Dead, dead and never called me muvver!

The season for dying. Always a touchy one. Still, a certainty for us all.
Some this season cause sadness and some pass by like clouds casting the shadow of mortality over us!
The traditional piper Liam Óg O'Flynn died at the age of 72  reported yesterday by RTE

He has appeared in this blog before in the guise of Planxty at a time of sadness

The wailing of the pipes is a representation of our grief but it can also be an outpouring of great  joy.
(Nuff said... Ed)
For once!

Breakfast

Best meal of the day, really, but as we progress in age (and wisdom and grace as well surely...Ed!)
I've told you before not Shirley!
On these cold and grey days a little later perhaps. However, that gives herself time to fill up the birds' feeders. I spotted this fella as I was munching on my mixture of seeds nuts and oats.

Marvellous things proton pumps, have I ever mentioned it before.

A Snow Dog's Life

World book day allegedly. Robert Macfarlane has an interesting thought -

Life is books - Life is a beech - haven't we been here before - La vida es un(a) haya

In the meantime here is a wee fella we found on our patch the other day.

(Looks like a dog to me ... Ed)!
Out of the mouths of Babes and Teenagers.

Anyone for Cake?

I can't believe we have been at this for a dozen years.
BP 12 today!

(God almighty, teenagers...Ed!)

e Baa Gum Books!

Well then it's books!

I've been reading them, e-reading them, listening to them, commenting on them, reading about them in various forms and generally getting on like a pig in muck (Is that not too, how shall we say, agricultural a metaphor... Ed!)
It's earthy and a simile if you must;  moving  on. Your man in the Grauniad has a low opinion of the ebooky thingamyjigs.  However,  since he probably earns a good screw selling dead trees to people who should know better, he may have a point.
I grant you e-books have not:
- Brought about world peace and justice;
- Found a cure for cancer;
- Eradicated poverty and famine at a stroke;
- Brought democracy to Messers All & Sundry;
- Implemented a significant programme of renewable energy;
- Cut our carbon emissions by 90%...
(I think I catch your drift. Could we not take a break, sit down have a cup of tea and show a wee picture by way of  ***INTERMISSION *** ...Ed)

***INTERMISSION ***

If you are interested, and you should be, My Europe is a fine anthology of writing on Europe from Patrician Press. 

I'm sure that when all has come to pass, ourselves included, those that follow will say, mystified:-

"YOU DID WHAT...!?"

Deer, dear, dearie me!

An article in the Grauniad about the problem of the deer! To cull or not to cull?
A web of interests and lives.
Cull the landowners (humanely of course...Ed?)
But they include  the  communities such as the  Assynt Crofters’ Trust
Undoubtedly jobs  are hard enough to find and retain in such places.
Hat tip to Bob Mc F and the Grauniad for this
(Sensitively done I thought. Congratulations all round. We will make a blogger out of you yet...Ed!)

Yes. I thought the alternative title for this post:-
Wild swivel-eyed eco-communists destroy local jobs after instruction from long term beardie sleeper, Czech, mole!
was a bit long.

A Stickler

 It has been brought to my notice that certain, so called, bloggers, twitters, commentators and  no good scallywags have introduced a word of the day, week, month, year, Preston Guild in their somewhat lacklustre offerings.
However, I give you an illustrated and erudite alternative commencing with:-

A Stickler

It came up at dinner last night (unfortunate phrase there...Ed)
We deferred to Mr Chambers and his excellent book of words some of which you may care to use. The essence of the debate was -is there such a noun? If so is there a verb to stickle and, as a follow on, is it possible to unstickle?
I'm glad to report that there is a noun and it is possible to stickle but the jury is out on whether in this day and permissive age you are able to unstickle though if you indulge with a consenting adult in the privacy and comfort of your own home I am sure you can!
What does it mean I hear you ask well for god's sake if you can't be bothered to turn a few pages of Mr Chambers or Mrs Collins lexicons you have no business nosing about in these columns.
I will say though I was mightyly impressed by the definition - one who is a punctilious and pertinacious insister.
I can see it all now
- Which sibling is it that is both punctilious and pertinacious?
- My insister. (but I thought you were an only child...Ed?)
You have traduced the sacred commandment of this column not to reveal personal information which may be of use to the Tax or Prosecuting Authorities, consider your wages docked for the week. Lets say a round tenner!
(What is £ 0- £10...Ed?)
Minus £10.  You owe me a tenner and not one of those bitcoiny things you are always going on about!

Time Flies

Like an arrow. The SISKIN quartet.

Boy that should get you out of bed on these cold mornings

And in the Marxist Canon - Fruit Flies like a banana!
(I've trawled The Manifesto and Das Capital until I am sick, sore and tired of your man's verbosity but no bananas nor the dietary preferences of drosophila...Ed?)
Groucho rather than Karl. As you know there are no jokes like the old jokes and if you would like me to demonstrate this I have in my hand a banana...!

No Bad for a Friday night In!

As the weather, politics and the hope for humanity deteriorates a quiet 'Friday Night In'  trawling the old interweb looking for inspiration. A tweet  for a gig at Celtic Connections set me off.   I look forward to hearing it. I then stumbled across Duncan Chisholm who has a new CD out titled Sandwood. Duncan's reflections on that magical place are here  There is a U Tube vid here  
(Spot the old man,  Am Buachaille - The Shepherd, at 1.46. )
Then I tripped over a link to Bothy Culture & Beyond  at The SSE Hydro as part of Celtic Connections 2018. A rare bash if this wee U Tubey thing is anything to go by.

(Are you sure you have not been at the Devil's Buttermilk again with all this depression and stumbling and tripping over...Ed?)

Absolutely not, probably just dementia and in any case I cheered myself up by watching Calvary.  My second or third time of watching. Still not clear who killed the dog! Boy that's a laugh a minute.

Are you reading comfortably?

I read The Waters of Eternal Youth by Donna Leon, the 25th outing for Commissario Brunetti of the Venice Police, last year having  heard a radio interview with her. He  is the protagonist of  her tales of Italian/Venetian coppering and is  without any major domestic traumas in his life or problems with the bottle, the drugs, gee gees, or money. His  only addiction seems to be the works of Latin Historians. I've enjoyed them over the years and when the convenor of our reading group brought this along as our Xmas read I thought I would return and refresh my memory. Place, time, food and all the usual suspects - Paula, Elettra, Vianello, Patta and Scarpa, made this a 'comfort' read. Then I caught myself on! A historical rape offence which was never investigated let alone prosecuted. A murder which was committed to escape any justice for the crime of rape which could not be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations. What is the justification of following up such crimes? Indeed this case produced a further crime by way of concealment. The reason we are given in the fiction is advanced by the grandmother of the child that has been raped. The contessa (two of them at least in this novel) wants to know what happened to her grandchild and is anxious to have some sort of closure on the 'crime', before she dies. A fine play on justice, the law and the vagaries of both. Leon, we agreed in the group, tackles ideas and concerns with some subtlety. She raises debates about  the Vu Cumpra and the New Africans; the problems created by tourism; the effects of climate change; the evils of homelessness and the drug economy! However,  the ending is somewhat schmaltzy. If you like the sun going down on a picture of the wronged and brain damaged 30ish  child reconnecting with the horse of her teenage years in a warm embrace. All brought together by an attractive, empathetic, female, Commissario Claudia, an Olympian dressagist of some repute. (who will be up to no good in the future, I'll be bound...Ed!)
If ever you tire of editing this blog perhaps you could consider this advert for roadsweepers, in Venice, it advises applicants to bring their own water wings!

Jesus Charlie and Motherland

I was scanning through a Grauniad article about architecture when I saw a banner with the lettering, Jesus Charlie. Trying to work out the missing punctuation (it was a fluttering banner...) I spotted the fold which had partially obscured the I in je suis.
Still that could be a powerful campaign slogan - Jesus Charlie - punctuation not supplied and bring your own Charlie.
And now for something completely different:-
Motherland! No, not in praise of and apple pie, an earworm which even now can have me jigging round the kitchen leading the mass bands of  "WORLD PEACE & JUSTICE"  It took me some time after the Beeb series of the same name had finished to find this on soundcloud. May it infect your brain, pleasantly, for some time to come.  Nice one Olie Julian One of the comments on the track left me a little perplexed "Reminds me so much of the Hackney Colliery Band." 
Could be open to many interpretations.  

Candlelit

A StormyNight, an Early Start, Breakfast by Candlelight.
Not that exotic really but a nice effect from the secondary glazing.

Alas, not at Tiffanies and without the benefit of central heating. Brrr!

Adults in the Room?

I have just read Adults in the Room by Yanis Varoufakis. Herself could not believe me when I explained what I was reading. In fact I have had my nose in it for a few days now and been regularly emitting chortles, guffaws , gasps and I don't believe its (but of course I do). A certain lack of attention to domestic detail and response to questions such as  - Do you want a cup of tea now dear or would you like it poured over your ugly bonce while it is boiling hot? elicited distracted and vague responses 
I particularly liked the Swedish National Anthem defence though I much prefer the Icelandic national anthem it is recognised by fewer. The Penelope Postponement. The eurorunaround:- from officials of the institutions declaring this is a political matter and must be decided by a direction from the politicians who then claimed on enquiry that it was clearly a matter for the institutions. Does that ring a Brexit tocsin mon brave? Nobody comes out of this well except perhaps Mrs Yanis, who defended hubby by shielding him physically with her body from a marauding band of anarchists with broken bottles. Boy, those Greek women are tough.  Walter Schauble appears as a cross (very cross) between Dr Strangelove and a pantomime witch! Caramac Christine achieves an Olympic gold in synchronised monetary dithering  and various euro*uc*s as practitioners of fiscal waterboarding that would give the CIA nightmares. You can come to believe anything and the mantra that Greek debt is sustainable is as unbelieveable now as it was in 2015.
Other views of this tome are available There is clearly a 'Hiss and Tell' accusation that can be made but it provides a view of people, processes and abuse that beggars belief (and Greece in passing). The alleged paralysing depression of Alexis, remind you of anyone Godron! The cheek of the American Organs ringing up after eavesdropping on a critical private conversation to seek clarification, dooh!

Cross Words

The Grauniad xword editor (whom god preserve and IMHO is a man of great humanity and self-deprecation) has alerted us to the retirement of Rufus. Good luck to him and a long happy time ahead. One of the few compilers I could countenance recently. The Editor mentions, in passing, the  Clerihew a subtle form of humour and in the right hands and with the right target a devastating weapon.
(Yes the Clerihew did much to bring down the Third Reich and the Berlin Wall... Ed!)

Somebody got out of the office party on the wrong side!

Our Editor believes he is quite arty
He disgraced himself at the office party
His nose for the drink
Has left it quite pink

Mr Wikipedia opines:-

Clerihew
A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person put in an absurd light, or revealing something unknown or spurious about them. Bentley invented the clerihew in school and then popularized it in books.

and reports:-

In 1983, Games Magazine ran a contest titled "Do You Clerihew?" The winning entry was:

    Did Descartes
    Depart
    With the thought
    "Therefore I'm not"?

Seasonal Greetings to all our regular reader(s)

Hazie Daze

Fine day Monday at Lackford Lakes with the weather bright and crisp. All of which puts one in a reflective mood.

(It can only get worse...Ed!)
The old ticker gave a leap of joy as I recognised the flight form of one bird that I had never seen before, to my knowledge, in the feathers, as it were (take that as fast failing memory...Ed.) A kingfisher, which had been masquerading as a little brown job on a pole in the mid-distance, took off and flew across our line of sight. It banked and flashed its finery at us. A Mr Macfarlane had something to say about the weather too, and Halcyon Days, and kingfishers.

I'm so grateful for having RM's word of the day pointed out to me! Nice one B!

Xmas at # 10

Our contact in the far north, a pinko elf in Santa's Grotto, reported a whispered conversation between a tall woman in kitten heels, sitting on Santa's knee, and the big man himself!
She was heard pleading  for xmas to come early this year, the sooner the better!
This strange conversation was confirmed, in writing a few days later, when a letter from a certain address in Westminster to a Mr Claus was intercepted and steamed open. The contents, at least those not redacted, appeared to ask for the same pre-arrival of the festive season and additionally,  for some chocolate coated Castor Oil beans to be sent to a Ms Foster and other parties in the UK (NI branch). The letter was initialled TM (Susu). The Old Fella has replied suggesting that he will not be able to deliver early this year as it plays havoc with the livestock, Hanukkah, and office parties but perhaps in the spirit of cooperation and compromise he might suggest an extended transitional period! Also, do you think he was born yesterday with the chocolate whatsits. As he was one of the first people to get the Breaking Bad Bootlegged Box Set, which he thoroughly enjoyed, he would not be so DUPED. He would have the men in big boots and balaclavas running around the dispatch area at a critical period in the business cycle of the enterprise.
(Let's disregard most of the questions an editor, lawyer, trick-cycalist might have about this blog and your latest entry in particular, what in the name of all that is grub and holey is SUSU... Ed?)
According to some

Sisu is a grim, gritty, white-knuckle form of courage that is typically presented in situations where success is against the odds. It expresses itself in taking action against the odds and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity, in other words, deciding on a course of action and then sticking to that decision even despite repeated failures.

 A bit of a give away then, if you're Finnished!

It's the Energy Stupid

Mr Naughton had a pertinent column in Th'Observer this Sunday (26/11/17)
(When does he ever not...Ed?)
It concerns the energy consumed by the interweb and all its works and pomps. Big Gigawatts boyo and the 7% of world electricity consumption that is attributed to the digital ec(h)o system at present is only set to grow.
(So easy on the tweets there Donald...Ed!)
Turning to bit coin he points out the absurdity, in energy terms, of the method of production of this form of digital currency. The 'mining' or computing power necessary for creating the little b*g**rs will require the entirety of Ireland's electrical consumption at present and Denmark's in 2020.
(I'm shocked, electrified even. Personally speaking I would rather have The Old Sod and even the Huggy Danes...Ed)
Guilty as charged then!

Those Danes are good II

Interesting programme last night on the Labour party prior to the last election and the aftermath!
One of the MPs followed was Stephen Kinnock, nuff said. On the election night poised to win big he had agreed to talk, not only to the programme makers but also ITV, the Shopping Channel, Battersea dogs home, the Met(to help with their enquiries) and Sky. He muttered that they would probably ask him about 'The Jerrumbly'. His wife, a Dane of some distinction and political nous, sidled up to him and asked sotto danish voce a simple one word question "Why?". Thus was Kinnock Minor saved from falling over backwards and getting his trousers soaked.

G'day

If you need something to get you going in the morning can I suggest Methra - The Rising Sun.
Other tunes are available and more information from the band's interweb thingy Methra.
They are appearing in Suffolk even. God knows if they will find the way in. I hope they are not intending to come by train. 
(You need something these days to crawl from under the doonie. I'll give it a go... Ed)
No change there then!

News from Zimbabwe

So goodbye then Robert! Keith's mum says that there may have been a coup. A good run for your money or perhaps not yours! Much discussion as to what sort of coup it is. Helpfully, my briefing from the Grauniad arriving this morning over the interweb by e-waves suggests it is a Coup de Grace.
Worth the subscription for that alone.
(Should that not be d'Etat... Ed?)
Cherchez la femme!