Scotland – Donich Website

48 Things that mildly annoy people from rural Scotland

donich_admin — Tue, 31 May 2016 20:03:25 +0000

This is based on https://www.buzzfeed.com/donnalouisebishop/things-that-mildly-annoy-people-from-norfolk?utm_term=.rdMA6KK8o#.rxJ4pVVre which I thought was very funny. Number 18 is particularly funny as my friend J comes from Norfolk and always bridles when anyone mentions it being flat…

So here is the rural Scotland version… It is tuned towards Argyll a bit but I’m sure anyone from outside a city will recognize the issues.

1. People who have lived in the Highlands for thirty years and still pronounce ‘Loch’ as ‘Lock’
2. The constant references to teutchers and sheep.
3. The presumption that you drive a Land Rover when actually you do drive a Land Rover
4. Constantly getting stuck behind caravans, boats, bikes and tourists who drive at 5 miles an hour because they are looking at the scenery
5. And never being able to overtake because of bendy roads
6. When someone does an impression of your accent and it sounds like someone from Ireland
7. Or South Africa
8. People who find the existence of the Gaelic language a personal affront
9. People who think the local accent is ‘quaint’
10. When someone thinks you are missing out because you don’t live in Edinburgh or Glasgow
11.Getting asked where you live and having to start in Edinburgh
12. And then having to mention Loch Lomond. Or Loch Ness.
13. Buying whisky in the specialist shop in the village and then finding it for half the cost on Amazon.
14. Buying ‘Loch Fyne’ salmon in Glasgow for half what it costs in the deli on Loch Fyne.
15. Discovering that you will have to write the Wikipedia entry for your village yourself
16. And that the biggest piece of interesting news for the article is that Sean Connery spent the night there. In 1962.
17. Shops which think all PA2x postcodes are on islands
18. Shops in England which want to charge £25 delivery on a £5 order to PA2x postcodes because they are ‘remote highlands’
19. The horrible mangling of the pronunciation of the place names
20. The rain
21. The constant rain
22. And always on every bank holiday
23. The midgies
24. Except when its raining and windy
25. Sheep that run ahead of you on the path for two miles when they could step to the side by two meters.
26. Heilan Coo blocks.
27. People who don’t understand single track roads.
28. People who do understand them and pretend they don’t
29. Not being able to get a seat home on the local train to Arrochar because it is full of backpackers going to Oban
30. Everything stopping because there is a rock fall on the Rest and be Thankful (substitute local traffic black spot)
31. Having one bus a day if you live in a village
32. Or two a day if you live in a town
33. Getting asked if Scotland is in London (this really happened to me)
34. Going to Oban or Inverary and wondering why the weather is always bad and then realizing it is because you only go there when the weather is too bad for hill walking..
35. Going to Fort Augustus in summer and wondering if there is anyone left in Birmingham. Or Seoul.
36. Not seeing Urquart Castle because the only car park is full of coaches from Birmingham. And Seoul. Probably.
37. Summer appearing for just two days in May and then the midgies arrive
38. The fact that the beautiful beaches are always too cold. Or too midgie.
39. Or both
40. Stuck up tourists
41. Houses being bought as holiday homes and then being used twice a year
42. The serious lack of 4G
43. And 3G
44. And in fact broadband
45. Everyone definitely knowing all your business all the time. Including Hamish who visits with the fish van on Fridays.
46. Potholes. Everywhere.
47. Knowing that nothing can ever be dualled because there’s always a loch on one side and a cliff on the other.
48. Knowing that people come to visit your home from all over the world because it is so lovely. Actually that isn’t annoying. Just humbling.

So many beautiful places

donich_admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 17:38:06 +0000

R and I were down in south Scotland visiting my parents this week. The fabulous weather is continuing at the moment although I realize that with the insouciance of fate that as I am not working tomorrow that today will probably be the last day of it. So we went out for a couple of walks, and I was reminded that Argyll is not the only lovely place, because the scenery around Loch Ken is quite stunning.
Today the trees were turning into their autumn coats, and there was every colour from green, to yellow, to pumpkin orange, to blood red on display. Early in the morning the mists were thick and the frost was rigging out the spiders’ webs in the grass as though they were part of a Christmas display. Then the rising sun burned that off and rose high above the low rolling hills, illuminating the scene so that every tree was reflected into the surfaces of the lochs (Ken and Struan) in exquisite detail.
Enough of the poetic language, but it was very nice anyway, and then we went home for a good Scottish lunch of shepherd’s pie and bramble tart with custard.
Heading home now with a car full of purchases made in the bright lights of Castle Douglas, and with a few more kilos of brambles for extra jelly to be made tomorrow. We are all very fortunate to live in such a very lovely country.

Super Birthday

donich_admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 10:14:08 +0000

I had an absolutely excellent birthday. We went up to Avimore and were ‘Keepers for a Day’ at the Highland Wildlife Park.

Honestly couldn’t recommend the experience more highly – for someone who loves animals like me, the chance to get up close and personal with them was absolutely unforgettable. We fed polar bears, tigers and red pandas (they were very active – including the two super-cute kittens). Also I saw Pallas cats for the first time – I’ve never seen such a furry animal in my life. If you like animals and don’t mind getting a bit dirty (shovelling poo, being slavered on by camels etc) then I can guarantee you will enjoy yourself. The weather was pretty shocking – but nothing I wasn’t expecting from Scotland in November. So many thanks to V for the present!

And then when I got back, R had done his usual and bought me some great presents. I got a badger necklace, a Lannister crest mug, a Lord of Light cultist bracelet, and some electronic tags to attach to the things I lose most often. The idea is that you can then locate them using your phone – although the main problem there is that my phone is the thing I lose most often.

Also Tora and Schrodi got me a really good card which is the image for this post. The picture is of Tora in the greenhouse earlier this year – I entitled it “The Gardener”.

Super Surface

donich_admin — Tue, 20 May 2014 21:12:26 +0000

Just seen the announcement about the new Surface Pro 3…. Absolutely awesome machine and I would love one – but not sure I can justify it to myself so soon after getting the Pro 2. I’ll wait and see the reviews before I make a decision but one thing I am not doing this time is buying it from US so I can get it sooner…

Actually – I wish we made cool and beautiful products like this in Europe so that we could get them first and make the Americans wait. But we don’t for some reason and I think this is something we as Europeans need to address sooner rather than later.

The picture is of my existing tech family. R also came to the dark side yesterday when he finally abandoned Android and moved to Windows Phone (score!!).

Mobile Coverage in Scotland

marionmccune — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 17:05:45 +0000

The mobile phone coverage in Scotland really really sucks. When we moved house I had to move from my old provider – 3 to Vodafone because there is literally no 3 coverage within about 20 miles of the house. In fact to actually get my PAC code to move my number we had to drive to Dunoon (nearly 40 miles round trip) to be able to receive an SMS message. So it was Vodafone or nothing, because they have a load of 2G masts which means that in theory at least we can make phone calls when we are at home.

In practice however the situation seems to be that outside the major cities they basically have 2G only. I’ve just travelled by train from Dumfries (South Scotland) to Glasgow and the most signal I have had the whole way is Edge. This was really annoying because I have my shiny new Lumia 1020 and my super fast Surface Pro 2, but without connectivity they are of limited use and basically I couldn’t do the piece of work I had planned.

So practically speaking I have the choice of 3 – where I was very satisfied with the service but don’t have any coverage at home, or Vodafone where I am not impressed at all, but I can at least make calls. This is not a good choice and I think it is something the Scottish Government really need to address. I don’t see how they are expecting to attract businesses into the country (particularly the Highland and Islands) when not only is the broadband inadequate, but you can’t even fall back on the 3G network because it is non-existent…..

If there was one single thing which would win my vote at the next election it would be sorting out this data access problem for once and for all. Rant over because I knew all this before I moved to the country – but it really is annoying. Are you listening Mr Salmond?