The Shore Festival

BearCast.

He’s being a bit demanding today. I’ve been a bit down in the dumps recently, and he has been hugely supportive (which normally involves him sitting on my head and sticking his tongue in my ear),

But he needs a long walk. I’m working on it…

Crack on…

Having done a stage at Bowmore Single Malt Whisky under the tutelage of Big Jim McEwan and been turned down for a full time gig because I wasn’t an Iloch, I understand, but I have turned the tap on the first cut, making something that wouldn’t see the light of day for a decade at least, I’ve wantched porpoises sounding off Jura from the Caol Ila still room and crawled across boards to look at Ardbeg’s stills when they were mothballed, before the distillery became the peat belching behemoth it is today.

Bessie W was the first woman to own a distillery, but my mate Ruth Morris was the first woman to ever work in the still room of an Islay Distillery.

“Where’s Mrs Morris today? “She’s in the Still Room with Davie.”

“Ach, he’ll be like a dog with two dicks…”

While many whisky lovers would love to end up with a distillery job while on holiday on Islay, that wasn't the plan for Bessie Williamson when she took a temporary shorthand typist job at Laphroaig distillery. She would eventually become manager, company chairman and a shareholder before ultimately becoming the the first woman in the 20th century to own a distillery. The story: smws.io/343556

My work here is done…

Tiffany’s. All sticky carpets, watered down drinks and girls you definitely shouldn’t go out with. Happy days.

St. Stephen Street in 1980 compared to today

PaininthearseCast:

Bear has been a total nightmare recently.

I’m know I’m not well, and that dogs are capable of smelling illness in their humans (cancer especially),
but I’ve been scanned from top to bottom, including X-rays that involve radioactive porridge- definitely not the subject of a food review anytime soon - and this ain’t that.

Still, he’s behaving very oddly.

All up in my face and failing to listen to instructions.

I rounded the corner this afternoon to find him
dry hu***ng a perfectly innocuous lab. Very unlike him.

I’m loath to keep him on a lead, free range being his and my preference, but if the little bu**er carries on like this, I may have to take steps…

Still, butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, he thinks.

A friend saw some pictures of Island Macaskin and suggested I open a pub (shebeen?) at the bungalow (don’t worry, fam - ain’t going to happen - but given that it’s usually well stocked and there is no law against drinking and sailing, I did start to wonder.

Include a simple evening meal, ”Sui ant mon humour”.

Offer free dinghy rides to and from boats moored locally.

Invite local musicians to perform. Free food, but they buy their own drinks (I’ve had experience of how much they can pack away).

B&B available.

All I would need is a name. Given Bear would be a full partner and concierge, any suggestions?

Arf!

Got to love the lyrics. Garvey at his most savage…

Charge Elbow · Song · 2014

Spring has sprung here. So, apparently, has the Springer…

I got sent flowers!

Thank you, Susan Jenkin 🥰. Brightened my day xx

Tomcast - update.

They are keeping me in hospital tonight for observation pending a discussion with the Gastrointestinal team tomorrow to decide next steps.

Almost certainly an operation, just got to organise my recuperation depending on timings.

I probably shouldn’t complain too much. The first bad review I wrote of a restaurant only resulted in a bin full of kitchen waste dumped on my doorstep.

Why I write under a pseudonym these days…

German ballet director ‘smeared dog faeces on critic’s face’ after bad review Marco Goecke allegedly confronted Wiebke Hüster at Hanover State Opera, furious at her verdict on a previous show

Quebec now seems doomed to a perpetual winter. RIP, Fred…

Canadian groundhog Fred la Marmotte found dead before planned prediction Status of spring undetermined in northern Quebec after rodent prognosticator discovered dead in burrow during festivities

I’m going to take a couple of days away from Facebook and online stuff. I’m getting a bit too much in my head, it seems, so fresh air and long walks with Bear might be in order.

If anyone wants to join us, we’d be delighted…

Ginuary.

I like the concept…

At least the dark days bring us Ginuary to see us through to the light ☀️ How are you celebrating the glorious spirit this month?🍸

This terrifies me.

I am trying to get some health issues of my own fixed. I’m patient, having been a partner to a Scottish GP, who used to come home, completely fried and radioactive as a result of battling the odds in one of Edinburgh’s more complex medical practices. But as she said “I’d rather be useful than just minister to the worried well of Morningside.”

So her day was spent trying to help people with complex issues, from bad nutrition to drug/alcohol problems, plus all the rest of the things that go with living at a subsistence level.

12 hours a day. Her day started too early and finished too late. A couple of hours after she should have clocked off, she was still battling with the appalling outdated NHS IT system so she could make referrals, update patient records in order that people might get the help they needed.

Also famous for prescribing fewer pills than anyone else in the practice “No pill is better than ten minutes listening, assuming you have a large box of tissues handy” as she put it.

The Health System is crumbling, along with most of the rest of our social infrastructure. The people that we expect to fix things when it all goes sideways, as well as those who move us from place have had enough of pay rises that don’t reflect the increased cost of living, let alone the fact that Liz Truss and Kwasi Koateng managed to wreck the entire economy overnight, based on a sort of Ayn Rand, survival of the fittest philosophy. Which went well, obviously.

There is a solution. Pay public servants more, possibly consider paying politicians less. Not exactly as if there aren’t exactly enough people queuing up for the job.

Not even going anywhere where the fact that I started businesses, trained people for a career, paid my taxes and got completely stuffed twice, once by a global financial crisis, which ruined my restaurant business. If you’re queuing up to get your life savings out of Northern Rock, you’re probably not planning on dinner out soon. The pandemic stuffed my catering business, obviously. No real Government support for an industry that employs 25% of the UK workforce.

My brother made an astonishingly well paid career out of selling the sort of things that help people kill other people, thanks to us funding the MOD.

Me, I just made some wine and cooked dinner for nice people.

It’s beyond dreadful. We’re now running A&E out in the corridor and waiting room | The Secret A&E Doctor The intense pressure on the NHS in recent weeks has left hospitals unable to cope, patients at risk and staff in despair

Affordable but tasty: bread crumbs and anchovies 😋❤️

Love a good bit of 90s trip hop, me…

Again Archive · Song · 2002

Why not, Valeka Lambe?

Correct.

Sometimes the best spuntino is pane and olive oil, with a pinch of salt 😍🇮🇹

This is a complicated question. One of the reasons that the Whisky industry uses American oak is cost. Bourbon requires new oak casks, highly charred. Useless for more than one season. Dems de rules, apparently.

American oak is different to European oak. Quercis Alba, rather than Quercis Rubor or Quercis Patrea.

Different grain patterns, different levels of absorption. American oak has a looser grain, which allows for higher absorption of vanillins and the prized coconut flavours. There’s also something called beta-methyl-gamma-octalactone (but let’s not get too technical), which also adds to the mix.

Making good whisky is more of an art than a science. The science is making the “wort”. The science of turning water, yeast and barley into money. The better the barley, the higher the resulting alcohol levels, which makes it more profitable. You get a high strength beer, which requires less energy to distill.

The Art? More complex. Whisky is distilled twice. Once in a low still, and then in a high still. The complexities of this are for another time.

But the art of a good distiller is knowing the moment. Knowing when to turn the valve on the spirit safe. To capture the “middle cut”, the stuff you want.

I’m aware that I’ve been lucky. Being allowed to turn the tap a few times. From Bowmore, via the astonishingly beautiful still room at Caol Isla and at Ardbeg, as they geared up again after years of being shuttered, I’m proud to have helped make Malt Whisky. Continuing that tradition.

If I’m honest, I’m better at making wine. Once you’ve boiled something, it’s essentially dead. The barrel ageing is good, but nothing beats the knowledge that wine continues to mature and change.

This is a wine that I kickstarted about 20 vintages ago. A collaboration between 2 wineries, a whole hemisphere apart. Similar grape varieties, different viticultural attitudes.

But it worked.

As I said, wine is a living thing. I spent nights in the winery in Argentina, propped up next to one of the tanks on a sleeping bag, listening to rumble and gurgle as the grapes fermented. Half asleep, but with an ear open, attuned to any change in the rhythm.

Nights not wasted…

Masi Tupongato. Produced in small quantities, but The Wee Wine Shop in Oban carries it.

Although American oak is by far the most used material for the coopering of casks in the industry, that hasn’t always been the case. What is the role of European oak today? And what difference does it make to a whisky’s flavour? Dive into our cask of the month feature to find out: smws.io/6d5f2f

Good. Any comment Ben McPherson, Deirdre McBrock?

In this year’s we are focusing on the following priorities:

🔵Eradicating child poverty
🔵Strengthening sustainable public services
🔵Moving towards a net zero economy

Find out more at bit.ly/SGBudget-2023

Act 3. Writing, learning an instrument, organising a festival. Finding a new partner. You know, the fun stuff…

🤔 📝

Useful knowledge. Off to change the settings. It actually only takes 20 seconds.

One other bit of useful info: put all of your radiators on to the lowest setting (marked *) apart from the living room. This will also save money and keep every other room from freezing up. You don’t need to heat your bedrooms much. That’s what duvets and an extra bedspread or two are for.

Or in my case a Springer Spaniel.

📢 Message from the Office of Ben Macpherson MSP 📢

Do you have a combi boiler? The average household could save around £112 per year by making one single change to their boiler settings.

Many combi boilers in the UK burn more gas, generate more carbon emissions and cost more in energy bills than they need to. By adjusting their boiler flow temperature to 60 degrees or less, the average household will save around £112 off their bill each year.

It takes just five minutes to adjust your boiler flow. Go to Nesta’s free, simple online tool to find out how: www.moneysavingboilerchallenge.com

Had a nice moment with Willow Boutique on Saturday, browsing for Christmas present ideas. I asked, on entering, if they were dog friendly. They replied positively, so I introduced them to Bear, who is, as we know, human friendly. If Canis Familiaris is the Latin term for dog, then he is Canis Overfamiliaris…

Nice things and a welcome glass of fizz. Having lived in and around Stockbridge for a number of years, I was astonished to discover that they had been in business for 6 years and I hadn’t noticed.

If you have children or a female partner, check them out. Lots of good stocking fillers and some very nice scarves.They even have make your own artisan gin kits - just add vodka. I’m not sure how that works. Took me a year to learn how to make gin, and much longer how to make Malt Whisky, but it sounds fun…

Really hope you can join us!❤️

www.willowboutique1.co.uk

I might disagree politely with this.

I agree that you shouldn’t look at others to affirm your actions.

But I don’t agree that you should stay in your lane. Too many ruts, which lead to thinking the same as everyone else.

Think for yourself. I work on a simple principle. If I’m ever told to do something, my first question is “Why?” Why do you do it this way?

If your insights aren’t appreciated, find somewhere else where they are.

Never stay in your lane. That way lies a career in an office, under fluorescent lights, with only a lousy pension to look forward to.

Women in Business | International Women in Business Network Women in Business Network - Join the international community for women in business today. We empower female entrepreneurs to build successful businesses.

A reasonable assessment of the situation from Simon Jenkin, that most English of journalists.

I’m not a fan of devolution, per se. Much like Brexit, it seems to be cutting one’s nose off to spite your face. And that’s gone well, obviously.

But like Swiss style realignment of trading/free movement etc, it does make sense.

One demand though. Dumping GMT in favour of a permanent move to BST. I’m bloody sick of sunset at 4 pm…

Dear PM, if Scots want closer links with Europe, why not? Let’s have a Scottish protocol | Simon Jenkins Rishi Sunak has gloated at the supreme court’s rebuff to Nicola Sturgeon. He’d be better off fashioning a proper devolution deal, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins