sɛrɛnˈdɪpɪtɪ serendipity: The faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. Also, the fact or an instance of such a discovery People like the word serendipity—there’s something cheerful and unexpected about that “-dipity” ending which makes them want to say it or write it, and so its original meaning has gradually eroded away. The … Continue reading Serendipity
When I was a solitary, bespectacled and distinctly oikotropic child growing up in Dundee, I was fascinated by the little roundabout, like the one pictured above, in the play area of my local park. While my compatriots were trying their best to kill or maim themselves by using the swings, the slide and the witch’s … Continue reading Coriolis
Another two-parter. These two outliers sit either side of the A923 just east of the point where it passes through the main ridge of the Sidlaws at Tullybaccart. Blacklaw Hill (NO 288344, 284m) 7.4 kilometres 200 metres of ascent Well, this first one is a fine example of what happens if you just look at … Continue reading Sidlaws: Blacklaw Hill & West Mains Hill
Within 500m I was stopped by an Army patrol. To cut a long story short, I was stopped three more times by the Army and twice by the Police in the space of the next hour. I fobbed them off each time. Two policemen followed me back to the hotel. My local guide Menpong arrived … Continue reading Ginge Fullen: Sic Diximus
pɛrɪˈhiːlɪən perihelion: that point in the orbit of a planet, comet or other body at which it is closest to the sun Not to be confused with the parhelion, which I wrote about last month. Today (4 January 2017), the Earth is at perihelion, its closest to the sun, a mere 98% of its average … Continue reading Perihelion: Part 1
Having complete RealSpace Models’ Block II Command/Service Module (CSM), I’ve moved on to the Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) provided in the Revell kit. The SLA was a fairing that contained the Lunar Module (LM), and supported the CSM. It was composed of two sections, the upper and lower SLA, which sat on top of … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: Spacecraft/Lunar Module Adapter & Instrument Unit
ˈjuːltaɪd Yuletide: The Christmas season Yule is a bit of an etymological orphan. The origins of the word are obscure, but it seems to have been the name of a twelve-day pagan winter festival, celebrated among the ancient speakers of the Germanic language family, and called jól in Old Norse*. As with many other pagan … Continue reading Yuletide
Round Law (NO 232337, 257m) King’s Seat (NO 230330, 377m) Buttergask Hill (NO 230340, 307m) 9 kilometres 330 metres ascent This was a couple of hours of exploration, looking for a route to King’s Seat and Buttergask Hill that doesn’t involve traversing this section of ridge from either the Dunsinane end or the Gask end … Continue reading Sidlaws: King’s Seat and Buttergask via Round Law
Ever since the success of her Clatto Swan photograph, The Boon Companion has been intermittently getting out of her warm bed at some truly God-forsaken hours to photograph sunrises. She recently took some early morning photos on the beach at Saint Andrews. She’ll be a bit annoyed with me for having chosen a glary one … Continue reading Sun Dogs
Creach Bheinn (NN 023422, 810m) 13 kilometres 980 metres of ascent The last time I climbed Creach Bheinn, it was in a sleet-storm that I imagined was going to pass over to reveal the fabled westward view from the summit. Instead, it clamped down and increased in intensity. When I finally dropped below the clouds … Continue reading Lorn: Creach Bheinn