Grant Hutchison's Blog, page 37

Braes Of The Carse: Kinnoull to Murrayshall

Kinnoull Hill (NO 136228, 222m) Deuchny Hill (NO 152236, 232m) Murrayshall Hill (NO 164253, 279m) Westhill (NO 169237, 213m) Taymount (NO 167228, 154m) Binn Hill (NO 157226, c165m) 17.2 kilometres 643m of ascent Another exploration of the Braes of the Carse, this time their extreme western end above Perth. As with my previous walk in … Continue reading Braes Of The Carse: Kinnoull to Murrayshall →

Wassail

ˈwɒs(ə)l / ˈwæs(ə)l / ˈwɒseɪl / ˈwæseɪl wassail: a salutation spoken when presenting a cup of wine or drinking to another’s health; the wine drunk on such an occasion; the custom of drinking wine in this way on special occasions; a carousal or celebration; a song sung during such a carousal or celebration; to celebrate … Continue reading Wassail →

Airfix 1/24 Wallis WA-116 Agile Autogyro: “Little Nellie”

This kit was first released fifty years ago. It’s a model of a real aircraft, the Wallis WA-116 Agile autogyro, designed by Ken Wallis and built in extremely limited numbers (five!) in 1962. It achieved fame because one aircraft, G-ARZB, was kitted out with some splendid yellow-and-silver livery and simulated weapons for the 1967 James … Continue reading Airfix 1/24 Wallis WA-116 Agile Autogyro: “Little Nellie” →

Walk The Line: Three Travel Books About Lines Of Latitude

Before a journey a map is an impersonal menu; afterwards, it is intimate as a diary. Thurston Clarke, Equator: An Epic Journey (1988) It’s a rare sub-genre of travel writing, the business of following a line of latitude and seeing where it takes you. Over the years I’ve put together a trio of such books, … Continue reading Walk The Line: Three Travel Books About Lines Of Latitude →

How To Model Rotating Propeller Discs

There are a couple of things I hate about “in-flight” models of piston-engine aircraft. One is when the aircraft appear to be flying without a pilot; the other is a stationary propeller. Modellers have a couple of ways of dealing with this second problem. One is to simply remove the propeller blades, leaving only the … Continue reading How To Model Rotating Propeller Discs →

Nosthedony

nɒstˈhiːdəneɪ nosthedony: The pleasure to be gained from examining old objects Many of the [museum’s] objects touched me with nosthedony—the pleasure of returning to the past. For in many of the items I saw reflected a time when human life was different, perhaps less secure, certainly less austere. Brian Aldiss “Appearance of Life” (1976) Like … Continue reading Nosthedony →

Brian Aldiss: The Helliconia Trilogy

This I tell you all. Some disaster happened in the past, in the long past. So complete was it that no one can explain to you what it was or how it came about. We know only that it brought darkness and cold. You try to live the best you can. Good, good, live well, … Continue reading Brian Aldiss: The Helliconia Trilogy →

Cheeky … [Update]

I recently reported how a publisher had used a quote from a book review on this blog on the book’s Amazon pages. But the quote contained an ellipsis that omitted 350 words and four paragraphs, significantly altering the sense of what I’d originally written. The original post is here. Well, I contacted Amazon to report … Continue reading Cheeky … [Update] →

North Coast Circuit

We took a trip around the north coast recently. Although we know the mountainous north-west corner of Scotland well, the Flow Country of the north-east was unknown to us. Our trip effectively began in Dornoch, where I had the single worst meal I’ve had in Europe this century—and I include meals that have actually poisoned … Continue reading North Coast Circuit →

Cheeky …

Back in the 1960s, I occasionally used to get access to a copy of Mad magazine. As a simple Dundonian lad I found a lot of it impenetrably American at the time, but I do remember being amused by a feature that purportedly gave examples of how publishers got the quotes for their book covers. … Continue reading Cheeky … →