Windmills Of Your Mind
05/24/2006
Our seasons seem to be reversed, the Georgian french windows in the ground floor drawing room have been blown open by the gales for the first time in one hundred years and the chill has brought demands for the Tower of Glen Trollaigh heating to be stoked up again. Dearest Dottie strides about the corridors wearing an ostentatious Puffa and winter scarf, whilst Lachie and I have been driven indoors by heavy rain. I sit at my desk complete with shooting mitts, looking up at the snowy tops that surround the glen. Upon checking my e-mail, I find several messages from ladies of a certain age unfairly comparing me with the millionaire, “Two Shags” Prescott and berating me for grabbing EU funds, while others more deserving than “certain pompous aristocrats” are not receiving the benefits they deserve. I can only assume that these misguided dears are worried about the numbers of free walking sticks and pushchairs in Fort William or somesuch, silly duffers.
I must be careful, for legal reasons, not to mention alleged corruption and the Argyll and Bute Council in the same sentence, however I have discovered a little piece of chicanery that indicates that ABC are not as daft as they may appear. ABC has supported my planning application for a modest wind farm on a mountain shoulder overlooking the village. This is not too surprising as The Scottish Executive must take the final decision, therefore ABC can display its “green” credentials without taking any responsibility for any other matters. I must say that I have no firm views on the technical pros and cons of wind power, however if some Johnnie is prepared to pay me £80.000 per annum for twenty five years, and support two or three local, full time jobs for the same period, let us bight their hands off! Local public meetings have been a tad stormy, the goatee-bearded brigade seems determined to hurl themselves onto the whirling turbine blades to protect bird species that their own interference has frightened off years ago. However, I should warn the local supporters of the scheme not to expect the traditional annual handout to the Community Council from the energy company that has been a bi-product of wind farms in the past. Let ABC step forward, for legislation has been tweaked so that if ABC supports our scheme before The Scottish Executive, all funds will be paid into their “Renewable Energy Community Fund” by-passing the CC and will be theirs to disburse as they see fit, presumably to antifoul the council leader’s yacht. I shall bet a pound to a penny that not one farling will by spent in the North Argyll Glens.
Speaking of annual payments, I am reminded of the occasion shortly after the war, when the bumbling Bursar of Trinity College Glenalmond, my Alma Mater, invited parents to pay the fees at the start of each term. Thereby easing the cash flow of the traditional single annual payment, or anual payment as the unfortunate Bursar put it. One bright parent sent his cheque by return hoping that he could “pay through the nose as usual”! God bless you all, my dears. Yours aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.