Caledonia Calling - Scottish News, Scottish Events, Scottish Keech

Win - You've got the Power

2008-01-19T01:53:00.000Z

Now, does anyone have the Rikki Fulton version of this?

Fox Hat Miller ad

2008-01-12T20:06:00.000Z

Old - but still funny!

Caledonia Calls

2007-10-06T20:54:00.000+01:00

Struan emailed me a while ago to tell me that Tennants had put up the classic Caledonia Calling advertisement on YT. Here it is...

Closure of Govan Old Church

2007-06-08T23:47:00.000+01:00

Govan Old is my family church - my sister was married there, my father's funeral was there, and I spent many a Sunday getting a numb arse on the pews. The heating never worked either. Ah, fond memories!

I'm an atheist, and rarely bother with sentimentality, and yet the news that the Church of Scotland is to close this historic building irks me.

One can't really blame the C of S - no-one attends Govan Old services. Why should they keep a very expensive building open when no-one bothers to use it.

I don't think that protecting this building is a religious issue at all, and if the Church feels that it has done all it can then I think that this is an cultural issue that Scotland and the Govan community should address. Surely a Nation with a growing appetite for Independence and that is searching for an International identity should do everything it can to protect the jewels of its past.

Politicians, and an assorted array heavy-jowled numpties seem to be queuing up to vent hot air against the CofS's decision to close the Church. Alistair Watson, whoever the fuck he is, says that he is, "full square behind retaining this as a working church." Anyone who has witnessed the pitiful congregation on a cold wet Sunday would know that this is nonsense. But then it's much easier to accuse the C of S of "cultural vandalism" (thanks Nicola Sturgeon) than to come up with an alternative plan, or god-forbid put your hand in your pocket.

Govan Old is a A-listed building - which means that ye canny turn it into flats very easily. Here's how this one is going to play out - about a year after this building closes some wee ned is going to get in and set off a fire. If this fire isn't enough to condemn the building the next one will be, or the one after that. Eventually the Church will have to be torn down because it's unsafe. With the A-listed building out of the way a developer will just need to do something with the graveyard.

Persuading Glaswegians to trample over graves to get to their new river-side flat? Nae bother - Nicola Sturgeon will probably be first in line!

If anyone wants to do something about this then you can still join the Friends of Govan Old.

Tartan Parade in NYC

2007-03-20T22:07:00.000Z

The official 5th Avenue Tartan Parade is taking place on April 14. I'm thinking of jumping on the Acela and going along for a few bevvies. I'm hoping that it will be better than the Harpenden Highland Gathering!

I am pretty sure that when I was based on the other side of the Atlantic I took the piss out of the whole New York Tartan Week thing, but now that I'm in the US it looks like it will be fun. Verily I am a hypocrite.

Anyone know any good Scottish Bars in NY?

Do we have to roam the world....

2007-02-14T19:08:00.000Z

Diaspora mon!

I have moved to Boston in the US of A. This happened some weeks ago. I did consider firing up the old Blog to share with you such insights as "it is fecking cold in Boston" and "everything is well cheap here", but frankly couldn't be arsed.

Then I was wandering around Borders yesterday and I heard Caledonia Calling playing over the PA system. It wasn't the classic T version, some woman was singing. This is a sign I thought, Caledonia is calling me.

Then I farted and it passed.

Irn Bru Snowman TV Advert

2006-12-03T11:34:00.000Z

For expats who are missing out on this!

Scottish Google

2006-10-27T16:24:00.000+01:00

Now this might help me make more Adsense dollars somehow. I've made a Scottish News vertical search engine.

At the moment it searches all the sites that are listed in my Scottish News Sources page. Check it out and let me know what you think. Google Co-Op also lets other people contribute to the search engine so if anyone wants to volunteer?...

I'll integrate it into the site when I can be arsed editing ma HTML likesay.

Fuckin Google

2006-10-21T10:29:00.000+01:00

Yey! I'm back baby!

Or at least I may have to be. Google sent me a letter today (amusingly it was accompanied by a letter from the Royal Mail asking me to grass Google up for mail fraud, but I digress!). Up shot of it is that I've made 50 buckeroos over the entire year that this site has been going.

Downside is that I have to reach 100 bucks before they pay me. So I have to return to the world of blogging, although if I do I need a plan to make another 50 bucks from AdSense real fast. Hmmm....

The Worst Whisky in the World

2006-10-17T17:26:00.000+01:00

I visited Edradour– which claims to be Scotland’s smallest distillery – this weekend. But forget the claims about size, Edradour is also home to the foulest whisky that I have ever tasted.

It’s not something that the marketing people would want you to know, but in the rush to cash in on malt whisky’s recent popularity as a luxury drink plenty of sub-standard product is being pushed our way. Sometimes this means whisky which was previously thought only fit for blending being pushed as a single malt. Increasingly common is the practice of producing premium-priced versions of malts – either at cask strength, or by maturing the spirit in an unusual cask.

I think that the success of Macallan probably started the trend off – how many sherry-casked whiskies are now on the market? But the trend has proliferated so that trying to buy any old brand means that you are confronted with a vast array of options for what the marketers call “trading up”.

This yields variable results – and some notable failures. One of these is Edradour Tokaji finish. Tokaji is a sweet Hungarian wine – which should set alarm bells ringing immediately.

Now don’t get me wrong! Bog standard 10 year old Edradour is a very nice dram indeed, and the distillery runs a great free tour of their tiny premises. During the tour however our guide referred to the Tokaji finish which he said was horrible. Well we saw this as a challenge, and as soon as the Tour was over headed to the tasting bar and demanded 3 Tokaji bad boys.

To be fair the girl behind the bar tried to put us off – suggesting that we buy just one glass and try it before we committed to trying one each. But a challenge is a challenge, and this diversionary tactic just made us more eager to take this one on.

I’ve never been in a morgue, but I should imagine that the stench of this foul concoction is exactly what a rotting corpse would smell like. I decided that they only way to drink it was to knock it back, and the taste of wet dog hit the back of my throat and unfortunately stayed there for the rest of the day. My companions visibly gagged.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please visit the lovely Edradour but stay well clear of the Tokaji finish – verifiably the Worst Whisky in the World!

The Wine

2006-09-26T18:54:00.000+01:00

A bottle of "what the hell are you looking at?"

Snooze mode

2006-09-17T23:17:00.000+01:00

First up - I thought that Euan Fergusson wrote a pretty good column about Scottishness in today's Observer.

Just back from a few days in Vegas which was its usual mad, chaotic self. Stayed at the Wynn, but having stayed there and at the Bellagio I think that I'm a bit sick of the incredibly ostentatious displays of wealth that you get at these high end places....OK I admit it, I'm incredibly jealous of the displays of wealth that you get at these places. I actually feel most comfortable at New York or Treasure Island - or 'ti' as it has rebranded itself.

Oh, and we lost.

As you've probably noticed blog postings have pretty much dried up over August/September - surprisingly this has had very little effect on site traffic. I have a couple of side projects on the go which will fit in nicely here, but for the moment I can't see myself getting round to posting regularly again. As some of you know, for my sins, I work in the publishing industry and Caledonia Calling was a hands on experiment to see if this blogging malarky matched up to the hype. The answer is - no, not really. I've had some moderate success, met some cool people, even managed to wangle a couple of free drinks out of the process - but overall I have to agree with Aloysius Munn that Blogs are Pish, or as he put it:

Blogs are as dull as fuck. I mean, how many times have you browsed other people's blogs only to come across countless volumes of persiflage along the lines of 'Random musings on sex and donuts, by some fucker's dog'?

I reckon I might have inspiration to post a few things a month, so check back irregularly - especially for the You Tube feature on whisky cocktails.

Footie

2006-09-07T14:14:00.000+01:00

Let's not beat about the bush - the chances are that we'll get a right humpin' off France and Italy....but what a start. The Faroes are part timers, but Lithuania are a different matter.

Nice one! Trust that the Tartan Army enjoyed it.

Last King of Scotland Trailer

2006-08-18T15:29:00.000+01:00

I mentioned the movie The Last King of Scotland (which is not actually about Scotland but Uganda) about a year ago.

This trailer has just been released.

Stars James McAvoy.

Birds have a Scottish accent

2006-08-16T14:21:00.000+01:00

but enough of politics and principles.

Burds have Scottish accents - pure dead brilliant!

Stupid and misguided

2006-08-16T13:57:00.000+01:00

Susan Wighton, awarded an MBE for charity work, has returned the honour in protest at Tony Blair's foreign policy.

Susan has "been thinking about sending it back for the last five years". Yeah love, since you received your MBE in 1987 there have been 2 Gulf Wars, an invasion of Afghanistan, 2 Palestinian infatadas, numerous extraordinary renditions, years of detainment at Git'mo... I can see why it took you so long to make up your fucking mind. You are clearly a woman of high principles indeed.

And why return a medal that you got from the Queen in protest against this country's elected government?

C-YA

2006-08-15T21:51:00.000+01:00

Aloysius Munn is off (again) - aye right.

The best thing I can say about Hey Asda is that one of my readers once told me not to link to it - because it was much better than what I was writing. Have I told you that story before? I canny mind.

In tribute I ask you to sing this ditty to the tune of Falco's Amadeus:

ALOYSIUS ALOYSIUS/ ALOYSIUS ALOYSIUS – COME ON AND ROCK ME ALOYSIUS!

and mind...Blogs are Pish.

...and that Spa Pure Lager is the best budget lager out there.

Gig of the year

2006-08-14T12:52:00.000+01:00

Haven't seen much notable this year - Foo Fighters at Hyde Park was OK, the sound at RHCP at Earls Court was pretty shit - but there is still time to get tickets for what could be the Gig of the year:

Primal Scream at Brixton Academy.

Evil Heat I think is one of the most under-rated records in my collection.

Highland Gathering Video

2006-08-12T14:35:00.000+01:00

Can't say that this is the most exciting vido in the world - but I finally got around to uploading it, so here it is...

Happy Now?

2006-08-10T21:11:00.000+01:00

Aberdeen is the happiest place to live in the UK?

Away tae fuck!

Creamola Foam

2006-08-07T13:44:00.000+01:00

This is a proud moment for me - I've been wanting to blog about Creamola Foam for a long time!

As I remember it tasted pish - which would explain why you can no longer get it. Nostalgia however has no taste.

Glasgow Gig for robotic piper

2006-08-04T14:09:00.000+01:00

I told you about McBlare, the robot bagpiper last year. Now, if you are in Glasgow next week you have a chance to hear him! He'll be playing at the Glasgow Piping Festival - or the right bloody din as it's also known.

I can't find when exactly McBlare is playing, but I do notice that there is Gaylic piping event. I would have thought that Gaylic piping would be pretty much the same as any other but that would overlook the Teuchter's propensity to plough their own stubborn furrow.

For those of you not in Glasgow you can hear McBlare in New Scientist's podcast (it's the last item).

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Make your own bagpipes
I, McRobot

Staying Alive

2006-08-01T15:27:00.000+01:00

Is it just me, or is giving someone on death row emergency heart surgery just a little bit nuts?

Sports Roundup

2006-07-27T13:47:00.000+01:00

Fuck me! Scotland are in the final of a football tournament!

...and follow up on a couple other posts:

London Camanachd won their shinty match against The Highlanders - the first to be held in London for 50,ooo years or summat like that - 1-0. Unfortunately they'd lost the first leg 8-0. Hands up who things the Highlander's sent their second team?

And David Millar finished the Tour De France in a pretty respectable 59th place.

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The Best Hotels in Scotland

2006-07-24T23:17:00.000+01:00

Recently revealed: The Scottish Hotels of the Year Awards. Anything that encourages Scotland's often appalling hospitality industry to try harder is welcome - so it's good that these awards are awarded from around 24,000 votes from ordinary punters. Here they are:

Hotel of the Year: Summer Isles Hotel, Wester Ross.
Hotel Restaurant of the Year: Abode, Glasgow.
Luxury Hotel of the Year: Inverlochy Castle.
Sexiest Hotel: Malmaison, Glasgow.
Hotel Design Award: Le Monde, Edinburgh.
Best Small Country Hotel: Cairnbaan Hotel, Argyll.

Couple of notes:
1) Only 2 of the above have online booking - the "luxurious" Inverlochy Castle service is "currently offline." It's 2006 for fucksache, get a grip.
2) How expensive are Scottish Hotels? Rooms at the Inverlochy start at £300. A midweek room in November at Le Monde is £200.