Climbing up on Falkland Hill

Lunch today up on Falkland Hill or maybe East Lomond, who cares? Nice sunny spots with views across Fife as you might expect. Strangely enough the mobile phone/4G signal up there is great. No idea why this should be the case, technology is (almost) wonderful. 

NQ

Steps down to a watery place or up to a more agreeable and preferably drier one.

Breakwater: Note no broken water to be seen.

"I write to you from a strange time loop that finds me trapped in North Queensferry. I write to you from a strange time loop that finds me trapped in North Queensferry. I write to you from a strange time loop that finds me trapped in North Queensferry. I write to you from a strange time loop that finds me trapped in North Queensferry. I write to you from a strange time loop that finds me trapped in North Queensferry. I write to you from a strange time loop that finds me trapped in North Queensferry. ... BZZT! Send help." (Said nobody ever).

Hierarchy of incompetence

Still life with oil tanker.

For people who don't really know what they're doing I'd advise taking an occasional breath of fresh air whilst getting out and about, out and about, outside. If there's too many outs and abouts then it's about time you got out and sorted out your outs and abouts. For example today (whilst out) I pondered the problems and general pitfalls encountered in ordering and organizing fridge and chilled food storage. This was on both a daily and a rotational basis. It was that kind of day. The air was heavy with thunder and Ninja showers. Still I pressed on. I slowly came to the conclusion that despite being good at other things, fridge management was not one of them. So in my hierarchy of incompetence this figures highly as a failure of sorts. Once I'd mulled this over for a few moments I decided to take some photos of large and quite unrelated objects and forget the fridge problems for the time being.

Still life with bridge.

That awkward 3681st post

Another lost/misplaced/forgotten football.

Whilst going through yet another period of critical self examination I am, as ever partially inspired and guided by other people's song lyrics, quotes from films and the odd literary line (as well as inner voices, demons and so on). Today it's hard to find an applicable line. I rather like the idea of waking up in the morning and not recognising myself in the mirror, scary I suppose, unlikely and it's never happened, yet. There is that odd moment however when you might catch sight of yourself and see some aspect or angle of yourself that looks unfamiliar, like someone else but not quite. Maybe as a turnip head, a wolf or Clark Gable. I'm sure there's a word for it. Once in a while it happens with a photo. Maybe selfie chasers are hungry for this experience but cant quite articulate how it drives them. The quest to see yourself, the need to know yourself. What might that mean or even look like in a modern world? No matter how old or grizzled you get or how beautiful you might be it's never quite there, you cant get there. Travelling but not arriving. Maybe life is best explored in the way that a cat would navigate it's way around a garden, treading carefully but pissing on other people's plants and shrubs as you go, after a few moments of consideration of course.

Monoliths and Sentinels

Sneak preview of a stunning new exhibition featuring only simple items of Apple packaging re-imagined as apple packaging. No Apple packaging was injured during any part of the process, only fully certified Apple wranglers were used. None of this for profit or personal gain. Always nice to be watched over by these benevolent machines and their curated items of origin. Note: not all sentinels are monoliths and not all monoliths are sentinels.

Lost Footballs etc.

Two lost footballs, lost in woodland and pretty much worn out. Rescue not possible.

Devastation in central Fife, trees removed for economic reasons (which is reasonable).

More of that kind of thing.

A bend in the road, timber ready for collection, misty trees: Central Fife yesterday.

Three birthdays and a trip to A and E

So the weekend was a full one and it's Wednesday already and I've hardly had a moment. Somebody had a big birthday and others had regular birthdays. Life was strangely hectic and things flashed past at an incredible speed throwing me into a busy week at work accompanied by the dull anguish of an unexpected head injury. Family, friends and the NHS rallied to my support and it's now a distant if uncomfortable memory. A tale to tell when the right time comes for telling tales. In a the confusion I did assemble a lot of of happy memories and I hope some others did too, life is pretty much a series of unplanned events and unintended consequences rubbing up together in unpredictable ways and things, well they just keep happening. I should say something about Game of Thrones or the weather or the terrible bigger picture but that's for another post, funny how none of this is quite as cathartic as it should be. At least I got my washing done. Love and apologies to all.

A bit late but...

"In France a big old church burned down,

there was gold left in the rubble,

the big boys said they'd build it back up,

as it'll be tax deductible,

...times...times..."

Oasis

Unlikely but operating.

.

God's country

Panorama: the location. Some say it's God's country, some say it's nothing to do with him, some say there is no God, some say it's everybody's country, but as the field has three bulls in it and they call it home I'd defer to the view of the bulls.

When the loch was created some of  the ancient graves were flooded and lost. Not sure how the occupants reacted. Nobody new or newly dead has been buried here for many years. Now they're underwater. No religious objections, a bit like a burial at sea. It's all a creationist myth anyway. There's a sense of peaceful ruin in the strangely warm spring sunshine. Moss and lichen only grow on one side of the grave stones, usually the side you're trying to read. That's all part of nature's strangle-hold on death and it's conspiracy of silence and the with-holding of relevant  information. We know nothing.

Bare trees and shadows in a graveyard.

Danger: Home made sign

This place is dangerous, if you don't believe me then check the sign.

The old castle (or whatever it's technical, historical name is) is also reasonably picturesque, even on a dull Spring day when the daffs are out. It's also, like most ruins, a bit sinister. I always wonder, regards castles, how the inhabitants managed to get their furniture in, particularly with a front entrance 20 feet above the ground. Remember these were the days before flat packs. Might have been the days before furniture now that I think about it. Lot's of unwilling serfs to bully into action I suppose.

All those who are thirsty

All those who are thirsty, abandon hope and drink from here. Your trials and tribulations are temporary, your physical ailments and imperfections might just last a little longer, we don't care much for your health. You may require a stronger and more robust constitution if you are brave or thirsty enough to drink from this eternal spring. I am not your savior, I am not the answer. I do know a few facts about e.coli. It's brutal. Perhaps I am a poison, a simple, hidden poison like the Christian church, a veiled death threat seen as an angel of light. However if you choose to drink from this source you'll be in good company; Queen Victoria and Albert to name but two. One died young, the other lived on for quite some time. In the end it's all up to you. Choose wisely.

Guinea fowl

These birds are stupid, crazy and like to wander around in a crowd, scratching and clawing at the ground. They are not chickens, they don't socialize easily with chickens but they probably taste like chicken. I'm not too worried about finding out whether or not they do right now, that revelation can wait. Their antics are amusing however and they are apparently pretty noisy, but that's not something I've experienced. Anyway they are our near neighbours at the moment so I'm granting them space to be, simply to be. Unmolested (?) they'll live for eighteen years.

Into the wild

Our house is a very very very fine house etc.

Beneath the rusting corrugated iron roof the reflected battered head of a worn out pilgrim steps forth from the trees and shelters in the peace of timber and stone...for the time being.

I am currently writing this through the vague and shaky medium of low speed, low resolution broadband. Every type stroke requires super human effort, every photo groans at the compression and pain of the upload process. Each mega-mite of data is squeezed and slowed down to the pace of a turkey crossing a field of indifferent bulls munching shattered turnips. Strangely eBay still works but the satellite signal is grainy, appearing in the guise of 1960's 625 lines rather than digital HD quality. We're out in the wilds. Living in the woods, parked up on mud, wild birds and rodents strike Disney poses and silence is everywhere. From the window mountains are visible in desolate magnificence. Perhaps we're working on a new album or experimenting with cooking techniques, perhaps we'll be eaten alive by ants or found frozen dead in our log cabin bed, perhaps we'll just do a little light reading. Nothing matters as it's all further figments of my imagination (apart from the nearest shop/pub/civilization being 16 miles away, effectively over the hills and far away) and I'm relaxing into the happy warmth of the unreal fate and surprises that holidays provide.

Sympathy for the bees

I've never been stung by a bee, just wasps, many wasps, many times. I forgive them. Bees seems more peaceful and generally have a good, wholesome image. Focused, busy, industrious,  loyal and of course they make honey, eventually. So these bees that have newly moved into this nearby field are a bit like tiny, grazing flying farm animals though they will not produce meat, milk or wool. Nobody eats bees or wears their fur (?). I wonder how quickly they will settle down. Will they be disorientated, homesick or upset? Will they explore and come over to our garden(s) and try out the tulips and daffs that are popping open? Will they just invade the field, there before them like a great golden Asda that they can shoplift from at will, strip the shelves, lay waste, bring it all back home, gorge themselves and get fat with no adverse consequences? Get shouting drunk on nectar? Some days it must be good to be a bee.

Cairneyhill Crunch

Cairneyhill Crunch is a local delicacy first made up in the 12th century by local monks from nearby St Margaret's Abbey and offered to pilgrims as a light  snack as they traveled across the Fife Path of Pestilence looking out for a good beating. It's now going through a mini revival at cafes and eateries in the small town and is seen as a type of "street food", very fashionable amongst the young these days. The traditional recipe still requires that only the best corn flakes and dessicated coconut are used in the complex baking process. There's also a mystery ingredient. No one knows quite what it is. It's also thought to be one of the earliest examples of an edible microwave dessert and it has inspired many quaint folk songs, dirty inky block prints, electric guitar tones and abstract arty poems over the years.

Numerous families of travelling gypsy bees have moved into the field next door. I presume that they intend to dine out on the large amounts of Rape-Seed pollen that is dustily powdering itself across the landscape these days like a fine shower of sweet cocaine. Always nice to have new neighbours, particularly hard working ones that may well survive to sting, irritate and drive away any fly-tippers or over enthusiastic courting couples. 

Nothing is satisfactory

Nothing is satisfactory. Even a super massive black hole, impressive as it is and impressive as it is to have actually been found and photographed, is a little hard to take in. Do I understand any of it? No. Can I actually comprehend the meaning and significance of it? No. Is it God's eye or arse hole? Blowed if I know. It's a big crazy thing up in space that I actually do not have any terms of reference to describe, (other than dumb ass Sci-Fi film and reading experiences). None of these are quite good enough to adequately tell to my feeble brain what is actually going on. "Careful not to step in that black hole son, no good will come of it". Perhaps the Chinese will arrange a trip there, maybe Donald Trump will fund an expedition to see if it's good place to sent refugees to, the Russians might just claim it for possible mineral rights. The greedy dreamers will continue to dream, hold on to their illusions of power as they are dwarfed and ridiculed by the sheer size and magnitude of what's out there.

I actually knew that it was there all the time, I just kept quiet about it. Seemed like the right thing to do. Glad it's all out in the open now.

Feeling discomfort

Sometimes I think, "that's the kind of thing that could only happen in China/the Far East (or to be fair some other far away place I've never visited)". I read the news today, oh boy. So four tiny bees living on human tears in the eye of a Taiwanese woman. The tiny sweat bees nest in the mountains or near to grave sites ... it's a strange horror story that writes itself albeit once the bees were found and removed the woman's sight was saved etc. etc. In a fantasy story the arc would've been far longer and even more horrendous. Graves, bees, tears, feeding, parasite, stinging, eyes, metaphors, horror, revenge, plague, blindness; just for starters. Maybe it never really happened.

You can never put your foot in the same river twice

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on

But it don't snow here
It stays pretty green
I'm going to make a lot of money
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on

I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
I wish I had a river I could skate away on
I made my baby cry

He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on

I'm so hard to handle
I'm selfish and I'm sad
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
I wish I had a river I could skate away on

Oh, I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby say goodbye

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river I could skate away on

Joni M for Christine M. RIP.

Chips

Chips, just chips, nice crunchy ones, not too dry, not too moist, not too large a portion. Fish, battered again not greasy or chewy. Just about right really. Also avoiding the added salt, sauce and vinegar and just allowing the natural tastes to emerge. So that was an enjoyable tea in Aberdeen with some of my grandchildren on Saturday, grub from Oor Wullies fish and chip shop. Run by an Irish family in Aberdeen so no obvious cultural connection with the DDW comic strip hero but the food's good. Life's simple pleasures are the best.