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Sunday 31 August 2008

Scottish Herring Market


Scottish Herring Market.

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Saturday 30 August 2008

Scottish Air


"Some folk love old England, While others favour France, But there's nothing like the Scottish Air, To make you hooch and dance."

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Friday 29 August 2008

Scottish Net Repairing


Scottish Net Repairing.

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Thursday 28 August 2008

Scottish Island Women


Scottish Island Women on St. Kilda, Scotland.

The Life and Death of St. Kilda. From beginnings of known history on St. Kilda, through to the evacuation and the main causes for it, and onto the islands new role as a bird sanctury and a military observation base. A story of a way of life that you would have thought could not have existed in such a barren and wild outcrop of rock. It is fascinating tale of how these Scottish Islanders existed from day to day with the poorest of resources. The St. Kildans lived on seabirds, sheep and anything else they could fashion into a commodity for centuries. The Life and Death of St. Kilda.

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Wednesday 27 August 2008

Scottish Invocation

Scottish invocation. The "Invocation To The Graces" was composed for a girl on her marriage on Uist and is one of the finest Scottish poems.

I Bathe thy palms
In showers of wine,
In the lustral fire,
In the seven elements,
In the juice of the rasps,
In the milk of honey,
And I place the nine pure choice graces
In thy fair fond face,

The grace of form,
The grace of voice,
The grace of fortune,
The grace of goodness,
The grace of wisdom,
The grace of charity,

The grace of choice maidenliness,
The grace of whole-souled loveliness,
The grace of goodly speech.

Dark is yonder town,
Dark are those therein,
Thou art the brown swan,
Going in among them.
Their hearts are under thy control,
Their tongues are beneath thy sole,
Nor will they ever utter a word
To give thee offence.

A shade art thou in the heat,
A shelter art thou in the cold,
Eyes art thou to the blind,
A staff art thou to the pilgrim,
An island art thou at sea,
A fortress art thou on land,
A well art thou in the desert,
Health art thou to the ailing.

Thine is the skill of the Fairy Woman,
Thine is the virtue of Bride the calm,
Thine is the faith of Mary the mild,
Thine is the tact of the woman of Greece,
Thine is the beauty of Emir the lovely,
Thine is the tenderness of Darthula delightful,
Thine is the courage of Maebh the strong,
Thine is the charm of Binne-bheul.

Thou art the joy of all joyous things,
Thou art the light of the beam of the sun,

Thou art the door of the chief of hospitality,
Thou art the surpassing star of guidance,
Thou art the step of the deer of the hill,
Thou art the step of the steed of the plain,
Thou art the grace of the swan of swimming,
Thou art the loveliness of all lovely desires.

The lovely likeness of the Lord
Is in thy pure face,
The loveliest likeness that
Was upon earth.

The best hour of the day be thine,
The best day of the week be thine,
The best week of the year be thine,
The best year in the Son of God's domain be thine.

Peter has come and Paul has come,
James has come and John has come,
Muriel and Mary Virgin have come,
Uriel the all-beneficent has come,
Ariel the beauteousness of the young has come,
Gabriel the seer of the Virgin has come,
Raphael the prince of the valiant has come,
And Michael the chief of the hosts has come,

And Jesus Christ the mild has come,
And the Spirit of true guidance has come,
And the King of kings has come on the helm,
To bestow on thee their affection and their love,
To bestow on thee their affection and their love.

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Tuesday 26 August 2008

Scottish Ringing Stone


Scottish Ringing Stone. This mysterious boulder, on Isle of Tiree, Scotland, is known locally as the Ringing Stone because of the metallic sound it makes if you hit it, features over 50 Bronze Age cup marks and probably dates back to the Ice Age.

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Saturday 23 August 2008

Scottish Hayweights


Scottish Hayweights and old Hayweights Clock.

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Scottish Buchan Ness Lighthouse


Scottish Buchan Ness Lighthouse. Imagine the view, smell the sea air, feel the freedom of staying in a lighthouse cottage. Now think comfort and luxury and you’re on your way to a Buchan Ness Lighthouse Holiday. With the breathtaking scenery of one of Scotlands best kept secrets, the Buchan Coast, our lighthouse is less than an hours drive from Aberdeen. With miles of empty beaches, some of the best Golf Courses and Surfing in Britain, and within easy reach of Castles and Whisky, our holidays offer something for everyone. Whether its relaxation, walking, scenery, tourist attractions, history or romance you’re seeking you can find it all with Buchan Ness Lighthouse Holidays.

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Friday 22 August 2008

Scottish Barns Ness Lighthouse


Scottish Barns Ness Lighthouse. The Lighthouse at Barns Ness is located on a headland located on the coast of East Lothian, and was built by David A Stevenson, Engineer to the Commissioners. The light was first exhibited on 1 October 1901, almost two and a half years after building operations commenced. The tower is 121 feet high.

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Thursday 21 August 2008

Monday 18 August 2008

Scottish Outstanding Beauty Spot


Queens View Loch Tummel, near Pitlochry, Highland Perthshire, Scotland. One of the outstanding beauty spots in all of Scotland is the Queen’s View where a panorama of Scottish loch and mountain scenery stretches westwards as far as the Glen Coe hills, on clear days.

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Scottish Money Lender

George Heriot, an Edinburgh jeweller and money lender, of the seventeenth century, visited the Royal apartments at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, and found King James the Sixth basking before a fire of exotic perfumed wood from the Orient.
"Your Majesty, if you will step along to my shop, I will show you an even more costly flame," said Heriot. The King made his way to Heriot's tiny shop and found an unspectacular fire in the grate. Then the jeweller took from his pocket an I0U note from the King for two thousand pounds, casually tossed it on to the fire, and asked:
"Now, sire, is Your Majesty's fire or mine the more expensive one?"

Sunday 17 August 2008

Scottish Conversation and Gossip

An old Scottish farmer in Galloway used to go to church regularly, mainly for the sake of the conversation and gossip among the congregation after the service. On being taken to task by the minister for absenting himself, he replied; " Oh, there's no need to go to the kirk nowadays. Everybody gets a newspaper. "

Best Scottish Pulpit Humour.

Visit Historic Scottish Trongate


Visit Historic Scottish Trongate in Glasgow Scotland.

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Scottish Horse Drawn Fire Engine


An old view of a Scottish Horse Drawn Fire Engine in Central Scotland.

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Thursday 14 August 2008

Scottish Tyrannical Wife

A Scottish tyrannical wife in Inverness, Scotland, tried to stop her husband from drinking by employing her brother to act the part of a ghost, and so frighten him on the way home from a drinking session. As the apparition appeared before him, the husband asked: " And who are you? " " I am Auld Nick, " was the reply. To which the husband, still very much in his cups, retorted: " Man, are you really? Come away, now, and give me a shake of your hand. I am married to one of your sisters ! "

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Wednesday 13 August 2008

Scottish Scenic Falls


Falls of Dochart, Killin, Scotland. These Scottish Falls form the most scenic and most photographed section of the River Dochart in Glen Dochart.

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Tuesday 12 August 2008

Scottish Imbibers

The two old Scottish men had imbibed overmuch. Saying his good-night, the one told the other: "John, when you go out the door, you will see two taxis. Take the one on the left, for the one on the right is not there !"

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Best Scottish Wit

A Scottish Wit in the nineteenth century commented:
The dividing line between bad and good is being found out.

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Sunday 10 August 2008

Best Scottish Maryhill Humour

A not so subtle story concerns the coffin that popped out of a Scottish hearse as it was being driven up a hill to a cemetery in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland. It slid back down the hill and across the street into a chemist's shop. As it was crossing the floor, the man inside sat up and asked the chemist: "Say, sir, have you got anything to stop my coffin?"

Best Scottish Humour.

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Saturday 9 August 2008

Thursday 7 August 2008

Best Scottish Skye Bridge Story


Best Scottish Skye Bridge Story. The Skye Bridge Story. Multi-national Interests and People Power. At Hogmanay in 2004 there was a huge street party in the West Highland village of Kyle of Lochalsh. Across the water in the Isle of Skye village of Kyleakin there was similar celebration. Many hundreds joined the party and the fireworks display from both sides of the Kyle.

The occasion was the scrapping of the tolls on the Skye Bridge that had taken place, without warning, ten days earlier.

Behind this public display of joy is a story that had run for more than ten years. It is a story that goes right to the heart of government policy, the Skye bridge was the first Public Finance Initiative in the UK, where a public project is built by private capital and the investor charges for the facility for years to come.

The Skye and Lochalsh community felt a strong sense of injustice about what was being imposed on them from afar and The Skye Bridge Story is an entertaining and gripping account of events. "We were not, as we first thought," writes Andy Anderson who has compiled this account of island protest, "just opposing a government. We were in fact opposing the whole mindset, which was itself a ‘captive’ of international companies who were determined to use the Skye Bridge project as an experiment."

Richly illustrated and presented as a bilingual Gaelic/English text, The Skye Bridge Story is a life-affirming account of what is possible when people exercise their sense of justice.

Andy Anderson was a Skye Bridge campaigner who was charged and served a prison sentence for refusal to pay the tolls. He has been assisted by numerous local people in the compilation of this book. The Skye Bridge Story: Multi-national Interests and People Power.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

Best Encyclopaedia of Scottish Football


Best Encyclopaedia of Scottish Football. Scottish Football is an enormous subject. Deeply ingrained in Scottish culture for well over a century, the vast, all-encompassing research contained within this book delves into every crevice that football in Scotland reaches. The first ever "Encyclopedia of Scottish Football" is packed with in-depth information and contains entries on every Scottish team that has ever participated in the Scottish League, and also on all the great players, managers and personalities of Scottish football, including Jock Stein, Kenny Dalglish, Barry Ferguson, Shunsuke Nakamura, Denis Law, Wattie Arnott, Jim Baxter, Alan Morton, Jimmy McGrory, Terry Butcher and John Robertson. All of Scotland's international games, Scottish Cup finals and Scottish League Cup finals are detailed, as are the winners of all the regional trophies, while also included are Scottish league tables, Scottish caps, derby matches, including the fierce Old Firm rivalry, the amateur leagues and the record of Scottish clubs in Europe.There are also entries on the origins of the game, goalscoring records, terrace chants and penalty shootouts, as well as the less pleasant aspects of the game such as violence, disasters and sectarianism, and even the occasion when Scottish football was affected by an eclipse of the sun.

Packed with information about Scotland's vast football heritage, this is a book that followers of Scottish football will want to refer to again and again. An Encyclopaedia of Scottish Football.

Monday 4 August 2008

Being Scottish Being a Scot


Being Scottish Being a Scot. "My first big break came when I was five years old. It's taken me more than seventy years to realise that. You see, at five I first learnt to read. It's that simple and it's that profound. I left school at thirteen. I didn't have a formal education...It has been a long return journey from my two-room Fountainbridge home in the smoky industrial end of Edinburgh opposite the McCowans' toffee factory. There was no bathroom with a communal toilet outside. For years we had only gas lighting. Sometimes the light in the shared stairway would be out after some desperado had broken the mantle to bubble gas through milk for kicks." Although he is an indubitably international superstar, Sir Sean Connery still knows the city of Edinburgh practically street by street from delivering the morning milk as a schoolboy. His round included Fettes College, where Ian Fleming had sent his fictional James Bond after he was expelled from Eton. 'Being a Scot' is a vivid and highly personal portrait of Scotland and its achievements, which is self-revelatory whilst full of Sir Sean's desire to shine light upon Scottish success and heroic failure.His personal quest with his friend and co-writer Murray Grigor has been to seek answers to some perplexing questions.

How did Scots come to devise so many new sports and games, or raise others to new heights? What gave fire to the Gothic tendency in Scottish literature? Why have so many creatively inventive and influential architects been Scots? Where did Scotland's unreal blend of psychotic humour originate? And what about the national tradition of self-deprecation sometimes called the Scottish cringe? Sean Connery offers a correction to misconceptions that many believe are part of the historical record whilst revealing as never before his own vibrant personal history. Being A Scot.

Sunday 3 August 2008

Friday 1 August 2008

Scottish Lament


Scottish Lament. Flora Macdonald's Lament.

Far over yon hills of the heather sae green
An' doun by the corrie that sings to the sea,
The bonnie young Flora sat sighin' her lane,
The dew on her plaid an' the tear in her e'e.
She look'd at a boat wi' the breezes that swung,
Away on the wave like a bird on the main,
An' aye as it lessen'd she sigh'd an' she sung,

Read more here.

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