Last week I poured the cremated remains of my father into a river. From there, that material will flow through the town he lived in, into the sea, and mix with the world ocean. The atoms that make up that matter began in the heart of a star, for a short time they were part of my father, next they will be sand, in time some may be taken up by plants ( Read more... )

We're moving house soon… details to follow in a less public post, or email me ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I made sausages. This was sufficiently exciting to cause me to actually write something on LJ for once.
( Sausages! )

I suppose I should say something in this largely neglected Livejournal. Alison and I got married last weekend, and it was a fantastic day. Thanks to all of you who came and helped us celebrate. We're currently sitting basking in the sun in the South-West of France (in the CorbièresThe day went mostly to plan, with only the slight glitch with ( Read more... )

This post will probably come across to SNP supporters as an attack on the party; it's not really intended as such, it's a reality check for non-Scottish idealists. I'm getting increasingly irritated by the frequency of comments that seem to view the SNP as a party who do no wrong. More often than not, these aren't from pro-SNP Scots, but from ( Read more... )

I've been reflecting on Scottish independence, and decided that my experiences relating to prejudiced nationalism in Scotland have been instrumental in shaping some core political views ( Read more... )

My previous post was, quite obviously, born out of irritation at the way political discourse still hasn't managed to get to grips with the idea of coalition ( Read more... )

Poll

Radio buttons because those are the only two options I see in most blog and twitter posts.

"The Jacobite Rising of 1745-6 proved to be the last attempt by the Stewart dynasty to regain the British throne from the Hanoverians. Following Culloden, fought just 8 miles (12km) from Fort George, the government introduced ruthless measures to prevent such a Rising happening again. Fort George was one of them ( Read more... )

Rather than a rant that's building and may eventually get posted, I'll post a bread recipe.

So, since getting a breadmaker a while ago, I've been experimenting in how to make good bread with it. Not just the ordinary fresh baked goodness that the recipes produce, but something that really tastes of Bread, with nice chewy middle and crunchy crust. ( Read more... )