Merchiston Publishing, 2013, 235 p, plus i p Acknowledgements, iii p iv p Introduction by Yvonne mcCleery, iii p Afterword by Alistair McCleery, ii p About the author, ii p Discussion Questions. First published 1919.

This novel is set on the Home Front during the Great War. David Grant has been invalided out of the Army and has returned home to Castlerig near Edinburgh to convalesce and build himself up. His path crosses with that of the Sutherland sisters, Effie, Nannie, Marion and Jullie.

Marion is unobtrusive and divides men into Bounders (too objectionable,) Selfish Lumps (too absorbed in their conversation to thank you when you passed them tea,) Silly Asses (attempting either to be funny or, worse, sentimental,) Nice Boys (foolish beyond expression) and Dear Old Things (usually friends of Uncle Alexander.) Only her brother Pat was an exception and she realises David Grant too doesn’t fit any of the bills.

Nothing very out of the ordinary occurs in the book: it is a quiet examination of ordinary lives carried on in uncommon circumstances. As soon as David encounters Marion it is obvious where the story will lead but there are complications along the way. “There is nothing more bitter than to have the sweetness of a friendship turned sour by a few interfering words, or the jests of thoughtless outsiders.” However, David’s early thought that “Life is a thing too glorious to be enjoyed” is not borne out except in the circumstances of Nannie’s fiancé’s death in the war and her subsequent attempt to find solace via spiritualism.

This sits somewhat at odds with David’s musings on “the artistic temperament” which he conceives “is a real and wonderful thing; nothing less than the power to understand and love the eternal beauty of the world.” Of course, it is; but the eternal beauty of the world can be an elusive thing to grasp.

The blurb describes Orr as a true hidden gem on the Scottish literary scene. Hidden certainly. I had never heard of her until a recent (though well pre-lockdown) visit to the Scottish Writers’ Museum in Edinburgh; an institution dedicated mainly to Burns, Scott and Stevenson but on one of whose walls was a description of Orr’s career – enough to spur me on to seek her writings out. Unfortunately most are long out of print; and scarce.

Despite being set during the Great War, The Glorious Thing still has a kind of Victorian sensibility – much like the Findlater sisters’ Crossriggs, but better written, and underneath it all, with the prevalence of women in the narrative, a sense of the changes the war wrought.

Pedant’s corner:- Minnie Grant says, ‘Aren’t I swanky?’ (The Scottish form is ‘Amn’t I?) Chambers’ (Chambers’s.) “‘I wonder what be thinks of us’” (what he thinks,) a missing comma before or after a piece of direct speech (a few times,) shrunk (shrank.) “All telegrams do not bring bad news.” (Not true; some telegrams did. What Orr meant was, “Not all telegrams bring bad news,) a speech which was carried over into the next paragraph had an end quotation mark before the paragraph break, “hearts tae break and nine tae sell” (“hearts tae break and none tae sell” makes more sense,) appall (appal.)

The 1900s Town at Beamish Open Air Museum is probably the most popular attraction in the vast grounds. It was certainly crowded. The queue for the sweetshop spilled outside onto the pavement. (We did queue up though.)

This old car was in the 1900s Town Garage which is described as a Stables:-

In the same garage there was a very unusual delivery bike. I assume it’s called a Penny-four-farthings:-

The “town” had a small park at the top of which was a War Memorial in the form of a large artillery piece:-

The dedication on the plaque reads, “This gun was placed in Redman Park as a memorial to the men who died in the war to end all wars 1914-1918. Unveiled by Lt Col R R Humphrys. (Hoodge Day MCMLXXXVIII.)” Would that be Hooge Day?

We didn’t seem to take as many photos in the town as I’d have wished. So many of the exhibits were crammed with people.

This was the bakery. Lovely windows. We would have bought something from it but the queues again were huge – even bigger than for the sweetshop.

One of the exhibits at Beamish is an old colliery and a terrace of Miner’s cottages. This photograph of the colliery complex was taken from the ring road round the museum.

A line of old prams at the bottom of a large grassed area. They were waiting to take part in a procession. See below.

Beamish holds special events throughout the year. The day we were there they had a Miners’ Gala parade.

Miner’s Banner, Gala Parade, Beamish. Gypsy caravan behind. Banner reads, “National Union of Mineworkers, Durham Area, Leasington Lodge,” and below, “Health is Strength.”

Video of Miners’ Gala Procession:-

One of the most memory provoking stops we made at Beamish was at the 1940s farm.

Farm Terrace:-

Just along the way is this pillbox made from a boiler and which was actually used by the Home Guard near Durham:-

The Art Deco style “sunburst” gate on the terrace is mirrored at the back entrance:-

Across the road from the farmhouse there was a barn which had been converted into an eatery called British Kitchen. The menu had wartime “delicacies” such as Woolton Pie, which we passed on. I had a Black Market Bacon Stottie as I recall and the good lady a vegetarian pasty. See sample menu (not exactly the one we chose from) here.

Inside the farmhouse there was an Art Deco rug:-

The farmhouse’s interior reminded me of visiting older people’s houses when I was young.

A 1930s mirror:-

And chairs:-

Horse at 1940s Farm, complete with “land girl” (and modern visitors):-

Outhouse with “Do Your Bit” slogan on old machine inside it:-

Another outhouse, with chimney:-

Car with blackout headlamps – and haywain behind:-

A luxuriating pig (destined for the Black Market Bacon?):-

Puffing Billy and train:-

Puffing Billy, old steam locomotive at 1820s wagonway, Beamish:-

Puffing Billy and carriages video:-

Video of Puffing Billy on the move:-

The Steam elephant – in engine shed at 1820s wagonway:-

Thatched Cottage:-

Thatched Cottage and steam from Puffing Billy, Pockersley Hall in background:-

Wooden structure at end of wagonway. Old winding gear?

Church and Pockersley Hall from wagonway:-

Pockersley Hall from approach road:-

Pockersley Hall and garden:-

Weathercock at the tram/bus halt for 1820s wagonway and Pockersley Hall:-

On our trip to Northeast England last year we took the opportunity to visit Beamish Open Air Museum, a place I’d always wanted to see since first I heard about it. It didn’t disappoint. It’s a wonderful nostalgia fest for those of a certain age.

I liked the transport exhibits – which are functional. Beamish occupies a large area. You could walk round it but it would take you a while.

Trams and a bus:-

More trams:-

A Porto tram (not on duty that day):-

Tram/bus stop:-

The weathervane on the stop is tram shaped:-

Railway Locomotive and Carriages:-

Dipwood Halt, A small scale railway halt:-

Turntable at Dipwood Halt:-

Winter Palace Gates. Famously “stormed” in the October Revolution of 1917. Except the film Eisenstein made of it rather overplayed things. There was very little resistance:-

Behind the gates lies a courtyard where there is one of the entrances to the Hermitage Museum:-

Queue for entry to Hermitage Museum:-

Trees in courtyard:-

Looking back to gates:-

This was the big one. I had been to St Petersburg before – when it was Leningrad, on a school cruise back in the heyday of the Soviet Union when we were shown the bullet holes on buildings’ walls still left over from the siege of the city during the Great Patriotic War (as World War 2 is called in those parts) – but my wife hadn’t, and with her interest in Russian history it was a place she had always wanted to see and was the reason we chose to go on this cruise at all.

The city straddles the River Neva (and a bit beyond) which therefore appears in many of our photographs. It is also home to some magnificent architecture, beautiful palaces from the time of the Tsars (in stark contrast to the conditions in which ordinary folk lived, sometimes ten or more to a room in pre-revolutionary days.)

The Winter Palace, St Petersburg, from across River Neva:-

The Winter Palace is part of the famous Hermitage Museum another part of which – along with a couple of ferries – is seen below:-

Other buildings on River Neva frontage-

I got a closer view of the Naval Academy:-

The Peter and Paul Fortress, lies on an island:-

Closer view seen through rainy coach windows:-

I couldn’t get far enough back to get all of this building in. In St Petersburg terms it’s fairly unremarkable:-

A gilded tower in the city centre. (Note saltire flag in blue on white – St Andrew is Russia’s patron saint as well as Scotland’s, besides other countries.)

Riverfront builidings and St Isaac’s Cathedral beyond:-

The main attraction at the National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, East Lothian is a real Concorde. It’s housed in a hangar more less all to itself.

Engines and fuselage:-

Tail (I forget now which aircraft’s front portion is in the background here):-

Mach and altitude indicators:-

External temperature and speed indicators:-

One of Concorde’s engines:-

Interior looking forward:-

Interior looking aft. It’s pretty cramped looking:-

Cockpit:-

A plaque at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune Airfield, East Lothian, commemorates the airship R34 which flew from there on 2/7/1919 to make the first crossing of the Atlantic from east to west (landing on Mineola, Long Island on 6/7/1919) and subsequently made the first double crossing by returning (to Fulham) on 13/7/1919:-

The airship’s mooring block is still in evidence:-

Information Board:-

Model of R34. Sorry about the reflectuons. he model is behind glass and not well lit:-