January 19th, 2010 11:21pm
billmarshall
One of Scotland’s best loved voices died today at the age of 86. It’s hard to overstate the love and respect felt by the entire rugby world for one of the finest sports commentators that Britain has ever had.
He was more than a commentator, he communicated an understanding and appreciation of a game notorious for the complexity of its laws to a much wider audience than just the fans and players. People who had never been to a rugby match listened to him and felt they understood it. He did it with an honest Borders style, a wonderful turn of phrase that included bars of soap, leaping salmon and charging giraffes, and a gentle humour. He cut through the technicalities and made you feel as if you knew the players and why they played the game. And that rarest of qualities – he was impartial. Who can forget that wonderful Scotland try that went the full length of the pitch and was scored by Alan Lawson – who just happened to be Bill’s son-in-law. Who else could have kept his emotions in check at that moment?
As a teacher he trained generations of Border children in the sportsmanship of the game, and the players loved him for his gentle encouragement. You hadn’t arrived as an internationalist till you’d been given one of his Hawick Balls. Not just the Scottish players either – all over the world people wanted to play in matches that he commentated on and wanted to meet him.
He was a legend, and he’ll go on being a legend as long as the game is played, because there simply will never be another like him.
December 23rd, 2009 02:24pm
billmarshall
… blows directly off the Atlantic. (Hey you try finding something to rhyme with Madeira!)
Back again to the island I visited this time last year, but it seems I’m not so lucky with the weather this time. Apparently it’s been raining and stormy for the previous two weeks at least, but last night was particularly bad with thunderstorms and horizontal rain pummelling the palm trees. Still, at least it’s warm if rather humid, and much better than what I left behind in Scotland.
The trip here was eventful – the initial flight from Edinburgh cancelled due to the airline going bust, valiant efforts from dad and his travel agent secured a replacement flight from Manchester. A 3.5 hour train journey turned into a 6 hour one, not helped by a distinct lack of heating, and assisted by the decision not to proceed to the advertised destination of the airport but to terminate at the main Manchester station where allegedly a train was being held for us to reach the airport. Said train was neither held not even appeared to have existed. The next one was 30 minutes late. Frozen, we eventually arrived near 10pm and were lucky to get a much needed meal. Meanwhile the airport was itself swathed in frozen snow and many flights that day had been cancelled.
Check-in the next morning was perhaps the most inefficient I have ever experienced – a single queue for all 19 Thomas Cook desks had a stream of people winding interminably back on itself round the concourse with no information or staff to assist. Had the 9.30 departure been on time I would have missed it, having not even got as far as security by the time it was due to take off. It was not on time, we were promised more information at 11.30, then 12.30 then told the plane was stuck at Stanstead. That was a lie. It transpired that our original plane had arrived from Stanstead that morning and was given to to a flight delayed from the previous day – a reasonable enough decision so why the deception? Our replacement was frozen into a hanger at Manchester and could not be pulled out until later.
We boarded it at 2pm, being exhorted by the crew to move as swiftly as possible to avoid delay. At 2.30 we were told by the captain that the luggage had not yet been put on board! We eventually took off at 3.30 and the captain told us it was a bit breezy at Madeira. As any seasoned traveller will know that is pilot-speak for blowing a gale, and so it proved. Descending though turbulence we attempted unsuccessfully to land due to strong winds and then stayed in a holding pattern for a further period until it was safe to try again. We landed successfully, to rapturous applause from a somewhat tense flock of passengers, but I suspect the engineers will have had cause to check the shock absorbers on the landing gear rather carefully afterwards.
I ventured out once yesterday, and was caught in a squall 200 yards from the hotel and soaked in moments. The sea is slate grey except nearer the rocks where the sand is being churned up. But at least the hotel is comfortable and I can unwind. The local wines are again good and the seafood excellent.
November 23rd, 2009 09:38pm
billmarshall
I was a bookseller for 21 years, and books were in my blood long before that. Yet seven years after finding myself out of the business it is hardly recognisable and I’m beginning to wonder if it will still be there in another seven.
Increasingly I don’t feel the magic when I walk into a bookshop nowadays. I scan down the shelves and see endless identikit covers that seem to contain identikit writing. The old individuality that there used to be in the publishing industry has disappeared with the takeovers and amalgamations; the days of house styles, gentleman publishers nurturing their favourite sectors, and skilled editors who carefully built authors’ talents and helped them develop unique voices have all gone as the accountants and marketers have taken over. Earlier this week I was reading a post on Lynne Connolly’s blog about the difficulties for both authors and readers in an environment that is increasingly hostile to new, interesting and individualistic writing.
With the impact of supermarket sales of best sellers, the all encompassing reach of Amazon, and the electronic copying of large numbers of books of every type, the space where small and independent booksellers used to flourish has become more and more cramped. Now it seems that the big chains whose arrival helped force the quality stockholding booksellers like James Thin of Edinburgh, John Smith of Glasgow and Heffers of Cambridge into oblivion are now themselves being threatened. The BBC report of troubles at Borders makes grim reading, particularly the suggestions that they don’t have enough cash to last until Christmas. If Borders goes then apart from Waterstones, a chain that’s never been to my taste, there isn’t much left apart from Blackwells.
And of course that’s without even mentioning ebooks and the various readers such as the Kindle. Should they take off then the future of reading may be in electronic formats that you merely lease rather than own. In the same way that the younger generations have got used to mp3s and iTunes rather than the albums and CD’s that their parents enjoyed owning, we may be seeing the owning of books, those wonderfully sensual, tactile items that we book-lovers enjoy handling and turning the pages of, becoming a specialist activity rather than the mass proliferation that has allowed the near universal education that society has enjoyed for the last 40o years. And if the control of the electronic replacement is in the hands of a few media moguls rather than the variety of publishers and writers that we’ve become used to then that is a sobering thought indeed.
November 21st, 2009 01:34pm
billmarshall
As a former bookseller I retain a great interest in books, particularly on history, and as a web designer and consultant I tend to choose clients that I can really believe in and feel committed to.
This is certainly the case with the Highland estate of Glen Tanar on Royal Deeside in Aberdeenshire. Having visited the estate I can testify that it’s a delightful place with a sense of peace and history that are hard to beat.
They’ve just let me know that they hosted a book launch last week of a new book by a local author describing his boyhood life in the glen and researching the history of the area – Glen Tanar, Valley of Echoes and Hidden Treasures. From what I’ve been told it sounds an excellent book and I’m looking forward to reading it.
If you’re looking for a place to spend a relaxing highland break then I can recommend Glen Tanar, but even if not there’s some lovely pictures on the site and I’ll be adding more as we continue work on it.
November 21st, 2009 12:07am
billmarshall
Is any one else getting fed up with these TV adverts telling us to drive 5 miles less a day to save the planet?
That’ll be the same government that builds new airports and runways (and then taxes air flights), that allows local governments to build out of town shopping centres and denude the town centres of shops, that creates housing policies that build houses on estates with no amenities far away from workplaces and shops and then wonders why everyone wants to own a car. That strangles rail investment and avoids integrating transport systems to allow efficient movement across different modes of travel. That allows urban roads to be so riddled with potholes that travelling by bus is a shuddering experience, and who has failed to provide the broadband infrastructure that might allow videoconferencing to become a viable means of business communication instead of some meetings.
Funny how it’s always the people who suffer the most who are asked to take action and/or pay the price while the ones who create the problems in the first place are untouched by the consequences.
November 2nd, 2009 09:42pm
billmarshall
Don’t you just love banks? Not content with blackmailing our governments into bailing them out for their idiocy and incompetence then complaining because they are asked to pay some of it back since we “own” most of their establishments now (and that “own” must be the most meaningless phrase in commercial history) they now add insult to injury.
Like, no doubt, many others, I received a letter telling me one of my banks was changing the name of my account. From a High Interest Current Account to just a Current Account. Have you guessed the reason yet? Yep, got it in one, they’re not going to be paying any interest on it any more. And of course in the alternative “upgraded” version there’s a monthly charge. How stupid do they think we are?
Sadly there will be plenty of people who will bin the letters as being just another one of those endless streams of mind-numbing conditions documents that require three years free time, a masters degree in legal obfuscation, and a microscope to decipher.
Me, I’ll be finding a new home for my current account money, and probably for my savings and isas as well, since they’ve also had their interest rates cut to microdecimals – so much so that the tax benefits have almost dissappeared. Pity I didn’t buy gold a few months ago, I’d be well in now.
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