Happy Birthday to me.

I won’t let on how many years it has been since I was born.

When people see my date of birth I often get asked if I only get one present seeing as it’s only a day away from Christmas.

My childhood family, though, always made a point of treating birthday and Christmas as separate (as is only right and proper) – a tradition the good lady and my own children still adhere to.

Mind you, looking for a birthday card in the card shops at this time of year is a pretty forlorn pastime.

After Crathie, our way home took us through Braemar; so of course we had to stop for a look at the famous Braemar Gathering showground, home of one of the most famous Highland Games events.

Off to the side of the approach road is the Braemar Highland Games Centre along with the J S Milne Gallery:-

Attached on the other side of the J S Milne Gallery is the Kauffman Exhibition Hall and Braemar Royal Highland Society:-

Arena entrance gates:-

Looking back to entrance gates from arena:-

Stands:-

Royal Pavilion:-

Uncovered seating:-

From Astronomy Picture of the Day for 9/9/25.

A view from the International Space Station of an uncommon type of lightning called Giant Jet Lightning. This arises from thunderstorms and moves upwards into the ionosphere.

While we were having lunch in a nice cafe over the road I spotted this plaque on Dufftown’s Clock Tower, commemorating George Stephen. first President of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

Those of you who know me very well will understand why his name grabbed my attention.

I had driven past here a few times but hadn’t noticed this commemoration stone until June last year:-

Location by Riverview Drive:-

The stone marks where trees were planted at the UK’s accession to the EU in 1973:-

Stone and bench:-

In 1909 Sir Thomas Lipton, he of the tea company, organised a football tournament in Turin in thanks to the Italian Government for an honour he had been awarded. Top teams from Italy, Germany and Switzerland were invited but for some reason the invitation to a British team was given to West Auckland FC, an amateur side struggling in England’s Northern League.

I had heard of this in my youth but had forgotten about it till last June when I passed through West Auckland village in County Durham, where I stopped for a break and found this statue had been erected on the village’s green.

For, amazingly, West Auckland won the tournament, beating Switzerland’s Winterthur FC 2-0 in the final on 12/4/1909. The plaque mispells Winterthur as Winterhour.

Even more amazingly when the next tournament was played in 1911, West Auckland won it again and so got to keep the Trophy. This time they beat Juventus 6-1.

An information board at the bus stop tells the story.

Note: Renton FC have a prior claim to being the First World Football World Champions having beaten West Bromwich Albion 4-1 in 1888. Both were their domestic Cup winners at the time, the relevant national leagues not having been established yet. This was a World Championship by default as there was little football outside the UK then. Similarly, West Auckland can only really claim to have been European Champions.

The Spitkeet (see previous post) acreage is centred round a collapsed pingo, a depression formed after ice age permafrost melted. They are usually filled with water. The landscape of Friesland and parts of Groningen Province contains quite a few pingos.

Pingo and bridge:-

The bridge:-

The pingo from the bridge. The Mallemolen (see previous post, is to the left in the middle distance):-

I was curious about this insect I spotted feeding on a flower in North Berwick. I had never seen this species before.

From this photo it looks like a moth of some sort:-

Edited to add (7/8/24): I have received a comment on my flickr account telling me it’s a hummingbird hawkmoth. Thanks, Keith.

Public sculpture seems to be a feature of The Netherlands. This sculpture lay to the east of John Frost Bridge:-

Just to the northeast of the bridge this building had a model cow on its roof:-

Closer View:-

This building was very 1950s-60s in style:-

An impressive looking church in Arnhem:-

Last June we once again visited the good lady’s brother and his family in The Netherlands. They live on the outskirts of Opende, on the border of Groningen and Friesland provinces.

Imagine our surprise when we came across an outbreak of pirate iconography on our first walk into the village. This mock-up of a ship from what seemed to be items lying about a farmer’s field was our first inkling:-

In the village itself there was lots of bunting festooned on the houses and gardens. This house also has an araucaria (monkey puzzle) tree:-

As well as bunting, this house also had a flag of Groningen province on display. Many houses in The Netherlands fly their province flag:-

In the town proper the Valkery Festival seemed to be the source of the pirate theme:-

The entrance featured an inflatable octopus:-

More than a few houses had embraced the pirate theme:-