Tag Archives: Scottish

A spare CD of Scottish folk music (Rousse)

Posted on December 7, 2017 by Dreamaticus

I saved the CD of Scottish folk music as a present for FR. In the company of IB, LJ and JM, however, she regretted that she was unable to accept it. This music, apparently, was not to her tastes (at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accept, CD, folk, music, present, regret, Scottish, spare, taste | Leave a comment

Loch identification (Rousse)

Posted on November 7, 2017 by Dreamaticus

FR and I impressed one another with our loch identification skills as we travelled south through the Scottish Highlands.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged highlands, identification, impress, loch, Scottish, south | Leave a comment

Sharing a cabin with Dermot Murnaghan (Rousse)

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Dreamaticus

I sat next to television news presenter Dermot Murnaghan in the passenger cabin of the tiny plane. Keen not to embarrass him by making it obvious that I recognised him, I engaged him in conversation about Scottish stereotypes (e.g. short, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged air steward, broadcaster, cabin, change, companion, Dermot Murnaghan, flight, ginger, journalist, men, move, news, passenger, plane, presenter, relief, Scottish, seat, short, stereotypes, stocky, travel | Leave a comment

Katie Hopkins on University Challenge (Rousse)

Posted on July 29, 2017 by Dreamaticus

‘Katie Hopkins? Katie Hopkins on University Challenge?’ I asked. ‘Yes’, replied HJ, ‘Representing Birmingham University’. This was all related to me on a Scottish beach where, by complete coincidence, was gathered an array of my undergraduate friends. Here I also … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged action, beach, Birmingham, coincidence, disciplinary, Elena Ferrante, friend, headmaster, impose, Katie Hopkins, Neopolitan, novel, Scottish, undergraduate, university, University Challenge | Leave a comment

Pensioner’s new lease of life starts on the ski slopes (Rousse)

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Dreamaticus

My mother had a new lease of life. She took up ski-ing at the end of the season. Then booked a holiday house in the Scottish Highlands for a weekend in January 2018 – at first for two, then for … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2018, highlands, holiday, house, January, lease, life, pensioner, Scotland, Scottish, seventeen, ski, ski-ing, slope, two, weekend | Leave a comment

Windfall for Scottish bed and breakfast owners (Rousse)

Posted on January 7, 2017 by Dreamaticus

Under a Scottish Enterprise scheme established in the 1980s, on retirement bed and breakfast proprietors across Scotland could sell their businesses back to the Scottish Government for huge sums of money. Our friends on the Isle of Lewis were very … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1980s, bed, breakfast, business, friend, government, Isle of Lewis, money, opportunity, owner, retirement, scheme, Scotland, Scottish, Scottish Enterprise, sell, sum, windfall | Leave a comment

Hebrides move closer to the Scottish mainland (Rousse)

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Dreamaticus

For hundreds of years the map of the British Isles had misrepresented the location of the Hebrides. These islands were much closer to the mainland than had previously been depicted. Indeed a strong swimmer could reach the Isle of Skye … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged close, Hebrides, island, Isle of Lewis, mainland, Scotland, Scottish, swimmer Isle of Skye | Leave a comment

Unemployed Sunderland couple give daughter away (Rousse)

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Dreamaticus

Who was this small dark-haired, short-legged child with a Scottish accent living with the mother of my childhood friend ECM? She couldn’t possibly be ECM’s little sister: her mother had been widowed for years. A neighbour (and known fantasist) suggested … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accent, bath, brother, care, childhood, colleague, couple, dark, daughter, fantasist, father, friend, leg. child, little, long-term, mother, neighbour, nonsense, polytechnic, redundancy, Scottish, sister, small, Sunderland, Sunderland Polytechnic, unemployed, widow | Leave a comment

Popping out to buy the paper (Rousse)

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Dreamaticus

My mother asked me to pop out to buy the Sunday Times. My decision to look for a copy in the shop half way up the hillside of a small Scottish ski resort was not the best. However, luckily I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beast, buy, change, coin, coins, copy, dog, Euros, fare, hill, hillside, lift, London, metal, newspaper, paper, pop, red, resort, return, sack, Scottish, shop, ski, SNCF, Sunday, Sunday Times, Times, train, tram, travel, underground | Leave a comment

Sailing the Scottish coastline by log (Rousse)

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Dreamaticus

ST and I planned to take the boat to Uig Community Centre. We wandered over to the pontoon where we also found JG, with TPR and JC, aboard his boat ‘Mary’. I remained in the queue for the community boat. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed and breakfast, boat, brother, centre, coastline, community, deck, east, eat, evening, families, family, fjord, husband, journey, local, locals, log, Mary, pontoon, pretend, queue, restaurant, sailing, Scandinavian, Scotland, Scottish, seating, TPR, Uig, west | Leave a comment