Keep right on to the end of the road…….

I don’t know about you, but I have a fascination with dead-end roads, especially in the countryside. In some ways the sign we use can be a bit disappointing, or even intimidating….’Not worth going down this8 road’…’There’s nothing to see’…….. ……’Better to turn round while you

have the chance’……you know what I mean.

However there usually is something to see…a beach, a loch, a little pier, a house, an old church, and often they have a lovely view. Someone obviously thought that it was worthwhile building and maintaining a road for good reason.

And so it was that yesterday, along with two of the ladies in my life, we set off for one of the loveliest dead-end roads in the west of Scotland. Skirting the historic City of

Stirling, you take the A84 and A873 through Thornhill. There you will find the excellent restaurant ‘The Lion and the Unicorn’ where you could stop for excellent refreshment. Continuing to head west and joining the A81, you pass (or stop to admire), the only lake in Scotland, the Lake of Menteith. It is tiny, but the village is called Port of Menteith, and it feels quite proud of its watery neighbour, and the Inchmahome Priory.

Just as you come to Aberfoyle, you enter the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, and head on the B829, which has the afore-mentioned ‘dead-end’ sign . The B designation is a good indication that this road is not for the faint-hearted driver, as it is single-track with passing places.

But we managed to stop and pick some blackberries on the way, on the side of Loch Ard.

I should say here that it was not me driving, as medical advice was that I should not get behind a wheel for a little time yet. So it was the Lady of the House, who was in control. (She is, of course often in control when I am driving!) Daughter was in the front passenger seat helping with the negotiation of this nasty but lovely road.

Wonderful country houses abound along here with the sweeping drives, and gardens which would have engaged a number of full-time gardeners at one time. Lovely it must be to live in such locations, but what about the winter? 4WD vehicles would be more suitable than a flash car when the snow comes, or trees fall over the roads, or accidents block roads.

When you are able to stop to admire the vistas, Ben Venue, Ben

Vrackie, and Ben Lomond all offer great views, so a camera, and binoculars are advised on this trip.

Water is not normally in short supply here, and so several lochs have been dammed and channelled to provide water for Glasgow and the Central Belt of Scotland. Besides Loch Ard, where we got the berries, Loch Chon also is beside the road, and both offer boat fishing. The water here and ultimately fed to Glasgow is very pure and no lime-scale is produced in kettles or washing machines…….and it is lovely to drink, especially in a glass of amber liquid!

As we move northwest, we are travelling between two large lochs….Katrine (Glasgow’s main water supply) and Lomond (known the world over for the Bonnie banks). At a T junction you can turn right to Stronachlachar (an awkward-sounding word for non-Scots), with a Pier-head Tearoom.

However we were turning westward past the lovely Loch Arklet heading to the village, or more-correctly, the clachan of Inversnaid.

This is probably the most awkward part of the road as it drops sharply to the northern tip of Loch Lomond, and indeed the Banks are Bonnie as promised in the song. Suddenly, from a narrow country road we descend into a large car park, beside the massive Inversnaid Hotel, and situated beside the pier for boats cruising Loch Lomond.

So, you may ask, why has this large Hotel been

built here in a remote area, and is obviously popular, with high-occupancy rates? The old photo shows how long it has been operational.

It was built in 1790 by the Duke of Montrose as a quiet hunting lodge. It achieved exposure to the world, when Queen Victoria visited there several times, for privacy. Whether the impropriety involved with John Brown, her ghillie, occurred here I do not know. It has obviously been extended over the years.

We had a very tasty meal in the hotel, chosing the Inversnaid Burger, which consisted of chicken, bacon, and cheese.

Afterwards we went to examine the waterfall just beside the hotel. There had been no appreciable rain, recently, so no great torrent of water, which was a bit disappointing. Therecare a lot of little walks in the area, which we could not explore due to time restraints. The peie is a place of constant activity during the day, and no doubt there is a fair bit of freight brought in by boat. Looking across the Loch, you can see the village of Inveruglas, and the large pipes of the Loch Sloy hydro-electric power station on the hillside.They have a visitor centre about the area, so it is well worth visiting.

Two other facts about the area….

Firstly…..the local primary school was, in 2010, the most expensive/pupil in education costs in the UK. It was said it was £54,000 per pupil.,Presumably some may have been accommodation for those who could not commute each day, in the scattered community.

Secondly…..the famous Rob Roy was basically an outlaw, involved in cattle-rustling, and in the Jacobite rising. He hid in a cave, close to the hotel, and which can only be approached by water, and is well-hidden. No doubt the location is pointed-out to all those on the cruise boats.

……so there you are, a true end-of-the-road journey, which provided on a very-pleasant autumnal day, a lot of visual excitement with the gorgeous scenery, a trip on narrow roads, a pleasant meal, and plenty of blethering!…….

And the day was complete on our way home, as we popped-into a tearoom in Aberfoyle………pleasure complete……

P1040875 S

Hope for a new year?

It’s over a year since I wrote a blog. Not a good year, I have to admit, but we have all been through hell and high-water, not just with the physical effects of Covid, but the mental and social aspects of life and relationships due to isolation and fear. I have a faith, however, that we as individuals and as a society can and will see this through. I wrote my first piece of music in 10 years just a few weeks ago, and feel that this might be a time of change….so here’s hoping…..

The Alaska Adventure…..Chapter 9

FROM JUNEAU to SKAGWAY…….

The day before had seen us panning for a little bit of precious gold for the Good Lady. This was obviously exhausting to us all, and I slept into 6.30, which was very late for me!

Off to the Lido Bar to have the usual varied breakfast……and there’s a point! At home a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea (and maybe a piece of toast) suffice to keep body and soul together, but when we go on holiday and see the buffet laid out before us, we feel the need to try just a little of several things! I suppose it’s only good manners to let the chefs know that they are doing a good job!

A hidden corner of Perth

The National Trust of Scotland is responsible for many sites in Scotland. Some are Castles, some are country Houses, there are beaches, wild areas, mountains, old tenement buildings…..a wonderfully-eclectic group.

With being members for many years, wife and I have visited most of the easily-available ones, but some have escaped our visits for various reasons.

One such was Branklyn Garden in Perth, in the fair county of Perthshire. Unlike many other properties, this was developed as a small garden (less than two acres) by a lovely couple, Dorothy and John Renton, who, in 1922, had bought a bit of an overgrown apple orchard, upon which they built their Arts- and-Crafts-inspired house. A few years later they took on more of the orchard to allow them to develop the present garden.

Right at the start I have to say that it is well hidden away, and the car park is a walk away down a narrow steep tree-lined street. We made the mistake of buying a lot of items, forgetting I had to walk up to the car park and bring it down to briefly stop to put purchases, and wife, into the car!

Fortunately, parking for those with a disabled badge is available right beside the little Reception/Shop

THE END OF A PROJECT

I have reported elsewhere on my involvement in a research project involving those who have a history of dementia in their family, and who have inherited a gene which is associated with dementia.

I fell into both those categories when examined in the Glasgow Memory Clinic in 2018, and was put on to a world-wide 8 year research project where we were given either a placebo, a low-dosage, or an expected dosage of a drug being investigated by the manufacturer/sponsor of the project.

No-one, except the manufacturer, knew who was on which treatment regime, so we did not know what to expect, from the mental tests which were carried-out on my grey matter on a very regular basis. This was accompanied by continuing thorough investigations into my medical condition, for which I was very thankful. I was treated as a healthy volunteer, which was encouraging.

I had enquired about what would happen if there was a finding world wide that those who had been anonymously on the ‘expected-dosage’ regime, were showing measurable improvement in their mental capacity. Since my investigating doctors did not know what my ‘regime’ was, they could not use their local findings to predict what was or was not likely to occur in my specific case.

Then came the phone call to call-back one of the research doctors, whom I knew well. ‘Cease medication’ was what I was told. Having trained in physics, I always had an enquiring mind, and immediately asked for the reason. I will, of course, have a full medical checkup in the near future, and will at that time have further access to the reasoning. Sufficient to say that it appears that an adverse effect had been noticed world wide in those who had been on the full-dosage regime, so all further supplies of the drugs, tests, and assessments were ceasing.

I may or may not be informed of my particular scenario, and any results they may have noticed in my cerebral responses over the time I was involved.

Whatever happens, I am disapponted that the pharmaceutical company, like several others would seem to have gone up a blind alley in the theory of dementia, or that the medication needs to be re-worked. I am also sorry for those on the project who have shown a marked decline in ability, and have been the reason for the cessation of the project. Finally I am sorry from a personal point of view, in that I felt that I was helping in some small way, to repay the pharmaceutical chemists who have helped keep my family as fit and healthy as they have been.

Should any other useful comments emerge, J will of course, pass them on.

Would I rejoin a similar project? Most certainly! If we are not prepared to make an effort to improve the lot of those who may end up with this kind of distressing condition, what kind of humans are we?

The luck of life

It’s been some time since I have attempted to amuse/entertain/inform/persuade/cajole fellow-bloggers with a posting here. I left you in the middle of Alaska when we were on a marvellous cruise trip from and to Vancouver. It was great and we arrived back home to get on with our semi-retirement, and to sort out the hours of video and hundreds of photos to recount the happy times.

………..and suddenly the news brought us news and photos of a liner beached just off Tuscany (a favourite spot of ours) and the loss of life, injury and terror involved. Whatever happened or caused it to happen may eventually be explained but things for those people involved will never be the same again.

How many times have we gone down a road where there had been a recent fatality, got on a plane after one of the same types had just crashed, or feared to get on a Pendolino train knowing what happened recently on the Edinburgh/London express?

I know that statistically travel is safer than it has ever been, and vast numbers of people traverse the roads, sea and sky of this earth of ours in perfect safety, but let us remember in our hearts those who set out on a journey and never arrived.

Natural and Man-Made Beauty on the Danube

Since we retired, cruising seems to have become part of our annual holiday ritual. Lady of the House persuaded me to participate in an Alaskan Cruise for our retirement present to each other, a few years ago in 1992

Now, even the worst student of world geography knows that Alaska, and Scotland, which is my domicile, are not exactly close neighbours and any journey between one and t’other will require a considerable amount of sitting in a metal tube, many miles in the atmosphere for a considerable time, being bored out of one’s mind.

And so it was, in xxxx

I remember it well……maybe!

A few days ago, my Good Lady, and I had a lazy day out. We didn’t do very much, sat about, drank a lot of coffee, Kath had a chance to catch up with reading the Glasgow Herald, and we ate gorgeous sandwiches, chatted with a number of lovely people, had a lot of mental stimulation, discussed things with knowledgeable professionals, and came away with smiles on our faces.

And where did this occur? In a modern building in the Todd Campus on the northern leafy outskirts of Glasgow. And why were we there? We were meeting yet again with medics and medical staff who work within the Glasgow Memory Clinic.

My memory during most of my life has always caused me some problems in studying, which means that I could rarely simply memorise lists of numbers or formulae, which precluded chemistry being of great interest. Luckily physics provided the opportunity to study and understand something which I loved and could imagine.

When we had our professional practice, I could remember well the medical details of each of our clients, but found it difficult remembering names ,and sometimes, faces. Luckily, however it did not influence how well we were able to work with them.

Anyway, on into retirement, and Kath felt that we should investigate the future as my mother had dementia of some form and began to behave irrationally in the last years of her life…. distressing to see……

Following failure to be accepted into a project in 2014, a new long-term project was notified to me, last year, and this needed to know whether I might have inherited an increased risk of developing Altzheimers over the general population…..and we ALL have a statistical risk of developing some form of dementia.

Much discussion took place, and psychological advice given to both of us about the affect of having a DNA test, and being informed of the result. However we both decided that we had to know! The tests were carried out and the genes revealed that I have one gene which has been shown to be associated with dementia.

So I am now part of an 8 year project where all those involved are treated with either a placebo, a low drug dose, or an ‘expected-level’ drug, which has been approved for such investigation. We will all be constantly monitored and results drawn from the investigations.

Do I know what medication I am taking…..no, and neither do my doctors, or nurses who are dealing with it all. But this is my contribution to the society which has protected me and my family for all these years.

So, I am enjoying being looked-after, and was told today, that I am operating at a high level of cognative function, doing very well in all physical medical, and psychological tests thrown at me. That is why we had smiles on our faces!!!

Recycling? Is it really efficient?

Some years ago, in the mid 1970s, one of the great themes in the worldwide ecology debate was the slogan… ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’……a slogan which is think was, and is, brilliant and succinct

The idea seemed extremely sensible as we appeared to be consuming the world’s goods at a horrendous rate

…….. perhaps we could ‘do without’ occasionally. In other words…so we would use a lot less of our dwindling material resources, as the world is not infinite.

…… If we could find some other uses for the items, we might double or even treble the lifetime for which the item could be used

…….and only lastly, when no further use could be contemplated, it could go in a recycle box. It was then out of our hands, and we would have played a part in the three stages.

This, however, requires us returning a couple of generations in our thinking……..we have to learn that just because something is heavily advertised, it is not absolutely essential that we go out and buy one……..we have to be more knowledgeable and inventive in our attitude to repairing, modifying and adapting items for re-use in some other guise……….and thirdly we have to be able to recycle (in an economic way) those items which cannot be reused in any other way.

Fast-forward to the 21st Century…………and how far are we on in the crusade to ‘Reduce, Re-use, and Re-cycle’ ? Frankly I don’t think we are much better! But let’s look at it all in a bit more detail……

REDUCING CONSUMPTION……

Watching people in supermarket check-outs shows me we are purchasing more than we used-to. Food is certainly a necessity, but we are eating more than we ever did, as obesity remains high on the list of medics’ concerns.
Continuing persuasion, by marketing folk, to get the ‘very latest’ tech gadgets, furniture, clothes, mobile phones, and holidays etc from larger and larger stores, at lower and lower prices has been evident and shortened the life-time, and reduced the ‘valuation’ of almost everything we own.
So we are consuming more, of everything, we are travelling more miles on our way to exotic locations for holidays. I know of no areas where we are consuming less. Economic growth seems to be all important to the good of the country, but not of the world.
Regarding packaging….When I was young, I remember my mother opening her carry-ing bag , to allow the grocer to put in loads of potatoes, carrots etc, followed by beautifully-wrapped chunks of cheese, fish, and meat, and this worked well. The bag was reused many times, and some of the greaseproof paper may have wrapped my lunch-piece, and ended up helping to light the fire. The use of more-complicated wrapping materials has caused a problem As much cannot be recycled.
As far as repairing and re-using items, we in the West are not particularly good as doing this, whilst less-developed civilisations are much better. We have lost many of the skills which our parents had, for self-sufficiency and rarely is something repaired. It us almost impossible to get a cooker, fridge or washing machine repaired, as the tradesmen often suggest that it is cheaper for you to buy a new one than repair it.
And finally, recycling may recover some of the materials, but cannot regain the energy used in the manufacture of the original product. So we really have only one option……buy fewer things, repair, and then, and only then see if there is a proper re-cycling programme available, and not just a massive skip of mixed stuff…

So maybe it IS time to rethink our attitude to usage of what is, after all, a finite resource. The future generations will condemn us, and rightly so, for this inordinate consumption, and the way in which we dispose of our waste into the oceans, and landfill……oh, dear, what a mess we are in…..

Back across the Pond…..Day 12

welcome-heathrow[1].jpg

Unhappy in Heathrow, and home….

I have posted before on the problems of having a wife who has a serious addiction problem. Well, it’s not serious but she has had this need for many years. So when she spotted the availability in Boston Logan Airport, she had to have it, whatever the cost. I refer, of course, to cinnamon-flavoured maple syrup, and it was purchased in the area after security and was put in a labelled bag, so joy was in the air as we boarded for our overnight flight to Heathrow. We slept reasonably well but were still mentally in the middle of the night when we put our watches five hours forward on arrival.

Arriving at any airport in the best frame of mind is not a bundle of fun, but after a numbers of hours in a totally-alien environment, and suddenly being herded like cattle is not a great welcome. To cut a long story short, the aforementioned purchase was scanned through the x-ray, removed from the bag in which it was packed by the shop, and Lady was told that since it had not been packed ‘properly’ that it could not be allowed into the country, and it would be confiscated and destroyed!

Quite unbelievable! It could only have been bought in the shop, and we had the receipt, US security was happy, but for some reason, a cantankerous (lady) officer had decided to have a go at a couple of tired old people. In retrospect we should have asked for a receipt, but you do not think clearly at 6am….after a few hours of sleep. Then they went through our hand- luggage with a fine tooth comb, with the result that most of my stuff ended on the floor and my passport was temporarily mislaid.

So we got to our next departure pier for our journey to Glasgow. The four legs of our total holiday had been booked through British Airways, so that we could enjoy the good service and leg-room. However this leg was handled by some company called Jet-Time in a rather tatty plane with a not very-exciting snack, and cockpit staff speaking in a thick foreign accent which I could not understand. So I was not a happy bunny. I made my feelings clear in the after-flight e-mail request we received from a marketing company, on behalf of BA)but no response from the airline has been received to date.

The Hudson News shop at Logan Airport accepted our story and graciously have sent us US currency to the value of the syrup…so we will now have to go back to there to get some more syrup! As to the payment for the non-booked first night in Canada, we are still awaiting resolution with the Travel Agent which we have used over many years. All a bit of a disappointing end to what had otherwise been a great adventure.

Would we go back to that part of Canada again….definitely…lovely scenery, lovely people. Would we go through Heathrow……definitely NO……especially now that a third runway is to be built!

…Irishpisky….

…how an oldish chap sees the world…