Saturday, May 07, 2005
Wee Davie And The German Girl
05/07/2005
Weather remains changeable, as forecast, with showers, strong westerlies, but plenty of spectacular clouds from black to fluffy white and even sun and blue sky, I suppose blustery would describe it. For my American readers I can spread the news that we have had good snow cover on the tops, so snow in January, February, March, April and May so far! Friday was a rare treat, good progress in the office in the morning, then round to Arichastlich for lunch and off to Glasgow for 5.00 to meet up with likeminded souls for a wonderful concert of 30 odd Runrig songs, performed in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall by lots of different contemporary artists, choirs and Schools, all in Gaelic. Quite splendid, although once more the Gaelic Mafia, who we willingly support with millions of tax dollars, made it clear that we enthusiastic amateurs and “learners” are just the second-class citizens of Gaeldom. This attitude worries me as it will ultimately sign the death warrant for public funding of education, arts and broadcasting for the promotion of Gaelic, but it appears to be the choice of the elite “native speaker”, so hell mend them. Only considerable contrition will save them in the longer term. My old friend “Wee Davie” was in our company and in excellent form, despite his age and infirmity he still managed to chat up a single young female German Runrig fan. He then proceed to show great interest to twin nymphs dressed to kill in white mini-skirts and these strange white furry boots, “Poodle shorn Polar Bears” booms Wee Davie, while his contemporaries were swapping tales of their most recent hospital treatments, I only wish I had half his stamina. We leave the darkened streets of Glasgow and head north with the bad news that the despicable Lib Dems have held Argyll, the last seat to be declared, despite doubling the cost of the count, plonkers to a man. Head up the road through the thinning traffic and the odd shower, wonderful to struggle closer to the high country and home at last to the Tower of Glen Trollaigh and a huge after midnight Ardbeg. The great Bed of Trollaigh awaits. Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
General Election
05/05/2005
Fairly miserable day, after a stormy wet night. Strong westerly winds, soggy rain that clears to showers and brighter conditions by the late afternoon, and I am afraid that it is more of the same changeable weather over the weekend. I use the bad weather to concentrate on indoor work, which is not so difficult when the bright outdoors are not so tempting. My only excursion is to cast my vote in the general election, we really did not want to vote for any of them, and dearly wished for one of the bizarre fringe parties to waste our votes on. I particularly liked the “Death, Dungeons and Taxes Party” whose main policy plank is the re-introduction of the death penalty for minor offences; regrettably, they did not have a candidate standing in Argyll. Therefore, there was nothing for it but a shameful tactical vote for the Tories who, because of boundary changes do have a slight hope of unseating the Lib Dems, who for reasons already expressed, I despise. We will have to wait a extra day for the results because in the cuckoo world that we now inhabit the election authorities have loudly proclaimed the recruitment of double the number of vote counters, the same press release also announces that the count will take twice as long as normal. Dare one ask why? In the same vein, I have asked the National Farmer’s Union if they can supply me, as an access provider, with a copy of the new Countryside Access Code, conceived and published by Scottish Natural Heritage, a Scottish Executive Agency. All very reasonable you might say, but oh no, the code is not available to members of an organisation, only to members of the public, why? It conjures up a group of snotty boys in shorts chanting; “You’ve got to play in our game, we’ve made up the rules, but, ha ha, we’re not going to tell you them”. The level of jingoistic madness does extend back to the NFU, who admit that they do have some copies of the code, but only sufficient for, and I quote, Members and Branch Monitors of the Environment, Land Use, legal and technical sub committee. Ye gods, pour me a drink. Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.