This will be the last post of 2007 unless Dumbarton appoint Kevin Keegan as manager later today.
Have a great time everyone! Happy New Year to all readers of this humble outpost of the internet.
ORRABEST!
The song, "Auld Lang Syne,", is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700's, it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scots tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days."
Auld Lang Syne
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
And here's a hand, my trusty friend
And gie's a hand o' thine
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne
"You're a man of strong opinions", said a friend of mine some years ago. We were involved in a company who were bidding for the franchise to operate a radio station in Paisley. On the basis of my strong opinions Dave placed me at the end of a phone for the trial broadcasts to be Paisley's equivalent of James Whale. This was in the days before email (so no making up comments a la "Tommy has just emailed in to say.....") and the programme relied on punters phoning in to express their views. Very few did which meant that my job centred on going through the news stories of the day and expressing my (strong) opinion of them, droning on for a couple of hours, punctuated by the odd sad, lonely or deranged caller phoning in. We never got the franchise.
A couple of weeks ago, my pal Keith and I, having been at the guided tour of Auchentoshan Distillery, retired chez moi for a libation. Both of us under the influence of quality single malt whiskys resorted to putting the world to rights and I proceeded to embark on a dismissive rant about celebrity in general and reality TV (encompasing X Factor/I'm a Nonentity/Big Brother etc.) in particular. Now Keith and his missus like nothing better than a Saturday night of X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, so he got on his high horse. "You know your trouble" he said whilst poking me in the chest with accussing index finger, "you're a communist!". He then went on to say that my distaste for much of the modern entertainment smorgesbrod meant that I was "living in a bubble". Fair point I suppose but I like the bubble better than the alternative.
Last week another friend Iain, who is a fellow retailer and has been a pal of mine since we were about fourteen, handed me a nicely wrapped parcel. "A wee Christmas present - I saw this and thought of you!" The parcel contained the somewhat superb book "The Little Black Book of Red Tape" by Ian Vince. Amazon provides this synopsis:
"Everyone has a call-centre story or some nightmare encounter at the hands of 'customer services' to relate. The Little Big Black Book of Red Tape is a kind of compendium of such stories, a sort of almanac of the bullshit of the modern world, and a catalogue of individual heroic battles against the corporate state. It features the Derby householder who is selling off minute plots of his back garden to well wishers around the world for £1 each to prevent the council putting a bypass through it; the Shropshire bus service that doesn't stop as 'stopping disrupts the timetable'; and the hospital recently fined 2.5 million for using 'spare capacity' to treat patients quickly."
It is indeed right up my street for although my other friend's opinion was that I am a latter day Stalin, my hatred for red tape, bureaucracy and the fucking EU (with its attendant box ticking bureaucracy) is in the Thatcher class. Which is an interesting point. Despite her distaste for red tape, she and her government unleashed BS5750 on an unsuspecting country. This singular piece of brilliance has probably caused more unread guff to be printed about not very much than any other piece of legislation in modern times. There are some great quotes in the book and in particular two from Albert Einstein caught my eye "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former" and "bureaucracy is the death of all sound work". So good is this book that I'll be returning to its themes and stories in the coming weeks.
Iain's comment (he reads the blog) as I departed with the book was "Aye Rab the world needs people like you and Boris Johnston"
Cripes! Blimey!
Motherwell player Phil O'Donnell tragically died today whilst playing for his club. I'm sure all football fans are shocked at the death of Phil who was only 35. I remember him as a skillfull young midfielder who Celtic saw enough potential in to pay over £1 million for when he was very young. He was a player who was dogged by injury but was also known for his dogged determination. He was enjoying a real Indian summer to his career since returning to his first club. My thoughts go out to Phil's family and to everyone associated with Motherwell F.C.
The BBC report is HERE
Edit: In the comments I have included text from Archie MacGregor who as well as being a Sunday Times sports journalist was the founder of the wonderful "The Absolute Game" magazine and is also a contributor to Alastair's Heart Monitor (the text here was originally posted there). Archie has managed somehow to articulate his feelings in a very honest and moving way, being close to the events surrounding Phil's death.
Alastair had also reminded me that Phil as an 18 year old played in one of the most exciting games in Scotland in living memory, the 1991 Scottish Cup Final when Motherwell defeated Dundee United.
I don't suppose it has the resonance of "Paisley and McGuinness to work together sharing power in Northern Ireland" but for sheer quirkyness, "Six Injured As Admiral's Fondue Set Explodes" is about as strange as it gets. Those who remember Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game from the 1970's will remember that the fondue set was a staple, nay ubiquitous prize on the coveyor belt which passed in front of the winning contestant - "er.....cuddly toy, polaroid camera, cassette recorder, radiogram, antimacassar, car eight track stereo, fondue set............
Those of us from more prosaic backgrounds didn't really like to ask what a fondue set was but there certainly wasn't one in our hoose! It turns out that it is a gadget which can melt cheese or chocolate. After the following story, expect a whole new raft of Euro Health and Safety law on fondue sets. I would expect too a backlash from the fondue industry to claim how safe they are.
"SIX guests at an admiral's dinner party had to be taken to hospital with burns - after a fondue set exploded.
The dinner was being hosted by Scots-born former First Sea Lord Sir Julian Oswald at his £1million home.
A gas cylinder used to heat the set burst into flames, spraying hot liquid on to the faces and hands of his guests.
Fire crews and ambulance staff rushed to Sir Julian's detached five-bedroom house after being called by partygoers.
When they arrived at the scene the fire had been put out but six of the guests, aged between 15 and 44, required treatment at a hospital in Portsmouth for superficial burns.
Sir Julian, 74, originally from Selkirk, and his wife escaped injury in the incident in Shedfield, Hampshire.
A neighbour said: "He used to be in charge of nuclear weapons so you think he would be able to handle some hot cheese.
"They are a lovely couple and have lived around here for years - we cannot believe it has happened.
"We always see them out in the village and he always stops and says hello and has a chat.
"They are just really down-to-earth friendly people."
Sir Julian served in the navy for 46 years, retiring in 1993.
He was commanding officer on HMS Bacchante and Newcastle and served during the Cold War.
Sir Julian spent four years as First Sea Lord, the highest job in the navy, between 1989 and 1993.
He is now chairman of the SEMA flight group.
A spokeswoman for Hampshire Ambulance Service said: "We were called to an incident with an exploding fondue set and took six people to hospital for treatment.
"Luckily for them the burns were superficial and they were released after receiving treatment."
I forwarded the link to the photo show to a few councillors and movers and shakers and have had several replies via email. They range from saying that I have hit the nail on the head to accusing me of doing the town down. My main reasons for uploading this montage was to try to concentrate minds.
The declared reasons for West Dunbartonshire Council banning cars from the High St. were to "attract more shoppers" and "improve road safety" (direct quotes from the chief exectutive of the council). It is surely clear to everyone in the town that not only has the scheme failed in both regards but also that they have had the opposite effect in quite dramatic fashion. Any WDC councillors or council officials who have watched the photo show and read this blog please now act with honesty. The scheme has discouraged shoppers in their droves as well as creating a road safety hazzard! Don't believe me? talk to any business person, shopper (if you can find one) or bus/taxi driver in the town. This being the case it is now incumbent upon the council to acknowledge that this is the case and tell us what radical genuine, serious measures they are going to take to redress the situation. It is not about point scoring or who was right or wrong, it is a serious problem that needs addressing.
Some folks had said that they couldn't read the text on my original photo show. Here it is re-done with a few other improvements.
As most of my blogging pals seem to have posted their version of Christmas, I'll let you in to the Bigrab Xmas experience. The real thing I can't hack at Christmas with a seven and a nine year old is that I am fully employed until about three o'clock getting various games and toys sorted out and operational.
Everything was going fine until the Nintendo Wii unpacking and setting up. I really am a ham-fisted klutz when it comes to these things and as it involved the unpacking and setting up of a dedicated LCD telly as well it was hard going. I said to the kids I'd "sort it out after our Christmas Dinner" which we sat down to at 2:30. Qiet affair (delicious tukey & trimmings cooked by my wife's fair hand) with just the four of us and my mother . At about 5pm I sought the assistance of my next door neighbour Peter who it turns out includes expert consultation on Nintendo Wii (set up and operation) on his CV.
That done I couldn't do anything less than offer Peter a wee glass of wine as he had saved me a couple of hours buggering about with instructions/electronic parts etc. Eight hours, several bottles of wine and Peter's complete festive cheeseboard later (kindly supplied when the lovely Michelle came round looking for her husband who had just popped out for a Wii) he staggered home but we nearly had to phone a taxi! (did I mention the Jim Beam and the single malt?)
Anyway for a fun thing we did with a couple of photos of the kids CLICK HERE
Back to work tomorrow. Harrumph!
PS I am actually better at the Wii version of golf than I ever was at the real thing!
I've put together a montage of photographs of Dumbarton High Street and Town Centre. Seven years on from the publication of the EDAW Action Plan for the town, unfortunately it is in a considerably worse state than it would have been had the cooncil simply left the place alone. Christmas trading was worse than the most dire predictions. It is clear that after years of ignoring the stakeholders in the town that the local authority has two options.
1) Start listening to local residents and business people and engage with them in a genuine attempt to regenerate the town, or 2) Carry on peddling the shite that their actions have regenerated the place and lose the town completely.
