Monthly Archives: September 2010

Scottish words: hen

Posted on by

Hen is definitely a term of endearment, obviously for a female. I always think of it as a particularly west of Scotland word although it is sometimes used in the east.

An English woman of my acquaintance once told me that she would never get used to being called ‘hen’, I don’t know why she found it so strange because it isn’t really any different from being called ‘duck’ which is very common in England.

Of course in France it’s common to call someone ‘my little cabbage’, which somehow just doesn’t do it for me.

In Germany it’s ‘Sneckerlie’, which means little snail, or is that only for babies?

I think hen is beginning to die out now and people seem to use words like ‘dear’ or ‘honey’. There should be a campaign to save the Scottish hen of endearment!

My dad often called me hen. Well it saved him from getting our names mixed up, I was the third daughter after all and the fifth child. Otherwise he would go through the whole family before getting to my name, which didn’t really bother me but I did object to being called Candy, which sometimes did happen.

Well, Candy was the family dog – a totally mad border collie.

Weather update

Posted on by

We’ve been struggling against really high winds for the last week or so. The big problem for ‘the high heid yins’ was- How are we going to stop the red carpet from blowing away when the Pope lands at Edinburgh airport for his state visit?

In the end they had to give up the idea of a red carpet altogether. The wind had died down a lot by the time the Pope got here although I heard recently that Britain is the windiest place in the world, so it probably seemed bad to people used to a more moderate climate.

The week before last we had lovely sunny weather and it only rained during the night and early in the morning, in fact it was nearly that mythical ‘Indian summer’ that we’re all always hoping for.

But tonight we were out and about in Dundee, helping our eldest with his hunt for a flat there and it was absolutely freezing, there’s a ground frost expected in places. Hopefully not here though because I haven’t got the tender plants in from the garden yet.

The Mitfords

Posted on by
Wait for Me! cover

I read all of Nancy Mitford’s books when I was in my twenties, so that’s a good long while back and they’re due for a re-reading because I remember that I really loved them.

The whole family is fascinating but I always identified with Deborah who became the Duchess of Devonshire. Not that I married a duke or anything, my husband was a Chemistry Ph.D. research student when I married him and I think that a duke would have been an easier option!

Deborah was the youngest of a large family, as I am. Of course her older siblings were horrible to her and I know just how she felt, but I think she probably had a more interesting life and she has outlived the rest of them, being the only one left now.

She’s 90 now and has written her memoir which is called Wait For Me! and that’s one which I’ll definitely be requesting from my library, it sounds like a ‘must read’ for anyone interested in the Mitfords and that era. There certainly aren’t many people around who have met both Adolf Hitler and John Kennedy.

If you want a wee taster of what’s in her book, have a look at the interview which was published in The Guardian yesterday.

The Chatsworth estate is another one of those places on my list of ‘places to visit eventually’.

The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker

Posted on by

It was a dark and stormy day with the rain battering on the windows and wind howling down the chimneys, so when the gas man finally managed to fix our NEW boiler, (he’s been trying since Thursday) I thought it was the perfect atmosphere for finishing off The Jewel of Seven Stars.

I’m afraid it didn’t help matters though. It says on the cover of this book: STOKER’S CLASSIC TALE OF TERROR, the inspiration for today’s Mummy movies!

At the beginning Abel Trelawny, a keen collector of Egyptian artefacts, appears to have been attacked in his own home and has fallen into a comatose state. It is thought that the many Egyptian mummies which are in his room have caused his illness.

On page 104 one of the characters who has been relating past experiences in Egypt at great length said, “I dare say you find this tedious;” which was exactly what I HAD been thinking!

It didn’t do anything for me at all. I’ve always avoided horror movies and for that reason I didn’t really know much about Frankenstein, so when I actually got around to reading the book earlier in the year I was pleasantly surprised that I really enjoyed it. I thought that I might be missing out on something and as quite a few people have been mentioning Dracula recently I thought I would start off with one of Stoker’s shorter books first. Now I’m not sure if I will bother with Dracula because although this book was only 188 pages long, it did seem to drag.

First published in 1903 this was apparently Stoker’s eighth book, which is a surprise to me because I didn’t think it was very well written and I had been thinking that he must have improved over the years, maybe not then. It was re-written in 1912 and I think it is that version which I read. I suppose it’s because it’s Gothic, but it’s stilted beyond belief, and I say that as someone who reads more Classic books than modern.

Even reading it with tongue firmly in cheek I couldn’t get any enjoyment from it, however I ploughed on regardless to the end. This was a book which I borrowed from the library and the previous borrower had left their bookmark in it less than half-way through, so I can’t be the only person who wasn’t enamoured with it.

I’ll see what others think of Dracula before embarking on it.

Corbridge Roman Fort

Posted on by

We visited Corbridge in Northumberland during the summer holidays. The Roman remains there are quite extensive although it’s thought that there is still a lot to be found underneath the surrounding fields.

The town which I was brought up in is situated just to the north of the Antonine Wall which was the wall which marked the farthest point of the Roman Empire. They might have managed to get a bit further north but I don’t think there is any proof of that. I’ve always found it really funny that the Romans managed to conquer just about everyone else but the folks of the Dumbarton area were just too much for them to cope with.

So visiting this Roman ruin was a real novelty for us and there is quite a lot to see inside as well as outside. There is an interesting museum on the site which houses a lot of the artefacts which have been dug up from there. It’s well worth going to see if you’re in Northumberland.

Hadrian’s Wall is another great place (thing). It was built by the Romans to stop the Scottish savages from being able to attack the Romans. The first time I went there on a school trip with the Latin/Classical Studies department I couldn’t get over how big the wall is. The Romans must have been very scared of us. I’ve always fancied walking the whole length of it, the whole breadth of the border, but life has somehow got in the way, maybe one day!

Oracle Night by Paul Auster

Posted on by
School for Love cover

Sidney Orr is a writer who is recovering from an illness which has kept him in hospital for months, he had nearly died. Released from hospital he tries to re-build his strength by taking walks around his neighbourhood and on one of these walks he finds a stationery shop called the Paper Pagoda which is owned by a Chinese man. Amongst his purchases there is a blue notebook of an unusual size and shape which has been made in Portugal. Sid feels compelled to buy the notebook and begins his writing again using it.

Oracle Night has several storylines going on in it, which can be a bit annoying because you are just getting involved in a story when it suddenly stops, never to be resumed. There are also copious footnotes giving the back story to various characters as they are introduced, sometimes running to four half pages at a time. It means that you are going backwards and forwards quite often. I’ve never seen footnotes like that before, not even in history books.

This is the third book by Paul Auster which I have read, and although I did find the writing technique a bit strange, I still enjoyed it. My favourite book of his is still Brooklyn Follies but there are still plenty more of his books for me to read, so that may change at some point.

Book Covers

Posted on by

A Reader in the Wilderness has been Blog Hopping again and the question last week was about book covers. Do they influence you? I know, I’m a week late!

I started buying books for children before I actually had any weans to read them to. I must admit that the books were purchased just because I couldn’t resist the cover, or the illustrations. A lot of them are in the depths of the farthest away attic and I don’t fancy braving it at this time of the year. There are enough spiders in the house at the moment, coming in from the cold, I hate to think what the attics are like!

Stories

These book covers were designed by J.P.Lynch, who obviously has a penchant for roof-tops. The covers certainly attracted me to buy them, but the stories are lovely too.

Despite the fact that we have hundreds of books for adults in the house, there aren’t really any which I would say were particularly eye catching. It has really annoyed me in the past that covers often have absolutely nothing to do with the contents of the book. It’s as if the publisher has just pulled an old illustration out of a cupboard and said, “That’ll do!” I know for a fact that the person who does the art work for publishers is often paid more than the authors are and that is just absolutely crazy.

I’ve always loved Michael Foreman’s illustrations.

My husband writes literary science-fiction, mainly short stories but he has had one novel published under Little, Brown’s Orbit imprint. Sadly he was given absolutely no say in the book cover design whatsoever. We were both really disappointed when he received his first copy as we didn’t think that the cover would attract anyone to it at all, especially if they didn’t already know his writing.

A Son of the Rock cover

Obviously the artist just went with the title and hadn’t actually read the book. If he had done so, he could have come up with something really lovely instead of artwork which would have been more suitable for a horror story. Such is life!

Scottish words – besom

Posted on by

A besom, prononced bizam,is the Scottish word for a broom. You know, the sort of broom which is made up of twigs which are gathered together and tied around a handle. The favourite mode of transport for any self-respecting witch!

So why is the word besom used as a term of abuse? I haven’t got a clue but I do know that as the youngest child in a large family I was commonly called ‘a cheeky wee besom ‘. And I was such a good wee girl, honest!

For some reason it’s only females who are ever described as being a besom. Chamber’s Dictionary says it is: a term of reproach for a woman, implying general slatternliness, laziness and impudence.

I think that over the years the word has almost developed into a term of endearment, or is that me just being charitable? It was certainly the closest thing to a term of endearment uttered within my family anyway.

Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner

Posted on by
Moonfleet cover

A classic tale of mystery and high adventure in a Dorset smuggling village.

Well that’s what it says on the back of the book and I wouldn’t argue with the description. I enjoyed this book, but I must admit that I’m drawn to smuggling tales anyway. Probably because I like the thought of the poor down-trodden souls getting one over the tax-man at a time when they were being taxed even more than we are now.

John Trenchard is 15 years old at the beginning of the book and he is living with his aunt in the village of Moonfleet, which is just half-a -mile from the sea. Both his parents are dead and his aunt has obviously taken him in as an obligation which she would rather not have.

The village has always been full of spooky tales of the ghost of Blackbeard, who haunts the churchyard looking for his treasure – a huge and perfect flawless diamond, which of course is said to be cursed.

When John discovers a secret passageway leading under the church he thinks he will find the diamond there but ends up being embroiled with a smuggling gang.

First published in 1898, Moonfleet is a classic adventure tale, suitable for young and old.

Moonfleet was made into a film in 1955, starring Stewart Granger and that lovely wee Scottish child actor John Whitely.

Tony Blair – A Journey

Posted on by

This is a wee bit of a rant. I tried to stop myself but it got the better of me in the end.

Tony Blair came to my notice some time before he stood for the Labour leadership contest. I had given him the nickname of ‘The double-glazing salesman’, which I now think is a slur on all such people but at the time it seemed appropriate.

So you’ll have gathered that he was never my favourite person and I remember standing in the school-playground at the time telling my friend Molly just what I thought of Blair. Molly rather liked him, thought he was a good guy. I just couldn’t stop myself from pointing out to Molly that she was already divorced twice, so maybe she wasn’t the best judge of character. I can be a bit of a bitch at times.

He turned out to be even worse than I could possibly have imagined and it just amazes me that people are still taken in by him. I’ve been trying to ignore all the hoo-ha about his book because just thinking about him isn’t good for my blood pressure I’m sure. But I’ve heard along the grapevine that people in shops and libraries have been moving his book to the horror/crime sections, and that really cheered me up.

Originally I thought that whenever anyone buys a copy of the book, it should be put into an extra strong bag, something that could double up as a sick bag in fact, as I’m sure it would make me feel quite ill. But having heard that there are quite a few sex scenes in it, I’ve amended that idea and I think that every purchase should have a free bucket given out with it. I don’t think a sick bag would be adequate for me anyway.

I can’t tell you how angry I was when he said that he was nearly in tears when he met a young war widow, but he is still talking up a war with Iran. He hadn’t been in power long at all when you could see that mad look in his eyes. Just to be even-handed here, I must say that it was the very same look which Thatcher developed too.

I’m not at all impressed by the fact that he is giving the money from the sales of his book to charity. As conscience money, it won’t go very far and no matter what he does in the future, despite his conversion to Catholicism, there’s only one place for him to go when his time comes and that’s straight to HELL, or as my mum would have put it, THE BAD FIRE!

In the same week J.K.Rowling announced that she was giving 10 million pounds to Edinburgh University to set up a clinic to carry out research into Multiple Sclerosis, in memory of her mother Ann Rowling who died of M.S. at the age of 45, which is the age that J.K. is now. She has always been incredibly generous to charities and an all round ‘good egg’. She’s brought joy to millions of children of all ages and encouraged a lot of young people to read books for pleasure, when they might never have done so.

Conversely, Blair has brought grief to countless numbers of people, and I mean countless because nobody bothered to count the Iraqis