The Imperceptible Immigrant

Fort William

May 21, 2024 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Following our restorative sojourn on the island of Skye The Girl and I progressed slowly down the west coast of Scotland to Fort William. One of the three forts built along the Great Glen (the others being Fort Augustus and Fort George) between 1690 and 1750 to facilitate the suppression of rebellious Jacobites throughout the highlands, Fort William has evolved into a major tourist centre whose inhabitants and visitors share with Canadians a love of the great outdoors.

Though not the most attractive of towns Fort William is set in the dramatically beautiful landscape of Lochaber. It is also one of the railway-connected centres that my (non car-owning) family made use of some fifty years and more ago as a base for visiting the surrounding attractions.

Such delights include – Ben Nevis, the Great Glen (complete with Loch Ness, Castle Urquhart and so forth), the Caledonian Canal, Glencoe and the West Coast railway to Mallaig.

Here are some photographic images:

This is Ben Nevis – the highest peak in the British Isles.

This is the entrance to the Caledonian Canal, the which was a literal stones-throw from our Airbnb…

…as was this pretty garden. We estimated that the season in Scotland was running approximately 3 – 4 weeks behind that of British Columbia – which meant that we got to see some new blooms for the second time this year.

These photos were taken at both the pass and the village of Glencoe. Difficult to avoid the sensation of the weight of history here.

Tags: Holiday, Photo, Scotland, Travel

A little happy dance

May 14, 2024 in Life as we know it, Photos | Permalink

“When you buy from a small business, an actual person does a little happy dance.”

Anonymous

Whilst on the island of Skye we stayed in an excellent Airbnb near the remote hamlet of Glendale. This diminutive gathering of (primarily) old crofter’s cottages at the north-west tip of the island also includes (naturally) a small church, a rather stylish cafe… and the Glendale General Stores and Post Office.

Knowing that our residence was well equipped in the kitchen department we had shopped on our way to Skye and thus arrived bearing venison steaks and all the appropriate accoutrements to provide ourselves with a splendid dinner…

…with one exception. Being out of the habit these days we had omitted the purchase of a suitable bottle of wine.

Coming upon the Glendale General Stores and Post Office we pondered the odds of taking an extremely long shot and seeing if they might have a bottle wine of any variety. This seemed extremely unlikely, given that the store is – as you will see from the photo above – tiny!

Tiny – but mighty! Not only is the shop a great deal larger than it looks (Tardis-like it goes on and on) but it also incorporates such unlikely features as this compact bulk foods section:

Not only did they have a bottle of wine, they had a floor to ceiling unit of bottles. There – at the front of the red wine shelves – was a very passable Chateauneuf du Pape! The proprietor apologised that this was his last bottle thereof, but we happily grabbed it, eulogised the man’s forethought and planning and scampered off to cook up a feast.

Well! Books… covers… impetuosity of judgement…

Life is – as always – full of surprises.

Tags: food and drink, Holiday, Photo, Scotland, Skye, Travel

Over the sea…

May 12, 2024 in Life as we know it, Photos | Permalink

“Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that’s born to be king
Over the sea to Skye”

The Skye Boat Song

I have already made mention, in this compendium of travelling trivia, of the hiatus on Skye that followed the first week of busy journeying, sight-seeing and experience gathering. It was good to come to rest for a few days. The weather alternated between balmy sunshine and socked-in days and we accordingly ventured forth on the winding one-track roads (with passing-places) to visit the sights, or stayed near home walking on the blustery cliffs and soaking in the splendid tub (the first on our trip) that had been one of the selling points of the beautifully presented Air B & B that The Girl had selected for us.

Herewith a random selection of images:

These photos were taken at the Skye Museum of Island Life.

This is the tomb of Flora MacDonald. Fashion designer Alexander McQueen lies nearby!

This is what you have to do on Skye if you want your caravan still to be there after the winter.

Tags: Holiday, Photo, Scotland, Skye, Travel, Weather

Telling stories

May 8, 2024 in Life as we know it, Photos | Permalink

“In Scotland, when people congregate, they tend to argue and discuss and reason; in Orkney, they tell stories.”

George Mackay Brown

There are many stories in and about Orkney – covering a great span of history. From the distant Neolithic past we moved forward to the last century.

During both the first and second world wars the natural deep water harbour that is encompassed by the Orkney islands – Scapa Flow – was a haven to the British Home Fleet. At the end of the Great War it also hosted 74 ships of the surrendered German fleet as the armistice negotiations dragged on. Believing that its ships would be handed over to other European nations the German commander – Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter – gave the command to scuttle the entire fleet in the Flow. A total of 52 ships went to the seafloor and this remains the greatest loss of shipping ever recorded in a single day.

Many of these ships were subsequently raised, not least because of the value of the steel therein. All steel produced since the Trinity atomic bomb tests in 1946 has exhibited a higher than previous level of background radiation as a result of the raised levels in the oxygen used in the smelting process. For some applications – such as the manufacture of medical scanners – this is not optimal, though since surface testing was stopped the levels have, apparently, been slowly falling again.

In the second world war the British battleship, Royal Oak, was sunk by German U boat, U-47, which had contrived to avoid the defences and to penetrate the Flow. Churchill immediately ordered the construction of further barriers to prevent any future such ingress, the which were constructed by Italian prisoners of war. Being a long way from home (and from their familiar Mediterranean climate) these captives asked – and were granted – permission to convert a Nissen hut into a chapel. This has subsequently been restored and is the subject of these photos:

Whilst on this religious theme I should mention Orkney’s lovely cathedral – St. Magnus – which can be found in Kirkwall.

The story of St. Magnus is an interesting example of the intersection between a narrative – in the form of one or more written sagas – and what is recognised by the church to be historical and ‘religious’ truth. It seems inevitable that versimilitude lies somewhere between, but different folk clearly take from the different elements that which they need the most.

Tags: Holiday, Orkney, Photo, Scotland, Travel

Breathe out…

May 4, 2024 in Life as we know it, Photos | Permalink

This is the morning view from our converted byre in the north west corner of Skye. The couple who converted it live in the wee But and Ben in the photo (actually not so wee!) the which they also converted.

As trailed in yesterday’s post, we are taking a few days to breathe out – to review where we have been and what we have done and to place it all into some larger context.

When we started planning our trip to Caledonia we each had our own agendas. The Girl was keen to revisit places and sights that she had experienced once before on her only previous trip to Scotland. I was eager to see if I could expand the sense of a link to my ancestors that I had originally been gifted by my father – who was always most proud of his Scottish heritage.

So – here we are, about half way through our expedition and this is probably a good opportunity to give some thought to how successful (or otherwise) we have been in achieving our objectives thus far.

When we picked up our hire car in Edinburgh and headed for the highlands we took a brief detour to visit Roslynn Chapel, the which had particularly struck The Girl on her previous trip. Visitors are not allowed to take photos of the wonderful and surprising interior carvings for which the chapel is renowned, so I am instead offering the reader a link to the chapel’s website:

Home

Needless to say, the chapel worked its magic as anticipated.

Our initial sojourn in the highlands found us in a beautifully and thoughtfully converted Air B & B in Pitlochry. This little hideaway – over the garage of a guest house – was wonderfully peaceful and ideally placed for excursions to a variety of sites nearby that I had visited many times back in the day on family holidays.

The Girl and I visited Blair Atholl (and its castle), Bruar (where yet can be found our clan museum) and Old Struan (home to the clan church). The weather was overcast and still quite chilly at this point so photographic opportunities were somewhat limited. These are of Blair Castle – home to the Dukes of Atholl and to Europe’s only private army!

We also visited the pass of Killiecrankie and replicated much of a walk that was a regular and much loved feature of our family holidays in Perthshire.

Herewith a few photos:

This promontory is Soldier’s Leap, so named because – in the rout that followed the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 – one of the fleeing redcoat soldiers is reputed to have leapt 18 feet across the Garry river to escape the pursuing Jacobites.

Tags: Holiday, Photo, Scotland, Travel

Auld reekie

April 28, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

Well – we made it to Scotland in one piece – although the journey was not entirely trouble free. A three hour delay to our flight from Vancouver to London meant we had to catch a later flight to Edinburgh, which meant that we reached our apartment there at about 11:00pm, after 24 hours of travel.

The Girl had found us a splendid National Trust apartment right on the Royal Mile in the old town:

The only downside was that the apartment is on the fifth floor and we had to get our heavy suitcases up this staircase:

It is a good thing that I work out!

We spent a splendid couple of days in Edinburgh before heading for the Highlands. Here are some images:

Tags: Edinburgh, Holiday, Photo, Scotland, Travel

That spring thing

April 15, 2024 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

Took a while getting here this year – but after the snow, rain, hail, winds, damp, grey skies and general lacklustre demeanor – Spring is finally putting in an appearance. Mother Nature – who has been drumming her fingers on the counter-top for some weeks now – enquires frostily (seemed appropriate):

“What kept you”?

Cue the usual annual photos of Mother Nature doing what she does best…

Tags: nature, Photo, Spring, Weather

Let there be light – 2

March 18, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

A few more images from the City of Glass!

All of these photos – as well as the images in the previous post – were taken from the window of our hotel room in Coal Harbour.

Cool – huh?!

Tags: Photo, Vancouver, work

Let there be light – 1

March 15, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

To Vancouver last weekend for a work event…

That is one of The Girl’s work events, of course. I only work from home these days – and more power to that – but The Girl’s new venture is sending her darting about hither and thither just at the moment and on this occasion I went along for the ride.

We were kept pretty busy eventing (which all went pretty well, as far as I was able to ascertain) but we still had time to dine out in a manner to which we are no longer as accustomed as once we were (probably a good thing!)

We didn’t get to do much more than that in Vancouver (unless you count a fairly brief visit to IKEA on the way back) but given that the weather was pretty terrible (blowing half a gale in the Georgia Strait) that was a good call.

When the cloud cover blew away late in the day I thought I would take some photos from our room of the early evening light playing on downtown Vancouver’s signature glass edifices. Herewith some examples:

Tags: Photo, Vancouver, Weather, work

Open to improvement

February 27, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

The home is a human institution. All human institutions are open to improvement.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

As we wait for spring to arrive (today the sun shone – then it hailed, whilst the sun still shone – then it clouded over and big fluffy snowflakes started falling. We are now left with what is, I am assured, termed a ‘dusting’!) our thoughts inevitably turn to matters inside the home.

The Girl and I are very fond of our dark-wood furniture – a fair amount of which followed us here from the UK. One ensemble that did not was our rather fine twin pedestal dining room table and matching chairs – the which we acquired here in Victoria from some folks who no longer had room for it. For a reproduction suite it was and is really pretty splendid, with the exception of the rather tasteless fabric with which the chairs had been re-covered. Having lived with this for a couple of years we decided that it was high time to get things upgraded.

As is often the way here in Canada we rapidly established that the perfectionist friend of ours – who did all the difficult painting when we renovated our main floor some years back – was also a wiz at re-upholstering chairs and benches. Cool! She has just completed the task – perfectly as ever – and we thank her most gratefully.

Whilst we were at it we thought we would buy a couple of nice stools for the peninsula between our kitchen and dining room – and a dark-wood plant stand for our over exuberant spider plant.

Anyhow – I thought you might like to see a few photos…