History is convuluted! From a poster seen in the local newsagent yesterday about the Youth Theatre in town playing Macbeth this week. To me proclaiming, Lay on , MacDuff… When shall we three meet again…Out, Out, damn spot….Is This A Dagger I see Before Me? (with dramatic actions) and having a elderly couple behind me… Read More Lay On, MacDuff & Other Stuff
My Dad had his amazing career ruined by his Masonic higher ups….allegedly. The only policeperson in Lincolnshire employed by “Spooks” ? who knew too much about too many? Mine was ruined by so-called friends/employees who tried the “internal hostile takeover.” I hit back the day my father died by contacting Company Solicitors who advised me… Read More On the Road to Bedlam : Highland Seers
Annie Lennox wrote : These are the contents of my head. This song is the story of almost 4o years of marriage to a gobby Scottish Sagittarian empath. Tomorrow we are exactly 3 months away from the RUBY anniversary :o) Sidetracked? Moi? Apparently I’ve suddenly turned into a much nicer person! I’m certain it’s my… Read More New Goose Feather Pillows/Cat/Stephen Fry/Sherlock
Song lyrics. Pay attention, mes braves. Apparently and Allegedly – it was too much trouble for Gene Kelly and a film crew to travel across the pond and find a proper location IN SCOTLAND. So. Brigadoon is smaltzy L.A. lot with lots of songs and tartan and fake myth. Don’t ask me. I know nothing.… Read More I SAW Brigadoon.
Snow White et al produced a mind-field of stuff that I could not afford to forget. So I picked up a pen and a notebook and pages later I realised that more time was needed. I’ve NEVER trusted a computer. EVERYTHING important in my life is hand-written and filed…….somewhere! A British Easter Sunday Dinner is… Read More REWIND: Don’t You (Forget About Me)
The US of A goes nuts for St Paddy’s Day. M’eh. How many of them actually lived through The Conflict? I did. Twice. Once as a serving HM.Forces police person. Once as a wife and mother…my baby son and I were so effing close to a bomb explosion in Lisburn that it still gives me… Read More Dál Riata: The Powerful Gaelic Kingdom of Scotland and Ireland
Caledonia (/ˌkælɪˈdoʊniə/; Latin: Calēdonia [kaleːˈdonia]) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain (Latin: Britannia) that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland.[1] Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all of Scotland.[2] During the Roman Empire’s occupation of Scotland, the area they called Caledonia was physically separated from the… Read More Caledonia & The Antonine Wall
My nephew was well pleased (as a massive Dr. WHO fan) that he was related to David Tennant. Until they learned from whence this Doctor came. His father is everso, everso English. Yup. But Dave & Catherine are best buddies and have worked together many times. AND : Heartwarmingly, they do Shakespeare. :o)
I have not seen my husband for 2 and a half days now. He works for the council from 6 am to 4 pm then is on Emergency Rescue call (all day and night) for three weeks out of four. I’m an early to bed, early to rise person. 5 to 6 am is wake… Read More Missing in Action
OH. I remember now why I’ve always loved RLS’s writing. This short story is featured in Stephen Fry’s latest Ghost Stories book and I listened to it last night. For a Victorian, RLS did not have verbal diarrhea. I knew who the mysterious K was. Very bad man. And the character of Fettes is wonderful.… Read More The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
Yup. Definitely missing that gene. Not only was Mary a mathematician, astronomer, writer and polymath, she was also a distantly distant cousin of mine. She married a son of Admiral, Sir Samuel Greig – Captain Samuil Samuilovich Greig. But decided she didn’t like him much and then married a man called Somerville. But she and… Read More My Missing Gene : Mary Somerville, The First Scientist.
Nope. Never been but will go one day. For me Orkney is part of my DNA – 36% Scottish/29% Scandinavian. It’s also where “Macbeth” came from. According to MSHistory. And Dorothy Dunnett in King Hereafter. King Hereafter was Dunnett’s tour-de-force wherein she conflated Macbeth and Thorfinn. A perfectly viable sitch in the 1970’s. Why not?… Read More What/Who/Where is ORKNEY?
Last weekend we talking pikeys. HE told me off for being very non-PC. I laughed out loud because he’s the least PC person I know. Anyhoo. Pikeys aka Gypsies. And how I’d lived with the grandparents in a tiny village in North Lincolnshire (twice) Both times long enough to be enrolled in the village school.… Read More Oor Wullie & The Broons
There has been no secret here about my love for Freddie and Queen. Freddie aka Farrokh Bulsara. He was born into a Farsi/Parsi family. I’ve worked with Farsi/Parsi in Karachi and Dubai. Freddie has a voice that defies all vocal coaches. He also died on my birthday. 24th of November. 1991 – We’d moved from… Read More Freddie & Me : Highlander
FFS. We can take the piss out of ourselves with spades because we know who and what we are. Mad. Bad. Dangerous to know……..Apologies to Lord Byron. SKYFALL. Glencoe. Highlands. Scotland. A never ending circle. A wheel within a wheel as Ezekiel says in the Bible. Thank y’all so much for stealing MY life YouTube… Read More Highlander Doesn’t Need A Remake : STOP Dissing MY Ancestors
Why is PIE such a difficult thing? I don’t understand the mind-boggle about British Pies. Oh and BTW : We invented apple pie :o) SCOTCH PIE. Oooooh. Still obessing. Haggis. Still disgusting. Just my personal taste.
Loving Neil Oliver. Nanny Lily, Dad’s Mum, was born and bred there. She gave us my Dad. My Dad gave us me. Ergo : Blaming Glasgow for my life … Laugh Out Loud :o) It’s not a city that I know well. I know Belfast better, and Berlin, and Karachi. Strange but True. And my… Read More Glasgow : The Making of ME
Sad as it sounds – my brothers and I spent quite a lot of our childhood visiting our paternal grandparents in Kinghorn, Fife. We are old enough to remember those hazy, crazy, days of childhood and the FREEDOM to roam. I’ll never remember just how many times we’d walk down the hill from grandparents’ flat… Read More Kinghorn Railway Station
Get a dictionary or several and look it up. I’m VERY sarcastic but I know Dignity. Give respect, Get Respect. Give Vile, Get Vile. Divine Law, loves. Deacon Blue? I love them. Deacon Blue are a Scottish pop rock band formed in Glasgow during 1985. The line-up of the band consists of vocalists Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, keyboard player James Prime and drummer Dougie Vipond.… Read More Dignity?
These two caught me first with today’s listen to Abba – SOS. There’s a lot to watch. And this one with 58k views kinda kicks arse. I LOVE Simple Minds. Jim Kerr’s voice always brings back a certain time in my life when EVERYTHING was possible and there at the fingertips. Don’t, Don’t, Don’t….. YAY!… Read More Don’t You – Forget About Me
I was so sickened a few years back when live chatters on the UAP channel started taking the piss out of me by pretending they were Scottish and asking if other were Rangers or Celtic. All of these chatters Americans. So STOOPID! When you have links to Glasgow, you have just ONE football team you… Read More The Old Firm : Glasgow Football
I love Marina Warner’s books. The past few days I’ve been re-reading Phantasmagoria and suddenly had an epiphany about the Cult of the Black Virgins. But that’s for another time. The book : Phantasmagoria explores ideas of spirit and soul since the Enlightenment; it traces metaphors that have traditionally conveyed the presence of immaterial forces,… Read More Phantasmagoria by Marina Warner
I’m peeling shallots and sneezing my head off when I hear a familiar sound from the other room. HOLD UP, says my brain. What is that TV showing now? Aha. Press pause and then let Mr Marine’s videos roll. Wonderful. I went to Inverbrothock School in Arbroath. When Dad was away doing the mountain thing… Read More 45 Commando : Arbroath
I’m a Greig. From a sept of Mac Gregor. Edvard Grieg is a Norwegian composer, from a sept of MacGregor. Isn’t it annoying when you are born with a surname that no one can spell right or pronounce right? Edvard Grieg, Norwegian, comes from the same family as me. 36% Scottish, 29% Scandinavian is me.… Read More Greig vs Grieg
There is something so very sexy about a man in a kilt. My Dad NEVER wore one though. Even at my cousin Fiona’s wedding in Kinghorn when all other men had their kilts on, Dad stayed in his kecks. Like me, he knew the history of the kilt. Like me, he knew all about Sir… Read More Man in a Kilt? YES, Please :o)
It’s so long since I lived in my “home” land that even my own family from there can be hard to understand. I used to speak Scots as a child. Then Scottish English then just RP English, slightly posh unless the rage sets in then it goes from gutter to gobblydegook. The Gaelic. I know… Read More The Gaelic/Gallic – Scotland’s Three Languages
I’ve never been to Man but it’s on my list because I researched far too much of it’s history. I may have missed, but just saying forgot, that Godred and the MacDonald’s share much. My paternal grandmother was a MacDonald. No wonder I’m 29% Viking :o) P.S. The video about Margaret Beaufort yesterday showed a… Read More Manx : Not TT but Godred Crovan & MacDonald
There is no need to make up BS about History such as free energy, mud flood, Tartaria Everys Wheres, Masonic Shenanigans, Founders vs Finders and all that jazz. When you know quite a bit about history, you can weave a seamless pattern. History is part propaganda, part myth and legend, part fantasy, part wannabe, part… Read More The Seamless Tapestry of History
Crow-sitting, cooking, painting, cleaning, chilling for a minute with an audiobook on the TV. A Lodging For The Night by Robert Louis Stevenson from Gates of Imagination YouTube channel. I’ve always loved how RLS publicly gave credit to The Brownies for his stories. Dreams. Oh no. MacWoodFleet song incoming.
Oh. Melancholy vibe :o( I’ve been looking through my inheritance. A cardboard box of photos and bit and bobs. Lily and Sam. My paternal Grandparents. As a small child Lily was always a BIG woman. Physically and mentally. Today she’d be classed as average and short. She was born and bred in the Gorbals, Glasgow.… Read More Terrorists in Glasgow : Lily
Musk. I wrote a scene in Weave a Garland that had Wat Montagu wrinkle his nose as he smelled the arrival of Henry Rich (Wat’s most dearly despised) before he saw him. Henry was a fan of MUSK OIL. Did you know? I do. Let’s talk BOLLOCKS :o) Neil Oliver….talks Musk
A new Hamish Macbeth. The Highlander who HATES liars.
Call me FEY. That’s fine and a quality of this Highlander’s Bloodline. We’re All Doomed – as the saying goes :o) Centuries later, this wrong still resonates. And we will NEVER forgive it.
The pipes, the pipes are calling, From glen to glen and down the mountainside… I caught a few minutes of Owen Benjamin yesterday. Ha! Gotcha – I always felt that you had a Highlander’s soul, young man. No one fights so long and so hard and so well without this fearless need for Freedom :o)… Read More Outlawed Tune on Outlawed Pipes
BTW : I am a Highlander. Both my paternal grandfather and grandmother are from Highland Clans. It’s in MY DNA…sent to/researched and the results given by complete strangers to me. We are Natural Empaths. Fact. This destroyed my Dad and is trying to destroy me too. Although, unlike my father, I’ve embraced and not denied… Read More The Chosen Ones
Thank you so much. Wow. I love Boyce Avenue and have lost count of the amount of times I’ve shared the original Proclaimers singing this wonderful song. BIG SMILE :o)
First Up : I only ever watched the first episode of Vikings and have never watched a single episode of Game of Thrones by GRRRRR whatever. I have read the Prose Edda and some Viking Mythology. Oh. Lagertha. If y’all’d done to me what Aslaug did to her way back then, I’d’ve borrowed Magnus Bareleg’s… Read More Lagertha
Steaming is the Scottish word for…? When Eddi sings – When I’m steaming I’m shouting your name out loud…! I’ve only watched 300 once. And laughed every time Gerry’s accent slipped oot. Just watch below and below. I make sense to me. Being my only follower – That’s Grand :o) Miles too tall. Swear like… Read More STEAMING
The Cross on Fire is a centuries old Highland Calling to Arms. When a Clan was being attacked, a runner would cover many miles holding this cross to warn his family members. But. Of course. As always. It’s been abused. The warning of the Fiery Cross went from saving families from wholesale slaughter to being… Read More The Fiery Cross : Clan vs Klan
By the last month of December 2019 I’d had as much as I could bear from The Three Blind Mice! FEB, JL, UAP To this day I am banned from all of their channels. Scary Wary – NOT! All three truly believe that they were amongst the first/the best/the vanguard who put their heads above… Read More Keep Your Head Below the Parapet
Sometimes this song makes me weep with frustration. We are given…yes GIVEN…gifts. Some at birth. Some through sheer hard work and bloody-mindedness. The lyrics here are about questioning the use of these gifts. Or rather, how we choose to use these gifts. Between those who use their neighboursAnd those who use the caneBetween those in… Read More What You Do With What You’ve Got : Ideas Worth Shredding
This is so ingrained in me. If I’m asked to PROMISE and in doubt, I’ll say that I can’t. My word is my dignity is my life. Y’ok. I can tell a little white lie to protect a loved ones feelings. But I’m a Sagi. Tactless or BRUTALLY honest. Both. Only the Strongest of the… Read More DIGNITY ; My Word IS My Bond
This vinyl LP has travelled FAR with me. Across seas and borders, lands and islands. I still have it. Way before my boys were born, this was a constant companion.
I love trains. Well, I used to love trains. Chugging over the Forth Rail Bridge (gateway to/from Edinburgh) with my Dad holding me up at the window to throw out a penny to the river. Priceless memories. It was said that luck was invited when a coin was thrown into Forth Bay, while passing the Forth… Read More Train Tracks
Such gorgeous memories, and not only mine. I’ve had this on max vol and my sons … wow! They were taken back to exactly the same time. Summer. A secret Army location in Hampshire. Longmoor Camp. Me sitting on the floor with the French doors to the back garden wide open, listening to my 6… Read More Lesson Learned : In The Right Place Now
Uncontrolled Historian 