#I hope he thrives but i hope Aberdeen do not

[kyogos]

Logically I knew Broony wasn't going to finish his career with us but damn I'm still crying

[essays-for-breakfast]

Do You Remember?

Kiane Week Day Five: Affection

Note: So, I had no idea what to do with the prompt for today. That’s when randomness entered my creatively-bankrupt brain. I hope you enjoy my first dive into first person referral POV.

You. Let me hold you close, now that we have nothing to fear. Our war is won, our past conquered, our future brighter than I could have hoped. Let me kiss you, now that you wear my ring and I yours. Let me create a shrine for our love, a forest that will last a thousand years, where the daisy blooms all seasons and the birds carol the song of a Giant and a Fairy.

My people say that the Sacred Tree produces a seed only once every five thousand years. A single bloom with a single kernel from which the strongest and most beautiful tree will sprout. The odds of witnessing such a wonder are slim, few Fairies ever do, and those who hope and search all their life might still return emptyhanded. A pearl in an ocean of sand.

And yet, I found the pearl without looking for her. She pulled me from a river, healed my wounds, and nursed me to health. In every sense of the word, she saved my life.

You.

You are my pearl, my one in five thousand chance, my strong and beautiful rock in an ocean of worries.

Let me reminisce the years we spent side by side, as friends, as comrades, now as husband and wife. Do you remember?

A cave in the sun. Water ran down the stone, cool and fresh, but the walls of your home never felt cold against my back. Because your warmth melted all ice. How often did we play tag in the meadows while the grass whispered with the wind? Do you remember half of it? One day blended into the next, one year mingled with the following, but you were always there, with a smile to brighten my mood and a hand to lift me up. Free of my own memories to chain me, I saw the world through your eyes. So vivid and cheerful. Every face a new friend without a shred of hostility.

Sometimes I want to go back to these days with you. But we have more now than we ever did back then, don’t we? More memories to wallow in, more experience to rely on, more friends to ask for support, advice, or a mindless night indulged in liquor. And a child to share our stories with.

In truth, I don’t want to go back to the cave in the sun. Tears stain the end of this chapter. I now acknowledge why Helbram needed to die, and the sound of the rose tearing through his skin and flesh no longer wakes me in the darkest hour before dawn. But what I did to you will forever haunt me. Please don’t worry, you can’t kiss away the guilt, your words can’t lift the burden. I realize my mistake now. Perhaps one day I will find the strength to remind you how truly sorry I am.

A man can endure torture, he can stomach tremendous loss, he can throw himself into the steel-infested fires of the battlefield time and time again, as long as his mind has a happier place to return to. Nothing lets us hold on and continue to strive forward more than a blissful memory to keep us company.

I robbed you of that.

But I underestimated your strength. You thrived without the warmth of memories, you blossomed, and never once did you betrayal your ideals. Although everyone in your clan told you to find your meaning in battle, you proved that fighting for the sake of fighting is sad and meaningless. Your kindness touched others, allowed them to grow beyond the cage they trapped themselves in. It was this kindness that cradled me during the endless nights in prison, and it is this kindness upon which the merger of our clans and, in a sense, the Seven Deadly Sins are build.

Do you remember how we met again, as comrades?

I had given up hope to see you after all these years, but there you stood, alive and more beautiful than I could have imagined in my most luxurious dreams. You hid your face behind your hair, and you blushed when the Captain introduced you. How many careful, affectionate glances did you throw his way? And I hovered right there beside you, drunk with delight and on the brink of tears.

Yes, I was jealous. How I pulled my hair every single time you snatched the Captain into an embrace. No one deserved you in my mind, least of all an ill-mannered, inconsiderate man of Meliodas’ caliber. My respect for him probably made it worse. I watched him like a hawk, desperate to find a flaw that would prove he wasn’t worthy of your praises. I made a fool out of myself.

Hey, don’t laugh, if he or anyone else came along and played with your feelings like that, I would stare him to the ground and then chase Chastifol after him. What more can I say to convince you of my devotion for you? I’ve never learned the humility to share what I love. We should put this on a list of things you still have to teach me.

But there were good moments with the Sins too, even back then. Our missions brought us closer together and so did the plethora of parties we celebrated afterwards. The alcohol might have clouded my senses then and again, but I still recall the best parts. Your face illuminated by ten thousand candles on ten hundred chandeliers during our mission in Lothien. Your story about the first time you went fishing and pulled a twenty-feet Dragon Trout from the lake. Your laugh when Ban dove headfirst into the barrel with Aberdeen Ale.

Each day I watched you, and each day your beauty grew, until I was convinced a shower of daisies and primroses rained down on me whenever you passed me by.

But this chapter had to come to an end also.

Without you, where was I supposed to go? To an empty cave in the rain? To a forest I hadn’t seen in half a millennium, a ruin of ash and smoke and burnt seeds? Loneliness was my companion and misery my only driving force. Without you, I allowed anger and prejudice to cloud my judgement, I allied with knights I didn’t trust to hunt down a knight I should have learned to trust years ago. Shadows arose unseen to me, and I allowed them to seep into my heart. I became one with the evil my bitterness gardened. And then you returned to my life, side by side with Ban and the Captain, a smile on your face and a greeting for me on your lips.

Yes, without you, I wouldn’t have rejoined the Sins. Not for the princess’ pleas, not for the Captain’s orders, not even for Elaine’s sake. You, Diane, you made me stay. Blessed by your kindness, gifted with your cheer, awarded with the sight of your sleeping form under a firmament of thousands of stars, I followed you into battle.

A battle in Liones, where you gave me hope that perhaps you did remember the cave in the sun.

A battle amidst the labyrinth of Vaizel, where we fought our predecessors and lost our Captain but gained one another.

A battle high up in the marble remains of a Goddess temple, where I remembered all the promises I made to you and learned to fly.

And a battle against the Demon King, the fate of the world on our shoulders, life as we knew it on the brink of collapse, where I at last found the courage to ask you the ultimate question.

Do you remember?

Now, your hand rests in mine, and I will never let go. I know the contours of your palm better than I know my own, all the hills and fissures and your heartbeat pulsating underneath, but I will never get tired of stroking the skin to hear your giggles. The light seeps through a canopy of birch leaves and paints beautiful patterns onto your face. Let me hold you close and listen to your steady breath. Let me hum a soft lullaby to you. Let me be at peace while your head leans against my shoulders and your hair tickles my cheek.

You are my pearl, my one in five thousand chance, my strong and beautiful rock in an ocean of worries.

You are you.

And I love you.

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor and singer who appeared in more than 100 films and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s.

His career as a major movie leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in director Billy Wilder's 1944 film noir Double Indemnity, with costars Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. From 1959 through the 1960s, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including The Absent-Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire and The Shaggy Dog. In 1960, he turned to television as Steve Douglas, the widowed patriarch on My Three Sons, which ran on ABC from 1960–1965 and CBS from 1965–1972.

Fred Martin MacMurray was born in Kankakee, Illinois, the son of Maleta (née Martin) and Frederick Talmadge MacMurray, both natives of Wisconsin. His aunt, Fay Holderness, was a vaudeville performer and actress. Before MacMurray was two years old, his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where his father was a music teacher. They then relocated within the state to Beaver Dam, where his mother was born in 1880. He later attended school in Quincy, Illinois before earning a full scholarship to Carroll College (now Carroll University) in Waukesha, Wisconsin. At Carroll, MacMurray played the saxophone in numerous local bands. He did not graduate from the college.

MacMurray, as a featured vocalist, recorded in 1930 with the Gus Arnheim Orchestra on "All I Want Is Just One Girl" on the Victor label. and with George Olsen on "I'm In The Market For You" and "After a Million Dreams". Before signing with Paramount Pictures in 1934, he appeared on Broadway in Three's a Crowd (1930–31) and alongside Sydney Greenstreet and Bob Hope in Roberta (1933–34). In his early career, MacMurray played clarinet and tenor sax with the Gus Arnheim Orchestra (1930-31).

Later in the 1930s, MacMurray worked with film directors Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges and actors Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart, Marlene Dietrich and, in seven films, Claudette Colbert, beginning with The Gilded Lily (1935). He co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams (1935), with Joan Crawford in Above Suspicion (1943), and with Carole Lombard in four productions: Hands Across the Table (1935), The Princess Comes Across (1936), Swing High, Swing Low (1937), and True Confession (1937).

Usually cast in light comedies as a decent, thoughtful character (The Trail of the Lonesome Pine 1936) and in melodramas (Above Suspicion 1943) and musicals (Where Do We Go from Here? 1945), MacMurray became one of the movie industry's highest-paid actors of the period. By 1943, his annual salary had reached $420,000, making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood and the fourth-highest-paid person in the nation.

Despite being typecast as a "nice guy", MacMurray often said his best roles were when he was cast against type, such as under the direction of Billy Wilder and Edward Dmytryk. Perhaps his best known "bad guy" performance was that of Walter Neff, an insurance salesman who plots with a greedy wife (played by Barbara Stanwyck) to murder her husband in the film noir classic Double Indemnity (1944). In another turn in the "not so nice" category, MacMurray played the cynical, duplicitous Lieutenant Thomas Keefer in Dmytryk's 1954 film The Caine Mutiny.[7] Six years later, MacMurray played Jeff Sheldrake, a two-timing corporate executive in Wilder's Oscar-winning romcom The Apartment, (1960) with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon.

In 1958, he guest-starred in the premiere episode of NBC's Cimarron City Western series, with George Montgomery and John Smith. MacMurray's career continued upward the following year, when he was cast as the father in the popular Disney Studios comedy, The Shaggy Dog. Then, from 1960 to 1972, he starred on television in My Three Sons, a long-running, highly rated series, the role for which most contemporary fans remember him. Concurrent with My Three Sons, MacMurray stayed busy in films, starring as Professor Ned Brainard in Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and in the sequel Son of Flubber (1963). Using his star-power clout, MacMurray had a provision in his My Three Sons contract that all of his scenes on that series were to be shot in two separate month-long production blocks and filmed first. That condensed performance schedule provided him more free time to pursue his work in films, maintain his ranch in Northern California, and enjoy his favorite leisure activity, golf.

Over the years, MacMurray became one of the wealthiest actors in the entertainment business, primarily from wise real estate investments and from his "notorious frugality". After the cancellation of My Three Sons in 1972, MacMurray made only a few more film appearances before retiring in 1978.

In the 1970s, MacMurray appeared in commercials for the Greyhound Lines bus company. Towards the end of the decade, he was also featured in a series of commercials for the Korean chisenbop math calculation program.

MacMurray was married twice. He married Lillian Lamont (legal name Lilian Wehmhoener MacMurray, born 1908) on June 20, 1936, and the couple adopted two children, Susan (born 1940)[citation needed] and Robert (born 1946).[citation needed] After Lamont died of cancer on June 22, 1953, he married actress June Haver the following year. The couple subsequently adopted two more children—twins born in 1956—Katherine and Laurie. MacMurray and Haver's marriage lasted 37 years, until Fred's death.

In 1941, MacMurray purchased land in the Russian River Valley in Northern California and established MacMurray Ranch. At the 1,750-acre ranch he raised prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle, cultivated prunes, apples, alfalfa, and other crops, and enjoyed watercolor painting, fly fishing, and skeet shooting. MacMurray wanted the property's agricultural heritage preserved, so five years after his death, in 1996, it was sold to Gallo, which planted vineyards on it for wines that bear the MacMurray Ranch label. Kate MacMurray, daughter of Haver and MacMurray, now lives on the property (in a cabin built by her father), and is "actively engaged in Sonoma's thriving wine community, carrying on her family's legacy and the heritage of MacMurray Ranch."

He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. He joined Bob Hope and James Stewart to campaign for Richard Nixon in 1968. In 1980, he campaigned alongside Charlton Heston and Dean Martin for Ronald Reagan.

A lifelong heavy smoker, MacMurray suffered from throat cancer in the late 1970s, and it reappeared in 1987. He also suffered a severe stroke during Christmas 1988 which left his right side paralyzed and his speech affected, although with therapy he was able to make a ninety percent recovery.

After suffering from leukemia for more than a decade, MacMurray died from pneumonia at age 83 in November 5, 1991 at his home in Santa Monica, California. His body was entombed in Holy Cross Cemetery. In 2005, his widow, actress June Haver, died at aged 79, and her body was entombed with him.

[mastcomm]

Stephen Robinson hoping Christopher Long signs new Motherwell deal

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson believes the club are close to securing Christopher Long on a new contract.

Long has scored six goals in his last five games after establishing himself as Motherwell’s main centre-forward following his summer move from Blackpool.

Motherwell are the 24-year-old former Everton and Burnley player’s eighth club and Robinson believes he can thrive with a bit more stability.

“We have put an arm round him and hopefully given him a home,” Robinson said. “We are trying to extend that and I think we are very close to doing something.

“We give people a platform to play football. Chris has sort of bounced about and not really found a home.

“Me and my coaching staff have a lot of time for him. I think his agent is very sensible, he sees it as a place to put him in the shop window.

“We know we won’t keep Chris forever if he keeps doing what he’s doing but for me he needs a little bit more time to establish himself and to build his confidence.”

One player who has benefited from stability at Fir Park is Liam Grimshaw. The former Manchester United trainee is in the third year of his second spell at the club and recently signed a two-year extension.

Grimshaw said: “The last few times I have re-signed it has only been a year so I am glad it’s two years and I can really focus on cracking on and improving, and I know the club will continue to go forward as well.

“I love it here, love the club and living in the area. It’s important, if you are settled it really gives you the platform to improve.”

Motherwell take on Aberdeen on Wednesday night aiming to hang on to third place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

“We go there with absolutely nothing to lose,” Robinson said. “I have total respect for Aberdeen and the job Derek (McInnes) and Tony (Docherty) have done up there.

“They have consistently finished in the top two and three and competed with the bigger teams in the league and got to cup finals on a regular basis.

“Their record is superb but we have made a bit more competition of it this year. We are right up there and we have to go there with every confidence we can get a result.

“The players have earned the right to be discussed in the top half of the table. We have certainly proved that so far.

“There is a long way to go and a lot of things can change but we have to maintain what we did before. We got back to that on Saturday, doing the simple things very well.

“If we can do that and compete against Aberdeen, then I believe we have the players to win football matches.”

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[celticnoise]

Kris Boyd should keep his mouth shut about Celtic. Since he can’t be, in any way, objective he should simply button his trap and say nothing else. Today he’s gurning about how it’s a “mistake” for Celtic to solely rely on Odsonne Edouard.

Which, in case he’s missed it, we don’t actually do.

I feel I have to tackle this one because Boyd isn’t the only person making this spurious claim.

Celtic has three first team strikers on the books, and although Griffiths is still out that’s one more than, for example, the Ibrox NewCo can rely on. Hearts have Ikpeazu and Naismith as their senior two. Aberdeen have Cosgrove and … errr … not much else. I could go on, but you get the general gist.

Every other club in the league would kill to have three first team forwards.

It is arrant nonsense to say we overly rely on Edouard.

The reason we’ve not seen more of Bayo is that Edouard is playing so well you can’t drop him.

The media always finds a way to spin it.

Edouard is the key man.

There isn’t a player in Scotland with his talent, and every other club would be utilising that talent to the fullest and no-one would even blink.

Boyd doesn’t even try to put forward a sensible argument. “Celtic are recklessly pinning their hopes of nine in a row on one man until January,” he says. “Relying on Odsonne Edouard for more than two months before they can go into the transfer market is madness.”

I’m not sure what he reckons Celtic should do.

Prise open the transfer window and sign somebody?

His point is completely inane.

And he continues in this vein, like a complete muppet, like someone digging a hole who doesn’t know when to stop.

“From the moment the window opens on January 1, new head of recruitment Nicky Hammond will have to present Neil Lennon with quality goalscoring options.”

Because we don’t have any of those, right?

What crap this guy talks. The team needs a ball winning midfielder and a central defender before we should even think about going out and signing a new striker, and one of the current three would have to leave first.

If one of them does, then all’s well and good and Hammond can get busy.

Then he goes on to write this. ““Edouard is top class, there is absolutely no question of that. But he’s a young lad and it’s too much for him to handle alone … But I can’t believe he is the only option up front for Lennon because I’m just not having Vakoun Bayo. They’ve tried him and it’s not worked. He just isn’t up to it.”

Remind me again where Edouard has cracked under the pressure of his youth?

Did Boyd not see him crack the winner in the Scottish Cup Final last season?

Did he not watch his sublime goal at Ibrox?

Nor his big goals in Europe so far in this campaign?

As for “I’m just not having Vakoun Bayo”, this is why Lennon is a manager and Boyd isn’t.

Writing off a guy whose game time has been limited by the brilliance of a team-mate is the kind of thing only absolute clowns would do.

Maybe he wants to write off Greg Taylor as well, of whom we’ve not even seen a single minute of football yet?

This is dumb hacks writing off Celtic players again just because they haven’t watched them enough.

When did we try Bayo and find it didn’t work?

I’ve seen him play a couple of games and look a real handful … he could (and should) have had a hat-trick in one of them.

He goes on to say that we only select Edouard every week because he has “no competition.”

But then we selected Larsson every week at a time when the competition was Hartson and Sutton … is it possible, do you think, that someone can explain to this muppet that sometimes you select someone just because he’s by far the best player available?

Honestly, this is Boyd rattling the bars of his cage to get attention and I’d have let it pass except I’ve heard a lot of Celtic fans talking this same nonsense.

Yes, Griffiths is out injured again.

But how were we supposed to know that was going to happen?

Should we hire a fortune teller?

And the coaches have watched Bayo, and so has the manager, and they believe in him … and I’ll take their word (and his scoring record) over Boyd the talking monkey any day of the week.

The same people who wanted us to punt Bolingoli after just a handful of games are now hollering that Bayo isn’t good enough?

Why don’t I feel inclined to pay much attention to them?

You know what this is really all about?

The Edouard-Morelos debate is over, because no sane person would dare dispute it whilst Eddie is banging them in for the French Under 21’s. On top of that Lennon and the club have blown apart the media’s fantasy that we might look to “cash in” on him in January.

So the best striker Celtic has had in years, possibily since Larsson himself, will be at the club until at least the end of this campaign … and since his talent is no longer up for debate even by schoolroom level idiots, they need a new line of attack.

Celtic are overworking him. Celtic are overelying on him.

Blah, blah, blah.

Pathetic, all of it.

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[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Monday 27th August 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. “Starry Starry Night” goes the lines from the Don McClean song about Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh…Well as  I walk Bella this morning I feel as if I have stepped into the painting.. tendrils of cloud and mist are swirling in the heavens and stars in abundance are each fighting to attract my attention… quite magnificent! I love mornings like this, the Mediterranean is a flat calm this morning and being plied by little one man fishing boats, their lights seemingly dull against the starry heaven, they are fishing for Pulpa or Squid as we would call it, one of the staple’s here on the Costa del Sol, they cook it in garlic oil and then fry with a very light batter, excellent if cooked correctly but reminiscent of rubber if done wrongly…

HEADLESS WOMAN AT CENTRE OF CLAN MYSTERY REINTERRED…. A special service was held at Wardlaw Mausoleum in Beauly, near Inverness, on Thursday. The remains of a headless woman at the centre of a Highland clan mystery have been reinterred at a special service. It had been thought the coffin at Wardlaw Mausoleum in Beauly, near Inverness, may have contained the bones of the 11th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser, known as the Old Fox, who was beheaded in London in 1747 following the Battle of Culloden. Clan Fraser legend had suggested his remains had been stolen by supporters and taken back to Scotland to the family mausoleum. But a DNA examination by renowned forensic expert Dame Sue Black found the remains were that of a young woman aged between 25 and 35. The search for the Old Fox continues and next month historian and clan member Sarah Fraser and Erik Lundberg from Wardlaw Mausoleum will travel to the Tower of London where the remains of Simon Fraser were said to have been originally interred following his execution. Fans of historical time-travel series Outlander regularly visit the mausoleum, with the Old Fox featuring in the stories as the grandfather of fictional character Jamie Fraser.

FREEDOM OF EDINBURGH STRIPPED FROM MYANMAR LEADER …. Auan San Suu Kyi was accused of ignoring violence against Rohingya Muslims in her country. Former Nobel peace prize laureate Auan San Suu Kyi has had the Freedom of Edinburgh revoked amid the Rohingya crisis. City councillors agreed unanimously to strip the Myanmar leader of the honour following claims she has ignored violence against Rohingya Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country she represents. The UN has described the Myanmar military's actions in Rakhine state as "textbook ethnic cleansing". More than 700,000 Muslim-majority Rohingya have fled the region to neighbouring Bangladesh due to widespread persecution. Ms Suu Kui has refused to condemn the alleged brutality of government troops, however, sparking worldwide outcry. She was given the Freedom of Edinburgh in 2005, for her support of democracy while under house arrest. Today she was stripped of it with immediate effect after a unanimous vote by all Edinburgh councillors after a motion was lodged by Lord Provost Frank Ross. He said: "It has been ten months since this chamber discussed the status of this award for Aung San Suu Kyi. "It did so in the light of the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar (Burma), which was and continues to be broadcast around the world.  "At that time this chamber instructed me to write to Aung San Suu Kyi, making it very clear that as a recipient of the Freedom of our City, we urged her to use her powers to alleviate this human crisis."  Mr Ross added: "I did so and we have tried every route that we possibly have available to us to make contact, via our armed forces, through diplomatic means, by writing directly - yet we have seen the situation in Myanmar continue to deteriorate.  "This award is granted rarely and only to those individuals who are held in the highest esteem by the citizens of Edinburgh. It was presented to Aung San Suu Kyi in recognition of her personal courage and relentless pursuit of justice. "I no longer believe her receipt of this award or the reasons it was presented are appropriate or accurate. It is not a decision we take lightly to revoke the honour granted to her in 2005." Edinburgh follows Dublin, Newcastle and Oxford in revoking an honour from Ms Suu Kyi. It's the first time that Edinburgh has stripped a Freedom of the City honour since 1890. Irish politician Charles Parnell lost his amid a love affair scandal.

BALLOON BIRDS COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR REAL-LIFE COUNTERPARTS…. A Scotsman is making balloon birds so realistic they could be mistaken for their real-life counterparts. Terry Cook, 32, spent hours perfecting the inflatable sculptures to make them look like the real thing. "I am obsessed with birds and animals and have been since I was a child," Terry said. "I have an interest in magic tricks, and from that an interest in balloon modelling developed. "A few years back my niece had a birthday party and I was asked to make some balloon animals, all the kids loved it and it spurred me on to do it a bit more. "I used to just make all the classic balloons like dogs, elephants and swans, but then I thought it would be cool to try and make something out of the ordinary." Terry, who lives in Aberdeen and also breeds birds, says his collection includes a heron, a woodpecker and his favourite - a blue tit. "My favourite one is the blue tit, just because it was the first one I made, and it looked quite cute when it was finished," he continued. "I can remember staring at swifts in the sky for ages when I was a kid and my folks laughing at how into them I was. "I was curious as to why you never saw them perching in trees or on the ground." He makes the birds in is free time and despite the time they take to make, he loves the rewarding feeling he gets after finishing a piece. "They can take a couple of hours to make because I just make it up as I go along," he added. "It can be difficult figuring out how to get the right shape, and by the end of it your absolute sick of hearing them squeaking against each other. "I can hear the sound of latex squeaking in my sleep sometimes." Terry is passionately against irresponsible littering and emphasised that he properly disposes the balloons after each of his projects. He said: "So many man-made products will be here long after we die, and are equally as harmful as balloons, but because balloons are actively released into the environment by people who are ignorant of the damage they cause. "People then perceive balloons as an overall bad thing. "The issue comes from careless discard and irresponsible disposal of these products, not so much their use. "I love creating the balloon birds but disposing of the plastic properly is the most important part of the project."

DRIVER CAUGHT SPEEDING AT 75MPH PAST SCHOOL AND NURSERY…. A blue Audi was clocked speeding in the 20mph zone near Carmyllie Primary School, Angus. A driver has been caught doing 75mph past a primary school and nursery. A blue Audi A3 was clocked speeding in the 20mph zone near Carmyllie Primary School in Angus. The driver has been charged with dangerous driving following the incident at 3.40pm on Wednesday. Inspector Ray Cuthill said the outcome could have been "much, much worse". He said: "To drive in such a manner and at such speeds within a built up area is completely unacceptable. "It is even worse that a driver would choose to drive at a speed approaching four times the speed limit past a primary school and nursery just as the children have finished for the day. "Thankfully nobody was hurt as a result of the driver's actions but it is clear that the outcome could have been much, much worse."

CONCERNS RAISED OVER PLANS TO HARVEST KELP ON WEST COAST…. Proposals by firm Marine Biopolymers would eventually see more than 30,000 tonnes of the seaweed gathered each year by specially adapted boats. The company has been criticised over the plans which involve large-toothed devices being trawled through kelp beds, which are home to considerable amounts of sea-life. Seaweed has a number of uses, from pharmaceuticals to food, and the market for it is thriving. Critics claim the move could harm the marine environment, deplete fish stocks, increase coastal erosion and even contribute towards climate change. Nick Underdown, head of campaigns at sustainable fisheries charity, Open Seas, said: "Dredging our kelp forests is not dissimilar to clear-felling virgin rainforest. "It's one of the few pristine habitats in our seas that remain unscathed by over-intensive exploitation. "It provides a fundamental foundation to the way our seas work, providing habitat for many hundreds of species, and represents one of our best stores of blue carbon. "On land we are trying to actively recover our native pine forests, why repeat the mistake of deforestation at sea?" 'The proposal is completely adrift from sensible, sustainable use of our seas and would drag us backwards.' "But allowing mechanical dredging in the way proposed will not only undermine the health of our sea, it will undermine other marine businesses and alternative harvesting methods." Marine Biopolymers, based in Ayr, South Ayrshire, has submitted a scoping report to Marine Scotland. It outlines its plans to apply for "one or more" licences to harvest kelp in waters from Mull up to Lochinver and across to the Outer Hebrides. Mussel farmer and seaweed picker from Ullapool, Ailsa McLellan, said: "I'm concerned from an environmental point of view. "Kelp is a significant absorber of carbon, it buffers ocean acidity caused by warming seas and prevents coastal erosion. "It seems utterly bonkers to take that away at this stage in our planetary evolution. There is nothing green about dredging up kelp." A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Marine Scotland will consult fully on any forthcoming application and environmental assessments. "Scottish ministers will then make a determination on a licence application, taking into account the effects on the environment and other uses of the sea." "We believe that we have a world leading technology and products that will balance the needs of the sustainable environment with commercial reality, producing a business that is both innovative and 'Green' at its heart."

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of Abbotsford house on the Borders rather lovely I think...

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Monday 27th August 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Scotland #News #Spain

[newstfionline]

Venezuelan refugees find safe haven in Scotland, along with gray weather, weird food

By David Ovalle, Miami Herald, Aug. 2, 2018

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND--This is an ancient city on the chilly North Sea coast of Scotland, known for its granite architecture, abundant pubs and parks, and friendly folk who speak in a lyrical, often inscrutable regional dialect.

So it’s not exactly the first place you’d expect to find a thriving Venezuelan outpost.

Yet, here they are. Aberdeen and other places in Scotland have quietly become a tiny oasis for refugees fleeing the social strife and economic collapse back home in Venezuela.

The influx started over a decade ago, the first refugees drawn by one thing the two very different countries have in common--the oil industry. Much of Aberdeen’s economy has been tied to oil and gas production in the nearby North Sea. So when Venezuela’s state-run oil industry began struggling, a number of workers took jobs here.

That was the seed of small but growing community. New refugees Carlos and Nathaly Hernandez, with their two young daughters and teenage son in tow, had hoped to escape the rising chaos and crime at home by moving to Miami, a city with a booming Venezuelan population. But fearing it would be hard to live legally long-term in the United States, they soon set their sights on Scotland instead.

The transition has not been easy--the food was bland, they didn’t speak English, let alone the local variant, and the weather was a shock after balmy Caracas.

“I saw it as too gray,” Nathaly Hernandez recalled of their arrival to Aberdeen. “At that moment, the girls cried. It’s a gray city. They didn’t like it.”

For Venezuelan exiles, the family’s experience will sound painfully familiar.

He was a well-to-do veterinarian and farmer, she an accountant who helped run a telecommunications company. They lived in a gated mountainside community outside Caracas, put their two young daughters and teenage son in private school and took vacations to Miami and Orlando.

Now, Carlos pedals his rusty used bicycle to his night shift washing dishes at a restaurant. Nathaly spends her days cleaning hotel rooms. They live in a cramped apartment next to an ancient Scottish cemetery.

But the young girls, 9-year-old Ana and 6-year-old Sophia, can do something they could not in crime-wracked Venezuela: Play outside without fear.

“The parks. The beach ... There’s no danger here, not like Venezuela, where I couldn’t even go outside and jump around,” Ana said in a mixture of Spanish and broken English.

Since the late President Hugo Chávez took power in 1999, anywhere from two to four million Venezuelans have fled the country, according to estimates, most to neighboring South American countries. After nearly two decades of socialist rule, hyperinflation and economic mismanagement have led to crushing shortages of food, power and water, a dramatic rise in violent crime and continuing refugee crisis.

Most of the spotlight has been on the exodus to the United States and neighboring Colombia--the U.S. Agency for International Development recently announced it was giving $6 million to help feed and aid the tens of thousands crossing the border to Colombia.

But many Venezuelans also have fled to Europe, where those seeking international protection there has increased by over 3,500-percent. In February alone, nearly 1,400 Venezuelans sought asylum, nearly all of them in Spain.

The United Kingdom has also proven a growing option. There were an estimated 22,000 Venezuelan-born people living in legally in the United Kingdom last year, according to national statistics--nearly triple the number from just five years earlier. The population in Scotland remains small. About 2,000 people of Venezuelan birth were recorded living legally in Scotland last year--but that’s double the number from a decade ago, the stats show.

The Hernandez family managed to weather Venezuela’s decline for longer than many others.

They and their three dogs--Jesus Alberto, Fucho and Princesa--lived at the Los Anaucos Country Club in a mountainside house offering a stunning view over Caracas.

Carlos Hernandez ran a farm raising and buying and selling pigs, cattle and chickens, which meant they never lacked for provisions even when food stocks began vanishing in the past few years. Even as strife engulfed the capital, supermarkets went bare and robberies skyrocketed, the family lived “isolated from the world,” Nathaly Hernandez said.

“We weren’t seeing the reality of what was going on,” she said. “Our reality was different.”

The illusion was shattered in July 2017 when eight teenage gunmen seeking money burst into Carlos Hernandez’s farm, and held him and his employees hostage for four hours. He was released after convincing them he was just the vet, not the owner.

“When I got home, I told my wife, ‘Pack our things. We’re leaving Venezuela,’” Carlos Hernandez said.

They crashed with Venezuelan friends in Miami, who implored them to stay and try to seek asylum in the United States. But the family knew their chances were unlikely. Not wanting to live in Miami illegally, Carlos and Nathaly initially moved to Spain, but the job prospects were dim. After speaking to a friend living in Scotland, the family decided to settle in Aberdeen.

The city of just under 200,000 people is situated on the Northeast coast of Scotland, often an afterthought to more prominent metro areas such as Edinburgh and Glasgow. But Aberdeen has been an important industrial hub since the 1970s, when world oil companies arrived to exploit the oil riches of the North Sea.

For Venezuelans seeking refuge in the United Kingdom, Scotland has also proven more affordable than larger cities such as London and Liverpool, he said.

In Edinburgh, new immigrants estimate there are now between 100 and 150 Venezuelans, most of them lucky enough to have European citizenship through parents who were born in Spain or Italy. They’ve created a small informal network, helping new arrivals find jobs, make down payments for apartment rentals, even understand the Scottish accent--most speak passing English, but honed the language on American-influenced lessons and Hollywood blockbusters.

“Now, in the summer, we have barbecues. The kids go to the beach. The beaches are cold, but they’re beaches,” said Maxi Leone, 44, an accountant who left his practice in Venezuela and now works with Sky TV.

Every Sunday, Leone and his Venezuelan friends get together for a game of soccer against employees from a Scottish supermarket. Later, they might also get together for arepas, the traditional Venezuelan cornmeal-and-cheese delicacy. A company called Orinoco Latin Food now sells them at open-air markets on weekends.

They say Scottish food leaves much to be desired, especially haggis, the traditional pudding made from the innards of sheep.

“I’ll eat it,” said Leone, pausing. “It’s not my favorite.”

Over 100 miles north in Aberdeen, families such as the Hernandezes are still trying to find their footing.

Nathaly Hernandez quickly landed a job cleaning rooms at the Park Inn Radisson, which last month buzzed with visitors in town for the British Open golf tournament.

Her English is limited to words like “shampoo,” “pillowcases” and “towels.” Mostly, she smiles broadly, laughs incessantly and nods during staff meetings. Even after three months, the back-breaking labor feels surreal but vital--they regularly send money to relatives in Venezuela.

“Back home, I didn’t even wash dishes in my own home,” Nathaly said. “I never thought I’d be doing such hard work.”

Their 18-year-old son, Gustavo Hernandez, secured a job as a waiter. Carlos Hernandez got a job too, although at the interview, he was puzzled by the title of someone who washes dishes. “I had no idea what a kitchen ‘porter’ was,” he said, laughing.

But daily inconveniences seem trivial when the girls come home smiling.

On a recent evening, the family welcomed a visitor with a platter of cheese and grapes. The girls watched videos on tablets., the tiny flat strewn with toys, DVDs and video games. Ana, who is 9, excitedly explained how there were no bullies at her Scottish school. “I’ve advanced a lot. I’ve made friends,” Ana said. “I’m learning more of the language.”

Sophia is more introverted. She sat on her dad’s lap, fidgeting with a tiny purse. “Entiendo un poquito,” she said, shyly. I understand a little English.

“What do you understand in English?” Carlos Hernandez said.

Sophia turned to him, blinked repeatedly and smiled sheepishly with no answer. Her mother roared with laughter.

“Your favorite food?” he asked.

That got an answer in English. She said with a firm nod: “Pizza!”

[usnewsaggregator-blog]

KRIS COMMONS: Rodgers has choice of Dembele or Griffiths

New Post has been published on http://usnewsaggregator.com/kris-commons-rodgers-has-choice-of-dembele-or-griffiths/

KRIS COMMONS: Rodgers has choice of Dembele or Griffiths

Brendan Rodgers has a choice to make now. But the Celtic manager would be the first to admit it’s a beautiful one.

Moussa Dembele or Leigh Griffiths. To play in a Champions League game at home against Bayern Munich.

Griffiths found it difficult to get into the game in Munich. Celtic hoped Bayern wouldn’t fire on all cylinders. They were relying on the Germans not being at the top of their game. Unfortunately they were.

Brendan Rodgers must choose between Leigh Griffiths or Moussa Dembele to start up front

It could have been two or three in the first ten or 15 minutes. Griffiths spent the night up front on his own, picking off scraps.

The thing Moussa Dembele gives you in these European games is physicality. He has a presence. He is strong, quick, clever, has a good touch.

I know Griffiths is a quick lad and he has such an eye for goal. But, when he’s fit and on it, Moussa has the complete game. It was always going to take him a couple of games just to get back his match edge. We saw the signs of that coming back in Aberdeen the other night.

In the Champions League, he is a real asset. You only have to look at what he did last season, scoring twice against Manchester City and once against Borussia Monchengladbach as well.

Griffiths and Moussa are very different characters. Moussa makes a racket on the field, off it he’s a quiet lad.

He is very laid back, headphones on before games.

Celtic were soundly beaten in Germany by Bayern Munich and now must respond at home

He has his own group of close friends in the dressing room. His English is decent, but not exceptional, so it’s only natural that he tries to stick to the guys who speak his first language.

But he understands his role in the team perfectly.

He has had injury set-backs with his hamstring. But if he stays fit he is a massive asset to Celtic; especially in the big games.

I know Griffiths wants to be the main man. He is a guy who thrives on pressure.

He puts enormous pressure on himself to score and he expects to score every time. He wants to be the guy who grabs the game by the scruff of the neck. He likes seeing himself in the papers, he thrives on everything that comes with playing for Celtic.

He enjoys being in the public eye. He thrives on being a focal point, a big player. And everything that comes with that.

But I know how big a toll the expectation at Celtic can have on a player week-in and week-out.

You’re not only expected to score goals in the Scottish Premiership. You are also expected to do it against the best teams in Europe as well. And it’s a big job for one man.

One of the great strengths Brendan Rodgers has shown as manager of Celtic is an ability to keep all 23 players relatively happy. That’s a real skill.

Dembele has been troubled with injuries but is now fit again and ready to fire for Celtic

Every single player in that Celtic dressing room will want to play every single big game.

They won’t want to miss a minute.

Under the floodlights. Champions League music. Nobody wants to be sitting on the bench watching someone else line up on the pitch. Some players have made very good careers out of coming off the bench and making a name for themselves on these nights. But no one *really* wants to play second fiddle.

When you have grown used to being the main guy and the scoring focal point it’s difficult to focus sometimes on the team.

But Griffiths is an exceptional team player as well as being a very good individual. He had a little wobble, a little incident, against Partick Thistle last season.

But the fall-out from that was a reminder to him of what Celtic need; players who are an asset to the team.

When it comes to utilising his resources, Rodgers benefits from one thing. He can make 11 changes to his starting side on any given Saturday and still finish top of the league.

If Celtic fire on all cylinders they will blow everyone away. And we saw that the other night in Aberdeen.

Derek McInnes admitted as much after the game. When they are in that frame of mind and as good as that, no one can match them. They can’t get near them.

Aberdeen were relying on the fact Celtic had a hard trip to Munich, a semi-final with Hibs and a huge game at Pittodrie in the same week.

For Celtic to dominate with the most complete performance they have produced at Pittodrie proves what people already suspected.

With Moussa Dembele up front and Scotland’s centre-forward warming the bench, Celtic are now in a league of their own.

Original Article:

Click here

[olwog]

Sooo, George and the Ramblings team had spent a harrowing time in the Golden Lion working out the route and other logistics over the course of an hour one Friday evening whilst imbibing copious quantities of gold liquid.

So here I am hitting a ciabatta bread bun with corned beef and pickled beetroot and really taking a gourmet approach to sandwich building by complementing it with some Walkers plain crisps and a banana. It’s only 6 miles-ish if we get it right so it should be about 7 miles working on past experience where something tends to go wrong.

Carol is promising us a great day weather-wise and the blue sky and occasional rogue cumulus that we have now is expected to remain for the rest of the day. That’ll do nicely thank you very much Ms. Kirkwood, we’re on a roll. Peter, our resident rally driver and, on this occasion taxi to Leeming, is knocking on the door. Always punctual, I do like that, we’re off to pick up the others with lots of time to spare.

We have had to make a few last minute changes as the original intention was to go from Northallerton West but this has to be changed because of the destructive burrowing of some pesky wabbits just this side of Scruton which results in the necessity for Wensleydale Railway (WR) to abandon that service for the day whilst repairs are made. We’ll be going from Leeming.

We arrive at Leeming Station and head towards the carriage that doubles as shop and ticket office to be greeted by a wonderfully helpful lady who issues us with tickets discounted if you’re local and also, ahem, if you’re old!

She explains that it’s sometime embarrassing to ask people if they qualify for senior discounts and we put her at her ease when we all agree that we’re happy to be any age that’s going to attract a 25% discount. With a combined age of nearing 400 between the six us we’re well inside the rules.

We have about 20 minutes to wait and the train arrives early so we’re asked if we fancy a trip down to Scruton and back at no extra charge so here we are on the train! This is a lovely bonus and we’re transported down the track through some beautiful, mid-summer meadows to a point just before the damage perpetrated by our furry, long eared, friends. The driver changes ends and then takes us back somewhat slower and we see the size of the developments taking place to bridge the line with the new by-pass. There’s certainly a huge amount of work going on.

We stop at Leeming again and then at Bedale. The train now has a chance to speed up to a point that reminds me of a poem that had been put to a short film then narrated by, I think, Sir John Betjeman. See the link at the end of the article.

Night Mail – WH Auden

This is the Night Mail crossing the border, Bringing the cheque and the postal order, Letters for the rich, letters for the poor, The shop at the corner and the girl next door. Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb: The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time. Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder Shovelling white steam over her shoulder, Snorting noisily as she passes Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.

Birds turn their heads as she approaches, Stare from the bushes at her blank-faced coaches. Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course; They slumber on with paws across. In the farm she passes no one wakes, But a jug in the bedroom gently shakes.

Dawn freshens, the climb is done. Down towards Glasgow she descends Towards the steam tugs yelping down the glade of cranes, Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen. All Scotland waits for her: In the dark glens, beside the pale-green sea lochs Men long for news.

Letters of thanks, letters from banks, Letters of joy from the girl and the boy, Receipted bills and invitations To inspect new stock or visit relations, And applications for situations And timid lovers’ declarations And gossip, gossip from all the nations, News circumstantial, news financial, Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in, Letters with faces scrawled in the margin, Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts, Letters to Scotland from the South of France, Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands Notes from overseas to Hebrides Written on paper of every hue, The pink, the violet, the white and the blue, The chatty, the catty, the boring, adoring, The cold and official and the heart’s outpouring, Clever, stupid, short and long, The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.

Thousands are still asleep Dreaming of terrifying monsters, Or of friendly tea beside the band at Cranston’s or Crawford’s: Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh, Asleep in granite Aberdeen, They continue their dreams, And shall wake soon and long for letters, And none will hear the postman’s knock Without a quickening of the heart, For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

  The train is elderly but the seats are more comfortable than the modern equivalent and there is far more room. The doors are opened from the outside and you have to open the windows to reach out to turn the handle; this was the highly effective health and safety measure that ensured children and the vulnerable couldn’t open the door by accident.

We position ourselves in seats that face each other. There are 6 seats across the carriage in a 4 and 2 formation and we’re able to engage in conversation whilst taking in the fabulous views that present themselves as the train snakes through the countryside.

If you click any of the pictures here you can page through them full size and it’s definitely worth it…

The Wensleydale Railway staff inspect our tickets with a smile and we all remark how the atmosphere is reminiscent of childhood with the humour and banter. The weather is endless blue sky and this, in itself, is a carefree childhood memory when every day was sunny; however, today it is gift wrapped, vivid and happening now.

We’re invited to buy coffee, tea and biscuits at very reasonable prices and I take the opportunity then gaze open mouthed through the open window with the warm breeze gently wafting the smell of partially harvested fields that are so yellow in the sunshine they make me squint. There are rolled bales of straw scattered randomly across the fields with black shadows that indicate the intensity of the sun. There are large birds using the thermals to glide above without a single beat of their wing, they’re suspended in the atmosphere and the scene is almost surreal. George thinks they’re some kind of buzzard but he’s not sure, maybe some ornithological friends could confirm.

In the blink of an eye I’m looking down a cut with a fast flowing stream with reeds on both banks that pick out its path as it meanders across the field and eventually merges with the hedges in the distance.

Wensleydale is beautiful in its smooth rolling glory whereas other dales are beautiful for being craggy and rough. All of the dales are dramatic and change according to the season. It’s never the wrong time to go to the dales and the Wensleydale Railway make it easy and safe even if the weather is poor. I hope they achieve their aspirations of extending through to Settle or even just further into the dale. This track is fabulous.

We arrive in Leyburn and half the passengers alight before we hear a confident blast on the conductor’s whistle as the doors are slammed shut and we coast our way on the final leg to Redmire.

Redmire station is minimal but functional and this is our start point to walk back to Leyburn via Redmire Scar and Leyburn Shawl.

We take a few pictures and I start the app on my phone to help us follow the planned route and also to track us wherever we walk.

The first two kilometres are up. By this I mean they are both chronically and acutely up! Initially we’re on the road but it’s quiet with the exception of the mailman and the odd 4×4. It’s hot and I’m glad I’ve been liberal with the suncream, SPF 40 all day stuff from Tesco’s and only a fiver, well worth it. We stay on the road for about a kilometre then turn right onto a track that has signs indicating dire consequences for anyone who dares to trespass on the quarry side of a pig wire fence. If you chose to follow this route there are many ambiguous signs, one or two that indicate alternative routes, at least one that states no access although the OS Map quite clearly states otherwise and a particularly ambiguous one that gets one of us into trouble.

We enter a field via a five bar gate that is locked shut and make our way on some more ‘up’. The track peters out but there is a style in the distance and we head for that. Over the style and on to an embankment followed by some more ‘up’. The going is soft which is nice on the feet but pulls on the back of the legs. On reaching the top of Redmire Scar we stop to take in the scene. We can see at least a third of Wensleydale from here and it’s breathtaking. If someone had played the theme from Postman Pat I could imagine the little van scuttling about the winding roads between dry stone walls and buttercup spotted meadows.

The hard part is now complete and the middle stretch is easy going and to the right is wonderful on the eye. To the left it’s more ‘interesting’ in as much as we have old worked out quarries that have flooded areas, rough plants that thrive in the challenging environment and huge numbers of yellow tansy lifting otherwise stark and often dark areas of waste.

A little further along and we can both see and hear a working quarry and decide to have lunch before we get closer to avoid the dust and noise.

Eating our sandwiches whilst perched on the edge of Redmire Scar gazing out over the quilt of fields with lanes, dry stone walls, hedgerows, trees, Penhill and all of this is topped by the bluest of blue skies with fluffy cumulus drifting very slowly and casting shadows that constantly morph into different shapes as they caress the undulating fields; this is bliss.

After 20 minutes we strike our little camp and continue the walk adjacent to the active quarry and try to get that behind us as quickly as possible.

There is a minor descent and we cross the road on to Preston Scar and after some easy terrain that’s well signposted we arrive at a point that is poorly marked and ambiguous resulting in an interesting situation with a farmer.

We do try to act responsibly as we ramble about, closing gates, only going on tracks that are clearly marked on the OS Maps and wherever possible, sticking to routes that are obviously marked; however, at this point there are so many arrows indicating the path(s) to take and after taking the group through a patch of vicious stinging nettles, baring in mind that some of them were wearing shorts, and meeting with a dead end and consequently having to retrace our steps, we find the official route but even that is ambiguous.

So, five of us go down the route that is marked on our side of the fence and one takes the route marked on the other side of the fence which takes him into a field. A few minutes later and we have the Wensleydale version of the Cuban Missile crisis.

A lady farmer has just finished repairing her fence and the sight of Peter on what she maintains is the wrong side of the fence sends her into a bit of state. I’ll not go into detail here but Peter, without hesitation, retraces his steps back up to the point of ambiguity and Mac shouts an apology. This is not enough for our vociferous land owner and things become orally combative culminating with an eloquent invitation for us to piss off. If you chose to walk this route please be careful at this point as both tracks are clearly signed but the one in the field gets you a bollocking.

We’re together again and on a path that is clearly marked on both the OS Map and by footfall and head into Preston under Scar where the app on my phone is challenged by some beta software and locks up. Now I do have back up maps on it and George has duplicates on his so we’re not quite blind but it does mean there is no tracking of exactly where we are which is less comfortable usual.

We leave Preston on the Wensley road for about 500 metres and turn left onto a track clearly marked and bump into Julie and Stuart who are walking to Leyburn too. They have a paper map and we develop a degree of map envy and try to work together to discover the route through the woods which takes a few minutes as the obvious one has now been walled up and the actual one is not obvious.

To our relief the track through the woods is clearly marked and the bonus is that there is a bridge for photographs.

As we exit the woods Julie and Stuart are looking at the map and a way marker which are advising different routes. They opt for the map and we follow them through two fields and diagonally across another on the rise again.

  At the top we’re at the start of Leyburn Shawl and the going gets easy on a well maintained path with trees to our right that break occasionally to frame some fabulous views of the dale.

It’s about three kilometres to Leyburn and there is a gentle fall that makes it a leisurely stroll into the Market Place.

Peter and Hayden decide on a couple of beers and we retire to the Serendipity Cafe above the shop. It’s Mac’s suggestion and truly worth a visit. We’re served by a delightful young lady who’s both cheerful and accommodating when I ask for some cheese to go with my scone. There are places that can’t deal with requests that are not on the menu but not here, it’s an “If we’ve got it you can have it attitude” and I’ll certainly be back. Highly recommended.

The next hour is filled with drinks, ice cream and chat before walking to the station. Give yourself 10 minutes to walk to the station from the town centre.

The journey back to Leeming is as delightful as the one to Redmire as we take the front coach to see more of both sides of the track.

This is a great day out. Wensleydale Railways is efficient and comfortable. The scenery from the train is stunning.

The walk is about 7 miles and the hard bit is at the beginning. There are a number of ambiguous signs so ensure you have an up-to-date map. Wensleydale is very beautiful and from the top of the Scars you can see an awful lot of it. Stick to the track to the left of the fence when descending to Preston Under Scar.

Feel free to share and ‘like’. Enjoy…G. x

Here’s a lovely link to a BBC programme narrated by Sir John Betjeman: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03495yn/lets-imagine-a-branch-line-railway-with-john-betjeman

The stories, text and photographs are Copyright and written permission must be obtained for all commercial use.

Sooo, George and the Ramblings team had spent a harrowing time in the Golden Lion working out the route and other logistics over the course of an hour one Friday evening whilst imbibing copious quantities of gold liquid.

[celticnoise]

As regular readers will know, I enjoy good TV shows and one of my favourites is the show Gold Rush, which can found on the Discovery Channel.

There are currently ten seasons.

The first opens with a bunch of ordinary guys deciding to set off to Alaska to join the modern day gold rush, with the value of gold at an all-time high.

Their leader is a large gentleman called Todd Hoffman.

The show follows his trials and tribulations and those of his team as they encounter, over the years, various catastrophes in their efforts to become rich.

The most incredible is Season 4. He and his team have just figured out how to do the job well in the Alaskan wilderness, when out of sheer greed and more than a little stupidity Todd decides to move the entire operation to the jungles of Guyana.

It is a comedy of errors, one cataclysm after another. Their heavy machinery is useless in the jungle, where the mud is thick and it constantly rains. By the mid-season their hopes are in ruins. Key team members are on the brink of mutiny. The jungle is simply destroying them.

At that point, Todd finds what he thinks is an answer; his wash-plant is catching diamonds.

And so begins the true denouement, as Todd throws everything into diamond mining, about which he knows nothing at all except that he’s heard others have made good money at it. It is a fool’s errand, and that’s obvious even watching it without the benefit of hindsight.

At the end of the season, with his investors furious at his total failure to get the gold, he produces his diamond haul, hoping to impress them. But he has never taken the time to find out what they are worth; what he holds is a couple of hundred dollars at most … and it’s cost him nearly half a million dollars of his and other people’s money to get them.

Watching it, I’m always reminded of Sevco and their quest to unearth their own gold and diamonds.

But they want to do it on the cheap. They believe that it looks easy. It’s a mistake Todd makes time and again, except that he constantly throws money at any problem he comes across. He at least knows that sometimes you have to spend it to get it.

Sevco doesn’t realise that. They see what we do and reckon that anyone could do it. The Evening Times tonight has a daft article in it about how the “battle” that could decide the title will come down to whether Nick Hammond or Ross Wilson is the best at his job. Honest to God, where else but our media could you get paid good money for talking such rot?

One of those men will be well resourced, and backed by a top class scouting network and the other will not. One of them will be able to recommend footballers who will cost a lot of money, whereas the other will not. One will be there to buy players, the other to sell.

They think selling looks easy. They think you simply name your price and wait for someone to come along who’s willing to pay it. How stupid do you have to be to reckon that strategy works? It is a proven failure.

Year after year, it has yielded no results.

There are various reasons why Celtic’s own strategy is such a success, and they don’t tick any of the boxes.

To get gold, a mining team has to put tons of pay-dirt through the machinery and the take they get back is measured in ounces. Ounces, right? You would not believe the amount of earth they have to move to bring in tiny amounts.

But those tiny amounts are so valuable that people do walk away with their pockets bulging. One veteran goldminer, Tony Beets, has made so much money that by the later seasons he can afford to take a £1 million punt on buying an ancient dredge, a piece of mining equipment that hasn’t been in use since the 60’s.

And that’s what Celtic’s strategy is like, as we all know well.

For every star you unearth you have to spend money on a lot of worthless dreck. The Ibrox club has that down to a fine art anyway. It’s that other bit they haven’t quite mastered, and they won’t as long as they are pissing money away on ten signings every summer instead of investing in scouting.

Like Tony Beets, we have this down to an art. On top of that, our record in unearthing these gems is so good that we’re trusted and respected and teams are willing to take a shot at spending big money on our players. They look at Van Dijk winning European Defender of the Year and taking Liverpool to the Champions League and know we’re good at what we do.

They see a young talent like Edouard scoring for fun in the French Under 21’s and they know it isn’t a fluke because Dembele was there the year before and we moved him on for big money and he’s proven that he can live up to it.

At Ibrox, they don’t have a thought-through strategy. King wants to combine challenging Celtic with finding players to sell on for a profit … it’s a non-starter.

Todd Hoffman manages to piss off his investors not only because he isn’t getting results but because at times he doesn’t even appear to have a plan.

He meanders around, making rash decisions, doing stuff that more seasoned miners would never do … even in the latter seasons, when he knows the game as well as he’s ever going to, he makes stupid mistakes because he’s still, at heart, a fly-by-night operator.

In contrast is a young miner, Parker Schnabel, who we watch start his career at just sixteen, and who grows and becomes one of the best in the business.

A sense of professionalism. The willingness to listen to others. Learning from mistakes. These are the things that bring success in every walk of life, and Sevco doesn’t operate by any of those standards at all. Like a bad miner, they continue to go over old ground, again and again.

King reckons that if one SPL club can sell players for tens of millions then any of them can.

How has that worked out for Aberdeen, in getting what they want for McKenna? It is not as simple as it looks, and even with the media hyping every player at Ibrox there’s no interest in any of them because scouts and club’s officials aren’t going to be convinced by hype.

As the really top miners know that you don’t spend money unless you drill the ground first to see what’s in there, clubs won’t simply spend money because The Daily Record tells them a player is worth it. They want to see what he’s got … and that’s where the wheels stop turning.

That’s where the so-called strategy falls on its backside.

Ross Wilson may be better at generating hype than Mark Allen was, but he cannot make mediocre players into good ones or good ones into great ones. And without that club being willing to spend a lot of money in scouting and checking out the talent they are never going to be able to develop and sell anyone for a significant profit … and they have to be prepared to make a loss on many of those who they do buy.

And because more clubs have invested in scouting and the English clubs, in particular, are covering more ground than ever before, it’s going to get more expensive to make those mistakes. They can’t afford to spend what they currently do.

By the end of this season, a lot of things at Ibrox will be different.

Some of the current staff are not going to survive it.

The real question is whether the club will.

There is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

It won’t be long before they are sifting through mud.

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[celticnoise]

Back when I was growing up, I marvelled at the tales in the tabloids about televisions getting kicked in and radios being smashed to pieces by irate Ibrox fans who had seen their teams concede a late goal. That was in an era before we were accustomed to watching football on the big screen and before Sevco’s eight years of tribulation.

It’s no longer unusual for Ibrox fans to watch games which inflict emotional trauma on them.

They’ve kind of gotten used to it now.

Nevertheless, it’s not terribly difficult to picture broken telly’s and mobile phones as a consequence of Thursday night’s late winner for the Swiss champions Young Boys of Berne. The Ibrox club has been locked up in a wee world of self-regard since we turned them over.

It was easy to put that game and the result down as a bad day at the office and get past it.

It helps when an entire media industry is filling your head with supremacist junk too, of course.

When the roof comes down on Ibrox they will have a lot to answer for.

They’ve spent so long telling the Ibrox club that there’s nothing to worry about that it’s no wonder a lot of those muppets over there believe that, even when there’s evidence to the contrary all around them.

On Thursday night a lot of assumptions died on the vine.

Assumptions that this Europa League group was one they could qualify from without much difficulty. The truth is, they’ve had a couple of decent results in that competition since Gerrard took over, but nowhere near as decent as their fans seem to think and the hacks have tried to tell them.

This is a club that has yet to take on a serious side of top drawer European calibre, playing at the peak of their powers.

Imagine them in a Champions League group?

The results would be hilarious enough to release DVD’s of it.

Comedy Central would play them on an endless loop and Scottish viewing figures would go through the roof.

The Feynoord result was a good one, on paper at least, until you consider they’re having an Aberdeen level season at the moment, sitting in 6th with only three wins in eight games. They followed up their Ibrox defeat by drawing 3-3 against ten men against FC Emmen and then promptly lost 3-0 at home against AZ.

They were in a tailspin at the time of that match.

But they followed those results up well; they thrashed Twente 5-1 and then beat Porto on Thursday night.

Are they getting their act together?

Sevco better hope not.

Because they have to go to Holland later on in the group, and if the Dutch are even close to their best I expect that to be a pretty humiliating night for the Ibrox club.

They have Porto to come, twice in a row, the first game away.

From thinking they might top the group, they could end that night rock bottom of it.

Porto are no longer a major force in the game, but I expect them to be technically superior to Gerrard’s long ball merchants in every department.

The sides the Ibrox club has played in Europe in the last few years have been strict second-raters and many have been mired in crisis going into the matches. The results against Legia Warsaw were actually amongst the only impressive ones, and to be blunt I’d have expected us to beat that incarnation of the Polish team fairly comfortably.

Based on those results, against those teams, they’ve convinced themselves that they are a massive club and capable of wrestling the SPL crown away from us.

Fools.

Thursday night’s result was the latest in a long line of reality checks … but still they won’t get it.

Nevertheless, behind the scenes fear and loathing stalk the halls.

Gerrard already feels the pressure, knowing that this side still isn’t nearly good enough. He bangs the drum for more money, knowing that it’s not going to be forthcoming, and every day he has to read the fluff from the PR department about clubs sniffing around his dreck.

Right now it’s Aston Villa, willing to pay £15 million plus for Mad Dog.

They would be mad if they spent that kind of money on the Colombian Kris Boyd.

In the meantime, the ugliness in the stands only gets worse as time goes by.

The handful of them in the Swiss ground on Thursday night made sure the team knew their feelings at full-time and yesterday they poured out the loathing in full, onto their captain and the manager’s decision making.

His team selection was being attacked before the game even kicked off … at full time they were wondering whether or not they have a pure fool in charge.

Do they really want an honest answer to that?

In the meantime, the lunatic bloggers at Ibrox Noise chose yesterday, after that result, to put up another of their blackly hilarious pieces speculating on whether they can get £50 million for Morelos and Barasic, and they appear to believe every single word of it.

Do they really want an honest answer to that?

Gerrard blamed VAR for the defeat.

Ha!

The latest in a long line of excuses from this geezer, a manager who never once in 16 months in that job has ever accepted an iota of personal responsibility. He did back Tavernier, but that’s another refusal to accept that he could have gotten something wrong.

He made him captain after all.

Sevco fans know better, and the reason for the growing fear in their ranks is that they understand that Gerrard has players in that squad he just isn’t prepared to drop, and there’s at least one – in Ojo – who has done virtually nothing and who they can’t drop because of the loan agreement with Liverpool which commits them to playing him almost every week.

Their fans poured scorn onto him yesterday on their forums, having completely exhausted their patience.

Not bad, considering how some of them praised him after his winner against Feynoord.

It was about all he did that night though.

Desperation is in the air over there as they try to keep alive the illusion that they are a huge club.

The latest smoke and mirrors effort involves trying to lure Southampton’s Ross Wilson north of the border as Director of Football. He’s believed to want guarantees that the club is not on the verge of collapse; how amusing if he receives those assurances and signs.

Another case of “see you in court” somewhere not too far down the line.

That club has had more rude awakenings than a guy in a locker room hammock experiencing rough seas.

They never seem to learn a single thing from them.

This one will be no different, and the smarter elements of their support, who watched as Livingston almost knocked them out of the cup, who know a free kick goal against a dreadful Kilmarnock side saved the manager from hard questions and who have watched Celtic and Young Boys beat them already can sense the trouble on the wind.

Fear is creeping up on them.

In the meantime, the loathing level rises.

Many, even those still confident, can sense that this is going to be a long, long campaign.

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[celticnoise]

Congratulations today to The Scotsman, for the most hilarious article headline of last night by a considerable distance;

“Celtic avoid Rangers in Betfred Cup semi-finals as holders drawn to face Hibs and Gers take on Hearts.”

Oh dear.

Talk about getting things spectacularly backward.

The truth is, they avoided us.

This draw gives them a chance to get to the final.

Had they been drawn against this rampaging team we could have, in a few weeks’ time, snuffed out their hope of a trophy like it was a birthday cake candle.

I said in my match report last night – shortly before the draw was made – that the “heated balls” would keep the two teams apart.

Which is a shame, as I really wanted us to get them.

The sighs of relief in Sevconia last night were louder than the sectarian singing.

They are not remotely ready to play us again, and especially not outside Ibrox where they’ve narrowed the pitch and banned all but 800 of our fans. And where we still went just a few weeks ago and gave them a doing.

On the wide open spaces of Hampden or Celtic Park, forget it.

Their players will leave more shell-shocked that the glass-eyed zombies Charlie Sheen sees when he gets off the plane in Vietnam at the start of Platoon.

If you’ve seen the highlights – a word I use with the deepest imaginable irony – of their game against Livingston last night you’ll have seen what they really are; long ball merchants playing public park level football, a comment I don’t want misconstrued as insulting public park players or games, many of which are better, by far, than that was.

Last season, when we were scoring last minute winners just to secure three points the media was scathing about our form.

So was I.

There is a talent involved in being able to grind out a win when required, but when you are grinding them out every week that’s a sign that something’s wrong, that you are riding your luck.

And luck runs out.

Had they drawn us instead of ending up with Hearts – guaranteed to roll over, a desperate outfit who were, somehow, still too good for Aberdeen – all their pretensions would have been put to the sword in a torrid 90 minutes their grandkids would have been petrified to think about.

We haven’t given them a real going over since Gerrard’s been there, but he’s not a good manager and he’s not built a good team, so it’s in the post.

The reckoning has merely been postponed.

Now we know there’ll be a chance to give it to them even before the league game at the turn of the year.

Hampden then, should we dispatch Hibs.

I’m looking forward to it already.

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[celticnoise]

Last night, The Herald published a mind-numbing piece on Ryan Kent and why he will be important to the Ibrox club’s season.

It was a “be afraid, Celtic” article which arrived at its conclusion by making some of the most ridiculous leaps I’ve seen in a long time.

It’s been a wee while since we took apart a mainstream piece bit by bit, but this one deserves the special treatment.

Named “Why Ryan Kent will be vital to Rangers this season,” it was truly, unpardonably, awful.

“As the clock struck midnight on Monday evening, Rangers fans finally got the news they had been waiting on all summer. As the transfer window closed at 12 o’clock sharp, the club posted an announcement on Twitter: Ryan Kent had re-joined the club.”

And without it being at all relevant to the point or the piece, I am just going to remind people that they charged their fans £1 to watch his interview.

“Rangers supporters were delighted with the news, particularly in the wake of their side’s 2-0 defeat at home to Celtic the day before. During the game, Steven Gerrard’s side were crying out for some width, some form of out ball where a player could drive up the park. It never materialised, and Rangers were deservedly beaten.”

The first bit of revisionist nonsense.

They fielded an identical team system to that which had won the game back in May. And they brought on wide players after half time, and one of them had no impact on the game at all and the other got red carded for his one meaningful contribution. Kent wouldn’t have made any more difference than they did.

“So, with this painful memory fresh in the minds of supporters, it is little wonder there was a mass outpouring of jubilation from the blue side of Glasgow when the news broke that Kent had returned to Ibrox.”

 Jubilation over the return of a player who was there last season when they won nothing.

A player their club had “moved on” from trying to re-sign … until the defeat.

It is most expensive, and ridiculous, panic buy of all time.

It is colossally stupid but it did the job … it prevented the fans from asking serious questions about their manager and the club itself.

“Last season the English winger picked up the young player of the year award for his performances and regularly stepped up in some of Rangers’ biggest games last season; something that cannot be said of many of the players that started for the home side at Ibrox last Sunday.”

He won one of two awards; David Turnbull won the other.

And if he “regularly stepped up in some of (their) biggest games I remember only one of them, and bear in mind that they were knocked out of both cups before they even saw Hampden; I guess those games were big enough.

His “stepping up” in the one I do remember involved decking Scott Brown when the ref wasn’t watching.

“Celtic fans have been quick to jump on Kent’s goal and assist stats from last season on social media, arguing that the £7 million Rangers paid for Kent does not represent value for money. After all, in 43 appearances in all competitions, they argue, Kent accrued six goals and six assists. By way of comparison, Mikey Johnston chalked up five goals and one assist in 23 appearances for Celtic in all competitions last season.”

Forget last season.

James Forrest has played four games this season in the SPL and has one goal and four assists in that time. He’s scored five more goals in Europe … so even without any assists in Europe he’s already on the same number of goals (and four assists) as Kent managed in the whole of the last campaign. Odsonne Edouard has played four league games and has three goals and two assists. Mikey has four goals so far from out wide this season, including one goal and two assists in three league appearances. Ryan Christie has eight goals overall, including four goals and one assist in four SPL games. Want me to go on? You get the point, right?

“Obviously, these figures are indisputable facts. But they don’t necessarily tell the full story. Reducing a winger’s performances to the number of goals and assists they accrue is simplistic and doesn’t paint a full picture of how well they are performing.”

Wait … so goals and assists don’t accurately represent how well wide players are doing?

What other criteria should we be looking at?

The number of keepie-ups?

“When we dig a little deeper into the numbers that Kent was posting for Rangers last season, we can see how important he was to Gerrard’s side. Only three players – David Turnbull, Odsonne Edouard and Scott Sinclair – had a higher shot accuracy than Kent in the league. In terms of progressive dribbles (runs where the ball is carried at least 10 metres up the pitch), Jordan Jones (3.82 per 90 mins) and Gboly Ayiribi (3.15) were the only wingers who completed more of these dribbles than Kent (3.02).”

Oh man, this is desperate.

So shot accuracy is a thing now, is it?

What if you have one shot on target in a game and it’s on target? Your shot accuracy is 100%, alright?

Seriously?

And progressive dribbles?

Who the Hell is Gboly Ayiribi? The other guy is Jordan Jones … who plays at Ibrox. Who came on a sub at the weekend and did sod all except injury himself trying to injure a Celtic player, for which he was given a deserved red card. So more dribbles except for them? Wow.

“Similarly, Kent’s output in the final third is more impressive than his goal and assist stats initially suggest. For players aged 23 and under, Kent had the fourth-highest rate of shot assists in the league; Aberdeen’s Connor McLennan and Celtic pair Kieran Tierney and Odsonne Edouard were the only players to out-perform the Rangers winger in this regard.”

I actually laughed out loud when I read this. “For players aged 23 and under …”

Could we narrow the criteria any further to make him look good?

How about we limit it to “players whose first names are Ryan and whose second name is Kent”?

“Deep completions measure how many passes a player completes in the opposition box and again, Kent performed admirably in this metric last season. Tom Rogic (2.57 per 90 mins), Ryan Christie (2.48), James Forrest (2.31) and Odsonne Edouard (2.18) completed more than Kent (1.94) per game on average, but no other Premiership player did.”

Oh please, I mean seriously … deep completions? Desperate reaching now.

“These figures demonstrate just how important Kent was to Rangers last season. In all of these metrics, Kent was not only the best player in his team but also one of the top performers in all of Scotland’s top flight. It’s clear to see why Rangers were willing to shell out one of the highest transfer fees in their history to bring him back.”

One of the top performers in Scotland’s top flight?

Based on that criteria?

But excluding the way we usually measure a winger’s displays … yes, I’m sorry, goals and assists. I know that’s a stretch but it’s the way scouts and pundits and managers and coaches around the world judge this stuff. I understand that the Scottish media has, when it suits them, a different view …

“At 22 years old, Kent can still improve and there is no question that Gerrard will be hoping that the former Liverpool winger can chip in with more goals and assists this campaign. It is certainly an area of Kent’s game that can be said to be lacking.”

So, only the parts of the game that can actually … change games?

“But to point purely to these figures in an effort to deride Kent’s performances last season is short-sighted and superficial. Kent’s underlying stats are superb and if the winger can develop further under Gerrard, then he could be a vital player for Rangers this season.”

His underlying stats depend on criteria no-one cares about and which at least one has been reduced to exclude every player in the league over the age of 23 … this is a typical example of the Scottish media designing its data to suit the conclusion it wants rather than dealing with the matter at hand.

Ryan Kent is not a £7 million player.

Liverpool must be laughing at this lot.

But not as loudly as I am.

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[celticnoise]

NEIL LENNON broke off from celebrating Celtic’s eighth successive title to thank the Hoops fans for their marvellous support.

The caretaker boss guided his players over the line in their 3-0 triumph over Aberdeen at Pittodrie yesterday with goals from Mikael Lustig, Jozo Simunovic and Odsonne Edouard.

Lennon, who returned to the club in February following the sharp exit of Brendan Rodgers for Leicester City, went out of his way to applaud the Parkhead followers.

The Irishman, speaking to Celtic TV, said: “This is to the Celtic faithful, thank you for your magnificent support again. It’s our eighth title in a row and it’s as much for you as it is for the players.

“We’re so proud today and thank you for your support all season. I know it’s been a little bit of a rollercoaster for all the fans, but you’ve been magnificent and the players have responded to your magnificent support.

“We’ve got a Cup Final to look forward to, I hope to see you all there. But for today, I hope you enjoy the moment and be really proud to be a Celtic fan.”

Lennon will now take the team across Glasgow a week today for another showdown with Steven Gerrard’s Rangers side.

And the interim gaffer made a surprise revelation when he said Ibrox is one of his favourite Scottish grounds and he is looking forward to returning to the venue as Celtic boss for the first time in seven years.

He realises he will receive a hostile reception from the home fans, but insisted he will NOT be fazed at the prospect as he prepares for his second Glasgow derby since his return.

The Hoops gaffer won the first meeting in March when goals from Odsonne Edouard and James Forrest made sure of three crucial points in a 2-1 triumph and now he pits his wits against the Liverpool legend again.

Lennon, speaking to the Evening Times, admitted: “It’s definitely different going there with Celtic than Hibs.

“It will also be strange not having that support at the back of the goal.

“But, you have to go and play the game, not the occasion. Play the game, play the opposition. So the mindset has to be right.

“It’s always a great occasion there. I like Ibrox as a stadium, believe it or not, and I enjoy going there. I look forward to it.

“I think it’s a nice stadium. I like that old-fashioned sort of traditional build. The pitch is always excellent while there’s obviously always a cracking atmosphere. It tests you.

“You have to be tested in football, you have to be challenged and you have to be able to step up to that and thrive in that environment. I want my players to do that next Sunday.”

Lennon had a great track record at Ibrox as boss of the Easter Road outfit – he led the team to two wins there last season and drew earlier this term.

He added: “We did well there with Hibs, played very well. But I think Rangers are improving. You’ve got to get the mind-set right and make sure you start the game well.

“I’m not going to comment on Steven’s season until maybe the end of the season. They’re doing quite well, though.

“But Celtic’s a different animal to Hibs. I think we’ve got some great players in the squad who play the big occasions very well. So, I’m looking forward to that.”

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