Druim Mor (NO 190771, 961m) Cairn of Claise (NO 185789, 1064m) Glas Maol (NO 166765, 1068m) Little Glas Maol (NO 175759, 973m) Monega Hill (NO 186756, 908m) 25 kilometres 1060m of ascent Embarrassing to admit that, after more than forty years wandering the Angus hills, I’d never walked up to the head of Glen Isla … Continue reading Glen Isla: Caenlochan Circuit
Muriel Gray: The First Fifty
Right, this is a little odd. I’m not actually going to review this one. It comes up purely in the context of something I found on my hard drive that I’d completely forgotten about. First, a bit of background. Muriel Gray had been around as a TV presenter and columnist for quite a while when … Continue reading Muriel Gray: The First Fifty
From The Small Isles To The Shiants
I have lain down in the long grass while the raven honked and flicked above me and the skuas cruised in a milk-blue sky. I have felt at times, and perhaps this is a kind of delirium, no gap between me and the place. I have absorbed it and been absorbed by it, as if … Continue reading From The Small Isles To The Shiants
Perspective Tricks
Okay, one last time. These are small, but the ones out there are far away. Father Ted, “Hell” (1996) Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews I was recently reminded of Father Ted explaining perspective to Father Dougal (is it really more than twenty years ago?) when I happened on a bit of art under the Tay Road … Continue reading Perspective Tricks
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Hasegawa 1/48 Hawker Hurricane IIB: Part 1
So this is my next project. I’m building another aircraft my father might have flown—a Hawker Hurricane IIB that was on the complement of No.71 Operational Training Unit, Ismailia, in the first few months of 1944. It’s actually quite difficult to track down details of aircraft at Operational Training Units. A few pilot’s logbooks have … Continue reading Hasegawa 1/48 Hawker Hurricane IIB: Part 1
Anti-agathic
ˌæntɪəˈɡæθɪk anti-agathic: serving to prevent death; a drug that has this function This is a science fiction word. It was coined during the 1950s by James Blish as a key concept for his Cities in Flight series of novels, to designate the drugs that his characters took to give them potential immortality, allowing them to … Continue reading Anti-agathic
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A Sidlaws Gazetteer
Today, the home page has acquired a new menu item: Sidlaws. This links to a set of pages that I’ve rather grandly entitled a “photographic gazetteer” of the Sidlaw Hills. There’s an introductory page (packed with useful background information, though I say it myself), and then a set of pages dealing with all the Sidlaws … Continue reading A Sidlaws Gazetteer
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Sidlaws: Three Unnamed Summits
Unnamed Point 328 (NO 360408, 328m) Unnamed Point 377 (NO 349408, 377m) Unnamed Point 315 (NO 329419, c315m) 14 kilometres 550 metres of ascent Many of the Sidlaw Hills get their names from the farms that work their slopes—with the result that some hills, surrounded by farmland, have several names attached to their various aspects, … Continue reading Sidlaws: Three Unnamed Summits
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Radiation Fog
Radiation fog sounds like something that might occur during a nuclear winter, but it’s not that kind of radiation. The radiation here is heat radiation—infrared wavelengths radiated by the ground during the night, particularly when the skies are clear. Usually, the air temperature gets lower as you get higher—a rising packet of air expands and … Continue reading Radiation Fog
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James Blish: Cities In Flight
From the embankment of the long-abandoned Erie-Lackawanna-Pennsylvania Railroad, Chris sat silently watching the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, preparing to take off, and sucked meditatively upon the red and white clover around him. It was a first time for each of them. Chris had known since he had been a boy—he was sixteen now—that the cities … Continue reading James Blish: Cities In Flight
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