The Library

I loved the library in the town where I grew up. It was housed in a quirky little building with shiny wooden floors and steps down to the children’s section. The place smelt wonderfully of polished wood and was full of more books than I would ever be able to read. I could choose any book I wanted to, without having to think about whether I would be allowed to buy it. So I discovered stories that I would never have otherwise found, stories that still sit in my memory now, though I’ve forgotten the details. A story of children growing up in the stone age; a story of a boy with epilepsy discovering a bond with nature and many others. It was also here that one day I was surprised by a fellow pupil from my school slithering under the book cases and grabbing my ankles!

When I was a teenager, the library started stocking music, which gave an extra dimension to my borrowing. Now I could randomly select music and listen, without actually buying the albums! A great way to broaden my musical horizons.

I pass the library every time I visit the town where I grew up. The building now houses a motor-cycle showroom. The library itself is now up in the town centre, in the same building as the medical centre. I’ve never visited it there, it just wouldn’t be the same, though I’m sure it offers the same expanded horizons to today’s children as the old library did for me.

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Originally published as part of the CILIPS (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) 2022 #LibrariesareEssential campaign. You can find all the creative responses to their campaign on their website here!  

TrippyTakka at Edinburgh Canal Festival

 Yesterday we spent time at the Edinburgh Canal Festival. After walking along the canal, we sat in the sunshine at Lochrin Basin and listened to the excellent local band TrippyTakka. 

They're a rock and blues band who write their own music (not a single cover version while we were there) and they deserved a much bigger audience than they got yesterday. They had a bubble machine on for some of their songs, and I tried to capture the lovely way the bubbles were catching the sun, but without any great success!  

There are a couple more photos from the day on my Crafty Green Poet Blog here. 

The Reluctant Model

Why would someone do this to me?
It weighs a tonne and I feel a fool.

There's skill and artistry
in the intricate designs, but
any beauty in the detail is lost
in the overall execution.

No I won't smile for the camera
this thing is giving me a headache
and if I move a muscle
it will all come tumbling down.

So many problems in the world need solutions
and you choose to do this to me?

 

originally published on The Ekphrastic Review, in response to this artwork by Severine Gallardo.  

Reflections

 

I took this photo when we were having a meal in a restaurant recently, I liked the way the light shone through the bottle. 

Scottish Gaelic and Scots now recognised as official languages of Scotland

Scottish Gaelic and Scots are now recognised as official languages as from St Andrew's Day, thanks to the Scottish Languages Act, which was voted through in June this year. (see this article on the BBC website).

I've seen a couple of recent examples of editors sharing translations 'into Scottish Gaelic' which were actually into Scots! However, the two languages are not to be confused! Scottish Gaelic is closely related to Irish and Manx, and one of the Celtic languages which also include Welsh, Cornish and Breton. It is very different to English and as such can be challenging to learn. Scots is much more closely related to English and arguably these days feels more like a dialect than a language, as though lots of people in Scotland use a good number of Scots words, few speak wholly in Scots or even using Scots grammar. But historically it really is a language and it's great to see it being officially recognised as such in a modern Scotland. 

Both Scots and Scottish Gaelic are vital parts of Scotland's culture and this recognition of  their status ensures that they can continue to play an important part on the country's future. 

If you want to learn Scottish Gaelic, then the Speak Gaelic website is a good place to start. This website is tied in to a programme that ran recently on BBC Alba (the Scottish Gaelic channel of the BBC) and is now available on Youtube. Alternatively, you may be able to access face to face learning in a local community centre. 

Edinburgh Council has a very good adult education programme and is now taking bookings for the next term, including classes in Scottish Gaelic and one class in Scots.  

There are a number of useful online Scots language resources including:

The Scots Language online.  

Dictionaries of the Scots Language.  

Not in Our Name (a found poem)

There were mutterings that each day grew louder,
signs and portents that we refused to believe.
Local militia were organizing and drilling
getting ready to answer the call should it come.
Not that people thought that it would come.
They believed, as they hoped,
that something would be done to prevent war…….
As for those others who prophesied and prayed for it,
who wanted the vials of God's wrath uncorked,
they got what they wanted.
Their prayers were answered;
the land was drenched in blood.
But for the most of us
we did not.



Found poem from:A Virginia Girl in the Civil War, 1861-1865: Being a Record of the Actual Experiences of the Wife of a Confederate Officer: Ed. by Myrta Lockett Avary
 

I originally posted this found poem for Read Write Poem, many years ago now, but it still seems very relevant 

Haunted

Her bones buzz
as she tries to remember
who it is whose eyes
stare at her
from the shiny glass
on the wall.

All the white powders,
syringes and needles
were supposed to help her
find something.

If only she could remember
what it was.

She thinks
it had something to do
with those eyes. 

 

originally published on Shot Glass Journal.  

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Meanwhile, I've just had a tiny poem published on the Smols website, you can read it here. 

Barnton Bunker - Edinburgh's Nuclear Bunker

 The day before going on our recent holiday to Dumfries and Galloway we visited Barnton Bunker, Edinburgh's Nuclear Bunker, that is currently being restored and reimagined as an arts venue. We were there for a programme of 'films set in bunkers' with a guided tour of the bunker taking place in between the films. The films were Day of the Dead and a 70s horror film set in the London Underground that I think was called Deathline, though a different title showed up at the beginning of the film. I wasn't there for the films to be honest, too gory for me, though I sort of enjoyed them. I was there for the guided tour of the bunker, which is a fascinating place, with a central area which has the most amazing acoustics, and which will become a wonderful concert venue. Our photos didn't turn out great, because the venue is so dark, but here are a few to give you an idea of the interior of the bunker. The photo below shows the BBC Radio room which will be used as a recording studio in the future

 Here's the entrance tunnel 

 Here's part of the area that's being developed as a museum of the Cold War 

 and my partner holding one of the books on display 

and here's one of the offices

The charity looking after the bunker is developing a community garden, which was opened with a public event earlier today, which I had intended to go along to with a friend, who sadly had to cancel, and I didn't feel like going along by myself. You can see some photos of the outdoor area around the bunker (and the unexpected residents!) on my Crafty Green Poet blog here. 

The desk where Robert Burns wrote

We spent much of last week in Dumfries and Galloway in the south-west of Scotland. We've visited this area many times, but there are still new places to explore. Ellisland Farm was the home for Robert Burns for just a few years from 1788, but was the place where he wrote many of his most famous pieces including Tam O'Shanter. It's a very impressive museum, with plans to extend and develop it to preserve the built heritage and to further celebrate the legacy of Robert Burns. 

Here is the desk where Burns sat to write much of his work 

while the kitchen is preserved much as it would have been back in Burns' day, including with a cookery book open at a page with a recipe for curry!  

Entry to the museum costs £6.00 and includes an introductory talk and a video, after which you're left to your own devices to explore. You can join the Ellisland Trust for £20, which gives you free entry to the museum and other benefits. 

You can see more photos from Ellisland on my Crafty Green Poet blog.  

Walking The Maroon Mile

 The Maroon Mile stretches from Tynecastle Stadium to the Haymarket War Memorial. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Hearts Football Club, the mile has been punctuated with information boards highlighting local history and the history of the football club itself. I'm not a football fan at all, but we do live very close to the route of the Maroon Mile and North Merchiston Cemetery (where I'm a member of the Friends Group) has connections with Hearts, so the other day, we decided to walk from the war memorial to the stadium and read all the information boards. I'll give a very brief outline here (with photos). 

The Maroon Mile starts at the Haymarket War Memorial which commemorates the members and supporters of Hearts Football Team who fell in the two world wars.  

 The next information post is found near the Co-op, next to this sculpture marking the brewing and distilling history of the area

Further down Dalry Road, near Lidl is an information board about Dalry Primary School which opened in 1878 (and is found on the opposite side of the road, with no good space for erecting an information board next to the school itself). 
 

The next information board is outside the church of St Martin and Tours, which was originally built in 1883 as a Baptist church but which is now a Scottish Episcopalian Church

Moving onto Gorgie Road, Gorgie Farm, the much loved city farm, is marked with an information board. The farm is currently on hiatus as its future is being discussed, with the farm allotments being used for growing vegetables, but the site not currently open to the public and no animals currently live on site. Hopefully the farm will become fully operational again soon. I have many happy memories of the farm.
 

 

 From here, the next stop is Tynecastle Stadium itself, the home of Hearts Football Club

 A slight detour is required to then move onto North Merchiston Cemetery, where several people with connections to Hearts have been buried. The cemetery has two information boards, which you can see on this post on my Crafty Green Poet blog. 

After walking the Maroon Mile, it seems appropriate to have a pie and a pint in the Athletic Arms (aka The Diggers), which recently won Whisky Bar of the Year in the 2025 Scottish Bar and Pub Awards, which is a great achievement. I don't drink whisky, but the pub also offers a good range of beers and the best pub pies in Edinburgh.