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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Scotland the Brave 2017
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
As it's now just after 4 in the afternoon in Scotland, I think it might be safe for me to drop by with a half-bottle of Famous Grouse and wish you all a Happy New Year.
For those of you who are feeling a bit fragile, there's a box of paracetamol and a bottle of Irn-Bru™ in the medicine cupboard. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
My wife (coming from tand I were very pleased (after a lot of hunting) to be able to tune into the BBC Scotland Hogmanay celebrations last night.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
They'll never be the same without Scotch and Wry and the incomparable Rikki Fulton . ![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Wonder how the Ba' went in Kirkwall.
Probably messily.
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Wonder how the Ba' went in Kirkwall.
Sadly, both the wrong way - Up. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
The Christmas Men's one went Doon, and was over in under an hour. ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
I suppose we have to let the Uppies win now and again, so that the older chaps who have been playing for years get a chance to win while they're still young enough to walk.
[ 03. January 2017, 00:36: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
*bump*
Has anyone been watching the mini-series about the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney? A kindly soul posted the entire second episode on Facebook, so I got a chance to see it (I doubt if any of our squillions of channels over here will ever broadcast it - after all, if it doesn't feature Tutankhamen, Hitler or Nostradamus, the History Channel isn't interested).
I thoroughly enjoyed it - it was great to hear a few lovely Orkney accents (not anyone I actually knew, but still ...), and was very impressed that they got their reconstructed boat across the Pentland Firth - rather them than me! ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
TME has been watching it properly, but I must admit I've been generally on the internet and only looked up occasionally ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif) Not that I'm addicted or anything. Orkney though is getting higher on my 'I want to go there soon' list. Maybe this year?
Is anyone here planning on going to the Women's March (which as I understand it is actually a static march, ie not actually going anywhere!) on Saturday? (11am outside the US consulate) I'm hoping to be there, hopefully with the Elf Lass and maybe TME too.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
Sorry, just realised I didn't specify - the march is in Edinburgh.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
If you mean the US Consulate in Edinburgh, it appears to be closed on Saturdays. Will there be anybody there to see you?
(Don't let that put you off - the more marches agin Mango Man, the better).
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
Oh yes, the organisers have already said they know it is closed - I assume the location was chosen for its symbolic value.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Well, I hope you get good TV coverage, anyhow.
Will the First Minister be joining you?
(Serious question - I've seen/read what she thinks about Trumpolini).
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
Going by the comments on the facebook event page I understand she has a prior engagement. I'll be interested to see who they do get for keynote speeches though.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
She's not attending the Trumpuration herself, is she?
Hmm. Possibly a diplomatic absence, though...
(BTW - I sort of belong on this thread, as I'm of Scottish descent on my Ma's side, and French on my Pa's side. I wonder which country the UKippers would like to send me back to?)
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
*bump*
Has anyone been watching the mini-series about the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney?
Celtic Knotweed and I have watched transfixed, moving only to top up the glass of Scapa/Highland Park.
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
This is wonderful!
![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
What channel is the Ness of Brodgar programme on?
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
... Orkney though is getting higher on my 'I want to go there soon' list. Maybe this year?
Just do it! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Alan - BBC 2 - it's available on I-player if you're in the UK.
Sandemaniac and Knotweed - Slainte mhor!
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
It was a brilliant programme, my wife wants to go there NOW.
Mind you, having watched Rick Stein earlier in the evening, she also wants to go to Cadiz. And Cadiz is - er - warmer.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
I'm saving the Orkney programme to watch this weekend with my daughter, already set up on my iPlayer account.
We went there last summer and saw that area, in a howling gale, too windy to be allowed on the beach to see Skara Brae, Ring of Brodgar a challenge to stay upright, let alone hold a camera steady.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Sounds familiar - we saw the Kitchener memorial at Marwick Head in horizontal rain, didn't dare go near the cliff edge for fear of flying off it.
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
When you're sandwiched between the Atlantic and the North Sea, "howling gale" is the default weather setting ...
Since leaving Orkney nearly 30 years ago (although I'm usually back once a year) I've completely lost my immunity to windy weather - what I'd have once called a light breeze is now a storm.
I'm turning into a wuss.
[ 18. January 2017, 02:41: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
I was in Orkney for two nights in October, as a sideways addition to the North 500. The weather was mild and balmy; we walked through Kirkwall licking ice cream cones.
I'd say that the sun shines on the righteous, but we had crossed the Bealach Na Ba three days earlier in lashing rain and lowering cloud.
Our B&B in Orkney was superb, I'd be happy to recommend it to anyone planning a visit.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
We had our honeymoon on Orkney. Which whetted our appetite for the place, but we never got to go back.
I've just watched three episodes back to back. Excellent show. Though, I might have prefered a mention of the work done 8-10 years ago dating the ditch at the Ring and some of the structures on the Ness - but, maybe only because I did the lab work (unfortunately, not any involvement in the excavation to get the samples).
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alan Cresswell:
... I did the lab work ...
A vital and very cool part of the process, I'd have thought!
Orkney can be lovely in October; the only time we've been there at that time of year since we left was for weddings, and both times they got lovely days. Not hot, but sunny and mild - just the sort of day you'd want for a wedding.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
What's all this stuff about Orkney? Scotland's far south-west (Dumfriesshire etc.) has much better weather - mild, soft, damp (admittedly - I recall my late Ma describing the state of her autumn garden as 'deliquescent'), but not quite so subject to the gales of the Far North....
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alan Cresswell:
I've just watched three episodes back to back. Excellent show. Though, I might have prefered a mention of the work done 8-10 years ago dating the ditch at the Ring and some of the structures on the Ness - but, maybe only because I did the lab work (unfortunately, not any involvement in the excavation to get the samples).
Ooh, impressive. I'm always interested in the analysis of the finds: not all archaeology is spadework.
The programme was one of the best representations of an excavation that looked like an excavation. The work took time, effort, people getting their knees dirty and finding things that made them reassess their theories. Good stuff.
Arachnid, BSc Archaeological Sciences and proud owner of a trowel.
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
Though, as is surprisingly common, it's frustrating watching people dig through and discard sediments looking for flecks of charcoal in order to produce a date - in the process throwing out material that could provide not only the date of the structure but information on how rapidly the structure filled in. Which is something they should know, as we've dated sediments both on the Ness of Brodgar and in the ditch around the Ring of Brodgar.
Jane Downes, who was featured visiting a neolithic hut that had been buried in sand, was involved in that work. BTW, those sand inundations are surprisingly common in Orkney, and have been recorded even in historical times. The sand is also usually very easy to date.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
What's all this stuff about Orkney? Scotland's far south-west (Dumfriesshire etc.) has much better weather - mild, soft, damp (admittedly - I recall my late Ma describing the state of her autumn garden as 'deliquescent'), but not quite so subject to the gales of the Far North....
IJ
I dunno - the winds that hit my house can get pretty fierce. Not by Orkney standards, I'm sure, but my cherry tree is bent at an impressive angle, and the wind literally blows the paint off the walls. And I'm 7 miles inland. Mind you, there is nothing between me and Ireland when the sou'westers get a-blowin.
I've just realised I have a tree. That probably proves your point.
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"I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Quite so.
Ma didn't have a cherry tree - if she had had one, it would not have been permitted to get bent...
Mind you, she lived in a more sheltered part of the county.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
Can I just add that 'deliquescent' is my new favourite word?
to your Ma.
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"I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
I was in Orkney for two nights in October, as a sideways addition to the North 500. The weather was mild and balmy; we walked through Kirkwall licking ice cream cones.
I'd say that the sun shines on the righteous, but we had crossed the Bealach Na Ba three days earlier in lashing rain and lowering cloud.
Our B&B in Orkney was superb, I'd be happy to recommend it to anyone planning a visit.
Can you PM the B&B details, please? We're hoping to go there in May. Any travel recommendations? I'm not driving any more than necessary, and am tempted by the Aberdeen-Lerwick ferry, though a bit expensive. I like the train ride to Thurso - haven't done it for numerous decades, and it's probably the slowest way to get there. Last time I was in Scrabster I watched the second St Ola leaving for Orkney... Old age is creeping up on me.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Cottontail:
... I've just realised I have a tree. That probably proves your point.
Yup.
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
... I'm not driving any more than necessary, and am tempted by the Aberdeen-Lerwick ferry ... Old age is creeping up on me.
It certainly is - Lerwick is in Shetland.
Seriously though, the drive to the north isn't nearly as bad as it used to be (and if your last visit was in the time of the second St. Ola it must have been over 40 years ago). You can drive from Edinburgh to Gill's Bay in about 6 hours, where the Pentalina leaves for St. Margaret's Hope, and it only takes an hour and is considerably cheaper than the Scrabster ferry.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
I worked a summer on Shetland once. The houses had no numbers or street names, and were found mostly by description - turn left just after the cattle grid and it's the wee white house up the hill after the bungalow with the porch - that kind of thing.
Directions one morning: "You'll find it easily. It's the only house in the village with trees."
So I drive to the village and look around. No trees. I go down to the beach to get a panoramic view. No trees. I go up this road, and up that road, for a couple of miles just in case. No trees.
I go back to the beach and ponder. Then I realise that there is a house up there with a few ... shrubs ... in the garden. Sure enough. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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"I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
... I'm not driving any more than necessary, and am tempted by the Aberdeen-Lerwick ferry ... Old age is creeping up on me.
It certainly is - Lerwick is in Shetland.
Seriously though, the drive to the north isn't nearly as bad as it used to be (and if your last visit was in the time of the second St. Ola it must have been over 40 years ago). You can drive from Edinburgh to Gill's Bay in about 6 hours, where the Pentalina leaves for St. Margaret's Hope, and it only takes an hour and is considerably cheaper than the Scrabster ferry.
Merde... Kirkwall. I'd better take a guide dog.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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kingsfold
Shipmate
# 1726
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Posted
Though to be fair you can go from Aberdeen to Lerwick via Kirkwall....
Posts: 4473 | From: land of the wee midgie | Registered: Nov 2001
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
Things have improved since the days of boats made of cow hide and sticks. Paddling all the way from Aberdeen would get you fit, let alone all the way from Belgium with a cargo of voles.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
I'm sorry - did you say 'voles' ?
As in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vole ?
Explanation, please.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
I'm on my hudl and can't link, but if you google "Orkney vole" (the wee furry one, not the blogger) all will be explained.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Ah yes - here we are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney_vole
Thanks for that, NEQ!
Presumably these were imported to the islands as a useful and easy-to-breed foodstuff. ![[Paranoid]](graemlins/paranoid.gif)
Any recipes, anyone?
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
The Orkney voles got mentioned in the TV series about Orkney, as being unique to the Orkneys and most closely related to voles in Belgium - with the likely explanation that they came from northern Europe, by boat, bypassing the British mainland.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
At risk of being uber geeky, how do you date sediment infill?
AG
(more than somewhat jealous)
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
When you expose minerals (such as quartz or feldspars in sand) to radiation electrons are boosted into the conduction bands, where they subsequently return to lower energy states. Because minerals (especially natural ones) are imperfect there are some locations where these excited electrons get trapped. Add a bit more energy (eg: light or heat) and these can be released, in the process giving out light - a process known as photostimulated or thermal luminescence.
In a natural system if you have an event that clears the trapped electrons (eg: exposure to sunlight) then when those mineral grains get buried they start to accumulate trapped charge. So, take some material from a sedimentary sequence back to the lab and you can stimulate luminescence, measure the amount of light produced and after a controlled radiation you have a measure of the dose the grains received since they were buried. Measure the dose rate where the grains were collected and by dividing the stored dose by the dose rate you have a time since burial.
Of course, that's the simplified description. You are dealing with natural materials, and you may find that the particular minerals at your site don't have the right properties to give you the information you want. The signal may not have been cleared out before burial, giving a residual and apparently old age. Usually we'd measure groups of grains (50-100 at a time) to give a decent signal, with several different subsamples so we can spot when we have residuals - if we have grains with big signals we can measure single grains at a time, which can make separating out mixed age components a bit easier.
The method works very well with quartz, and hence windblown sand which gets zeroed as it's blown around gives very good dates. Waterborne sediments tend to carry residuals, and are usually harder to date. It's usually quite easy to distinguish between slow infill of a feature (windblown or gradual erosion of surface soils all get zeroed well) and rapid infill (which isn't usually well zeroed) - so if you have a filled in ditch or similar it's easy to see if it was filled slowly by natural processes or rapidly by a deliberate act.
It also works with heated items like pottery, bricks or stones used for cooking (or, as per the TV programme, saunas), which are zeroed by heat. And, in some cases structures destroyed by fire. Conversely, if you take a rock that's been buried for a long time and put it above ground then sunlight slowly bleaches the stored signals just below the surface, potentially allowing you to determine how long a stone has been above ground - in a wall, or a standing stone, or a quarry face. Depending on the minerals present and the dose rate, the technique can work for a range of dates from about 100 years through to a few million years.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Uber-geeky or not, fascinating stuff, and a fascinating job.
Alas, I have the sort of unscientific mind that simply wants to know why voles went from Belgium to Orkney!
BTW, is there any truth that, in the event of Br***it, Orcadians are to seek re-union with Norway?
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
... Alas, I have the sort of unscientific mind that simply wants to know why voles went from Belgium to Orkney!
Because they have exquisite taste? ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
quote:
BTW, is there any truth that, in the event of Br***it, Orcadians are to seek re-union with Norway?
It has been mentioned - I'm honestly not entirely sure how seriously, but seriously enough that it got an article in the Daily Telegraph and, I believe, was discussed by Orkney Islands Council.
[ 20. January 2017, 18:57: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Well, I can't say I blame them (the Council, I mean, not the voles - though you may be right about the voles.).
I think Kirkwall is closer to Oslo than London as the gull flies, no? And there's no great lump of UKipperland between Kirkwall and Oslo....
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
All I can think of now is an army of voles on rafts with little oars paddling like mad.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
... avoiding the British mainland because they know they won't get a friendly welcome from the xenophobic population who will will tell them to go home, declaring that Britain is not part of Europe and wants nothing to do with Europeans. They want a safe friendly welcome, not to be shipped back across the Channel to a squalid jungle camp near Calais.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
...avoiding the English (i.e. UKipperland) mainland, if you please. I'm sure Scotland The Brave would be only too happy to give refuge to poor migrant voledom.
UKipperland, on the other hand, would reject them, especially as many of them are brown-ish.
Pics of voles on rafts, by the way, can be found by simply Googling 'voles on rafts'(mostly to do with water voles, but never mind).
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Thank you Alan, always good to have a lucid explanation.
Just the sort of stuff I'd like to do, but I think any opportunity has long since passed.
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
Vaguely following on from all that, what happened to the mink that invaded the Hebrides a few years ago? If I remember correctly - an unlikely happening - someone had closed down an uneconomic mink farm by the simple expedient of casting the little buggers loose, and they took off to destroy bird populations around the islands by eating the eggs. I saw some among the dunes on Iona a few years ago, but haven't seen them for a while now. I think they were mink - black and expensive looking - but they may have been descendants of the original voles that arrived in coracles, like Columba.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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