Perhaps I had ambitions to be an MP - or an undertaker!

Thursday, December 23, 2010



BEST WISHES TO EVERYONE FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Following the very heavy snowfall, I ventured out one afternoon to take photographs, and here are a few of them. The last picture shows 18 inches of snow on our patio table.

At the end of this blog, there’s a photo that Fiona sent me, showing two feet of snow.













-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Nearly three weeks after the cold spell began there are still patches of snow lying here and there, and, particularly on pavements, hard-packed ice makes walking difficult.

For three days last week there were no buses running in the Kirkintilloch area, and none at all in our village for most of the week. We managed to keep our house reasonably warm, but in some places people were without electricity or gas.

Jean was reminded of this Glasgow verse -

Winter has came, the snow has fell,
Wee Josie’s nose is froze as well,
Wee Mary’s nose is red and skintit,
Winter’s diabolic, in’t it?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

I like this painting by an unknown artist -



-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The New Year is a good time for new ideas, new plans, new beginnings. I’ve been re-thinking my blogs and am making some changes.

80 plus will become an occasional blog appearing on Thursdays every so often.
The Pre-Raphaelite site will come to an end next week, when 80 paintings will have been collected.
With the exception of Christmas and New Year week-ends, Quiet Corner will continue on Mondays, A Touch of Culture on Fridays, and Wise Men Say daily.
And a new weekly blog The Poetry Path will start on Wednesday 5th January. You can have a look at the website now at -
http://thepoetrypath.blogspot.com

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

I was delighted to discover this YouTube presentation of “Ding Dong! Merrily on High.” It has been expertly devised by Tom Roush.



Now for the two feet of snow . . . . . . . .



BEST WISHES TO EVERYONE FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Thursday, December 9, 2010

THINKING ABOUT CHRISTMAS PAST

Christmas in the 1930s was very different from the Christmases of today.

In Scotland Christmas Day was just like any other working day, with offices, shops and factories open as usual. Hogmanay and the New Year were much more important, New Year’s Day being a general holiday.

I believe that there was midnight Mass in most Catholic churches on Christmas Eve, but the other churches didn’t have any services, either then or on Christmas Day.

We children of course became very excited as the big day drew near. I remember that the living room in our tenement house looked wonderful, with paper decorations round the walls and across the ceiling. I mentioned in a earlier blog that my sister Rita doesn’t think we got many presents. I seem to remember that we did, but memory can play tricks and I may be thinking of one particular Christmas.

Each year we went to the Sunday School party where we played the usual games and Santa Claus handed out gifts to us all. I don’t think people had Christmas trees in their homes in those days, but there was always a beautifully-decorated tree at the party.

Our parents usually took us to Glasgow to see Santa Claus in a big store. On one occasion we were passing through a number of corridors lined with toys and novelties, when we came across a huge teddy bear, taller than an adult. As we passed it, our father shook its paw and said “How d’you do?” Its head fell off and rolled along the floor. We left it where it was, and hurried into the next corridor!

On the Sunday nearest Christmas Day, we sang the usual Christmas hymns in church, but there was no tree and no decorations.

It wasn’t till the late 1940s that Scotland began to make more of Christmas. Perhaps the change was due to our servicemen coming back to civvy street, having experienced how Christmas was celebrated elsewhere. This was certainly the case in our church when the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols was introduced, but I think it was some time later that services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were begun. I remember one local minister telling me that he went to bed at ten every night, and he had no intention of changing his routine!

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


Thanks to FreeFoto.com for this topical image

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

I was surprised to see that Edmundo Ros, the Latin-American band leader, celebrates his 100th birthday this month.

Born in Trinidad, he moved to Venezuela where he joined the army as a musician. After demob, he became a member of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra where he played tympani. He came to London in 1937 to further his classical career, but the attraction of popular dance music was too strong. He was drummer/vocalist with Don Marino Barreto’s Band, before forming his own 5-piece rumba band.

The group was an instant success, and they became resident at London’s Bagatelle Restaurant, the famous venue popular with members of the Royal Family. In 1951 he bought the Coconut Grove, named it “The Edmundo Ros Dinner and Supper Club” and it’s said that only people whose names were in “Who’s Who” were allowed admission.

He retired in 1975 and moved to Spain. In 2000 New Year’s Honours List he was awarded the O.B.E.

This is one of his great singles - a lovely arrangement of Melodie d’Amour. As always with Edmundo’s vocal, every word is clear.



-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Tomorrow on A TOUCH OF CULTURE - Poetry to make you smile
http://atouchofculture.blogspot.com

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Thursday, December 2, 2010



This is the flag of Scotland - the St. Andrew’s Cross, also known as the Saltire.

Various stories relate that in the 4th century a number of St. Andrew’s bones were brought to a Scottish monastery, located where the town of St. Andrews now stands. In the mid-10th century he was made Patron Saint of Scotland, and November 30th is St. Andrew’s Day.

He is also patron saint of Ukraine, Russia, Rumania, Patras in Greece, Amalfi in Italy, Luqa in Malta and Esgueira in Portugal.

I was interested to discover that relics of the saint are said to be kept in the Basilica of St Andrew’s in Patras, Greece, in the Duomo of St Andrew in Amalfi, Italy, in the Church of St Andrew and St Albert in Warsaw, and also in St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-



The Scottish thistle has been the emblem of Scotland since the reign of Alexander III in the 13th century.

The story of how this humble plant acquired such an honour goes back to the feuding between Scotland and Norway. It’s said that one dark night an invading army of King Haakon’s men were stealing up on a camp of Scots, hoping to surprise them. One of the Norwegians in his bare feet stepped on a thistle and let out a cry of pain. This alerted the Scots and the attack was repelled.

In 1470, when James III was on the throne, the thistle appeared on Scottish silver coins.

It seems that not everyone admires the Scotch thistle. In some parts of America it has been declared Public Nuisance No1 and was said to be “an noxious and annoying little Scottish weed.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Scotia’s thistle guards the grave,
Where repose her dauntless brave;
Never yet the foot of slave
Has trod the wilds of Scotia.

Free from tyrant’s dark control -
Free as waves of ocean roll -
Free as thoughts of minstrel’s soul,
Still roam the sons of Scotia.

Scotia’s hills of hoary hue,
Heaven wraps in wreathes of blue,
Watering with its dearest dew
The healthy lochs of Scotia.

Down each green-wood skirted vale,
Guardian spirits, lingering, hail
Many a minstrel’s melting tale
As told of ancient Scotia.

Wake, my hill-harp! Wildly wake!
Sound by lee and lonely lake,
Never shall this heart forsake
The bonnie wilds of Scotia.

Others o’er the ocean’s foam
Far to other lands may roam,
But for ever be my home
Beneath the sky of Scotia!

(Henry Scott Riddell 1798-1870)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Now, on a lighter note - a Scottish joke.

Jock had been in the pub all day and at closing time he found it impossible to stay on his feet. A couple of men managed to get him to the door and he assured them he would be all right. However he kept falling down and the only course open to him was to crawl home. Keeping as quiet as possible, he crept upstairs. His wife was sound asleep and he succeeded in getting into bed beside her. When he awoke next morning, his wife was already up and dressed. “So ye were drunk again last night?” she said. "What makes ye say that?" he asked. "Because that was the pub on the phone. Ye left yer wheelchair there again!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Finally, this video compiled by "glasgow1234" has some great pictures to accompany an instrumental version of "The Flower of Scotland."



-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Tomorrow on A TOUCH OF CULTURE
Johann Sebastian Bach with a difference!!!

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-