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AS: Sturgeon and Chips: the Scottish thread 2020

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  • Alarm at the news that the snow gates at the Glens of Foudland were closed at 6am this morning. Relief that they were re-opened at 8am. We crossed through the Glens at 9.30 and it was ... interesting. Fortunately the North East Man, a more confident driver than me, was at the wheel.

    And then, like a miracle, after the Glens the grey slushy snow stopped falling, the sky was clear, the road was mostly dry, and beautiful Aberdeenshire spread out around us, all gold and white, like a living Farquharson painting complete with sheep.
  • It was a beautiful day here in Badenoch. Just enough snow to be pretty and not enough to be a trouble. And sun, and a sharp wind that made everything seem so clear. I was delivering what I hope are the last of the gifts that people have placed in the church’s advent cupboard, and the air was intoxicatingly chilly!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Lovely day in Linlithgow and Embra too. :)
  • AIUI, she immediately apologised for her temporary lapse, and gave herself a bit of a beating, so to speak. Sounds to me as if common humanity took over from common sense for a few moments...

    Should she resign? Or shut herself up in prison? Or what?

    Genuine mistake from a normally fairly sensible person.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    We've all done something similar. In my case, several times when the boss has come into our office space to talk about something (though, the rules would say that the phone or Zoom should be used) and it sometimes takes me a minute to realise that I should have put on my mask when he entered. Even after all these months it's not so automatic that you put it on without thought every time.

    She quickly apologised, as she put it kicking herself for a stupid mistake.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    It's very easily done, and it's not as if she was, say, driving to Barnard Castle to get her eyes tested ... :naughty:
  • It was such a beautiful day here today, and I have been skating! A local outdoor centre has installed a rink in the car park, with tremendous views over the semi-frozen loch and surrounding hills.stunning setting, and still open so long as it is just family parties.

    I love skating. In my youth when I worked at an Edinburgh boarding school, I used to go to Murrayfield on my afternoon off and sometimes had the whole ice to myself. Today was not like that. Much prettier, much smaller rink, and the oddest ice I ever trod. It wasn’t slippery! Don’t know what it was made of, and it did get a little more slippery as the skate blades got coated with it, but it was very hard, and yet not slippery: gliding along was a bit of a effort and I missed that feeling of flying which is what I just love!

    But it was still skating.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    How would you feel about sending some of your non-slippery ice to Linlithgow? Specifically, to the bit of the High Street between my flat and the railway station? :mrgreen:
  • Jane RJane R Shipmate
    edited December 2020
    BBC News reports (with much self-righteous huffing and puffing from various anti-Scottish entities) that President First Minister Sturgeon rather wrong-footed herself at a wake by removing her face-mask to briefly speak (still socially-distanced) to some people.

    AIUI, she immediately apologised for her temporary lapse, and gave herself a bit of a beating, so to speak. Sounds to me as if common humanity took over from common sense for a few moments...

    Should she resign? Or shut herself up in prison? Or what?

    What struck me about the story was that she was at the funeral of a Scottish government official. I tried, and failed, to imagine the Mad Mophead (or any of his minions) attending the funeral of one of their civil servants... with or without a mask.

    Also, I understand that it *is* permissible to remove your mask when speaking to people with hearing impairments, so she did in fact have an excuse for not wearing it, even if she chose not to use it.
  • I collect memorabilia relating to my village - mostly postcards, but I also have maps, communion tokens, etc.

    The latest addition to my collection, bought from E-bay, arrived this morning. It was sold as an 1844 postmark. I thought I was buying an empty envelope, addressed to the minister of the Free Church in the village, with two postmarks - Edinburgh 13 Dec 1844 and my village postmark 15 Dec 1844.

    It turns out to be a letter on a single sheet of paper, folded, addressed, with a red stain showing that it was originally sealed with wax. And it's signed by - Thomas Chalmers.

    It's not written by Chalmers - it's an appeal for a contribution to a fund, so presumably a letter copied out many times by a secretary. But it's signed "Thomas Chalmers"

    I have googled "Thomas Chalmers signature" and it's definitely him.

    I am bowled over.

  • Ah - one of the sudden serendipitous joys that occasionally come to an Antiquarian!

    :grin:
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    edited December 2020
    (whisper it - I've always thought that photos of Chalmers probably didn't do him justice and that in actual life, striding along in a Geneva gown, full of an ardent desire for improvement, he was probably sex appeal personified.)

    And now I have his signature. I'm holding a sheet of paper he once held.
  • Very, very cool, NEQ.

    (And your secret is safe with us. :wink: )

  • And this is my cue to reveal that this ignorant sassenach has no earthly idea who Thomas Chalmers was.
  • But you wrote about the Free Church only yesterday.
  • thanks for info B,.F. I learned from the article that Chalmers' brother founded Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, one of the very few private boarding schools still left in Edinburgh and the only one exclusively for boys in Scotland.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited December 2020
    Quite a character - I like this quote, from late in his life:

    "Who cares about the Free Church compared with the Christian good of the people of Scotland? Who cares for any Church, but as an instrument of Christian good?"
  • @NEQ: 😮 what a great Christmas present!
  • And now I have his signature. I'm holding a sheet of paper he once held.

    This is one of the things I love about history. I get it every time I find a worked flint. It's that sense of connection, of the years between falling away.

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I've started a new thread for the new year, so I'll put this one to bed.

    Thread closed.

    Piglet. AS host
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