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Memento Mori - Part II
I know I am not the only person who enjoys walking round graveyards. Hours can go by whilst I wander happily amongst broken columns and ivy-clad memorials. Here are whole family plots, charting a...
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It’s a Miracle or My Eyes! My eyes!
I am not a patient patient. I hate getting ill, and get very cross with my body for defying my mind and giving in to weakness. However, it happens (very) occasionally and I try not to bore other people...
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Nine Reasons You Need Christmas
For people who are Christians, the clue is in the name; and name aside, the great mid-winter festival could apply to any of the world’s faiths/belief systems. But what about those of us who are at the...
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Mastering the Monkey Puzzle
The Reverend John Graham A few weeks ago a gentle, retired Church of England vicar called John Galbraith Graham revealed that he had terminal cancer of the oesophagus. Graham is in his 90s and by...
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Michael and Eric
I learnt an excellent fact today. I was thumbing through a terrific little book called ‘How to Read a Church’ (which accompanied a TV series that I missed completely) and came upon a section all about...
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The Stone of Destiny - a personal recollection
If you are Scottish, there is a chance you might know about the Stone of Scone. If you are not, then you may not be aware of the cultural significance of this lump of rock – a significance signposted...
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Take a Seat - the Orkney Chair
There are several things believed to be unique to Orkney. Microtus arvalis orcadensis is one of them, but that blog will have to wait for another day. The chair is another, although I have no doubt...
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Danger in the Jungle….
Mr Dragon and I met a nice lass from BBC Radio Scotland at the weekend. We were chatting about oral history, the memories of the older generation, and specific reminiscences to do with the war. She...
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Four Squares of Fudge and a Bonny Plate
I had lived in Quoyloo for about three weeks before the knock came at the door. As it happened I was out at fiddle practice, so I didn’t speak to the lady herself, but when I got home Mr Dragon told...
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Memento Mori
What do a spade, an hour glass, a candle and a chess piece have in common? Any devotee of 17th century churches will know the answer – they are all symbols of mortality that appear frequently on...
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Merry Christmas!
Hello one and all! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas/Yule/solstice/whichever midwinter festival is appropriate. My guilty confession is this; after 3 days of eating, drinking, sleeping in and...
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HMS Royal Oak anniversary
It was just a few weeks into the war. On board HMS Royal Oak, the first watch was nearly at an end. Scapa Flow was quiet, the sky was clear, with a faint glow of Aurora Borealis on the northern...
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Crex Crex Cricket
Test Match Special has never seen anything like it – what is believed to be the world’s most northerly regular cricket fixture took place last Sunday between Stromness Cricket Club and the club on the...
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Uppies and Doonies
The crowd, muffled in scarves, gloves and Christmas jumpers, fell silent. Behind us stood the red sandstone glory of the cathedral, and in front of us, an empty street. Left, from Victoria Street came...
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If I’d Known You Were Coming…
I had visitors round at the house last week – storytellers attending the 2011 Orkney Storytelling Festival, out on a jaunt to the West Mainland. I’d lit the stove and even given the place a bit of a...
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A Tale for Hallowe’en…
Earlier this year, I was invited to take part in the annual music and arts Tartan Heart Festival, held at the beautiful Belladrum estate in Inverness-shire. I was asked to go along by the Arvon...
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Lullaby
15,000 paper butterflies... Art, of course, is a subjective thing. We bring ourselves to it, and depending on our life experiences thus far, we might respond with anger, with joy, with amusement, with...
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Wha’ll buy my caller herrin?
An Orcadian, so the old wisdom goes, is a crofter with a boat; whilst a Shetlander is, of course, a fisherman with a plough. This distinction neatly encapsulates the general truth that whilst fishing...
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I was there!
No, no, I wasn’t at the wedding! Read on….. On the north coast of the East Neuk of Fife, a stone’s throw from some very bonny fishing villages and a slightly longer stone’s throw from the grim...
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Two Bottles of Skull Splitter and a Packet of crisps, please…
As beer names go, it has to be one of the best. In 2008, the drinks industry watchdog The Portman Group set about investigating claims that the Orkney beer Skull Splitter gave out a reprehensible...
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