Christmas baking. Gluten free vegan mince pies on the left, vegetarian on the right.

In 1994 I was living in the east of Hungary, not so far from the Romanian border. I didn’t know much about Romania. There was some distant memory of Nadia Comăneci, but the contemporary knowledge was hardly positive: the only European country with a death count from the end of communism, the appalling orphanages, poverty.

Then one week in June the World Cup began. Romania was playing Columbia. I tuned in expecting a reasonably comfortable win for Columbia, an outside bet to win the tournament. I was wrong.First there was a Florin Răducioiu, and then this moment of pure joy.

Dances With Penguin

November 29, 2021 — General — 2 min read

This photo has everything: a penguin, a kilted Scotsman and the pipes.

A penguin stands stoically on the left as a piper in full Scottish regalia on the left plays the bagpipes. — By William S Bruce 1867-1921 – http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-192-855-C Scran ID: 000-000-192-855-CResource Rights Holder: Royal Scottish Geographical Society., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4242400

This photo is most famous after going viral when a cheeky person edited the caption of it on Wikipedia to, ‘Piper Kerr (right), a member of the Scottish National Antarctic Expeditions, plays the bagpipes for an indifferent penguin, March 1904.’

Today the caption is much more staid and doesn’t mention that the ‘indifference’ of the penguin may be due to being tied to the piper’s foot (apparently part of an experiment to see how the bird would react to the pipes – which looks more heroic than most people’s would be).

What is lost in the fun is the story of how the piper ended up there. The Scottish Antarctic Expedition of 1902-04 was the cause of this adventure, led by William Speirs Bruce. In 2004, to mark the 100th anniversary of the expedition a set of Scottish country dances were create, called the Scotia Suite, including one called The Piper and the Penguin.

A brief tale of the expedition and the dance is told is video from The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.

There can few better ways to celebrate St Andrew’s Day – find some friends and get dancing!

Food artifact circa 2021

November 26, 2021 — General — 1 min read

Home-baking time. Ginger biscuit.

a heart-shaped ginger biscuit — View on Instagram https://instagr.am/p/CWvk9jbKhFK/

Start by looking innocent, take a dangerous walk, enter like nothing happened.

November 23, 2021 — General — 1 min read

https://instagr.am/p/CWoL8DoqB1Y/

View on Instagram https://instagr.am/p/CWoL8DoqB1Y/

The neighbour’s cat has recently decided it can and will visit me. This evening I found it outside my front balcony. Which begged the question, how did it get there? There’s no direct connection between that balcony and any neighbour. Then I worked it out.

It would go to the kitchen balcony, joined to its own balcony. Then walk along a narrow ledge, where it can jump onto my front balcony.

Cats are hunters. Mad hunters.

A secret trial that transformed transgender rights

November 23, 2021 — Books — 2 min read

Somethings just blow you away, like discovering that all our anti-trans rules in the UK came about due to a fear that one day a trans man might inherit the throne! That’s right, just in case Princess Anne woke up one day and declared herself a man we instituted a series of anti-trans rules that previously didn’t exist. Combine that with prejudice, mad psychologists, and we have the world we have today….

And they ask what’s the point of history and what’s it’s got to do with the present day.

All this I discovered while listening to a History Extra podcast, in which ‘Zoe Playdon discusses a secret 1965 trial revolving around Ewan Forbes, a transgender man, and reveals how it affected trans rights.’

“I knew that in the past, trans people had corrected their birth certificates,” she says. “All the way through up to 1970, the path was: self-identify, get affirmative medical care, correct your birth certificate, and live equally. After 1970, that’s gone.”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/the-secret-court-case-50-years-ago-that-has-robbed-transgender-people-of-their-rights-ever-since/ar-AAQwIt9

A fascinating story that you can find here: https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/ewan-forbes-secret-trial-transgender-rights-podcast-zoe-playdon/

If you prefer to purchase the book, it’s here, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hidden-Case-Ewan-Forbes/dp/152661913X

Mornings

November 12, 2021 — General — 1 min read

The mist often sits across the park this way in the early mornings, giving it a ghostly presence, and making waking up early seem worthwhile.

Low fog sits across a park, with a power station in the background. The sky is early morning blue.

‘Every girl’s best friend.’ Cause nothing says ‘I love you,’ as much as sewing on a missing button.

November 7, 2021 — General — 1 min read

My mum’s place is full of historic items like this. There was a world where a sewing set was a tempting free gift with a woman’s magazine. In this world I used it to sew a button on a jumper.

A small sewing kit featuring some thread and a needle.

View on Instagram https://instagr.am/p/CV-ZhITKjVb/

Oat biscuit time

October 20, 2021 — General — 1 min read

These simple oat biscuits are a nice treat to make, only takes a few minutes preparation and tastes yummy.

View on Instagram https://instagr.am/p/CVQ0V-zKbEr/

The Street Corner Goat

October 11, 2021 — General — 2 min read

On October 11, 2004, I met a goat on my way to the British Council Cameroon. It was standing at the corner, where I turned left, passed the Equatorial Guinea embassy, on my way to end of the street to hail a taxi to take me to work.

A black and white goat stands in some overgrown grass on a street corner.

That corner had other sites on other days. A papaya tree was there once, then seemed to never appear again (I presume after someone took all the fruit).

Once an electricity pole fell over, taking out the areas power. More regularly men might be standing there pissing.

Once my mum stood nearby with my colleague, Francis.

Two people standing in front of a red car. One on the left is a man, on the right, a woman.

Only some of these sights were photographed.

The corner should not be confused with the derelict patch opposite my flat where the banana tree grew.

The goat was not there when I returned home in the evening. It was not clear where it had gone. None of the neighbours, as far as I could tell, had a new friend in the back garden. It was not feast time. There were no weddings, funerals, birthday parties or other events in the area.

Perhaps the goat was simply disappointed with the relatively modest fodder on offer and moved on.

All Roads Are Uphill

October 5, 2021 — General — 3 min read

When cycling in Scotland you should know one thing, no matter what direction you travel, no matter if the road you travel by is in the direct opposite direction from where you came from, all roads will be uphill.

Then there are the roads that you know will be uphill. You get the map out and decide to punish yourself and look for the uphill that is the most uphill of all the roads that go uphill. When at home, that road is the one that leads up Kinnoull Hill.

Cyclist looking along the road, that is going uphill at the start of a climb. — Shall we?

At the bottom, you think, well this isn’t going to be so bad, just a tad up. You remember the days rather long ago, admittedly, when you’d go all the way up, if you timed it as too slow, you’d come down and do it again, quicker. Well, I’m not expecting that, but surely we can make it.

It takes about a minute for the legs to protest. That first little bit was not so terrible, but then we had to go round the corner, and it gets steeper. But keep going, look ahead, you’re getting somewhere, there’s a flattish bit ahead.

You reach the flat bit, which is actually uphill, just not as bad as the rest. Adjust the gear, get ready, in a moment or so we’ll go from up to really up!And there it goes, feels like vertical for me. Past some houses, and finally a monastery on the right as you turn a corner and think, ‘well, I’ve got this far, can’t be so bad now.’In truth, it’s not so bad, as you are nearly there.

St Mary's Monastery, Perth, Scotland — It doesn’t look this inviting when you’re cycling!

But the twist of the corner, how the gradients fight each other makes for some extra pain, but as you line up straight, you can see it’s just a hundred metres or so now. Swing round a corner, and is it really correct? This is flat! Yes. Made it.Made it, as we’ve got to the car park, top of the road that leads to the path that leads to actually going up to the top of the hill. 1.3 km done, another 1.5km to go.

Hot and sweaty cyclist — Just a little sweat!

Now go along the next path, as you come round a fairly gentle slope, say hello to the horses and riders as you go by.

Path with hores-riders — Horses going along the path

Then take an extreme bit up, and as you’re feeling why why why, check the view on your left, across the Tay, the raspberry fields and the way to Dundee.

View of River Tay and fields. — View from the hill

Just a little more now and you find the summit. The small tower at the top is a bit ruined, but then so am I. As a resting point it is perfect. The evening sunshine, the view, the lack of people. Remember when you were a child and you went down on the small ledge in front of the tower? So we do it, try not to consider the folly of an eight year old doing that, and then we can go home.