Devilla Forest

One thing I’ve started doing again this year is taking the dogs over to Devilla Forest in Fife. I used to go here quite regularly with our old dog (variously known as Tess, The Sausage or Zoltan, Hound of Dracula). I stopped for a while as some extensive logging work was being carried out and never really got back into the habit of going there which is a pity, as the Forestry Commission do a very good job of making their working forests accessible to the public.

Devilla Forest was planted after the Second World War over the Tulliallan Estate which had provided the headquarters for the Polish army during the war but which had a long and varied history encompassing such figures as King Duncan and Macbeth during their altercations with Vikings and various members of the Blackadder baronetcy. Much of this has been documented by local historians Bob and Meg Smith whose maps are dotted around the forest. These maps are now some 20 years old and given the organic nature of the forest some of the marked antiquities are rather overgrown and some proved impossible to find. However, the map is quite a bit of fun providing a scavenger hunt of treasures around the foliage.


Bob and Meg Smith's map of Devilla Forest

The standard stone marking the battle of 1038 where Duncan and Macbeth defeated the Danish army

The Meith stone is meant to be a St Andrews cross marking a boundary.

This mound of earth marks the supposed location of the Danish Camp. It probably predates that battle by several centuries.

The Ice House was used to provide refrigeration to the Tulliallan estate.

This is the remains of the wash house.

This is the Peppermill dam, the largest of the three dams and the furthest from the car park.

The pump house. This was built under the Blackadders' Stewardship of the estate. 

The sluice - another artefact of the damming system.

One part that is now quite heavily overgrown but really worth finding is the mausoleum. I don’t get easily freaked out but these are seriously spooky remains.

Anniversary Week

This last week has marked a few anniversaries of sorts. This started last Monday when I was attending a blood donation session. One of the nurses noted that I had “obviously done this a few times before”. In fact that occasion was my 50th donation for the Scottish Blood Transfusion service. In total I have probably donated quite a bit more as that wouldn’t cover the times I had donated whilst living in Cardiff or Newcastle.

The second notable anniversary was the 20th anniversary of the UK national lottery. This in itself is not particularly notable but I always remember the date it was held as it was actually the date of my wedding. Obviously my 20th wedding anniversary was of more relevance to me and I took the day off work so we could go out to a restaurant together without worrying about child minders and the like. Someone did buy us a lottery ticket for the day. It didn’t win. Karma doesn’t work like that.

I had mentioned my anniversary in the office and one of my colleagues was quite interested about what we did for the wedding as she is organising her own at the moment. Of particular interest was what wedding car we used. Asking around the office, quite a few people hadn’t bothered with one at all and a couple of others had gone for a large Jaguar (which I quite like the idea of) or a Mercedes (which I think is a bit dull – probably associating them with German taxi ranks). A few had gone for the standard luxury cars – usually an old Rolls Royce although I have seen the new models used as wedding cars which is dreadful as they are hideous. A couple of the more esoteric choices included a 1950s Cadillac and a 1930s Bentley (which was James Bonds original car in the novels).

Princess IV - similar to my wedding car.

The car I chose for my wedding was probably quite an esoteric choice as well. We went to see a wedding car hire firm and they had a reasonable array of lovingly restored old cars including a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow that the firm's owner had rescued and restored from an old barn. However, the car I chose was an Austin Princess – not the dreadful wedgy rep-mobile from the 1970s but a rare 1959 Princess IV which has originally been used as the official transport of the Mayor of Sunderland. This really appealed to me as it was an unusual and particularly beautiful piece of craftsmanship and it had some sort of backstory as well. Unfortunately the current trend seems to be for stretch Hummers. I suppose some people have no taste.

Robert Plant: Live at the Bingo Hall

When I first saw Robert Plant perform live during his Now And Zen tour it was still possible to turn up to the theatre’s box-office on the night and buy a ticket. Not that I did back then and these days the more popular tickets have to be bought within seconds of going on sale before the touts hoover them up. As I really wanted to see Plant on this tour I took no chances and bought my ticket seconds after they went on sale back in June. The venue, the somewhat corporately named O2 Academy Glasgow, is in the Gorbals area and appeared to be walking distance from Queens Street station. Of course on a Saturday night this involved walking past a group of drunken rugby fans who were propping themselves up against a police box, bypassing several hen parties consisting of orange-faced, peroxide-blonde alcoholics wobbling around on stilettoes, as well as the usual collection of dishevelled Gorbalites. I eventually arrived at what appeared to be a large queue outside the bingo hall. It turns out that this is now the O2 Academy.

For my misgivings about the venue I have to say that the staff were all friendly and efficient and after buying a pint of Danish lager (apparently they “only do Guinness in cans”) I managed to find a suitable vantage point which not only afforded a decent view of the stage but also allowed me to support my somewhat dodgy back (the problem with buying tickets so far in advance is that standing seemed like a good idea at the time). The first support act came on after the hall had been filling up for half an hour. Support acts are always a hit and miss affair and when a record company are trying to push a new act the pairings can be rather odd. Fortunately the support acts tonight were very good – whether they were chosen by Plant himself or not I don’t know but the first up was a folky pair called Nugent and Belle (or as I first referred to them “two girls with guitars” as I missed the introduction).
 


They played a short set of six songs and this seemed to go down very well with the Glasgow crowd: at least I thought it would be worth checking them out (once I’d found out who they actually were!) Next up were a New York power trio called The Last Internationale. In fact this started with a solo acoustic song called Workers Of The World – Unite! a sentiment which seemed to chime with a Glasgow audience still up for a fight after the referendum. The rest of the set was more of a power blues set along the lines of Cream or Hendrix although ending with a sing-a-long version of Neil Young’s Hey Hey, My My. The set went down a storm and I suspect that they have sold quite a few CDs on the back of that.



Next up was the main man and I was quite interested to see what sort of set he would go with. I saw his Glastonbury performance on TV in the summer but with the new album now out for a couple of months I had expected this to feature more prominently. In fact it dominated the input from his solo career with a few blues covers (including Spoonful – I’m not sure whether that was intended as an acknowledgement of Jack Bruce) and several re-interpretations of songs from Led Zeppelin’s first 4 albums, starting with Friends from Led Zeppelin III which more than lends itself to the talents of Juldeh Camara’s riti playing. First up of the new songs was Turn It Up which he had recently performed on the Jools Holland show.



I suspect this has replaced Tin Pan Valley in his show as the two songs would clash within the set. Overall I think the new songs have matured in performance and they sound more upbeat compared to the album. However, even Plant admitted that Embrace Another Fall (performed without the section in Welsh) was a bit miserable. He also performed a heart rending rendition of Stolen Kiss in the encore which was a stark change of tone towards the end of the show. A couple of the Zeppelin tunes were fairly close to the originals – a slightly jazzier rendition of What Is And What Should Never Be and an achingly beautiful version of Going To California amongst them. For the most part the songs were a heavy reworking of the originals with a recognisable melody or lyric breaking out of swirling electronica like a familiar friend emerging from a crowded room. Others incorporated elements of the songs that inspired them, segueing into the song they became: not least on Whole Lotta Love which now betrays its origins until THAT riff hits like a punch to the guts.



I think what really struck me about Plant’s performance is that he really still has it. His voice is not the same as the 19 year old that joined Led Zeppelin but he is still performing much of the material he did then but in a manner that fits his 66 year old vocal chords. There was a spurious news story this week that he had turned down an offer of £500 million to play a Led Zeppelin re-union tour. The story was completely fabricated but I think it amused him that here he was, an OAP in an old Glasgow bingo hall: “We’ve got our cards ready – bingo’s good for your mind” he quipped. I think it was at this point that it occurred to me that Robert Plant retired a long time ago. He performs and records now because it is his vocation – it’s what he loves doing and he wants to do it on his own terms. He would have to play thousands of bingo halls to make as much money as a Zeppelin re-union but the money doesn’t matter – it’s the artistic expression and connection with his roots that counts.

For me, I hope he doesn’t re-join Zeppelin although I’d like to see him work on projects with the others. On the one hand it would be fantastic to see them together but to do that would require a time machine to take me back to 1971. If they were to reform now it would be a circus: a corporate hell where the band are seen on video screens from the back of colossal auditoria far removed from their audience. Being able to see a legendary performer in an intimate venue such as the O2 Academy is a real privilege. I left, as did everyone else, enriched and elated by the experience. It’s over 26 years since I first saw Plant perform live and that was a show that stayed with me for a very long time. I suspect the night in the bingo hall will remain for many years more.

Who in Heaven

I can’t believe that this series of Doctor Who has already come to an end. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity from the 50th anniversary and Christmas episodes the series seems to have flown past. The Dark Water / Death In Heaven two-parter has brought a close to what, in my mind, has been an excellent series. In many ways this end of season finale has brought home much of what I felt about this year as a whole in that it feels much more in touch with the classic series but with a thoroughly modern makeover.

Dark Water was a great build up for the episode. Danny’s death in a road accident must be a stark warning of the distraction of mobile phones. I tried to point this out to Raymond but apparently he doesn’t use his phone whilst on the street. I had hoped that this was due to safety concerns but apparently he doesn’t want to pay for data on the move (tight git!) The scenes that followed with Clara seemingly stranding the Doctor in a volcano might have appeared to be a bit of a cop-out but I think we saw more character development between the Doctor and Clara here than at any other point during the series. What followed was new territory for Doctor Who – a trip into the underworld.

It was clear from the outset that the Nethersphere was going to have a Sci-Fi rather than supernatural explanation for the afterlife but it was still rather dark territory for a family drama. In spite of the controversy over the cremation story I thought the script writers stayed within the boundaries of taste but I must admit that the “Don’t cremate me” idea made me wince. Clearly it was integral to the plot but it could have been a bit much for someone who had suffered recent bereavement. However, what happened to the reanimated corpses inside the cybermen is a more disturbing concept to me.

As for the identity of Missy – well, I did have a guess at that right at the beginning. That doesn’t mean it was a poor reveal – in fact it rather adds to the delight of finding out for certain and so far I think Michelle Gomez is perfect for the role. Whilst I like John Simm as an actor I found his portrayal of The Master to be over the top and I felt he was too young to feel right in the part. However, Missy is a delightfully sinister realisation of the role and at times she seemed to be channelling Roger Delgado’s urbane charm into the body of Mary Poppins from Hell. I’m hoping that this isn’t the last we see of her – I suppose anything is possible in Doctor Who.

Death In Heaven was more of a straight forward action piece and whilst I liked it, it didn’t quite live up to the set-up as much as I’d hoped. However, given that I think the series is harking back to the classic stories here was an episode that would have fitted right into the Jon Pertwee era: huge action sequences, UNIT roaring out with all guns blazing and the Master being as dastardly and deceitful as ever. I always thought that the life expectancy of a UNIT soldier was pretty poor (and Sanjeev Bhaskar may as well have shown up wearing a red jersey) but there was never a possibility that anything untoward would happen to the regulars. Now it’s a case of all bets off and I’m still cursing them for zapping fangirl Osgood – partly as I liked the character and possibly because I quite fancy Ingrid Oliver. In fact the body count was pretty gruesome and I did feel that a few of the characters were bumped off for no particularly good reason – I was hoping for some greater revelation about Seb but at least he met his maker with Jazz hands.

Season arcs in Doctor Who have never worked that well: lots of anticipation with the build-up but with an anti-climax at the end. The classic series didn’t bother with them for the most part and when they did, such as the Key to Time and the Trial of a Timelord the payoff was always rather disappointing. I think this has also been the case with the new series but at least I felt this ended in a largely satisfactory way. The only thing that bothers me is that there seem to be several oddly hanging plot threads, particularly from the episode Listen, which should have been addressed. No doubt these will be resolved in future episodes.

So how do I feel about the 8th series of the revived programme? I had worried that the show would flounder without Matt Smith but I had high hopes when Peter Capaldi was announced. He is both a great character actor and a supreme fan of the series. I don’t think he has disappointed but it’s not just his contribution that has heightened my enjoyment of this series. Something seems to have jelled with the production team, writers, producers, directors and, not least, the supporting actors during this series. I’ve had a couple of niggles: The current arrangement of the theme tune is a bit insipid and I really couldn’t get over that whole Moon as an egg thing but aside from that I really don’t think there has been a duff episode – there has also been a huge variety of them ranging from the comic to the series, the cerebral to the action-packed, the mundane to the profound: something for everyone and every mood.

Now we are at the end of the series I’ve been able to delve a bit deeper into the fan forums to see what everyone else has been thinking about it. The first thing that struck me is what a miserable bunch of sods the hard-core Whovians can be. When the series disappeared in 1989 I really didn’t think I would ever see it on TV again. When the series was re-commissioned in 2005 I was delighted and I have remained delighted ever since. I think the main problem is that the sort of core fandom that spends hours on internet forums (and I would include myself in that) will never be happy – mainly as many of them think they should be writing the series themselves (this is nearly always a bad idea). Personally I would far rather run the risk of an occasional clunker rather than have the same format trotted out week after week or have the whole thing reduced to a glorified soap opera which seems to be the death-knell of so much modern Sci-Fi and fantasy television.

However, it’s interesting to see how much of a lack of perspective some fans have: One claimed that the Kill The Moon episode was the end of the world for him (I’m assuming a “him” and surely it was the end of the Moon?) Many others seemed to take a dislike to the Forest In The Night episode which surprised me. I’ve watched it again and it was refreshingly different – poetic Sci-Fi in the kind of Wyndhamesque cosy catastrophe that we rarely see these days. However, I have also seen many other fans who have been delighted by series 8 – many claiming it to be the best since the series returned. I think I am very much in that camp. In every series there have always been one or two episodes that I haven’t really been bothered with (with the possible exception of Matt Smith’s first series although I would tend to agree with Steven Moffat that The Beast Below was “a bit of a mess”). With this series I have found myself re-watching every episode within a few days of the original airing. They all stand up to repeat watching and I can see myself watching the whole thing again.

So that’s it until Christmas Day. Until them we have Atlantis in the Saturday night “Doctor Who slot”. I quite enjoyed the first series of that one but if I waver, I suppose I could always watch Flatline again…

New Toys

Whilst I’ve been waiting with baited breath for the finale of Doctor Who to air I’ve been playing with a new toy provided by my employer: A Windows Phone. I’m not really a mobile phone sort of person. For personal use I lost interest in my old Android phone and reverted to a feature phone instead. For years I have had a Nokia E71 at work and as a basic phone it has been fine – the battery life has always been exceptional (it can stay on standby for over a week without a sniff of a charger) and the tiny QWERTY keyboard is just about usable for mail and texts but for anything more complex it has proven to be clunky at best. The Windows phone is a Nokia 635 and so far it has proven to be a delight: as a business phone it doesn’t have to have every feature under the sun but it must actually work.

There was a great deal of debate at work about what phones would be purchased. It came down to an evaluation between Android, Apple and Windows phones. The choice of Windows phones was based on a combination of cost, integration and security concerns and it all seemed rather reasoned to me but for many people in the organisation you would think that this was an affront to their manhood. Essentially they wanted the latest iPhone – not for any particular business requirement but because this gave them the biggest willy-waving rights in the corporate jungle. Being a techie, I was more concerned that I could actually use the thing and that it would remain operational for extended periods if I was on call. Unfortunately for the manager who looks after telecommunications, he had to convince the techno-fashionistas that mobile phones are more than big boys toys.

So how have I found it? The first thing that struck me is that the interface actually seemed to work. If I tapped on the screen or used the on-screen keyboard the things I touched actually responded which is a first for me: I’ve used a few touch-screen devices and one of the biggest bugbears with them is that they constantly misbehave – I always put this down to my clumsy sausage fingers. The next thing that struck me is how sleek and responsive the whole thing is. It’s based on Windows 8.1 which I have on my home desktop and which has had a rather bad press but it has always struck me as a very efficient operating system; it’s nice to finally see it on an interface that it was seemingly designed for.

Initially, I tried out the basic phone and text functions and found these to be entirely proficient and nothing like as infuriating to use as the Android ones. When used as a basic phone it shows a virtual version of simple call and text interface which makes it very easy to use and is a relief as many smart phones don’t actually work very well as telephones. After that I set up the integration with the corporate mail and desktop systems and this is where it came into its own as a business phone. In common with many organisations we run a largely Microsoft based desktop and whereas Android and Apple phones will integrate with this kind of office back-end after a fashion, the Windows phone is integrated with it. After typing in the name of the exchange server everything else instantly (and very quickly) fell into place.

There are a few other goodies on the phone – a pretty decent sat-nav system which saves on providing separate units for those that need them; integration to the likes of Facebook and Amazon; also the usual camera and a reasonably extensive app store. It does what it is supposed to do and does it in a seamless and stress free manner. An additional feature is that they can easily be used as a modem for laptops or other mobile devices. Having looked at the feedback from my colleagues, most of them seem to be equally happy – including most of the willy-waving iPhone fanatics. I’ve even bought a leather case for mine; the phone has the standard Nokia air of indestructability about it but I know I am the kind of klutz that could break a Tonka toy so the £2 for the case from Amazon seems like a reasonable investment on my behalf. The other key thing is that the phone seems to last for a reasonable amount of time on standby: whilst it is nothing like as long as the old E71 it still managed several days’ worth without having to worry the charger.

I’m wondering whether Windows phones could become more popular. At the moment they are very much a minority interest (I think market share is still below 10%) but on the basis of what I’ve seen I’d be happy with one as a personal phone and the fact that they integrate so well with Microsoft desktops and even the likes of the Xbox must give them some sort of unique selling point. I suppose the big problem is that Microsoft isn’t very fashionable and they do seem to have suffered from quite a few questionable business decisions over the last few years. I constantly complain about them even though I regularly work with them and find them by far the easiest tech firm to deal with (probably followed by the equally unfashionable HP). Microsoft do seem to be sorting their products out and I was quite impressed by their Windows 10 demo. I suppose they just need a few new toys for people to lust after.

I think the key for Microsoft is to remember their core business user base and why they still tend to be preferred in the corporate world. They recently retired the old Windows XP operating system and suffered howls of anguish from their still sizable user base. XP had been supported for 12 years which is an eternity in the technology world. This long term support suits business users down to the ground as replacing operating systems is a major logistical headache and a huge financial pain. Integrating the desktop and mobile environments and supporting them for extended periods could find them lots of friends in the business world and although I can’t imagine Microsoft being fashionable I can see them being respected and trusted.