and on christmas day …..

I realised that my last blog was not about Christmas at all, so here is a postcript –

Christmas eve and traditional handmade filled pasta. But after many nibbles – dim sums, spicy prawns, pigs in blankets, olives, and champagne ….

and double trouble

an on-going sorting of who fits where.

Christmas in St Andrews.

B and I sharing a sofa and then a sofa-bed.

evidence of parcel opening on Christmas morning –

and then a walk from the Pillars of Hercules at Falkland, a vegetarian café and organic vegetable and food shop, which miraculously has warm, well lit loos open every day of the year.

So-called, the thinking is, because there were two slabs of stone at the cottages and orchard there, for resting the coffin in the old walking funerals to the burial ground at Kilgour. Look here for a wonderful article on the old Coffin Roads – https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/21166858.discovering-scotlands-coffin-roads/

a friend who knows Islay well says that they have several resting places like that, where the coffin is placed whilst the bearers have some refreshment and a short rest before the next bit.

While researching this I found more information about Falkland. A 12th century hunting lodge at Falkland was expanded in the 13th century to become a grand castle owned by the Earls of Fife – the infamous Clan MacDuff. The area, on a slight hill, was easily defendable and included a great wood of oak trees. The gardens, meadows, orchards and glades were encircled by a Pale (a ditch with a fence on top) to contain game for the royals to hunt. In 1317, Falkland was destroyed by the invading English army.

Inspired by French chateaus, Scottish Stuart Kings James IV and his son, James V, transformed Falkland Palace into a fine example of Renaissance architecture. In 1541, a Royal Tennis Court was built in the garden, a game Mary, Queen of Scots was especially fond of, scandalously wearing men’s breeches to play. In the 17th century the palace was continuously used as a retreat for later Stuart kings, Charles I and II. Although the palace fell into disrepair after 1660, the building was saved by the 3rd Marquis of Bute in the 19th century. These restorations included redesigning the gardens and making the castle once again fit for noble residence.

this is the Victorian House of Falkland, where the Keepers lived after the Palace became ruinous.

more, from the Gazeteer of Scotland, oh dear we are riddled with the proceeds of slavery – Onesiphorous Tyndall-Bruce, 1790 – 1855, an English barrister who became, through marriage, a noted figure in the history of Falkland. Born Onesiphorous Tyndall in Bristol, his family had been merchants and slave-traders who had opened Bristol’s first bank in 1750. After marrying heiress Margaret Stuart Hamilton Bruce in 1828, he became Hereditary Keeper of Falkland Palace. He was also permitted, by Royal licence, to add the name ‘Bruce’ after his own. The Scottish National Trust now owns the palace, the house, the gardens and the estate. You can read more on their website – https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/falkland-palace

it has great walks, anyway.

good off-road tracks and woods, all overseen by East Lomond, towering over it. If you watched Outlander you will have seen much of it, it stood in for the Highland town where Clare and her husband come for a second honeymoon.

back to Christmas day.

much was cooked by Scott, who stayed in the kitchen while we were out with the dogs. And much was eaten, it was totally delicious.

later there was ginger swiss roll made by Zoe

also totally delicious

we watched a silly thing called the Glass Onion with much campness by Daniel Craig.

Boxing Day breakfast

fortified us for a chilly walk with ice underfoot and a north-westerly wind

mostly in sunshine, around the Craigfoodie hills from Dairsie, past Pitcullo and Pittormie castles (really they are tower houses).

a field of bullocks and heifers got very excited and impersonated stags.

so I am home to sleep a lot and read my Christmas presents. I particularly love the dictionary, written in 1886 by Charles Mackay. Many Lowland Scots words are from the Gaelic, unsurprisingly. I am learning Scots Gaelic online, with duolingo, and I come across words which which are similar to English, French or even Latin, and wonder which way the influences ran, or is it just that proto-Indo-European substructure that causes the similarity?

He rubbishes Anglo-Saxon, which I think quite amusing, although we know this is historically unsound (? probably) and anti-English. I think the Scots are entitled to be anti-English in this case, as the English stamped on Scottishness (except for the ridiculous romanticism of the VIctorians) and the Gaelic language so thoroughly that they (the Scots) deserve some come-back.