March 15th, 2009 08:43pm
billmarshall
A mild Edinburgh day – I was able to wash the windows today without freezing to death – has made me realise that Spring is finally here. And yet is seems the last three months have flown by. My last post was in December and it seems I’ve had no time whatever to do any of the routine things that I would expect. The SpiderWriting SEO blog was last updated in August, the Dunnett blog in November; people I care about I’ve hardly been in touch with. What is it about Winter that seems to soak up the available hours? In some ways I feel as if I’ve hibernated since returning from Madeira and yet in other ways I’ve never stopped dashing about solving problems.
Madeiran review
The week I spent in that delightfully mild climate was a ideal rest that was badly needed. I’d intended to do some walking in the highland areas using the astonishing range of Levadas – the irrigation channels that bring the water from the cloud-covered hills to the farming areas and villages of the coast. In the event I found the whole atmosphere of the island so relaxed that I just leant back and enjoyed the unaccustomed lack of stress. I can see why so many people from stressed out Britain love this island so much. Nearly everyone from the UK that I spoke to was on at least their 8th visit and some had made arrangements to retire there. With an average temperature of between 18 and 24 degrees all year round it’s an ideal environment for anyone who can’t take the extremes of heat that are liable to be found in Spain or the Mediterranean. If I didn’t have my eyes on retiring to Slovenia I might well consider it.
I was particularly looking forward to the food and wine, and it didn’t disappoint. The seafood in particular was excellent and the restaurants wonderfully friendly. The Madeiran and Portuguese wine went down very well indeed – quite different from my normal preferences but matching the food very well.
Sadly the friend I referred to in the last posting succumbed to the cancer she’d fought for so long in the early hours of New Years Day. It made a sombre start to the year, the only blessing being that she was no longer suffering. The only other downer of the week was the return home. The plane we were due to be on had apparently been in an accident with a ground vehicle and a new plane had to be summoned. A long delay meant that instead of arriving in Glasgow at tea-time I only just got back in time to get the last train back to Edinburgh at 11.30pm. Not the return I’d hoped for.
By the time I’d become re-accustomed to the freezing Scottish conditions I had realised how empty the flat seemed without my flatmate, particularly when it proved impossible for her to come back for our friend’s funeral. In fact it she has still not returned but is due back next week. In the meantime I’ve been knocking the flat into shape – styling it to my own preferences while keeping an eye on what she might prefer. It still needs some painting in the living room and that will have to be done now that the light is improving but
it’s a lot more like a home than it was. Though she’s only back for a short time I’m hoping it’ll meet with her approval.
December 30th, 2008 10:24pm
billmarshall
Am starting this blog entry on the way to Glasgow for the flight to Madeira. I’m greatly looking forward to it but in other ways I’m leaving with a heavy heart.
We’ve only been in the new flat for three weeks but already it has become home, a place I’m delighted to be and where I can relax in a way I haven’t been able to do for a long time. My flatmate is also away, but for her it’s three and a half weeks of new experiences and hard work, and a lot of uncertainty, with the possibility that she will be away for 4 weeks out of every 6 for some time. She was hyper for the last few days, yet still looking after me before herself. She is looking forward as she always does but hates to leave her new home so soon. I pray she’ll be ok and be back safe and sound; the flat will be very empty without her.
I’m also going away at a time when a friend is seriously ill and I fear for her and for her husband. I wish I could be there for them but have to remember to look after myself, and this holiday is badly needed. Thankfully they have many other good friends to support them.
So, what will Madeira be like I wonder? From the guidebooks it seems much more green than Malta was last year, and that has to be good. Here’s hoping for a comfortable hotel, good food, good light and no storms. And the odd bottle of Madeiran wine should be interesting too!
December 18th, 2008 07:01pm
billmarshall
It’s been an eventful couple of weeks to put it mildly. A move of house, a change of habit, perhaps even a change of lifestyle. A second and this time final separation to end a marriage of 26 years. A chance to live a little again after 3 years of virtual hibernation in a work-centred existence.
It all happened a bit suddenly in the end. Only a couple of weeks after the idea was first mooted, payments rushed through, keys collected, and van organised, we were moving vast quantities of stuff out of my new flatmate’s old place and rather less out of mine. My not-quite as youthful as they were muscles complaining bitterly the next morning. Though ostensibly a furnished flat there were various things missing that were deemed essential by my new companion and we spent a tidy sum in the second-hand shops rectifying the omissions. Of course that meant endless rearrangements once we’d finally squeezed it all in. A massive shop on Sunday morning while we still had the van and then a dash across town to return it. Such was our state of exhaustion that we both slept for 4 hours in the afternoon before attacking the furniture arrangements one last time to get the place the way we wanted.
Routines are now altered, a different time to wake up, a different kitchen, a longer trip to a different railway station to go to work. Initially it was hard to break the automatic return to the old marital home, especially when so much of my books and music is still there for now until I can arrange storage. But already that life has gone, replaced by a more relaxed evening environment and a new style of cooking which my flatmate insists on doing for me. She’s been a revelation and a delight, and has really made our place into a home in a very short time. I can’t thank her enough for suggesting the move and her energy in making it happen. If the next year is as good as the first two weeks then it’ll be a very good move indeed.
November 23rd, 2008 06:07pm
billmarshall
I don’t watch much television, hardly at all in fact, but occasionally I’ll watch something on the BBC iPlayer service. Having heard about the new Scotland’s History series and having been quite impressed by Neil Oliver when he first started to appear on archaeology programs a few years ago, I caught the first two episodes recently. As always seems to be the way these days there was a big build-up, making out that it was rewriting the whole history of Scotland. Well I don’t know if they are exactly rewriting it but they do seem to be mentioning some things of which I was unaware, particularly in the second episode.
I’ve always had a keen general interest in history and later developed a fascination with archaeology, and of course this was boosted still further by becoming involved with the Dorothy Dunnett community due to Dorothy’s extraordinarily detailed research. However I was always aware of a few gaps where things were hazy. One of those was that I knew about the short but well-regarded reign and tragic death of Alexander III, but had often wondered in passing about the earlier Alexanders. Working in James Thin for so long I was able to dip into their stock but there never seemed to be anything published specifically about them and I never really followed it up. It was therefore with some astonishment that I watched the second episode last night in which Oliver told of Alexander II’s invasion of the England of King John following the mention of injustice done to him in the Magna Carter. No mention of such an entry had ever been made in either school history or in other books or TV programs I had seen on this supposedly critical document in British history. And certainly no mention had come to my attention that Alexander marched all the way to Dover to join the French in besieging Dover Castle. It seems that only the unexpected death of John saw the English barons change their allegiances from Alexander to John’s young son. Otherwise it seems likely that Scotland would have at least extended to the Cumbrian and Northumbrian territories and possibly further.
I’ll continue to watch this series with interest to see what other gaps I may have in my knowledge, and see what other material they may bring forward in radio articles. While I found some of the photography and special effects a touch overdone I was glad to see the emphasis on the changing boundaries of the various sections of the country – too often it seems to be assumed that the current boundaries have always been set in stone and the impression given that countries were always united in the way they are now.
I just wish we’d seen a bit more in the first period they covered which, while interesting in the coverage of the “problem” of what happened to the Picts, seemed to me to be rather light on the Viking period and omitted any mention of the period of Thorfinn and Macbeth, which is of course a time that fascinates many Dunnett readers.
November 14th, 2008 06:27pm
billmarshall
It seems that politicians just can’t stay out of football. Once again we have them dabbling in the murky world of FIFA and the Olympics, trying to pursuade Scotland to take part in some sort of Great Britain side for the London 2012 Games. It seems they just can’t understand that certain elements of FIFA would jump on any possibility to reduce the number of places enjoyed by the home countries in international tournaments, and that it really doesn’t matter what promises and assurances are given by Sepp Blatter to todays politicians. They also don’t seem to get the other crucial aspect. The four home unions have very different traditions, the players have very different styles, and the fans have very profound identities which would never admit to any form of coalition. Neither the associations, fans, or players want anything to do with the Olympics, which many regard as hopelessly corrupt and drug riddled.
Which brings us to drug testing and the announcement that footballers will be required to tell drug testing squads where they are at any time so they can be randomly tested. Now when applied to athletes, who are training as individuals and often traveling to warm weather or high altitude venues, this may have some purpose to ensure there is no out of competition doping; although even there it is somewhat restrictive. The position with footballers is rather different; they play and train every week and are available at their club’s premises at clearly defined times. There seems no reason whatever for additionally insisting that they reveal their whereabouts in the evening and on Sundays. It can only be seen as standardisation for standardisation’s sake, with the base model being a sport which has become a joke affecting one which has no record of drug use – well apart from beer of course.
Personally I’d like to see the traditionally non-olympic sports tell the IOC where to go and to take their drug issues with them, but sadly the lure of money and supposed prestige seem to hold sway with far too many of them. The sight of tennis players half-heartedly competing for gold medals which mean nothing compared to their Grand Slam tournaments is pathetic. An under-23 football tournament that takes players away from their clubs in the middle of the season is beyond pointless.
November 6th, 2008 09:34pm
billmarshall
So it seems that a recession is upon us. It must be true if the astoundingly cautious Bank of England cuts interest rates by 1.5%. Funny how just a few weeks ago everything was fine, the economy was sailing along without any really major problems, all that was wrong was a soaring oil price that was supposedly causing a knock on to gas and electricity prices and a suggestion that the housing boom was over. The problem taxing everyone’s mind was global warming. There was a small difficulty about “sub-prime” mortgages in the USA, nothing to worry about.
Now our banking system is in ruins; HBOS, which was a combination of one of the most conservative banks and the largest building society in the UK has lost over 90% of its stock market value and is apparently so short of liquidity that it needs to be taken over by Lloyds-TSB, and all the other major banks need shedloads of public money to carry on. So the man in the street is seeing his savings and investments reduce in value and his taxes going to prop up banks that seems unable to handle money despite giving us a poor service and high charges.
Meanwhile those gas prices that went up are noticeably not coming down despite a major fall in the oil prices that they were supposed to be connected to. Ever get the feeling you’ve been had?
The fact IMHO is that the people who run the money markets are generally pretty clueless apart from the speculators and the occasional guy like George Soros who can see trends before they happen. Most of them are there because of who they know rather than what they know. How many times have we seen competitions where a bunch of schoolkids manage to outperform the advice of all the “best” financial pundits and advisors. And as was shown some time ago the financial system is an almost perfect example of Chaos Theory in action. With the modern inter-connectedness that has been built into the international trading systems chaotic behaviour is a predictable (if that isn’t a contradiction in terms) outcome. A downward trend once started is almost impossible to stop. (As I write this I’m looking at the stock markets continuing to fall despite the 1.5.% cut)
Unfortunately the banks and building societies, once the bastions of safe conservative advice, have been sucked into the constant drive for more and more growth and as a result they have tended to dive into markets that would previously have been seen as far too dangerous, simply because to be seen to be lagging behind had become unacceptable when others were forging ahead, no matter how ill-advised such sectors might be.
Sadly there is very little indication that governments are willing to impose any real constraints on the banks or the markets. Maybe they’ve become so international as to be unmanageable, yet if so how come it’s national funds that are bailing them out? Maybe neither politicians or civil servants have the experience to operate in this field. Or maybe the theory of economics and monetary matters just showed once again how incomplete a theory it really is and no-one dares tinker with something that they’ve realised they don’t understand.
(The link at the top of this post is to a post on Robert Peston’s excellent BBC blog which is becoming a must-read for market watchers.)
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