Poems

The dream dram

For World Poetry Day 2017 I thought I’d share this poem I wrote in October 2016. The idea came to me after a silly conversation with Crazy Uncle John when we’d had a few whiskies. We were talking about the future, in a science fiction/march of progress sense, and he said something to the effect of; “Some day, robot dugs will be commonplace!”

As you can imagine I practically laughed ’til the wee ran down my leg, because it struck me immediately how absurd it would be if that became a reality! But then, there are many examples over the years of how the advance of technology has brought us things that weren’t really needed.

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Journal, vlogs

Cruising Loch Lomond 

Last week, in what was probably one of the the last of the few good days we’ve had in a rotten summer, we headed out on Crazy Uncle John’s boat for a day on Loch Lomond.

It was the perfect day out in so many ways. Not only did we have a hassle free launch and extraction of the boat, but the conditions were absolutely fantastic and the kids were able to enjoy a great last day before the school holidays were over. 

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Journal

The third time is the charm

For the last couple of years, each time the anniversary of Robert Burns’ birthday rolls around in the last week of January, I’ve been committing to memory the eight verses of his Address to the Haggis to perform the duty on a Burns Evening. On my first attempt at the Rosslea Hall Hotel, back in 2010, I thought my delivery was fairly good considering I’d only learned the poem in the four weeks previous. However, the fact I missed a line out really bugged me and I was determined to do it perfectly the next chance I got.

Which is why, when I did the Address to the Haggis at Colgrain Bowling Club in 2011, I was mad with myself for grinding to a halt after just two verses because I thought I’d messed up. After being invited to do it again this year I was determined that I’d nail it, and tried to put the memory of last year’s screw up behind me. If Crazy Uncle John can reel off 14-odd verse epic’s from Burns’ repertoire with only a couple of fluffed lines, then surely I was capable of the flawless delivery of just eight verses?

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