Tea time

I pass these guys every night on my way home from work, tucking in to their tea. The field is situated under a series of bends in the road, so it's not the best place to try to get a photo..... hence the quality! I was balanced precariously on a small verge by the road, conscious of the cars coming round the bends. But I love the scene so much that I was determined to capture it. I think they are quite young bullocks, there are often really big guys in the field, so I resisted the temptation to get any closer!

The Rupali

The Rupali Indian Restaurant in Forfar.......the best curry house in town and quite possibly the world. (ok slight exaggeration maybe). I love the way they've just stuck a shop facade onto the corner of a traditional Forfar cottage. It's slap bang in the centre of town and it hasn't changed in years, I've been devouring their curries off and on for about 25 years now and it's been consistently excellent. I recommend the North Indian Garlic Chicken......01307 464480. Go on order a carry out!

Spotify

www.spotify.com

I've just discovered Spotify...... a music lovers dream. A limitless online jukebox which guarantees hours of musical pleasure. And ALL FOR FREE!!!! It occurred to me that twenty or thirty years ago anyone even suggesting something like this would be seriously laughed at. It may not be downloadable yet, but it also occurs to me that most people will use it as a means of checking out music they would otherwise be unable to..... then either go on to buy it or download.

I think its Swedish based and the technology behind it is impressive. The speed at which the tracks follow each other is amazing. Although the down side may be the fact that when using it free you have to contend with advertising, at the moment it doesn't appear to be too intrusive. For a fee ( a tenner a month) you can dispose of the ads altogether.

However it develops in the future, I have a feeling it's a place I'm going to be spending a bit of time.

Tutties Neuk

This is Tutties Neuk in Arbroath, just across the road from Gayfield, the football ground. I believe it can get quite busy about 2pm every alternate Saturday. Locals have reported as many as five punters cramming the bar all at once...... not for the faint hearted. After taking this photo I got to wondering where the name came from and rather than wander in and ask the jovial mine host, who probably would have answered along the lines of 'how the **** should I know', I decided to text a friend who was Arbroath born and bred and ask him, he replied 'how the **** should ......'. No, he didn't really. His succinct and accurate response was 'Tutties Neuk (Nook) the place where the herdsmen assembled the cattle by the toot (Tuttie) of horns to take them to moors via Nolt (cattle) Loan (road)'......... So now I know!

Forfar skyline at sunset

Always a sucker for a nice sunset, I stopped on the way home this evening to take this pic. Two girls emerged from the door I was standing outside like a lemon and waited patiently and very politely until I clicked the shutter. Who says young people have no manners.......

Gayfield

As promised, the home of the mighty Red Lichties (Arbroath F.C.). Not the best perspective it has to be said, but its not an easy ground to photograph. Need a bit of height in order to look into it. The middle pic shows just how close the pitch is to the North Sea. I reckon it can only be 20 to 30 yards when the tide is fully in. So a good high tide and a stonking south easterly and it's easy to see how the pitch can become a home from home for various forms of aquatic life. The top pic shows the comedy street name from which the ground takes its name. Strange, because the ground is actually situated in Queen Street.....!

Longfellow

Before I leave the snowy theme, I came across this touching poem by Longfellow. It was written for his second wife, Fanny. He pursued her for seven years before he convinced her to take the plunge. Got to admire his tenacity. They had six children together, but in 1861 Fanny died in a tragic accident when her dress caught fire. Longfellow was badly burned trying to save her, the beard was an effort to hide the scars. He wrote this in 1879, 18 years after her death.

THE CROSS OF SNOW

In the long, sleepless watches of the night,

A gentle face - the face of one long dead -

Looks at me from the wall, where round its head

The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.

Here in this room she died; and soul more white

Never through martyrdom of fire was led

To its repose; nor can in books be read

The legend of a life more benedight.

There is a mountain in the distant West

That, sun-defying, in its deepest ravines

Displays a cross of snow upon its side.

Such is the cross I wear upon my breast

These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes

And seasons, changeless since the day she died.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 - 1882

Misty Mountain Hop

Fantastic morning for taking photos, patchy mist, low sun , snowy landscapes.... just a pity I couldn't spend more time and had more ability to do it all justice. I stopped the car on the way to work to grab these pics..... the passing drivers must've thought I'd either lost the plot or was having a dump. I had to squat down low to get a few of these..... you can imagine the picture....!
Looking at these photos I'm beginning to realise how lucky I am to have such a pleasant commute in the mornings, it could be so different being stuck nose to tail driving into a large city. Sometimes we slip into taking things for granted......

Snowy Balgavies

Evening at the loch

Road to work this morning

Balgavies Loch this morning

Heavy snowfall this morning, didn't see that one coming. No mention of snow in the forecast. Roads were dodgy this morning on the way to work. My favourite bridie spot at Balgavies was very pretty this morning. Dundee ground to a halt by lunchtime, but they got between 6 and 9 inches. Buses went off and all the schools were closed. Fun and games. Interesting contrast in the light between the shots at the loch in the morning and at evening.

UFO over Arbroath Harbour?

A bright sunshiney day at Arbroath Harbour, could be a summers day...... but it was -1c. Didn't stop the aliens taking a spin over the harbour though! Don't mean to be ghoulish but it occurred to me that this was roughly the spot where the killer/s threw the suitcase containing the headless and handless corpse into the water last year. The trial is currently taking place at Edinburgh High Court. The victim's head and hands were washed up on the beach farther along.

Brrrrrr...

It's getting bloody cold round here..... good to feel a real winter again. Seemed as if we were degenerating into permanently grey mild winters which didn't really differ that much from the permanently grey mild summers. If nothing else it might kill a few of these superbugs that have sprung up. A few weeks of -10c should give the buggers something to think about!

Four seasons....

My garden tonight

Broughty Castle Arbroath Abbey

Broughty Ferry

One of those Scottish 'four seasons in one day' days.

Bright sunshine in Broughty Ferry this morning followed by every type of weather through to heavy snow tonight. Arbroath Abbey was taken just as the snow was starting.

Rush hour in the snow

Ok I know it snowed today, but I was too busy concentrating on not careering off the road to think about photos. The roads round here were pretty bad this morning, the snow coincided with the 'rush hour' between Forfar and Arbroath.... a positively hectic time when you can see as many as three cars together on the road!!!........ So here's a nice tree instead.....

Restenneth Priory

February already! A good January by my standards.... no disasters. Went out to Restenneth Priory today. Its about 2 miles east of Forfar, and I knew nothing about it. Apparently neither does anybody else. The info board gives very little away other than to say that it was probably built in the 12th century.... maybe by Malcolm IV. That's about it really. Couldn't help but think that if a building like this was found in America, they'd know absolutely everything about it, right down to what the guys who built it had for breakfast!