Monthly Archives: October 2023

  1. It’s Halloween, but Our Prices Aren’t Scary

    It’s Halloween, but Our Prices Aren’t Scary

    As you all know the 31st is my son’s birthday, oops sorry, you didn’t know that, but it’s Halloween and the day of mischief. In fact that’s what we used to call it when I was a lad, Mischief Night. And woe betide any adult who had mortally offended us, especially if we had an egg or two. It’s the day before All Saints Day which is a very special day in the Christian calendar when goodness is set to...

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  2. The Sheep with a Soggy Bottom and 133 Years of Expertise

    The Sheep with a Soggy Bottom and 133 Years of Expertise

    How long could you live alone at the bottom of a Scottish cliff without going completely baah mi? Two years perhaps? That’s what’s happened to a ewe which has been stranded, literally on the strand below a cliff in Scotland’s north east. She was first spotted two years ago and now she’s known as the nation’s loneliest sheep. A canoeist,  not unlike like myself, was paddling along the coast of Sutherland...

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  3. Christmas Last posting Dates- Yes Already!

    Christmas Last posting Dates- Yes Already!

    Royal Mail International Standard and International Tracking and Signature Services

    ...

    Australia and New Zealand, Caribbean, China (People's Republic), Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Far and Middle East

    Wednesday 6 December

    Cyprus and Malta

    Thursday 7 December

    Greece, Eastern Europe (except Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) and Turkey

    Friday 8 December

    Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Norway,

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  4. Wildlife is Back and Teething!

    Wildlife is Back and Teething!

    This week the baby foxes are back. The missus went swimming and left her swim shoes outside the back door to dry and in the twilight the fox cubs seized their opportunity and grabbed the shoes. It seems they are teething and like a bit of soft plastic to chew. We came down the following morning to find only one of the shoes complete with a smelly little present inside the shoe. Cue lots of sighing...

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  5. Gannets Go Forth

    Gannets Go Forth

    Do you know someone who gulps down his food as if it’s going out of fashion, then he may be called a ‘ gannet’ that seabird with the ravenous reputation? But the feisty gannet is in fact a very fine member of the avian world and one that graces our seashores of the nation. And the world's largest colony of gannets is on Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth. Just last year the gannets on the rock, which...

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  6. Canvassing Opinion

    Canvassing Opinion

    Did you know that a ship’s canvas sails used to be made out of flax? Long before the advent of polyester and its sister materials the wind power of old was harnessed by this old fashioned plant, which used to be a staple crop in Scotland. Now with the world focused on trimming carbon footprints and changing our ways the crop is getting a reboot, it’s now Flax 2.0.

    Flax is used to make linen and canvas...

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  7. Herend… eth the Lesson

    Herend… eth the Lesson

    Herend… eth the Lesson

    Some things are a luxury and some luxuries turn out to be essential, but even something you bought for £1, can be a pain in the Trossachs and especially if that something was valued at £2 million and then ends up costing you £150,000 to get rid of!

    That is exactly what has happened to the wave machine that was to be used off Orkney to power 2,000 homes with cheap renewable electricity...

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