Monthly Archives: May 2024

  1. Brave Heart isn’t Enough to Get Andy Through

    Brave Heart isn’t Enough to Get Andy Through

    Now as regular readers of this blog know I am a massive fan of the Great Scot Sir Andy Murray and it is with a heavy heart I have to say that the end of the road now looks to be in sight.  He was set to face his old adversary Stan Wawrinka the Swiss three times grand slam winner in the first round of the French Open tennis and Andy was blasted off the court.  I saw them play each other just before...

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  2. On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine

       On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine

    You’ll most likely remember that last year that a  tree by Hadrian’s Wall which  featured in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves way back in 1992 was cut down by some nasty so and so. Well someone has now been charged for the crime. Trees are a highly significant part of our natural heritage and many people described the chopping down of the Sycamore Gap tree as “murder.”A bit strong...

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  3. Bridgerton -As seen on TV

    Bridgerton -As seen on TV

    For those of a romantic disposition the arrival of the long-awaited third series of Bridgerton was the event  they longed for and  it landed on Netflix this last week. If you haven’t already binged your way through the first two series then we here James Pirie can sincerely recommend it, but mostly for selfish reasons as I will talk about shortly. The series is a  rom-com  and it follows two...

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  4. SS Explorer and Father's Day Ideas

    SS Explorer and Father's Day Ideas

    If you are visiting Edinburgh and the dock area you’ll most likely know about the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was featured on the TV series The Crown, which was last year voted as Best UK attraction. But the historic dockyard area has other ships to take a gander including the SS Explorer which has been previously been hidden from public view. This is a historic ship that is a wondrous kind of time...

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  5. Sir Andy on the Last Laps

    Sir Andy on the Last Laps
    Now if you’ve read my blog before you will know that I and the missus are ardent fans of that Great Scot, Sir Andy Murray and his glorious achievements at a time when the greatest players of tennis, ever, where all playing at the same time. He is a former World Number 1, holder of three Grand Slam titles and two Olympic Gold Medals and forty-six career titles. Now he’s back on the trail of more titles...
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  6. The Real McCoy

    The Real McCoy
    I got several messages this last week or so saying: ‘Did you see the Northern Lights?’ And I had to answer no to every single one of them. We had gone on a holiday to Norway in 2023 to see the Aurora Borealis as it should be known and we had seen the lights, but not in all their glory. It was rather as a pale, ghostly light which only became coloured in a photograph taken with a long exposure of say...
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