Posted in Trips, War Memorials at 12:00 on 10 May 2026
Kingussie War Memorial with Indian Memorial to left:-
The memorial is a celtic cross on a tapering pillar atop a square base:-
Dedication:-
Great War names:-
Second World War names:-
Nearby Memorial Bench to Great War dead:-
Posted in War Memorials at 12:00 on 9 May 2026
From Blair Atholl we continued north up the A 9 and took a slight detour into Kingussie.
In a green area to the east of the road through the town lie two War Memorials.
The first I came across was unusual, being particular to Kingussie.
Built of stone it is a memorial to the dead of Force K6, the Indian Contingent, Royal Indian Army Service Corps 14 of whom are buried in Scotland, nine of them in Kingussie Cemetery.
Side view:-
Information board on the Indian Contingent:-
Information board about the Indian army which was the biggest volunteer Army ever recruited, over 2.5 million men:-
Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 12:00 on 8 May 2026
One from South African singer songwriter John Kongos. It was a no 4 in 1971.
Kongos’s other hit He’s Gonna Step On You Again was famously covered by The Happy Mondays as Step On. They also covered this one but didn’t release it as a single.
John Kongos: Tokoloshe Man
Edited to add: I meant to say a Tokoloshe is a malevolent spirit in Bantu folklore.
Posted in War Memorials at 12:00 on 7 May 2026
In the way north from Killiecrankie we passed through Blair Atholl and I spotted its War Memorial.
Of course I stopped to photograph it.
A Stone of Remebrance inscribed 1914 – 1918, with memorial plaques on a wall behind:-
Great War Names:-
Second World War Names:-
Posted in History, Trips at 12:00 on 6 May 2026
In the first Jacobite Rebellion (in 1689) a battle took place at the Pass of Killiecrankie.
I had always meant to visit the site but somehow never had until April last year, despite it being only three miles from Pitlochry which we have visited many times.
The Pass is a very tight space between two steep hills on either side of the River Garry. Not an obvious spot for a battle.
The government forces were advancing from the south to remove the Jacobite presence from Blair Castle just to the north and were attacked from the hills by the Jacobites under the command of John Graham of Claverhouse (aka ‘Bonnie Dundee’) scourge of the Covenanters by whom he was later dubbed ‘Bluidy Clavers’.
Such was the lack of space in the Pass the government troops could only line up three deep, firing up the hill.
The Jacobites were victorious but Dundee was killed by a musket ball. With his death the Jacobites lost their militarily talented leader and the rebellion petered out soon after.
In the government soldiers’ retreat one of them was forced to make a desperate jump acros the river to escape capture (or worse.) A path leads down from the Killiecrankie Visitor Centre to the site of the leap.
Soldier’s Leap:-
Video:-
Posted in Bridges, Scenery at 12:00 on 5 May 2026
Pitlochry Festival Theatre from across River Tummel:-
Footbridge just to south of above:-
Approach to footbridge:-
Footway:-
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, River Tummel, Pitlochry Dam, (theatre to left background):-
River Tummel with Pitlochry Dam in distance:-
Posted in Art at 12:00 on 4 May 2026
I noted that the book Kings of Space by Capt W E Johns which I reviewed last week had some colour illustrations. These were credited to an artist named only as Stead.
Here are four of them.
The Solar System:-
The Spacemaster takes off:-
Spacemaster in flight:-
The Moon:-
Posted in Dumbarton at 12:00 on 3 May 2026
SPFL Tier 4, Meadowbank Stadium, 2/5/26.
Oh dear. What a way to end the season. We simply weren’t at the races.
Mind you that’s the way it’s been for much of the past ten months.
We made Edinburgh City – bottom of the table and who hadn’t even scored a goal for two months – look like Real Madrid.
If you were charitable you could say it was an illustration of the reason for the change to ten-team divisions in 1994. Before that there were many so-called ‘end of season’ games (ie dead rubbers) where neither side had much to play for towards the end of the season.
But I’m not in the mood to be charitable.
We were just awful. They waltzed through us at will. And Brett Long in goal, while he made a few saves, didn’t cover himself in glory for two of the goals.
Mind you, the ref killed the game when he showed Kai Kirkpatrick a straight red for a late challenge at 1-0. There was no malice in it, and no force.* Any chance we might have had vanished at that point; especially when they scored their second a minute or so later. That’s two reds for Kai in successive games he’s played in. Maybe he’s got himself a reputation. Or maybe the ref just wanted to show himself off.
City have won ten games all season. Four of them were against us. That’s 40% of their wins. (To put it in perspective, we only won ten as well but we didn’t beat anyone four times.)
I’m not overly encouraged that manager Frank McKeown is the right man for the job. It was noticeable that most of the exhortation coming from our bench area (curiously audible in a way such shouts aren’t at the Rock) was tantamount to abuse. And he made some very odd substitutions yesterday; not for the first time.
He now needs to make good signings who are considerable upgrades on most of what we had here – and improve his tactical nous.
But I fear it could be another long, hard season.
*Edited to add: I’ve now seen City’s highlight footage and Kirkpatrick’s foot was high: higher than I remembered seeing it in real time. The red card was fair enough.
Posted in Art Deco, Seaside Scenes at 12:00 on 2 May 2026
Posted in 1960s, Events dear boy. Events, Friday On My Mind at 12:00 on 1 May 2026
Nedra Talley of the Ronettes has gone.
This is unseasonal I know but I’ve already featured the group’s two biggest UK hits, here and here. Taken from Phil Spector’s Christmas Album – actually named A Christmas Gift to You from Philles Records and the less said about Spector the better – it’s also one of The Ronettes better known songs and was their third biggest, no 15 in 1963.
The Ronettes: Sleigh Ride
Nedra Yvonne Talley (Ross): 27/1/1946 – 26/4/2026. So it goes.
