Monthly Archives: August 2017
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Posted: August 21, 2017Categories: James Pirie NewsRead more »
Rural Post Offices Close –
Has Your Been Hit by Closures?
You will recall that I have written about the sad closures of Scotland’s post offices. Now despite 5 post offices opening this year Scotland has 500 fewer post offices than it had in 2002 and more than a quarter of Scotland’s post offices have closed since the turn of the century leaving rural communities isolated. Indeed the country’s most...
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Posted: August 21, 2017Categories: James Pirie NewsRead more »
A Snail’s Pace Race –
Mollusc Makes Good for Barra
When you are a small, but proud nation on the edge of Europe you have to take advantage of all the good stuff that nature throws at you and this gives you even more reason to be proud of where you live. This is the case of the Isle of Barra snail which may be small but has a renowned tang. Now I’m not much of a one for trying escargot as they are called...
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Posted: August 21, 2017Categories: James Pirie NewsRead more »
Scotch Whisky Amazing Assertions –
Terrible Suggestions of Dilution
Now I have heard more than a rumour that Swedes are threatening the very essence of Scotland, our national drink. If you are like me and like a dram, or two, then you will be horrified by the news that two Swedish scientists have said to have proved that whisky takes better with water. Now I can’t blame them for them for being Swedish...
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Posted: August 17, 2017Categories: James Pirie News
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Posted: August 16, 2017Categories: James Pirie NewsRead more »
Did the Earth Move for You?-
Scotland Shaken by Tremor
Did you know Scotland is one of the most geologically stable parts of the Earth and much of its rock is very old indeed. The country has some of the oldest rocks Europe if not the world and this all shows us to be very stable in the geologic context. This is not to say that we don’t have earthquakes at all. In fact there are some 250 tremors and...
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Posted: August 03, 2017Categories: James Pirie NewsRead more »
Dull and Boring
Now It Is Bland Too
I always like the thought of ridiculous place names, as long as I don’t have to live in one myself. The hamlet of Dull in Perthshire made the headlines when it twinned itself with the town of Boring in Oregon, USA. People would drive for miles to take a selfie with the 10 ft sign for the hamlet of Dull and the town of Boring both on it together. But now Dull isn’t...
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Posted: August 03, 2017Categories: James Pirie NewsRead more »
Scotch Is Now an Investment –
Record Sums Paid for Water of Life
Now I just like a dram, and of course the finer the drop the better, but I didn’t think people could make a living out of trading the amber nectar. But bottles of rare whisky are going like hot cakes in the multitude of auction sites and on average now fetch £286 a bottle. This year has seen a trebling of the market in 2016. And naturally...
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Posted: August 02, 2017Categories: James Pirie NewsRead more »
Eyes Right! -
Last Big Parade for Famous Gordon Highlanders Regiment
One of my favourite authors of all time was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders and wrote about his experiences in the "McAuslan" series. He is of course George MacDonald Fraser who wrote the Flashman Papers and about Private John McAuslan, the dirtiest soldier in the world typifying the British army in the period immediately...
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Posted: August 02, 2017Categories: James Pirie NewsRead more »
When the Boat Comes In –
Visitors Outnumber Residents by Six to One
Not long ago the sight of monster cruise ships off Kirkwall in Orkney, which is 10 miles off the mainland, would have been a cause for wonder, why even in 2011 a mere 130,000 visited were debarked from monster cruise liners, but this year a massive 130,000 sail-by tourists will hit the streets of Orkney with 140 cruise liners sets...
