Our clubhouse has to be one of the finest in Scotland, even if our course is not as well-known as some - it’s a bit out of the way, so we’ve never had any of the big tournaments here, which is a pity, because it would look well on television - ‘atmospheric’ is a word … Continue reading The Golfer’s Tale
Even for those of us who have lived most of our lives without them, it is hard to imagine now how we ever lived without personal computers and all that stems from them - e-mail, the internet, social networks, smart phones and the like: they seem indispensable. Which is curious, since many of us still … Continue reading The Paradox of Elective Indispensability: a Faustian pact?
HAMLET My father!--methinks I see my father. HORATIO Where, my lord? HAMLET In my mind's eye, Horatio. From this we know that the ‘inward eye which is the bliss of solitude’ was a current notion in Shakespeare’s day, and doubtless it is a great deal older than that; yet a conversation I had today reminded … Continue reading The Mind’s Eye: Digital Camera or Camera Obscura?
Well, and if you were in utter darkness and heard someone whistle a few bars, the merest snatch of music - would your heart not lift? Your world would be transformed.
‘Metaphor: a figure of speech by which a thing is spoken of as being that which it only resembles, as when a ferocious person is called a tiger‘ – Chambers Dictionary Saddling metaphor with a definition like that (which is typical, even down to the threadbare example) is akin to giving it a criminal record … Continue reading ‘Is there light in Gorias?’ – reflections on metaphor and truth
Today being a beautiful clear frosty November day I decided that a bike run was called for. In view of my recent unsatisfactory run on the Dream Roadster, I thought a change of bike was in order, so I decanted several from their hiding-place under the stairs (it's remarkable just how many bicycles you can … Continue reading Carefree car-free circular
'Walking for exercise? Pah!' My father had a way saying 'Pah!' that was peculiarly dismissive. He liked a good walk, so it seemed an odd thing for him to say, but I think it was his very love of walking that made him say it. To walk 'for exercise' carries an overtone of duress, as … Continue reading ‘Blow, blow, thou winter wind!’
Jake's attempt to cross the nightmare bridge began badly and soon got worse. So steep was the initial descent that the only way to do it was to clamber down ladder-fashion,using the wooden slats as rungs. Unfortunately, the slats were too wide to grip easily with his hands, while the gaps between them were too … Continue reading City of Desolation, Chapter 21: Across the Abyss
All right, I can see you're not convinced: how can a place called Pottiehill have a dark secret? Yet it does; I have seen it. I have pictures (though some of them are a little odd - an unfamiliar camera). But first, the curious case of Benjamin Button. (you see what I am doing here? … Continue reading The Dark Secret of Pottiehill
(The Football Players by Henri Rousseau) Two people are arguing; one insists that you can score a drop goal in football, the other that you can’t. Eventually it emerges that the first is talking about rugby football, gaelic football and Australian rules; but the other means only association football. So who is right? Once we … Continue reading Can you be offside in chess?
COMPLEAT TROWZER 