Scotland
-
It’s never just rain
I work from home most of the time and, from where I’m sitting right now, I can see the main road at the end of our little estate, the houses beyond it, and beyond those the edge of the Crags, a local hill crowned with a line of rocky cliffs. The view reveals itself in…
-
Time to move
Well, not right now, but sometime in the next few years at least. Maybe… probably… I dunno, I’ve given up trying to plan too much too far ahead so let’s call this future dreams that we hope will come true (note: a lot of this is, in reality, grounded in boring things like money but…
-
Vera went to Mull
Back from a glorious week on the beautiful island of Mull, part of the Inner Hebrides, a three hour drive punctuated with a 45 min ferry crossing. It’s our second holiday here with family, the first was in 2022 with a very young boy, a big tent, a night in an Air-BnB, and a night…
-
Moving Home
Coming home I feel like I,Designed these buildings I walk by Guy Garvey (Elbow) – Station Approach When I finally left Dumbarton, the town I grew up in, a place that holds more memories for me than any other, I never looked back. I’d long since felt like I’d outgrown the increasingly claustrophobic small town…
-
Rabbie
For many years my Dad performed at Burns Suppers; singing, reciting poems, or delivering various parts of the usual speeches, including the ‘infamous’ Toast to the Lassies. Latterly he became involved with Dumbarton Burns Club holding various positions on the committee, and whenever Burns Night rolls around my thoughts immediately roll back to memories of…
-
Saying goodbye to Dad
It was my Dad’s funeral this afternoon. It was a short service at a local crematorium, with only 18 attendees allowed, all of us sitting in socially distanced seats with our masks on. Surreal. That aside it was, as my Uncle Nigel said, a dignified service. The Rev Ian Miller led the way, and I…