A Stranger In My Own Land

Where have all the Scot folk gone

Where have awe the Scots folk gone?
hiv the white settlers moved them on?
It seems to me there's interference,
a subtle kind o` Highland Clearance.

Scotland's changing, as Scotland must,
like a phoenix rising fi the dust.
Are we too busy building other nations?
and forgetting all oor Scot's relations.

It's hard tae find the true Scottish Scots,
atween awe the English Argonauts.
In a shop when you mak a query,
they caw you luv instead o dearie.

The castle man said ahlo Guv, ah hid ma doot!
fur that castle wis built tae keep him oot.
How cin ye imagine the Scottish splendor?
wi that English accent over yonder.

The barman's in an awfy gitter.
he gies them heavy when they ask fur bitter.
Ind och fir heevens sake,
it's cawed a Loch , NO A Lake!

We gie a cuddle, no a hug.
that's no an ear, that's yur lug.
keep yur highbrowcooking tips.
Scotland's veg is deep fried chips.

Them up in Edinburgh shid get of their erse,
ind tak their car oot o reverse
Ah cin see it's awe startin,
soon wul hae an English Tartan.

It is time tae stop the procrastination,
ind build a truly Scottish Nation.
A new beginning, an Historic Dawn.
Where have all the Scots folk gone?

"Every man dies; not every man lives"—William Wallace, Braveheart

Pittsburgh Steel, part dà dhà

The realm of the Picts was divided into several provinces, or sub-kingdoms, one of which was known as "Fib". By A.D. 1160 or thereabouts, it was being spelled "Fif". Today it is known as Fife, and a more beautiful ex-Pict sub-kindom you would be hard-pressed to find.

Fife is no longer a Scottish county, but is rather something called a "lieutenancy area". I won't make an attempt at that; Scottish lieutenancies and local government regions are well beyond the scope of your average American's need to know, and, let's face it, desire to know. Suffice to say that this gorgeous bit of green Scottish heaven is tucked away by the sea, between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth. Try to say THAT fast three times when you are drunk, laddie! I have heard rumors, however, that Fife is up for a captaincy soon, or even a majorcy in the near future.

The picturesque city of St. Andrews is perched there near the sea. In addition to the magnificent ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral, pictured above, it is rumored that some other folk have taken up the game of golf in nearby environs. Since I have already done the People-of-St.-Andrews-love-Bobby-Jones golf post elsewhere in this blog, I won't get sidetracked about golf here. However, there is MUCH rich history and interesting stories to be found in Fife, and I may revisit it for that purpose sometime in the future.

In November of 1835, a boy was born in Dunfermline (one of the three districts of Fife) to a weaver and his wife. It is the story of this little boy that this little series of posts is really about. He was to become America's second-wealthiest man behind only John D. Rockerfeller.

Pittsburgh: A Man of Steel, Part One

The word "Medieval" refers to the Middle Ages, that period of European history which falls roughly between the fall of the western Roman Empire (A.D. 500) and the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Some scholars would place the beginning of this era as A.D. 1100, and refer to the earlier part of it (between the fall of the Romans to A.D. 1100) as the Dark Ages. The end of the Middle Ages would, in turn, witness the birth of the Renaissance.

Be that as it may — who could quibble over a few hundred years in a place with such a long history — the fall of the Romans in the West gave rise to the emergence of separate kingdoms and monarchs, as well as an increased power of the Roman Catholic Church.

In Scotland, in the early Middle Ages, between the fall of the Romans and the Kingdom of Alba in A.D. 900, two of the most important of the emerging (4) petty kingdoms were those of the Picts and the Scots..

The Vikings arrived in the eighth century, and established colonies along the coasts and islands. In the ninth century, the Picts and the Scots combined under the House of Alpin to form the basis of the Kingdom of Scotland.

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The picture above is of the Monymusk Reliquary which dates to the 8th century A.D. It resides in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It was used for saintly assistance by Scots in battle, much as the Ark of the Covenant was used in battle by the early Hebrews. The Reliquary is now empty.

Rail disaster at Quintinshill

In the spring of 1915, the Great War was underway. Troops were being mobilized and shipped to various battle sites. Back in those days, the railways were used to transport troops. On May 22 of 1915, two such trains were transporting soldiers of the Royal Scots 7th Battalion to a troop transport ship at Liverpool, bound for the war in Gallipoli. The second train didn't make it.

Quintinshill Junction is/was a railway switch point just outside Gretna, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. There were two main through-tracks and, above and below the main lines, two sidings (passing loops.) Shortly after 6 a.m. that morning, due to railway workers negligence, there was a terrible train crash which involved five trains. 226 people lost their lives, the worst UK train disaster in history, in terms of loss of life.

Due to wartime censorship, the event was not widely reported at the time. Click here to view a diagram of the railway switch at that point.

On the top (up) running line was parked a local train waiting for an express train to pass on the other (down) running line. This was done because both sidings were already occupied: On the top siding was parked an empty coal train returning to Wales, and on the bottom siding was a waiting goods train.

It was during a shift change where replacement workers were arriving. The switch worker responsible "forgot" that he had just shunted the local train onto the upper main line and left it sitting there in the path of oncoming traffic. At approximately 6:47 a.m. the troop train arrived as expected and collided with the stationary local. Within seconds of the collision, the express arrived on the down main line from the other direction and collided with the wreckage which had blocked that track too.

The troop train carriages were obsolete wood ones. The lighting was gas. The oil-gas reservoirs were slung under the passenger cars and had just been charged (filled.) The wreckage began to burn with the troops still inside. Red hot coals from the crashed locomotive fire boxes ignited. The two trains on the sidings became involved in the fire and wreckage.

Of the 500 members of the 7th Battalion, only 60 were able to answer roll call the next day. 214 soldiers dead, 246 injured. Certainly the fires caused more deaths than the crash. Due to the remoteness of the crash site, it took four hours for the fire engines to arrive, traveling the last mile over an open field. The bodies of three children were found burned in the wreckage, presumed stowaways on the train. The rest of the dead were engineers and other train employees.

See an animation of the crash on Wikipedia.

Scotland, Part II

1300 - 2010:

Scotland, Part I

This one web page I read says that the recorded history of Scotland began in the 1st century AD when the Romans invaded Britain. I don't know. Surely some few could write earlier than that, but why argue if you can't prove it?

Well, the Romans added the south to their far-flung dominions and called it the provence of Britannia, though they may have spelled it "province" who knows, but they were unable to subdue the fierce tribes of the north. So the Roman head guy built a wall (much like George Bush would do later) all the way across the island to protect the civilized south from the fierce golf-playing tribes of the north.

The emperor's name was Hadrian. I forget what he called his wall.

The Romans called the land north of the wall Caledonia. He was going to call it Gaul II but that didn't quite have the proper ring to it. He called the people who lived up there Picts. You probably don't know why, and I could tell you if I wanted, but there is no use leaking all the secrets of Scotland all in one post.

In my little web article I am getting this from, it says, "parts of Hadrian's wall still stand on the Scottish border." Is it just me, or do you also think the author could have simply put a period after the word "stand?" Yeah. The Scottish Border. Ok.

Unfortunately, the author of the biography of Scotland tends to ramble on too much, and the result is total confusion. For example, he talks about Celts called Scots coming from Ireland in the 5th century. Let's be frank: is that REALLY important?

Then he babbles on about a Kenneth MacAlpine and absorbing the Picts and the River Clyde and right on up to William the Conqueror. Trust me, you wouldn't be reading this if I had put all that in.

In 1290, Margaret died, leaving 13 claiments to the Scottish throne. Jesus, but it was a mess. Later, one of Margaret's descendents became PM over all of the United Kingdom. Amen. (It doesn't actually say that, I'm only making the obvious inferrence.)

One of these 13 people who wanted to succeed Margaret was Eddie Plantagenet from down south of the wall. Eventually he prevailed. There was a sidebar about one William Wallace that wasn't all that clear. It may have been Mel Gibson.

The spirit of the Scots remained unbroken (though their collective arsi remained fully kicked for some time afterward.)

Not much really happened between 1300 and 2010, so I will pick the narrative up again next time starting with that latter date.

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Who among you are knowledgeable enough about these parts to say with resolute certainty whether or not the photographer who took the above picture is standing on Scottish soil? I thought not.

Are you trying to say something, or is it just innocent?

Many people are guilty of saying "England" or "English" when referring generally to Great Britain or British. This is not just outsiders, but also those who live in England. It seems a small thing, but it irks those who live in Scotland or Wales, or who are originally from those places.

This is not to give excuses, but one might be a little more forgiving to outsiders (Americans who say that, at least) when you remember that 82% of the population of the UK lives in England.

12%, incidentally, of that, lives in the London area. Give or take.

I'm not making excuses for the English, though. Sometimes (as an outsider) I get the hint that it may go deeper than just a slip of the tongue.

DOES it go deeper than just an innocent slip of the tongue? Give me some inside stuff. :)

Fingal's Cave

Fingal's Cave, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. (Wikipedia Commons. Click to enlarge.)

Staffa is an uninhabited island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, owned by the National Trust for Scotland.

You may take a boat tour of Staffa from the Isle of Mull, itself a place of magnificent unspoiled beauty with a 300 mile coastline and a population of only about 2700.

In turn you may reach the Isle of Mull by ferry from Oban, a town about 90 miles north of Glasgow.

Some of us will never visit Staffa, or the Isle of Mull, or even Scotland for that matter, and we know who we are. Many people have made the journey however, and if you live in the United Kingdom, you should certainly be one of these visitors. You will never forget it.

In 1829, a classical composer by the name of Felix Mendelssohn made the trip from his German homeland and was inspired to write the beautiful and haunting Hebrides Overture, commonly known simply as "Fingal’s Cave." The music was inspired by the almost unearthly echoes of the sea which can be heard from inside the cave.

This and subsequent trips to Britain, and his friendship with Queen Victoria and her musical husband Prince Albert, also inspired Mendelssohn’s Symphony #3 (Scottish Symphony.)

Although the boat tours do not go into the cave, it may be reached on foot from the island in which it is located, Staffa.

Sir Walter Scott described Fingal's Cave as "…one of the most extraordinary places I ever beheld. It exceeded, in my mind, every description I had heard of it… composed entirely of basaltic pillars as high as the roof of a cathedral, and running deep into the rock, eternally swept by a deep and swelling sea, and paved, as it were, with ruddy marble, baffles all description."

Update: Check out this song Fingal The Giant on Soubriquet's blog.

Note: If you can't place Mendelssohn, here is probably his most recognized composition.

And...  Fingal's Cave (short free preview)

Italian Symphony (short free preview, click on #1)

Scottish Symphony (short free preview, click on #2)

Oh to be Applecrossed!

"Between the mainland mountain masses and the Island of Skye lies the Applecross Peninsula. Home to just 238 people, and accessed by only two roads, this is a haven from the noise and clutter of modern life. The Gaelic name for the area, ‘a Chomraich’, means ‘The Sanctuary’. Its not the easiest place to get to but you’ll never forget the journey or the time you spend here, however brief. Over the 2053’ road called the Bealach na Ba, if the cloud has lifted, you’ll see the kind of views normally reserved only for sweaty mountaineers. Panoramas to the Outer Hebrides and South to the Kintail mountains will keep you gazing until you need to descend to the village for warmth and sustenance. We could wax lyrical about the fantastic beaches, the calm waters of the Inner Sound and the gentle hills above the crofting townships, the food, the music, the sunsets and more." [From the Applecross Peninsula website.]

Best Pub in Scotland? Some say.

"We would like to remind residents that the Applecross Inn is a lively bar and this does generate some noise, which can be heard in the bedrooms..." [Judith Fish - owner of the Applecross Inn since 1989]

Click here to see one way to get there.

"For my money, this is the best pub in the whole of Scotland. Indeed, were it not for the Slap and Tickle, the whole of the United Kingdom." —Queen Elizabeth II

Cajuns and Castles

The segue begins:

Earlier I posed a question in passing about what the largest (cargo tonnage) port in the USA was. The name of that port is the Port of South Louisiana, which also happens to be the largest port in the Western Hemisphere. So what? Lots of Cajuns work there. So what? Well....

"Cajuns" is a corruption of the word "Acadians", French speakers who migrated to Louisiana from, um, Acadia. Acadia is the old name for Nova Scotia (and parts of NB and PEI) provinces of Canada.

All together now: "SO WHAT??!!!!"

Good. You're catching on.

Acadia was renamed, after chasing out the Acadians, by immigrants who thought Nova Scotia would be a really good name for their new home. Can you guess where these new people came from? Wrong. Settlers of Nova Scotia came mostly from loyal British subjects fleeing the American Revolution.

But, up until that, it was a pretty darn good segue, no?

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Our new topic is Scotland. (Not New Scotland.) Are you from Scotland, either originally or still? Are you from somewhere else, but live in Scotland now? Please tell your stories and share your perspectives. Recount memories if you are willing. Again, no Google or Wikipedia fact lists or histories, please. Personal stuff is what we will find interesting here.

Tell me about yourselves, please.