Friday, January 28, 2005
Life in the round
01/28/2005
The weather girls bring us more good news. Blue skies all day, up to almost ten degrees with a north wind, veers to northeast and it is dry all day. Sun breaks on the Tower at 11.35 am, it is wonderful at this time of year to watch the hour that the sun appears around “An Grirnan” creep forward by a few minutes each day. After breakfast, my head is stuck in the ledgers or on the telephone for most of the morning, but I am free to get outside and into the policies in the afternoon. I have a schedule of tasks but I am easily distracted by other maintenance as I pass by lose stones, bent fence stobs, wind blown plants and broken branches. It is very relaxing to potter away the afternoon without a care in the world. It all reminds me of an earlier Baron who invented the bicycle in more or less the shape that we know it to-day, all be it without pedals, chain or gears, a sort of scooter with a seat. The old fellow had a whimsy for ease of transport around the garden whilst lost in the pleasure of doing nothing. Trollaighs have always had an ingenious bent, indeed one of the earliest buildings in Glen Trollaigh was a water mill that shows some very sophisticated engineering for its time. Its main propulsion is listed as an unscheduled monument on the new fangled Landranger Maps, under the note “The Trollaigh Wheel”. Hey Ho, a relaxed Friday evening stretches ahead, settled in front of the library fire with at least half a dozen christmas present books to dip into, and I feel sure that an Ardbeg can be smuggled past Mhairi. Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Stoned
01/27/2005
With the effect of the full moon and better weather, light starts to fill the bedroom at about 7.15 am. We know it is to be a good day and we are not disappointed. The airflow is still northerly, dry, mild at 7 degrees, but overcast with only the odd glimpse of blue. Rumours tell of tight little showers on the coast to the south of us. So at last a day of labour in the policies, freedom for both dogs and masters. The telephone is ignored and we try to settle the bed of a new track in the garden plan. Stones of all sizes have to be moved and this brings to mind the Trollaigh Stone, still displayed in the Museum of Scotland. This is yet another stone to test the fitness of youth. However, the lifting of “The Trollaigh” was only attempted by two, or at the most three of the teenage girls living on the estate. A successful lift combined with an undertaking on the virgin state, allowed the girls to enter service in The Tower of Trolliagh. Times have changed and with great respect, I suspect our much admired Mhairi would have failed on several counts. Another stone with Trollaigh connections in the Museum, is the sixth Baron’s perfectly spherical gall stone. As was the custom of the time, this was surgically removed without anesthetic, the sixth Baron kept it with him as a talisman. This proved fortuitous in the Americas, while the Baron was besieged in his plantation house and running short of balls, he discovered that his gall stone was a perfect calibre for his grandfather’s Spencer, allowing him to dispatch his last attacker at close range. History does not recount the tale of the stone’s recovery. Talking of recovery, the Great Fire is lit, Arbeg on the mantle, Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.