Monthly Archives: December 2018
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Posted: December 31, 2018Read more »
Happy New Year –
May 2019 Be a Wonderful Year
May we take this opportunity to thank all our fabulous customers for their custom and look forward to a great 2109 with health, happiness and comfort – and of course James Pirie’s lovely gift selections.
The weather forecast for the Hogmanay celebrations is good considering past years and if you are out for the night then please keep safe.
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Posted: December 18, 2018Read more »
I Think That I Shall Never See a Poem Lovely as a Tree –
Beagle Eyed Botanists Saving the Ancient Race
Scottish scientists are using the finds of HMS Beagle to help save some of the world’s oldest tree species. The giant redwood Fitzroya from South America is at risk and it is deemed as important to save as the giant panda or the elephant. These trees are among the tallest and the oldest trees in...
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Posted: December 18, 2018Read more »
Fire Brings out the Best in People -
Zoo Finds Helpers after Blaze
Regular readers will know of my love of nature and the responsibility I feel we all have to the natural environment, as well as my sharp dislike of parking wardens (enough be still my beating heart!). So you won’t be surprised to learn that I was upset to see poor beasties being lost in the fire at Chester Zoo. Now lots of money...
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Posted: December 14, 2018Read more »
Before Bootleggers Roamed USA Whiskey Stash Discovered-
Pre -Prohibition Booze Bonanza
I’m a true Scotch fan, but every now and then I’ll take a nip of a decent American whiskey and enjoy the change so I was surprised as anyone to hear that more than 40 cases of 1914 unopened bonded whiskey had been discovered in Los Angeles. The illicit booze had been hidden during the Prohibition period in which...
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Posted: December 09, 2018Read more »
Be Still My Beating Heart-
Is This the World’s Oldest Whisky Still?
Well you could have knocked me down with a feather or even a dram. Those fascinating folk the archaeologists have found a medieval structure in Fife which is quite probably the oldest whisky still ever discovered and it’s at Lindores Abbey. Those canny medieval monks were the prime movers in early distillation. The stills found...
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Posted: December 04, 2018Read more »
Are Scot Rail Scrooges? –
Another Blow to Family Incomes with Infinite Fare Hike
Oh dear it’s that time of year when the rail rises are announced and this year just in time for Christmas the scrooges at Scot Rail have announced the end of free child fares when an adult travels with them. The rail company declared that from January the Kids Go Free option, allowing an adult to take up to two children...
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Posted: December 01, 2018Read more »
Wedding Ahoy! –
The Shipping Forecast
The wedding season is still going strong it seems. The weather might be closing in but I notice that there are still lots of you intent on splicing the knot and other nautical analogies for getting married. Which set me musing on the Shipping Forecast and all the exotic areas covered by that most essential of warnings for our brave fishermen. I would say fisher...
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Posted: December 01, 2018Read more »
Boxes, Boxes, Boxes –
Is Someone You Know Moving?
I was listening to the radio yesterday as I packed yet more boxes for the move to a new house and they mentioned a group. I thought it was the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but no it was a Scottish combo called the Red Hot Chilli Pipers! And these boys play bagpipes and guitar to make classic pop and heavy metal music. Well that was a quick trip to YouTube...
