A Son of the Rock

Apart from Edinburgh, Alfred Buckham also photographed from the air other British cities and landmarks.

Durham:-

Lincoln:-

Oxford:-

Forth Bridge:-

Windsor Castle:-

His work is also a chronicle of early aviation (see R101 and R100 in the link above.)

This one’s a Fairey Napier in flight:-

Buckham’s Camera. It was specially constructed to be easier to use than ground based ones:-

A Journey to the Heart of Scottish Golf. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2006, 289 p, including i p Acknowledgements and Thanks and ii p Contents.

This project was undertaken after Greig’s surgery for a serious condition involving pressure on his brain, surgery from which recovery was by no means guaranteed. Thankfully his brain and other functions remained unscathed but it prompted a look back on his life and the golfing experiences of his youth. His father had introduced him and his two brothers to the game when they lived in Anstruther and he had become proficient enough to be asked to represent his county in youth tournaments but he drifted away from the game quite early.

The book is divided into eighteen sections (naturally) each reflecting an outing to a particular course or courses and each with its own addendum musing on the nature of life and golf, especially as related to Scotland and the Scots. All are tinged with Greig’s customary humaneness.

The courses range from South Ronaldsay, whose greenkeeping is entrusted to the local sheep – a feature which leads to its own all but unique hazards which the sheep leave behind them – to Anstruther, St Andrews, Bathgate, North Berwick, Gigha and even Iona, among others.

Greig says about his Dad and his golfing cronies, “They share a very Scottish sense that good fortune must come with a penalty.”

An attitude which has rubbed off. After being congratulated on a good shot by a woman called Joan (who came from the US) Greig replied, “‘It doesn’t happen often,’” only to be asked ‘Have you never heard of positive thinking?’

“‘Sure,’ I laughed. ‘In Scotland we call it kidding yourself!’

‘I call it unhelpful pessimism.’

‘We call it realism.’”

Of that quintessentially Scottish weather phenomenon he elaborates, “Dreich is our word for it. Our climate has made the word necessary, and its persistent, clinging gloom accounts for a lot of the Scottish mindset.”

Apropos his round at Bathgate – a much spruced up course from the one Greig remembered and a development he does not quite approve – he quotes playing partner Alastair McLeish, “‘Aye, Scottish Protestants,’ Al remarked after struggling himself in the opening holes. ‘We’re perfectly able to torture ourselves without any assistance.’”

The course on Gigha invoked in Greig thoughts which are an enduring theme of Scottish literature, a sense of important things lost. “The sorrow and loss are part of the beauty, but that doesn’t make them good. One of the reasons I’ve never lived in the West, despite it being part of what I must call my soul, is it’s too damn sad.”

In the end golf can be seen – like most sports – as some sort of metaphor for life. “Mostly golf is about self-inflicted suffering, self-knowledge and hard-won (precious because hard-won) joy. Who but the Scots could evolve a game that offers such opportunities for humiliation and failure, and no-one but oneself to blame for it? And such transcendent moments?”

Pedant’s corner:- “but there no witnesses” (but there were no witnesses,) “the unspoken immanence of death wasn’t terrifying” (immanence does make a kind of sense; but imminence seems more to the point,) “boys and girls getting up to good in the open privacy of the this coastal strip” (of this coastal strip.) “Princes Sreet Gardens” (Princes |Street Gardens,) “before dying in Iona” (on Iona,) “Forres’ first tee” (Forres’s.) “”I wiled away my last Dollar hours” (whiled away,) “more like one those summer evenings” (one of those summer evenings.)

Staircase:-

The Delavals used to give wild parties where they would wear perukes like ths one:-

Apparently they put those who had overindulged too much into this room so that they would be confused when they woke up:-

Bed:-

Games table:-

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 28/3/26.

In the first half this was just like earlier in the season. We were awful.

Plus we were totally unable to cope with the wind being against us. We were also utterly disorganised at the back. That can be attributed to Ali Omar being away on international duty with Somalia and general lack of familiarity with playing in a back three. Alexander Smith was missed in midfield too – he was away with Scotland’s Under 17s.

The officials were woeful. The stand side linesman’s first contribution was to flag for a Forfar offside from a throw-in. Do they not even know the rules these days. The ref had to give a dropped ball when they finally twigged. Yet again we had a ref continually being conned by our opposition’s players making a meal of any challenges.

Their first goal was a penalty given when the ball hit Mark Durnan’s arm – which to my mind was in a natural position.* Their second was the result of a poor defensive mix-up.

The second half was a different proposition. Jack Duncan had come up front on for Kai Kirkpatrick in midfield. (Kai was apparently showing signs of concussion at half-time.) The switch meant a change in shape but what the new one was  – apart from Kristian Webster being pushed into midfield – was difficult to discern. However we were certainly more comfortable with the wind than against it.

After a few missed opportunities we finally got on the score sheet when Leighton McIntosh surged onto a through ball with the Forfar defence waitng for an offside against someone else. Leighton squeezed the ball past the keeper but it felt like it took an age to cross the line.

Our tails were up now though and after good work by Jack Duncan the ball was channelled to Adam Livingstone whose cross/shot was diverted into the net by Scott Honeyman.

What had looked to be a deflating afternoon turned out to be not much damage done.

We’re now ten points ahead of Edinburgh City with only fifteen left up for grabs.

But no chickens are being counted at Son of the Rock Acres.

*Having seen the highlights his arm may have been a bit extended but the ball was played from very close to him.

More from the Alfred Buckham exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

I just love photos of Great War era battleships. This is USS Wyoming with the Forth Bridge behind. Buckham added colour to this by hand:-

Christ Statue, Rio de Janeiro. Buckham enhanced the photo to highlight the figure:-

Botafogo Bay:-

Buenos Aires City Hall:-

Teotihuacan Pyramids:-

Pre-Inca irrigation ditches, Peru:-

Caldera of Popocatépetl:-

The Alan Price Set was the band Price formed after he left The Animals. This wasn’t their first hit – that was the Randy Newman song Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear* – but it was the first which Price wrote.

The Alan Price Set: The House That Jack Built

*Edited to add: I just remembered The Alan Price Set released I Put a Spell on You and Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo which were both hits before Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear.

Last week we went to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to catch the exhibition Alfred Buckham, Daredevil Photographer. It’s fantastic. The images are breathtaking.

You’ll need to be quick to see it, though. It’s only on till 19th April.

Buckham’s career started in the RFC (later the RAF) in the Great War. He took his photographs from an open cockpit, leaning out of the aircraft with his leg strapped to the seat as his only safety concession. After the war he began taking photographs of British scenes, images which lent a new perspective to otherwise familar places. He later made a trip to South America.

One of his most famous pictures is of Edinburgh. Unfortunately my photo is marred by the reflection of a blue light:-

This is not simply photography. It’s Art. His final images were carefully created by layering of negatives. Hre are the three he combined for that Edinburgh shot. Again, sorry for the blue lines:-

This is the original Edinburgh photo unenhanced. Not anything like as dramatic:-

I’m a sucker for airships so these photos of R101 and R100 delighted me:-

The main room as you enter Seaton Delaval Hall has no ceiling having been devastated by a fire . Neither has the floor above  and you can see right up to the roof:-

The room itself was once grand, as can be observed from the statues in niches on the walls:-

And the fireplace:-

This spherical steel ball was hanging from the ceiling:-

The Delavals made most of their money from local coal deposits and this table displays that material under glass:-

The family’s maritime heritage is commemorated by this anchor:-

Plus this ship in a bottle:-

Seaton Delaval Hall is a stately home in Northumberland near the village of Seaton Sluice. It was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for Admiral George Delaval in 1718 and is now owned by the National Trust.

The Hall:-

Side view:-

Courtyard:-

Entrance:-

Paintings of the historical Hall:-

Model of Hall frontage:-

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 21/3/26.

Another welcome win: three on the bounce at home now. But we weren’t quite as fluid as against Spartans two weeks before.

The first half was largely forgettable with us playing too many hopeful long balls always liable to be gobble dup by Annan’s back line and Annan themselves pretty toothless. They dived at every opportunity and moaned a lot at the ref and lino. I find those sorts of things a difficult watch. They weren’t the only mysterious decisions they made either.

There was really nothing to speak about in the way of goal efforts apart from their keeper making a brilliant save from Michael Doyle’s close range volley from a great Alexander Smith cross.

It looked as if things might peter out as a 0-0 draw till we suddenly scored. Scott Honeyman went through one-on-one with the keeper whose save squirmed away from him and Scott managed to poke the loose ball home despite the attentions of a defender.

Then a corner resulted in Leighton McIntosh drilling the ball in for the second.

We could have done with another to make sure of the three points but we began to sit back and let them dominate possession. This was made worse by manager Frank McKeown’s substitutions. Ryan Blair coming on for Honeyman on 75 minutes and proceeding to do very little before Jack Duncan and Ally Roy replaced front two McIntosh and Scott Tomlinson late on which immediately reduced our threat. Smith and Doyle were hooked for Tony Wallace and Gordon Walker on the verge of added time. This disrupted our organisation even further and most likely contributed to Annan’s late goal. Thankfully too late to give them much hope of an equaliser, but it was unneccessary.

Home again next week but without two players away on International duty. Not something a Sons fan can say often. Ali Omar is off to play for Somalia in an Afcon qualifier while Alexander Smith is with Scotland’s under 19s.