Highland Aviation Museum 2

Valiant V-bomber interior

Highland Aviation Museum 1

Pic album will follow

After Tinker Tailer and Smileys People they should

For those discovering and rediscovering the BBC Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy and Smileys People and wanting to go further..

ITVs slightly Thatcherist Sandbaggers tv series covers pretty much the same area as the above in the 1980s, but the real treat to track down is this, which really opened my eyes to the situation in Ireland

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0084053

.. It really deserves a remake itself, if only to remind is how precious Irish peace is

Britain two hours north of Edinburgh

Fraserburgh is like Barnstaple half a century ago - fishing and not a lot else at all but everyone very friendly - I might get to go curling some night. 


Today the sweet Latvian girl cutting my hair admitted that if anyone at home opposite the Baltic was as friendly as any of the highland locals they would be locked away with a presumption of mental illness. Shortly after this after a stunning blonde wandered into the salon and the Latvian and her talked Russian for five minutes before she left.


Latvian then admitted the Russian blonde was a total stranger and anyone with Slav language issues in Fraserburgh is directed to her hairdressing salon.


Terrain is a bit Cornish but very flat. To give
you an idea of remoteness, nearby tourist attractions include National
Scottish Lighthouse Heritage Museum.

The accommodation and food in out of town community pub
(Ban Car Hotel) is unpretentious but quietly high class room-wise. The
Highland Chicken, stuffed with haggis, is pretty awesome, with poached
eggs and lean bacon for breakfast. The colour is failing on the big
widescreen in the bar and when it flickers blue all the faces on
screen look like Braveheart.

Local beer is Machlaclans best ale, which is the bitterest bitter I've
ever had. I'm off the whiskey because I dont want to see what happens
if I insist on Irish.

Weather certainly different to English heatwave, when I heard about
snow in Inverness from chatty Tesco woman yesterday it took a few
moments to realise Inverness is just up the road (well it's just west
of here actually, not up). Car is 20 degrees below what 
I left in England, outside the seagulls are flying sideways in the wind
but the fish landing reports on the local radio in the morning make you

appreciate cozy highland IT centres.. which do look a bit like moonbases

MAD MEN keeping me sane

I've been watching MAD MEN all week in hotel room. One of the best things about working away with just a laptop for company is you really get a chance to emerse yourself in good US tv
sagas. Since 2006 I've watched the entire of Soprano's, The Wire, Breaking Bad etc
etc,... and  this is as good as any of them..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_men
and like the others reaches a brilliant climax at the end of third series, as if US tv is paced and planned with that in mind.


Now I think about it MM (and Watchmen) are responsible for my morbid Ayn Rand fascination.


In typical headf@ck fashion MM series 4 is a departure and hard to get into, I lasted nearly full 30 mins of the TERRA NOVA pilot last night (quite proud of my fortitude there), I'm going to start tonight on 30 ROCK (series 1 £2 @ tesco) so expect a 10,000 word appreciation of Tina Fey/s various credentials in next blog.


How much do we all owe Tina Fey? Sarah Palin gave up her presedential ambitions this week, frustrated that US voters had recognised her as a dangerous joke in away that they never did with George W. The two or three short SNL sketches with Tina Fey's hilarious version of Sarah Palin might go down as the most effective political satire in history..

Cairngorms. Listening to Anna Calvi and WU LYF

Test post direct from phone

Stopped just outside Perth. On hottest October day on record in England, rain is so torrential around here Saturday afternoon Rangers played under floodlights!

Hoping it will brighten up so Cairngorms National Park is an option today