Hill-walking without the aid of a GPS or a Laptop

Okay what is it people say, what’s the cliché? : 3^rd time lucky. Well not for this humble writer.

Parked again at Overtoun House, avoiding all the suicidal canines. Another theory came to me: a suicide pact between the dog-owner & the mutt. You can see the Erskine Bridge from the bridge at Overtoun House. The owner jumps from the Erskine Bridge while simultaneously, the dogs leaps from the Overtoun Bridge. I am sure I am right!

Set off to follow the same route as before, on towards Loch Humprey. Déjà vu all over the place as the snow starts falling again right on cue. However this time it does not land & I am not in ‘white out’ conditions.

I was shocked at the sheer amount of wind damage. Whole fences had disappeared & huge trees had come down, blocking the path. This gave me added interest & danger as I had to climb over walls to avoid fallen trees & other obstacles.

The path does not follow route 1 straight up, rather it winds back & forth you feel disorientated as you seem to double back all the time. Odd.

Soon, I was in unknown territory, but the views were superb. I came across so many signposts for ‘The Craggs’ that I felt I had to check it out. I am reminded of when I ‘conned’ my kids into visiting ‘Bam Bam’ in the Saudi desert. As it was mentioned on the maps, I told my children, it was a bit like ‘Disneyland’. In actual fact all it was was a signpost in the middle of the desert for what may or may not have been a town sometime in the past.

Anyway ‘The Craggs’ were like this hundreds of signposts to nothing special.

After an endless forest walk upwards through the snow, I came to a loch, not the one I expected, but this was the Black Linn. I also discovered a couple of others named Greenlands Nos 1 & 2. This was approaching that magic light time of day when the shadows get longer & the lochs looked picture-postcard, gorgeous.

I was now exhausted, I had walked for about three hours, light was getting scarce, time to race back down.

Incredible String Bands

Is there something sad or sinister about listening to a string quartet playing a tribute to the Beatles, rather than grooving to the original band?

Perhaps this is just what happens when you get older?

I am reminded a little of when I first heard the soundtrack to Peter Van Greenaway’s excellent movie ‘The Draughtsman’s Contract’. I have always been a big string quartet fan, especially of Beethoven’s later works.

However, I would give a ‘big up’ to this current series of tributes…..e.g. Bjork, Radiohead, Dylan….etc…it’s ‘way cool’.

Spinning on Air



There is something just so fine about listening to the Akron Family & the Wierd Weeds on headphones, while walking along an endless path through the forest upwards with the snow falling.

Outside the Dream Syndicate

Oh let’s see: 3 books to read in 6 weeks for the public library Reading Group & 1 book for our own College Reading Group in 4 weeks, although truthfully this moveable date drifts to 5 or 6 weeks depending on the thickness or complexity of the title.

However much I might moan about the stress levels this creates & the fact that for a long time now, I have not been able to read a book that I have chosen myself; I am constantly surprised at how astonishing & enjoyable many of these titles can be.

Take for instance the novel I am reading at present: Kate Atkinson’s ‘One Good Turn’, it’s a page turner, full of interest. However, with 1 day to go before the deadline, it has to be.

Outside the Yurt

Interesting chat about the band Habibiyya. Three of the members were in the mighty, ‘Mighty Baby’ (thanks for letting me hear the tape John Leifer) & then they went to North Africa & got some Sufi wisdom.

They came back & formed the band Habibiyya, used a lot of world musical instruments & made a tremendous album that I am listening too now.

It is well groovy.

Alone on the Rooftop of the World

The sun is out, it is not raining, a golden opportunity to get out hill-walking. Limited a little by time, as the CIS cup final is live on tv this afternoon.

This meant only a short walk in the hindu kush or as we call it: the Kilpatrick hills from the Cochno Loch direction. These hills are so close & yet so under rated. They are my friends in so many different kinds of weather.

It was also the first day of the fishing season, so there were many anglers around. I made good time, so I pushed on a little further than I had planned. The rewards were spectacular.

As I climbed past the Jaw Loch, the panoramic view of what I felt to be the whole world opened up in front of me. I have seen a similar view before as the Himalayas opened up to my eyes, there is only a difference in scale. The view & the effect is the same. All the high peaks in front & around me were dusted with snow. It was a clear day, hawks circled overhead, it was astounding.

Outside Katmandu, I have not seen such an awesome sight. Besides Ben Lomond, the Arrochar Alps…..etc….I could also see the 3 minor lochs: Cochno, Jaw & Humphrey. The latter looked so high above me, it was as if the world was round? It felt as if Loch Humphrey was half way up the sky, weird or what?

The silence was only broken by skylarks, gulls, geese & soaring hawks overhead.

I was puzzled by the appearance of lumps of frogspawn in the grass far from water. Had it been fished out by birds & dropped?

I also realised why I was so confused as a child. Mount Everest sounds a bit like Ben Nevis. Why is this? Is the ‘evis’ sound ancient Sanskrit or gaelic. Is there a link. Unfortunately, where I was it was impossible to ‘google it’ so I let it pass.

I was in a total comfort zone with a sense of place & a sense of space, room to breathe, as far away from the ‘media madness’ & the whole corporate control of our lives. Here I was totally free. Alone with God & it felt so real, so good. Further exploration of this feeling is essential, if the weather improves.

Still Psychedelic After all these Years

‘Would you take my mind out for a walk’ as Tiffany Shade would sing on their self-titled album back in the days of vinyl whatever that was?

Major Tom’s a Junkie

Thanks to a recent discovery: Catch up tv, I am now well & truly lost in ‘Life On Mars’.

I am watching this in parallel to the current series: ‘Ashes to Ashes’. Maybe this would explain why I never know what decade I inhabit. Most of the time I live in some ‘idealistic’ weather-beaten 60s in my head. Will I have to name it after some lame Bowie tune.

Not as naff as it sounds as some of his early work is well fab, groovy, doubleplusgood.

This ‘Sweeney’ for the 21^st Century is so so non-pc, I am absolutely loving it (just like the Tiffany Shade album I am listening to as I write this). It is so refreshing to hear a spade called a spade & not a garden implement, shovel-shaped for turning soil.

This sets me off hoping, that catch up tv will find a space for Monty Don’s ‘gardens of the world’ series as I have missed most of them, Sundays being one of my creative cooking nights.

100 Places to See After you Die

I thought perhaps there may be an interest in this topic as you like me, might get fed up with all those demands on your time, while you are alive.

If, like me, you have a busy life, now is the time to plan an even more active death.

From Deep Within the Drone Zone

Around 1969, I certainly felt that I had my finger firmly on the pulse of what was happening around me. I was well-informed, I knew all the need to know bands on ‘the scene’.

It is only lately, that I realised I was only aware of a fraction of what was really happening elsewhere. There were many other (better) materials released on the periphery unknown to me at that time.

This catch-up period would be impossible for me in a pre-download world, but it is now currently blowing the spring blossom off of my cherry tree.

Some recent new friends include:

Freeborne – Peak Impressions

One St. Stephen – S/T

Literate & Numerate

Librarians are not just concerned with alphabets. Numbers excite them too. This is not the correct forum to discuss the pros & cons of the Dewey Decimal System, but I feel that I could do justice to the topic elsewhere.

Numbers are everywhere, we cannot escape their influence. Look at the passing fad of Karbala & see how it’s been picked up by the young & the trendy.

In the past, the time of ‘Apocalypto’, realising the creative use of numbers gave you a lot of power. Power of life over death. The Pharoahs had it sussed too. A quick glance over the Stonehenge & the other standing stones of Britain & a passing knowledge of astronomy & arithmetic & perhaps botany, gave you something to do during those short summer months of long days.

Listening to Tom Waits ‘Ol 55’ & the Doors ‘5 to 1’ & the Manfreds ‘5,4,3,2,1’ & then I realise that perhaps I have set some kind of Scottish world record for someone in their 55^th year playing 5-a-side football 5 days in a row at lunchtime.

‘5 seconds to testify, ladies & gentlemen, I give you the MC5….’

No Fitba for Old Men


That is now 3 days in a row I have played 5-a-side at lunchtime! If God wills it, I am hoping to step out onto the 'hallowed turf', well the gym tomorrow, as well.

Not bad for a pipe smoking balloonist in his mid 50s, with 1 eye on the wicked windy weather & another on that nifty 18 year old defender, bred from the finest arabian racehorses & another (how many is that?) eye on the back of the net.

The sad news this evening is that it looks like Celtic have blown the Premier league title.

Rugby



In case you missed it. The media have been kin of quiet about it. Yesterday a small little country full of no-hopers with their backs against the wall took on an enormous force & sent them homeward tae think again.

Soundtracks

I caught the last 5 minutes of a dodgy Chevy Chase movie but as the titles rolled on the screen, I heard Paul Simon’s ‘Kodachrome’ & this set me off thinking about cool soundtracks. (What is it with Chevy & Paul, Al?).

There are so many clever & fascinating soundtracks around these days. My current favourites include: ‘Love Lisa’, ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ & ‘The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’.

My life has been mapped with reference to many epic scores & they have stayed with me all my life. I first became aware of the genre with Ennio Morricone’s work with Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns in the 60s. I have since jumped right into the Italian soundtrack weirdness.

Another Italian, who has recently died, but produced stupendous films with tremendous music was Michaelangelo Antonioni. His ‘Blow up’ & ‘Zabrieski Point’ lit up my life. The latter even had a great Pink Floyd track on it: ‘Heart Beat- pig meat’. This was perhaps their last decent piece of work.

A hard to find, but a firm favourite is Harry Nilsson’s ‘The Point’. Did I actually see this movie at one time or is that just in my head? Also crucial to my Third Ear Band collection was their soundtrack to Roman Polanski’s ‘MacBeth’. There is a family/clan connection with the latter as I believe the ‘beatties’ may have held the jaikets for the mighty MacBeth clansmen.

Mad mental sounds jump out at you, never mind the visuals in Jodorowsky’s ‘El Topo’ & ‘Holy Mountain’. Don Cherry puts in a terrific shift on the latter.

I haven’t even touched on the sheer quality & diversity of the Boolywood features. I will leave that for a future post.

Pocahaunted @ Cannery Row

Is Pete correct? Is the overall spooky weirdness of ‘No Country for Old Men’ due to the fact that there is little or no music on the soundtrack? I will have to check it again.

This a.m. I am haunted by Pocahaunted as I listen to their big, post-rock epics & start reading ‘The Dark River’ by John 12 Hawks.

I really should not open this book as I am stressed out with my backlog of reading materials for my 2 Reading Groups & the clock is ticking.

Meanwhile, I have opened Donovans’ autobiography, which has been ‘on loan’ from the College Library since we acquired it. Pete’s recent visit reminded me to re-start it.

In fact, Pete’s visit reminded me of how much we used to love John Steinbeck’s ‘Cannery Row’. Recently, when the Happy Highlanders were slumming it in the Lowlands, the ‘Cannery Row’ movie came on tv. I did not concentrate on it with the visitors, but I have made a mental note to try & catch it as it looks ‘well crazy’ like the novel itself.

The More Things Change

Little did I imagine as I was recording Michael Hurley, the Holy Modal Rounders or the Pearls Before Swine tracks on my Grundig 4 track open reel recorder that a lifetime later, that I would see Michael Hurley live in Glasgow at the 13^th Note Club basement, with one of of my sons & my friends.

It has just came flooding back to me as I am reading ‘The Wire’ article on Michael Hurley.

The past few years have been strange like that, e.g. Michael Chapman & Bridget St John, Mike Heron, Robin Williamson, John Renbourn….etc @ Fraser Centre, Milngavie. Most of these artists I had also recorded from Peel c1969.

Hang the DJ

There is more to life than music. Spare a thought for Andy Kershaw. He was riding the crest of a wave, on top of his game, mc-ing this & that, all over your radio & tv, then suddenly: bang….the dream is over.

He only gets about 5 lines in the tabloids as his life falls apart. I for one miss his rich accent & devil may care attitude.

Out but not Down


If there was ever any doubt about the name 'Paradise' & the fact that someone shines celestial light upon the righteous, check the photo above taken by the son that is moving next door in July.

ZenYoga Requirements for the Over 50s

1. An Empty Mind

2. One hand Clapping ability

3. Trees silently falling in the woods that no-one hears

4. And a Party of Special Things to Do

Skygreen Leopards

Hands up those that think the ‘Skygreen Leopards’ are the new Holy Modal Rounders or the new Pearls Before Swine?

No Country For Old Men

What a superb movie. However as someone who struggles to put my Beatles boots on each day, I wonder how the ‘old men’ managed to put their cowboy boot on & off.

I get pains in my back, my shoulders & everywhere else!

A Visit to the Barbers: Guide for the over 50s

Even simple tasks like getting a haircut can be troublesome. Gone are the days when you marched into the barbers & pointed at pictures of Paul Newman or Steve McQueen & said I want one of those please.

My latest request is for a George Clooney. However I was warned away from an ‘old man’s haircut’, by some of the more enlightened hairdressers at the College. I always get my hair done there now, as it falls well within my price range.

I was told that my current haircut is ‘well-funky’, ‘naturally messy’ & it had that difficult to achieve ‘just out of bed look’.

To be honest, I am still a bit uncomfortable with it, (my wife is still in a state of shock), but I was in the hands of experts & they said I suited it, so it stays put until it grows out.