A Son of the Rock

Eddie Thompson Stand with Jerry Kerr Stand to right:-

George Fox Stand:-

West Stand:-

Main Stand, (Jim McLean Fair Play Stand?):-

Polygon, 2015, 299 p

In a near future authoritarian Britain surveilled by CivCon, Carl Shewan is an investigative journalist for a news organisation on its last legs. On a tip-off from his friend Howard Brindley he makes his way from Glasgow through several checkpoints to the north-west coast town of Inverlair. While he is there, a system known as SCOPE – short for Secure Communications Open Emergency – to be used for asset management and communications coverage in a national crisis but in reality designed to track and control people, is switched on. The people of the town find themselves cut off from the rest of the world which may well no longer exist in any meaningful sense as Howard believes an imperfection in the SCOPE protocol caused a standing harmonic in the same range as deep sleep. Anyone in its range has been put to sleep, not to wake up until the system fails, which may not be for years or even decades. Inverlair lies in a pocket outside the transmitters’ ranges and is cocooned in what the inhabitants come to call the redzone. When they approach its boundaries they experience a buzzing in their heads, and piercing headaches too painful to endure, so back away. The novel deals with the consequences of this isolation for the inhabitants – including Carl’s impending fatherhood which was occasioned by a mutual act of comfort he and Simone, Inverlair’s hotelier’s daughter, indulged in when the town’s plight became apparent.

The book is structured in seven sections relating to different months of the fateful year, not chronologically but more artfully in the order October, July, November, August, December, January-April, with the last section titled New Life.

As the old certainties break down new arrangements come into force. A town committee is formed to allocate food and resources according to relevant contributions, actual or potential. Social norms pertaining to legal observances become undermined. With the older incumbent no longer having access to his medication, Carl is taken on somewhat unwillingly as a trainee in the stalking, killing and gralloching of deer.

Despite its premise the book is more concerned with the dynamics of personal relationships than the working out of the technological quandary its characters inhabit. In this it more resembles a mainstream novel rather than a work of traditional Science Fiction. It is in effect a novel in the wider Scottish literary heritage of the small town tale and an exemplar of Scottish fiction in its vivid descriptions of landscape. And in that it is very good indeed.

Pedant’s corner:- telecoms (usually telecoms,) “‘He gestured towards vaguely towards the window” (remove one “towards”,) nosey (nosy,) sprung (sprang,) spinal chord (cord.) “‘One their way out’” (On,) “this time there had been no one eye in the sky” (doesn’t need the “one”.) “The committee had stepped into the breach and were now” (the committee was now; several instances of the committee were.) “There were a variety of responses” (there was a variety.) “There was no reason he couldn’t live like this way for years” (either, “There was no reason he couldn’t live like this for years”, or, “There was no reason he couldn’t live this way

So farewell then, Arsène.

It’s definitely the end of an era. I doubt anyone in the future will ever come close to spending over twenty years as manager of the one club.

You probably hung on two or three years too long but you did give Arsenal their Invincibles and changed the face of English football

Yet I do wonder if, in a year or so’s time, Arsenal fans will be thinking that they should have been careful what they wished for.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 21/4/18.

Well. We scored twice. That’s an improvement.

But we lost five. Which isn’t. Not at home.

Since entering this division our games against Falkirk have generally been tight (October 25^th 2015 and December 20^th 2014 notwithstanding.) Today obviously wasn’t.

It’s not looking good heading into the play-offs.

Tannadice Park is the home of Dundee United F C.

The ground sits between Tannadice and Sandeman Streets.

Main Stand from Tannadice Street (west):-

George Fox and Jim Mclean Fair Play Stands with west stand (lower in profile) between them. From Sandeman Street:-

The George Fox Stand from west:-

The George Fox Stand from east with Eddie Thompson Stand to left:-

Eddie Thompson Stand (and side of George Fox Stand,) from Arklay Street:-

Stadium from Tannadice Street east. Jerry Kerr Stand. Dens Park* in background. Art Deco roofline on Superstore and Ticket Centre to left:-

Jerry Kerr and Eddie Thompson Stands:-

Dens Park from Tannadice Park:-

*The two stadiums are the closest grounds to each other in senior British football. See some of my photos of Dens Park here.

For some reason a lot of my posts in this category so far seem to come from 1990. This is The Farm’s first big hit. I have previously posted their biggest, All Together Now, in another context.

What could this picture possibly be? Fingerprints? Abstract Art?

It’s actually sand dunes on Mars catching low-angled sunlight.

From Astronomy Picture of the Day for 14/4/2018.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 18/4/18.

Well the game made no material difference since Tuesday night’s result at St Mirren meant we couldn’t avoid ninth but it’s still disappointing that Dumbarton nil struck again.

Not encouraging for the last two league games and the play-offs.

And we started with a few players who have mostly been on the bench in the recent past and so shouldn’t have been too tired.

Gloom abounds.

Even if by some miracle we manage to stay up, next season is going to be a bigger struggle.

(I suspect that it’ll also be a struggle if we go down.)

Bloodaxe, 2011, 62 p

One of the best authors I have discovered since starting the blog, Andrew Greig, started out as a poet. His first publications were books of poetry and then in amongst those he took to writing prose about another of his interests, climbing. He only took up novel writing after twenty years or so. He has also written a book about golf, another on fishing and the Scottish landscape, and, with Mike Heron, one about The Incredible String Band.

I thought I should sample his poetry, hence reading this, one of his most recent collections of poems.

The slim volume (nearly all poetry books are slim) is divided into three sections, Home for Now, The Light of Day and A Moment’s Liberty. The first poem, The Tidal Pools of Fife, is a lament for those lost pleasure grounds and there are five other poems set explicitly in Fife. More than a few deal with marriage – in especial A Long Shot compares the incredulous certainty of holing a putt as it moves across the green with the equally chancy outcome of being in the estate of matrimony. All are thoughtful and illuminating. But they need to be read, not written about.

Pedant’s corner:- In the contents page a poem is titled Eck Hutcheson but on page 20 is Eck Hutchinson (and twice in the poem itself,) “the fruit … are so nearly ripe” (the fruit is so nearly ripe,) “How could I live so long ……. and somehow failed to grasp” (and somehow fail to grasp,) “the crowd stream” (the crowd streams,) “her eyes propels the bird” (propel?) “above the river ,” (no space between river and comma.)

On the wall of the cafe at The Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy:-

I like the rustling comment.

The other notice is less unusual:-

Pedant’s corner:- I note independant above (independent.)