Ground Control to Major Tim-

Space Capsule Comes to Scotland

The National Museum of Scotland announced that Major Tim Peake’s Soyuz spacecraft will be arriving in Edinburgh for 2018 as part of a new exhibition. The capsule is a hefty 1.5 tonnes, but really in space that’s pretty small. It hurtled back to earth at the end of Peake’s mission to the international space station. The craft on re-entry reached...

New Houses for Old –

The Future May Be Wood

It has always puzzled me as to why we are so set in our ways in the houses that we love. We don’t ask for the washing machine to be individually designed and we would baulk at a TV that was hand crafted, but insist that our homes are traditionally built. Now I say this living in a house that is only 9 years old and has a tarpaulin slung across the stairs...

Try Again Next Year –

Tian Tian Proves Pandas are Puzzling

Just as we were ready to break open the bubbles at James Pirie they announced that Tian Tian the celebrated giant panda resident in Edinburgh was no longer pregnant and there would be no patter of baby black and white feet this year. As I have written before the giant panda is a mystery even unto itself. It awkwardly will eat nothing except...

Andy Murray is Hip-

But Not in a Good Way, a Chance to See Him with Federer

If you want to see Sir Andy Murray play Roger Federer in the flesh and in Scotland then November this year will be the time to do it. Any has said that he would most likely play no more competitive matches because of his ongoing hip problem, but he confirmed on ­Facebook that he would play in a charity exhibition match against...

Small is Beautiful –

Scotland’s Highest Adhesion Railway

I’ve written about the Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway before. It is Scotland’s highest adhesion railway running on a 2 ft gauge . It reaches a dizzying 1,498 feet above sea level. And now it has been given the go-ahead for an extension remote narrow-gauge railway is finally being extended to Scotland’s highest village. The  railway, run...

Kiss and Fly-

And Two Quid for the Privilege!

Glasgow has become the latest airport to introduce a £2 charge for dropping a loved one off at the departures terminal and it isn’t going so well. Other airports charge more, Luton charge £3 to pause long enough for granny to hobble out of the car and wave bye – all the while pompous officials marshal and chivvy us, treating us like sheep. But it seems...

Beautiful Rare Butterflies Heading Across the Border –

Climate Warming Has Good Effects Too

When I opened my garage today I was dismayed to find the corpse of a very beautiful butterfly that I hope I hadn’t trapped in there. It wasn’t one of the new rare breeds that are heading north as the climate warms, but I was heavy hearted nevertheless. Transient beauty of that kind should be treasure, unless...

Setting Forth on a Show Stopper-

Was That You on the New Bridge?

This weekend 50,000 lucky winners of a ballot were allowed to walk across the spanking new Queensferry Crossing before the Queen opens it 53 years to the day after the Forth Road Bridge was opened by her. The new crossing is a bit of a show stopper to use the Great British Bake Off term and is 1.7miles long. Opened for while on 30 August...

Pandamonium

The Patter of Black and White Feet

If you want to be frustrated as a zookeeper then look after giant pandas as they will drive you spotty. They eat one thing, they can get pregnant just once a year and only for a matter of hours. They are grumpy with other pandas and are often rotten parents. Yet we adore them, they are the symbol of conservation, they are diplomatic tools in the hands...

The Picker of the Litter –

One Man’s Quest to Make Our Shores Cleaner

Well it is September and I expect that the Christmas ads will kick in soon. Already the kids are asking what’s happening during the festive season, I just say get through this month first. Do things now, don’t focus so far ahead! Which is what the gallant Wayne Dixon is doing by going around the coastline of the mainland, doing a...