Grant Hutchison's Blog, page 39

James Blish: Cities In Flight

From the embankment of the long-abandoned Erie-Lackawanna-Pennsylvania Railroad, Chris sat silently watching the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, preparing to take off, and sucked meditatively upon the red and white clover around him. It was a first time for each of them. Chris had known since he had been a boy—he was sixteen now—that the cities … Continue reading James Blish: Cities In Flight →

CCCP 2017: Corrour

I introduced the Crow Craigies Climbing Party last year, when I described our trip to Bonar Bridge. This year took us to a cottage at Corrour, at the east end of Loch Ossian. Loch Ossian has a certain glamour to it—a remote and pretty loch that takes some effort to get to. Most people arrive … Continue reading CCCP 2017: Corrour →

Quotation Marks

The quotation mark has its origin in Europe in the centuries before printing, when documents were copied by hand. It started out as something called a diple. That word comes from Greek diplous, “double”, and a diple was, at its simplest, a line bent in half to form an arrowhead, like this: >. Diples were … Continue reading Quotation Marks →

Sidlaws: Tealing Hill to Hayston Hill

Laidloon Hill (NO 393420, 312m) Broom Hill (NO 383421, c290m) Gallow Hill (NO 391413, 378m) Tealing Hill (NO 407402, c260m) Ironside Hill (NO 399411, 354m) Finlarg Hill (NO 406419, 336m) Kincaldrum Hill (NO 414436, 309m) Hayston Hill (NO 408449, c235m) 17.7 kilometres 580m of ascent It’s distinctly possible that no-one in the entire history of … Continue reading Sidlaws: Tealing Hill to Hayston Hill →

Harris … and Lewis

Back to South Harris again this year, still enchanted by its rugged landscape and hallucinatory beaches. We caught the ferry from Uig in Skye again—always nice to travel through Skye’s mad scenery, even on a hazy day. This time we were staying in a rather swish self-catering place, perched on a hillside above the beach … Continue reading Harris … and Lewis →

Kim Stanley Robinson: New York 2140

We’ve got good tech, we’ve got a nice planet, but we’re fucking it up by way of stupid laws. I’ve written about Kim Stanley Robinson before, when I reviewed his Green Earth. I mentioned his environmentalist and anti-capitalist concerns, his lyrical descriptions of landscape, his long passages where nothing much happens except characters talking to … Continue reading Kim Stanley Robinson: New York 2140 →

Hasegawa 1/48 Hawker Hurricane IIC: Part 2

Go to the first part of this build log I left you last time when I had applied the primer coat successfully. Next, I sprayed on the Temperate Land Scheme colours, using LifeColor paints. First, I applied Medium Sea Grey to the under surfaces, then masked that area off, applied Dark Earth to the upper … Continue reading Hasegawa 1/48 Hawker Hurricane IIC: Part 2 →

Sidlaws: Blacklaw Hill & White Hill from Little Ballo

Unnamed Point 273 (NO 276349, 273m) Blacklaw Hill (NO 288344, 284m) White Hill (NO 274338, 233m) 10.5 kilometres 240 metres of ascent You’ll perhaps recall my previous expedition to Blacklaw Hill—I went in from the north, which turned out to be a minor assault course, and went out to the east, which took me into … Continue reading Sidlaws: Blacklaw Hill & White Hill from Little Ballo →

Liguria

We went to Liguria in April—that bit of the Italian coast just east of the French border, sometimes called the Italian Riviera, which traps the Ligurian Sea in its curve. When I was at school, the first syllable was pronounced to rhyme with fly, and the second vowel was like the “u” in furious—laɪˈɡjʊərɪə. Nowadays … Continue reading Liguria →

Elizabeth Allan: Burn On The Hill

Ronnie was a short-legged hunchback and a social misfit; his navigation was pathetic and he was not competent even with a railway timetable. He never carried more than a sandwich, and often not even that, and was entirely dependent on the spontaneous goodwill and hospitality of keepers and shepherds. He only at any time had … Continue reading Elizabeth Allan: Burn On The Hill →