Monthly Archives: June 2016

To Perth All the Way on the Silvery Tay -

Water Taxis Planned for Venice of the North

 Scotland’s salmon fishermen have been interested to see new plans for a water taxi on the Tay. The scheme is part a Tay Regeneration Project master plan to make the river more accessible to the general public, just as they are across Europe. William McGonagall my old favourite called the river the “silvery Tay”...

More Misery on the Rails -

Six days of Strikes Announced

If you use ScotRail you can expect more misery as they have just announced six days of strikes. If you are a golf fan and want to go to Troon for the open then don’t plan to do it by train as the climax of the competition is a strike day.  And when we are voting on the European Referendum, guess what- yes another strike.   

Lightning Conductor...

Tunnock’s Oor Wullie –

Takes the Biscuit

The loveable loon Oor Wullie with the spiky hair isn’t just only 80 years young,  but he now takes the bucket as well as the biscuit with an art trail of sculptures of the scamp on display across Dundee. And one of them has just been revealed as a sculpture made from Scotland’s favourite Tunnock’s tea cakes. The scamp’s tea cake artwork was made by the Fife...

A New Hope –

Judo Star Rising

Brave Scots lassie Stephanie Inglis was only given a 1% chance of survival when her skirt caught on a bike taxi in Ha Long in Vietnam and she suffered severe head injuries as she was dragged from the machine. She had been teaching English to underprivileged children there for six months prior to the accident, but now Stephanie, who is from Daviot, near Inverness, and lives...

Trouble in Royal Deeside –

Coffee Shops in Uproar

Ballater in Royal Deeside has had a bit of a rough twelve months. In December the River Dee burst its banks as the result of very heavy and prolonged rains with Storm Frank with added snow melt from the mountains and flooded the village, cutting it off from neighbouring Braemar and the rest of the world. The floods destroyed bridges and roads and saw...

A Rant for All Seasons –

Why Do We Put Up with It?

Today I need to let off some steam, a good old fashioned 19^th century expression. Did you know that when manufacturers make some products they deliberately build in features that mean either you can’t repair the product or that it has a limited lifespan, so they can sell you the next almost identical one in almost the next breath? It is called Planned...

No Fakes Here –

Genuine Brands – Genuine Quality

Over the last three years more than £13 million of fake goods have been seized and 100 arrests made on a crackdown on the Glasgow Barras.

Fakes  Damage Business

The Scottish Anti Illicit Trade Group said the cost to the UK economy of counterfeit goods in lost taxes and profits was £1.3billion.  And this load of recovered stuff, it doesn’t deserve...

Scotch  Wars –

Distilleries Falling into Foreign Hands –

But New Boys Fighting Back

In a Scotland long long ago all the Scotch producers were native to the nation, but things have changed as industrial empires have swallowed up the brave little distilleries that make the ‘water of life.’ But the small producers are striking back.

There are 118 distilleries left in Scotland but now more than three...

It’s Fergie Time! -

New York Sale Gets Astronomical Price for Astronomical Clock

Now the first person to get “Fergie Time” wasn’t Sir Alex, one of that great line of Caledonian football managers, it was James Ferguson the well known Scottish astronomer and painter. Now one of his clocks that he took to making late in life has been sold in New York. A clock made by the 18th century great Scot has sold...

Great Scott! Sir Walter Rubbished His Own Books to Get Them Noticed

Towering Literary Figure Stooped to Skullduggery

The wondrous Sir Walter Scott, the looming eminence of 19^th century Scottish fiction and proud recipient of the Scott memorial which must have been the inspiration for Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbird 3 was also a bit of a naughty boy.  Isn’t that what they call marketing geniuses these...