I took this photo of Lenzie Loch from a vantage point on the golf course, just a few minutes walk from where I live.

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I WAS THINKING LATELY ABOUT ADAM.

He was probably 5 or 6 years older than me. We had been involved earlier in running a church youth club, but it was following my demob from the RAF that we became friends.

By then he was the full-time warden of a local community centre and it was through his work that I became interested and eventually took up a similar post in Glasgow.

Adam lived with his mother and I joined them regularly for evenings of Canasta, a game over which they were really keen. Jean still recalls that one New Year’s Day we Canasta players tried to teach her how to play - and that was after she had been up all night celebrating!!!

I remember when he bought a very old Hillman car from someone in Glasgow. He had problems driving it home, for every time he braked the car slewed to the left. Obviously it needed urgent attention, but instead of going to a reputable garage (of which there were many locally) he gave it to someone he knew - a man who was renowned for being lazy! Perhaps the vehicle was beyond repair. It lay outside the fellow’s garage till it fell to pieces.

Adam had agreed to be Best Man at our wedding, but sadly it was not to be. He always had had heart trouble and, when his condition worsened, he was given the choice - either an operation with no guarantee of success, or spending the rest of his life as an invalid. He decided to go for it, but tragically he died on the operating table. I suppose a heart operation in those days was always a bit of a gamble.

I’ve lots of memories of Adam -
I remember that he couldn’t smoke a cigarette without an Imperial sweet in his mouth.
There was the time he organised an out-of-doors treasure hunt for the youth club, and no one turned up.
He was always involved in Charities Day events and one year he dressed up as “Patrick McCampsie, the hermit of the Campsie Hills” and arrived in style at Adamslie Park to open the proceedings.
He seemed to know everyone and everyone liked him. Time moves on however, and I don’t expect there are many folk left who remember Adam Stark.

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This is a clip from 1934 of a piece of music which was well-known then. There are various titles, but perhaps “Dark Eyes” is the commonest. It’s played by Alfredo and his Gypsy Band.



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It is easy enough to be pleasant
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worth while is the one who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth
Is the smile that shines through tears.

It is easy enough to be prudent
When nothing tempts you to stray,
When without or within no voice of sin
Is luring your soul away.
But it’s only a negative virtue
Until it is tried by fire,
And the life that is worth the honour of earth
Is the one that resists desire.

By the cynic, the sad, the fallen,
Who had no strength for the strife,
The world’s highway is cumbered today,
They make up the sum of life.
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides in a smile,
It is these that are worth the homage on earth,
For we find them but once in a while. (Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1850-1919)

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I’ve always been particularly keen on my Quiet Corner blog, and so I was interested to see that last week more people viewed that site than Eighty Plus.

The latest posting on Quiet Corner includes -
A painting “Romeo and Juliet”
A Shakespeare sonnet
A popular song from 1955
And Maxim Vengerov playing Kreisler’s Liebesfreud.

http://john-quietcorner.blogspot.com

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Here’s something different - a short film showing fashion models of the 1920s.



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POSTSCRIPT -

In last week’s edition of “The Week” Alexander McCall Smith lists five of his favourite books. Among them is “The Towers of Trebizond” by Rose Macaulay which he notes begins with this wonderful line :-

“Take my camel, dear,” said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.

What a beginning! Brilliant!!!

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This photo shows the Cowgate, Kirkintilloch around 1910.  At the near right is the familiar fountain, and in the distance the town steeple at the Cross.

As you can imagine, there would be very little traffic on the roads in those days, and I can remember that even by the mid-1930s it was quite safe to walk on the road. There were buses of course but few motor cars. The only danger came from the horse-driven vans at teatime, when the animals, knowing that their day’s work was done, galloped down the main street heading for the stables.

The street where we lived led off from the Cowgate and being a cul-de-sac provided a safe place where we children could play. At the top end was a narrow lane leading to Bellfield district. This lane obviously wasn’t a right of way, because on a particular Sunday each year the people who owned the houses on either side closed the lane by locking the gates. However this wasn’t a problem, for they always encouraged folk to come through their gardens.

In the 30s and 40s there was an excellent bus service in our area. Alexanders Buses ran from Glasgow through Kirkintilloch to Falkirk, Grahams Buses ran from Glasgow through Kirkintilloch to Campsie Glen, and Lawsons ran from Glasgow to Kirkintilloch and Lenzie. The fare was one shilling (5p) return to Glasgow and was one penny cheaper if you boarded the bus at the Cross.

I’m remembering that double-decker buses couldn’t go through Lenzie because of the low railway bridge at Lenzie Station. To make matters more difficult for traffic, the road made a right-angled turn before going under the bridge and a very large mirror on the wall gave drivers the chance to see any oncoming traffic.

I must mention that the manager of Lawsons Buses was feared by all the drivers and conductresses, for if any of them slipped up in any way, a number of days suspension would be the result.

The conductresses, especially those working on double-deckers, had a difficult job. At peak times it was “standing room only” on those buses, and the conductresses had to run up and down the stairs, squeezing past passengers, trying to ensure that they got all the fares. And of course it wasn’t like today’s travellers who must give the exact fare!

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There are some very nice pictures with this clip. The song is “Come by the Hills” by Jim MacLeod and his Band.

Jim MacLeod MBE made his first broadcast in 1955 and soon became popular on radio, TV and on records. He became resident at Dunblane Hydro in 1963 and over the years his band played regularly at Balmoral Castle.



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This is another poem that Jean used to recite at concerts - there are 14 verses but she knew it off by heart!

LORD ULLIN’S DAUGHTER by Thomas Campbell (1777-1844)

A Chieftain to the Highlands bound,
Cries, “Boatman, do not tarry;
And I'll give thee a silver pound
To row us o'er the ferry.”

“Now who be ye would cross Lochgyle,
This dark and stormy water?”
“Oh! I'm the chief of Ulva's isle,
And this Lord Ullin's daughter.

“And fast before her father's men
Three days we've fled together,
For should he find us in the glen,
My blood would stain the heather.

“His horsemen hard behind us ride;
Should they our steps discover,
Then who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?”

Outspoke the hardy Highland wight:
“I'll go, my chief - I'm ready:
It is not for your silver bright,
But for your winsome lady.

“And by my word, the bonny bird
In danger shall not tarry:
So, though the waves are raging white,
I'll row you o'er the ferry.”

By this the storm grew loud apace,
The water-wraith was shrieking;
And in the scowl of heaven each face
Grew dark as they were speaking.

But still, as wilder blew the wind,
And as the night grew drearer,
Adown the glen rode armed men-
Their trampling sounded nearer.

“Oh! Haste thee, haste!” the lady cries,
“Though tempests round us gather;
I'll meet the raging of the skies,
But not an angry father.”

The boat has left a stormy land,
A stormy sea before her-
When oh! Too strong for human hand,
The tempest gathered o'er her.

And still they rowed amidst the roar
Of waters fast prevailing;
Lord Ullin reach'd that fatal shore-
His wrath was chang'd to wailing.

For sore dismay'd, through storm and shade,
His child he did discover;
One lovely hand she stretch'd for aid,
And one was round her lover.

“Come back! Come back!” he cried in grief,
“Across this stormy water;
And I'll forgive your Highland chief,
My daughter!- oh, my daughter!”

'Twas vain: the loud waves lash'd the shore,
Return or aid preventing;
The waters wild went o'er his child,
And he was left lamenting.

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William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) was a French painter who was famous for his outstandingly beautiful portraits of women. This unusual video takes many of the well-known ones blending them together by means of morphing. The music is the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s “Nabucco.” The title on the first page is "Batuguereau", and I presume this is a mistake and should be "Bouguereau."



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“The Destruction of the L’Orient at the Battle of the Nile, 1st August 1798” by the English painter George Arnald (1766-1841)

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The poem which begins “The boy stood on the burning deck” was inspired by an incident during that battle when the French flagship L’Orient exploded. The admiral of the ship was Louis de Casabianca and the story concerns his son Giocante whose age could have been anything between 10 and 13.

This is the complete poem “Casabianca” by Felicia Hemans (1793-1835)

The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle’s wreck
Shone round him o’er the dead.

Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm;
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud, though child-like form.

The flames rolled on - he would not go
Without his father’s word;
That father, faint in death below,
His voice no longer heard.

He called aloud - “Say, father, say
If yet my task is done?”
He knew not that the chieftain lay
Unconscious of his son.

“Speak, father,” once again he cried,
“If I may yet be gone.”
And but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames rolled on.

Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair,
And looked from that lone post of death
In still yet brave despair.

And shouted yet once more aloud,
“My father, must I stay?”
While o’er him fast, through sail and shroud,
The wreathing fires made way.

They wrapt the ship in splendour wild,
They caught the flag on high,
And streamed above the gallant child,
Like banners in the sky.

There came a burst of thunder sound -
The boy - oh! where was he?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea!

With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well hath borne their part -
But the noblest thing that perished there
Was that young faithful heart.

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A few weeks ago I bought a tenor recorder and I’m determined to master it. I’ve just found this clip of “Greensleeves“ where the performer produces a lovely sound on what I think is a treble recorder.



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I came home last Friday night, having spent 8 days in hospital. Those words by George Bernard Shaw really appeal -

“I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes illnesses worth while.”

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In the 1920s and 30s Jack Payne was a well-known dance band leader. Born in 1899, it was while he was leading a 6-piece band in a London hotel that the BBC appointed him Director of Dance Music, and he held that post from 1928 till 1932 when he was succeeded by Henry Hall.

He continued to broadcast and in 1941 he was again put in charge of dance music by the BBC. In 1946 he gave up band work becoming a disc jockey. He died in 1969.

“Ain’t that the way it goes?” was recorded in 1931. The vocalist is Billy Scott Coomber.



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I’m making no comment on those words by Leo Buscaglia (1924-1998)

"Relish love in your old age! Aged love is like aged wine - it becomes more satisfying, more refreshing, more valuable, more appreciated and more intoxicating!"

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