been pushed back once again, MSPs have been told.
Current cost estimates for Glen Sannox are between £145.5m and £149.1m and it is hoped the cost of Glen Rosa will be kept below £150m.
Now six years late, the total bill - including government loans and money paid out before nationalisation - will be £400m, four times the original £97m price tag.
Rant warning
All of the news surrounding the National Health system being totally unfit for purpose belies the fact that more money and man power has been thrown at it over the years with little or no effect.
Successive governments have attempted to fix the problem, but to no avail. The recent Covid pandemic and junior doctors strike has pushed it further into decline.
Unfortunately the NHS, or should l say individual trusts and medical practitioners have been influenced more by dogma and self interest to embrace any dramatic change.
For instance when Sajid Javid was health secretary, he was shown a robot that carried out prostate surgery five times faster than a surgeon, and more safely, resulting in faster recovery times. Why isn’t it rolled out, he asked? “Surgeons don’t like it,” came the ridiculous reply.
But many of the British people themselves do not assist, in fact they abuse the system. In the past individuals knew how to administer basic remedies for the usual cold , minor cut or bruise. Today the nanny state has inadvertently encouraged people to visit the doctor or accident and emergency service. All of which clogs the system. And dare l say it, we have also become unhealthy by drinking more, vaping or eating far too much without exercise and becoming morbidly obese.
So perhaps we need to address these problems first.
New NHS figures show that the number of children who are overweight has fallen to the lowest level since 2000, while obesity rates in adults have remained stable for the past five years.
Our new Labour politicians have thrown out their moral high ground now that they are in power. Keir Starmer is doing a soft shoe shuffle after being found benefitting from donor hand outs. He failed to declare that his wife Victoria received more than £5,000 worth of clothes, and he received £18,400 for clothes and glasses. Not to mention 20,000 to put his son into private accommodation for studying purposes during the election and the Arsenal football tickets for him and his son.
Starmer has received more than £100,000 worth of freebies since becoming the Labour leader, more than any other major party leader in recent times.
Rishi Sunak declared no personal hospitality whatsoever, apart from honorary membership of the Carlton Club worth £2,595. And all Jeremy Corbyn accepted during his five years as Labour leader were two sets of Glastonbury tickets, worth about £450 each.
Harold Wilson famously said “the Labour Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing”. It’s a view Starmer and pals don’t appear to share.
All of this at a time when the PM has just taken away the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners – and is about to unleash “a punishment beating of a Budget” which is even more galling when you realise that members of parliament can claim an allowance for heating and power.
It’s particularly bad because Starmer has always prided himself on being “morally superior” to Boris Johnson, who infamously accepted donations to redecorate the Downing Street flat.
Perhaps he is being influenced by his Chief of Staff, Sue Gray who apparently earns more than him at £170,000 a year. She may ultimately end up like the infamous Dominic Cummings, Boris’s advisor, in which case all the secrets may be laid bare for all to see.
Keir Starmer’s £167,000 may sound a lot to most people, but some of his predecessors banked far more. Neville Chamberlain’s pay packet in 1937 would today be worth a whopping £815,000. We may see politicians going out on strike looking for a minimum 45% annual pay increase. It begs the question if anyone would notice that they were not at their desk.
Let’s not mention the 600 asylum seekers that cross the channel most days. A couple of Hull residents were invited to speak about the riots that spread across the country. It was a "kick back", James tells us, over the UK's failed immigration policies.
When Starmer described the riots as "far-right thuggery", James believes he failed to grasp what was happening. "Their [migrants'] problems are getting solved but nobody is solving the problem of the people who are living on the streets."
While they ultimately blame the government, they resent the way asylum seekers are put into hotels, fed and kept warm. Meanwhile Brits freeze in their homes and many become homeless and have to sleep on the streets.
Check out their story.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/shout-dont-listen-inside-simmering-105800128.html
Meanwhile another drawn out fiascos, that of the post office scandal is still unresolved. Sir Alan Bares, the famous Post Office campaigner has blamed government "flimflam artists" for dragging out financial redress for victims.
In a newsletter, seen by Sky News, he criticises the GLO (Group Litigation Order) scheme for being a "gravy train" for government lawyers.
It’s enough to make disappear and become a hermit. Check out this article. Splendid isolation: in search of Scotland’s hermits. Really thought-provoking pictures and words.
“One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough.”
American humourist James Thurber
A red moon across from us, just coming up.
Moonlighting for the season
Get ready for a cosmic surprise this autumn - Earth is about to get a second moon, according to scientists. A small asteroid is going to be captured by Earth’s gravitational pull and temporarily become a "mini-moon". This space visitor will be around from September 29 for a couple of months before escaping from Earth's gravity again.
Now relaxed & chilled on the Sun Princess. 16 days heading over to Florida.
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