Saturday, 31 May 2014
Thursday, 15 May 2014
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Scottish Islands Explorer: Staying on Flannan
Fascinating photos of the Flannan Isles via > Scottish Islands Explorer: Staying on Flannan: Not the easiest of landings, nor the most secure-looking steps, but this was the landing place for an expedition to the Flannan Isles ...
A place of (unsolved) mystery still - though for my taste much of the atmosphere is lost through the 'medium' of modern technology. It seems in a way a shame that you can go there on a fast boat with powerful lenses and take the place apart, in a sense. I can't help feeling that it's equally regrettable that visiting remote places these days seems to involve eye-popping amounts of ugly orange lycra, portable toilets, and hi-tech equipment. Oh for a wooden boat or a coracle, and a decent set of tweeds....or perhaps not....I suppose one must be 'practical'. Very unattractive however. But I suppose you aren't thinking about appearances when you're desperate for the toilet in the middle of a Force 9. Perhaps that's what happened to the three lighthouse-keepers! One of them made an especially violent curry, and they all....no of course not.
I wonder if they suffered from scurvy. It is possible, if they were there, unrelieved, for long stretches. I must read up on the mystery, and theories thereof.
Best account of Flannan that I can think of (the poem aside) is the fictionalised encapsulation in Neil Gunn's The Silver Darlings - they sail away, away west, beyond the horizon....and encounter wondrous things...
Haven't read that book for about ten years - not sure how much of my remembering is really from the book and how much is from my own imaginings.
A place of (unsolved) mystery still - though for my taste much of the atmosphere is lost through the 'medium' of modern technology. It seems in a way a shame that you can go there on a fast boat with powerful lenses and take the place apart, in a sense. I can't help feeling that it's equally regrettable that visiting remote places these days seems to involve eye-popping amounts of ugly orange lycra, portable toilets, and hi-tech equipment. Oh for a wooden boat or a coracle, and a decent set of tweeds....or perhaps not....I suppose one must be 'practical'. Very unattractive however. But I suppose you aren't thinking about appearances when you're desperate for the toilet in the middle of a Force 9. Perhaps that's what happened to the three lighthouse-keepers! One of them made an especially violent curry, and they all....no of course not.
I wonder if they suffered from scurvy. It is possible, if they were there, unrelieved, for long stretches. I must read up on the mystery, and theories thereof.
Best account of Flannan that I can think of (the poem aside) is the fictionalised encapsulation in Neil Gunn's The Silver Darlings - they sail away, away west, beyond the horizon....and encounter wondrous things...
Haven't read that book for about ten years - not sure how much of my remembering is really from the book and how much is from my own imaginings.
Saturday, 10 May 2014
Brain Fuel
One of the joys of life is food. When you're on a budget it can be difficult to eat well; I've had to learn how to do that. Food is fuel - fuel for the brain, fuel for the body, and most of all, fuel for the spirit. Without a healthy, varied diet, you might not actually get ill immediately, but you simply just don't feel good. I think even if I had lots of money to spend on food, I'd hate to waste it. I have a huge respect for it; I don't like ready-meals (been there, done that). I'm not keen on much out of packets - exceptions being Tesco crumble mix (39p), tinned tomato soup, Mr Kipling's French Fancies and sausage rolls out of the baker's. Home-made is almost always best. I rarely eat out and when I do I'm almost always disappointed with what appears before me - and actually quite annoyed. Why can't they cook, for God's sake?
I 'splashed out' on a bargain hotel break a few weeks ago ( as mentioned in a previous post). The food was so disgusting and repellent I could barely eat it. Over-cooked, bony fish, mushy potatoes, dry 'gateau', vile-tasting 'Lincolnshire' sausages at breakfast, liver pate that looked and smelled like dog muck - I could go on, but won't.
Well actually I probably will at some stage. Probably fairly soon if I'm honest.
In the meantime I've made a page to share some of my tried and tested low-cost recipes. I like them - you very well might not, so take your chances.
Here's the link. The first one is Lovage Soup. It's not everyone that has access to lovage (I do, obviously) but hey.
I 'splashed out' on a bargain hotel break a few weeks ago ( as mentioned in a previous post). The food was so disgusting and repellent I could barely eat it. Over-cooked, bony fish, mushy potatoes, dry 'gateau', vile-tasting 'Lincolnshire' sausages at breakfast, liver pate that looked and smelled like dog muck - I could go on, but won't.
Well actually I probably will at some stage. Probably fairly soon if I'm honest.
In the meantime I've made a page to share some of my tried and tested low-cost recipes. I like them - you very well might not, so take your chances.
Here's the link. The first one is Lovage Soup. It's not everyone that has access to lovage (I do, obviously) but hey.
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Thursday, 1 May 2014
Two of my favourite book illustrations
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| from Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willows, illustrated by EH Shepard |
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| from The Gashleycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey |
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