Scottish Snippets

16 May 2015

Number 682



The Scottish Snippets Newsletter in its original format began in April 1997 and continued in an unbroken series for 591 issues. Although no longer produced in that style, there is now this regular update on the new and updated pages on the Rampant Scotland site including "Scottie's Photo Diary From Scotland".

HotTo receive a text version of this newsletter as a reminder to look at these Web pages when they are published, just send an e-mail to Scottie@RampantScotland.com with "Subscribe Newsletter" in the subject line.


Memory Lane - Are Ye Fur Up?

While it might be thought that dancing should be included in "entertainment", in the larger cities, especially in Glasgow, dancing and dance halls were such an important part of the local culture they surely deserve a separate page to themselves? See: Are Ye Fur Up?

Memory Lane - First Motor Cars


Even if we later drive in a big, plush executive type auto, we all recall with pleasure that first vehicle that we called our own. It may have been a small, second-hand jalopy which broke down too often at the wrong moment - but it will still arouse fond memories. Roads were a lot quieter 50 years ago and that made a difference too.See what I was driving half a century ago! See: First Motor Cars

Memory Lane - Buccaneers!

Fed up with the commercial board game "Buccaneers!" David decided to create his own version with a huge board and pirate ships made by himself. See : Buccaneers!

Growing Up in Stockbridge, Edinburgh


Maureen, now in Alberta,Canada had lots of places to go around Stockbridge including The Pond in Inverleith Park,where people used to sail their model yachts, fish for minnows and skate in the winter if the pond froze over. And there was also the Royal Botanic Gardens (pictured here). Maureen went to Flora Stevenson’s School in Comely Bank. See : Growing Up in Stockbridge, Edinburgh

Are They Bearing Yet?

The point in winter when it was confirmed that the ponds in Dundee had become capable of bearing skiers was eagerly anticipated and resulted in the youngsters getting on their skates and enjoying speeding across the ice. When the ice became too thin to support these intrepid skaters, nobody sounded a warning - with inevitable results! See: Are They Bearing Yet?

Spring Photo Diary


There has been a bit of a gap in the series but here is a selection of photographs I took in the spring of 2015 - the pictures are in chronological order from February to April. There is a commentary on each one. Photos range from crocus in the snow, spring lambs, a statue of Wild Bill Hickok (in Glasgow), close up of a ladybird and a sparrowhawk looking for lunch in my garden! See: Spring Photo Diary

Daffodil Video

Daffodils are not all the same - here are over 20 different named varieties in all sorts of shapes and colours, from Greenbank Garden, a National Trust for Scotland property south of Glasgow. Don't forget you can pause and note the names of any you want to buy for your own garden! See: Daffodil Video

Glasgow Photo Library - Squiggly Bridge


Tradeston Bridge, known locally as the "Squiggly Bridge" is a pedestrian bridge across the river Clyde between the international financial centre in Anderston on the north bank and Tradeston on the south bank to aid the regeneration of the more prosperous district with its large office blocks. The span is curved in an S shape which prompted its nickname. See: Glasgow Photo Library - Squiggly Bridge

From Grain to Glass

VisitScotland the tourism agency has produced some pages to help visitors understand more about Scotch whisky. They have created a YouTube video that describes just how whisky is made - See: From Grain to Glass

Whisky Distilleries eBooks


VisitScotland has also published five essential handbooks to visiting Scotland’s distilleries with full listings covering opening hours, directions and details of each distillery's signature expressions you should try a dram of if you get the chance. You’ll find these guides indispensable as you discover Scotland’s much-fêted national drink for yourself. You can download them and a whole lot more via Whisky Distilleries eBooks

Next Newsletter

The next newsletter is scheduled for 30 May and will include more of Tam's "Tall Tales" with a selection of current news items from Scotland.

And if you have any Scottish memories which you would like to contribute to "Memory Lane" I am planning to have another Newsletter with these soon!

Yours aye

Scottie

Previous editions of this Newsletter are available in an Archive. The Index to the other pages of the Rampant Scotland site is available here.



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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?

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