In the Highlands

Sandra, Anthony, Simon and Lulu, my mum Barbara, Bay, Raef, Susie

Relatives have been visiting Brin Croft, renting a farmhouse down the Strath at Croachy - my sister, Bay, her daughter, Susie with her husband David, and her son, Anthony with his wife Sandra, now with a son, Raef. We run from 8 weeks to 92 years.

I drove my mother to Cromarty. In the Firth a lobsterman went out to check his pots. We ate his catch at the Cromarty Arms Inn, with chips and local real ale.

On Friday I set off on a roundabout ride to the Field Sports Fair at Moy via Drynachan with Oscar initially in my bicycle but much of the time jogging on the empty roads behind me. The first leg was past Littlemill through the tunnel under the A9 to Daviot War Memorial with lists of people who died long ago so that I could enjoy 67 years of peace, then up past Craggie on the Sustrans route to Inverness until the turn near the Clava Stones and the railway viaduct, where, instead of turning north,

I headed on to Galcantray, Bareven to Little Urchany Farm where I turned south on the single track signed to Dulcie Bridge, turning right where the road forked - Dulcie to the left, Drynachan to the right 4 miles - leaving farmland; cycling through moorland. Email to Lin:

I fell in the Findhorn wading across with my bike at Shenachie. There goes another phone but the chip's OK. Oscar’s had a lovely walk. By the time I got to Moy via Ruthven I was almost dry. Oscar swam both ways across the river, without hesitation, but to dry himself after rolled in a cowpat, covering himself in khaki stripes like Rambo. Luckily he was so hot and thirsty he laid in a puddle and cleaned himself up. Now he’s having a rest. I ache – knees and hips - trudging like an old bloke. Hold on I am an old bloke. Seriously tho’ it was a lovely ride - 30 miles - and I picked wild raspberries by the road, had the whole route almost to ourselves. I saw a red squirrel, several roe deer, buzzards, rabbits, lots of young pheasants, grouse and even partridges and a V of geese passing overhead honking.

I took the wrong route at one point and climbed too high up a brae and then saw the path below and had to lug the Brompton down several hundred feet through heather, but I discovered in a fold of the mountainside a lochen with a tree overhanging surrounded by moss and granite, which I’d never have found if I’d followed the proper route. I stopped there (well covered in midge repellent) and had my picnic. Utter quiet.

At Moy on Saturday Oscar actually raced to the end (terrier racing from 2.22 on this 2007 YouTube) of the arena instead of peeling off from chasing after a stuffed black sock for a chat with another dog.

We went together to picnic at Coignafearn for the afternoon, driving over the Garbol Road from Strathnairn. My niece's husband David Roskelly took pictures. I sent one to Lin in Birmingham. She thought it made me look scruffy - especially the stains on my waistcoat from that Arbroath Smokie I enjoyed at Moy.

A herd of red deer grazing along the ridge above us, two sets of antlers silhouetted against the sky and the terriers far behind set a hare running along the track beside us.

By phone Lin and I discussed news of police in Birmingham F1 facing brawls between separate demonstrations on Saturday. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the blogosphere have carried many narratives instead of just 'the News'. Hurry Up Harry, and so on. Amy said she'd never felt in danger. "Dad! there were 400 riot police." One twitterer had called for policemen’s heads on sticks, recalling Broadwater Farm. I told him off. He asked me a favour.

I have a bitchin' Ph.D proposal (more in the field of Law or criminology) but whenever I send it to Universities (yes I've toned down the anti-Popo rhetoric) they are initially "right-on" but go cold. Where am I going wrong? Or is it truly a police state?

Wait a mo you were just threatening to have my daughter's head on a stick and now you want me to vet your PhD proposal. We haven't even had a first date yet...If you want me to have a look at it send via Google docs (give me a URL) or get my contact details from my blog. I don't do supervision but I might have a go at answering your question "is it you or the system?' and I might be able to point you to individuals. First give my child a break...

Thanks. I could probably suss out who would be interested at Birmingham (if anyone). Alright how about "Kill all plod - except Sibadds kid"?

I’ve doubts about reports of an 'organised and peaceful march' being disrupted unless you think of an Orange walk up the Garvaghy Road. The ‘casuals’, whose presence as the ‘organisers’ and participants are famously natural successors to the notorious Birmingham Zulus plus text messaging. As for the Muslim youth who turned up to mingle with an Anti-Fascist counter-demo. Well yes. There are plenty of young men. to be ganged up to defend the ummah by the same twittering, supported by people who see all in blue uniform as class enemies, and even those like me who wonder why candidates for membership of the white master-race look so unqualified; a Saturday brawl to interrupt shopping in recession hit malls, but, to those participating, a skirmish on one another's front lines. With a part of my family part Jewish - the ones in the Highlands now - it doesn't add to my capacity to be objective about anti-semitic chat from confused souls, who tie themselves in knots supporting Israel against Arabs.

Congratulating Oscar at Moy

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Meantime Harry Tsoukalas draws my attention to the continuing mess near the village of Temploni in the centre of Corfu. A clip from AftonomosTV - (2016 - now disappeared) an independent Corfu podcasting channel riding on YouTube - shows what looks like illegal attempts to destroy forest north of the tip. It looks as if the authorities were alerted...but to what effect?  Even with this news, it's good to hear Greek spoken and catch a glimpse of the island. We'll be there soon.

Sophisticated pricing strategies? Εχω ψυλλιαστεί, γνωρίζω πλήρως

I've struggled to get into my head that as our governments have backed off regulation, UK rail fares have been increasingly subjected to 'sophisticated pricing strategies'. As I wipe egg flecks from my face this morning, a small satisfaction is that I have the flexibility - not being a bereaved relative needing to attend a funeral or travel across country to attend a sick parent - to ensure that team klugscheißer in charge of yield-management for CrossCountry Rail don't get their paws on my mulla, but at New Street at 0803 I had to send an e-mail to a friend's office in Winchester - thanks to WiFi in the station concourse:

Dear M. We're going to have to find some other way to meet up. I was vexed to find that X-Country are charging - even with my senior rail card - £69 return to Winchester; nearly £40 if I arrive after midday. The coach fare which I just checked is £26 but takes near 6 hours. I should have played the advance booking market months ago and probably got a better deal. I'm just learning to do this. It was I who sought this meeting so I'm especially sorry to be changing my plans so abruptly. Best, Simon

To quote from one of many bulletins I should have studied more - this one several years old:

HOW AIRLINE STYLE PRICING CAN BE APPLIED IN THE RAIL SECTOR. Changes in the regulation of rail fares open the way for train operating companies to further develop the kind of sophisticated pricing strategies used to maximise profitability in air transport. Success with such strategies depends on detailed analysis of customer preferences and demand patterns. This bulletin explores the economic principles that underpin 'airline-style pricing' and the ways in which they could be applied to passenger rail services in the UK.

Meantime a text message from my friend:

Simon. no problem. We can set up a meeting in May or June in London. Thanks. M

* * * How does a small island dispose of the rubbish we humans create? It's a most intractable problem. A group in Temploni are campaigning against the way waste is being dumped, untreated and uncompacted, on a permanent site at Temploni in Corfu. This is a podcast that attempts, respectfully, politely and responsibly, to counter claims that there's no problem here: One of Corfu's MPs, Ms. Angela Gerekou, (she's an architect - see also NISEA piece) supports Temploni residents' campaign and the Mayor of Corfu, Sotirios Micallef, has, according to this podcast, said he'll not order MAT against local protests at Temploni as has happened at Lefkimmi. This second video from AFTONMOSTV, producer of increasingly competent narrowcasts, shows a shrewdly arranged encounter with Danuta Hübner, an EU Commissioner who seems to have 'dropped in' to the island during an official visit to the regions of Ipeiros and Ionia Nisia between 25-28 February '09. * * * Many years ago my stepfather, in a provocative moment, remarked that watching football, as opposed to playing it, was "about the same league as glue-sniffing." Note at 1.09, on this YouTube clip about a disrupted 2nd division soccer match in Corfu between PAS Giannina (notorious for its fans 'fervour') and AO Kerkyra, the youth delivering the most insulting of Hellenic gestures (μούντζα) with the evident approval of a parent, and here's the wonderful Rena Vlachopoulo, from Ano Korakiana, delivering a swift double moutza to a driver in London for an Aegean Airlines commercial. When signalling 'thanks' or the number five, I try to remember to take care to hold my palm towards me to avoid being misunderstood.
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Try Organoponicons! Cuba, forced by US blockade and the end of the Soviet Union, to abandon monocropping and pursue agricultural self-sufficiency is turning out to be a model for how, under - for the moment - less urgent conditions, we might change our ways of farming for food, especially in cities (BBCi Player programme about Cuban farming this Sunday afternoon - doesn't play outside UK tho'). See submission to Birmingham's Big City Plan (BIG) on urban agriculture
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Teacherdude, my favourite citizen journalist, English but firmly embedded in Thessaloniki has been attending the Documentary Festival there and is again critical of mainstream media in Hellas, myopic about 'alternative forms of information and Democracy':

...Most blogs are less than two years old and thousands discovered them just months ago. On the other hand there were bloggers and other contributors who went out into the streets in December, talked to those taking part in the protests and disturbances at a time when most mainstream coverage consisted of long distance pictures and analysis by those who were even further from the scene. The media formed a closed system, almost entirely self-referential...In a sense they reminded me of Hitler and his high command locked away in their bunker...cut off from the madness flowing around them giving orders to armies that no longer existed. A fantasy of war and of command. Similarly, the media talked and analysed the riots and protests that swept Greece last December using fragments of evidence, endless discussions based on a single act or image but with no background, nobody thought to go out and ask the most obvious question...

I guess this is why though I wasn't in Greece I had a Greek student friend in Birmingham who was following events and I made contact with and stayed in touch with a number of people on the ground, conversed with them on the net, followed their blogs and studied their images, which was how I came across Teacherdude's close observations and first got my head round the concept of the citizen journalist, now exemplified in the AFTONMOSTV clips from Corfu. * * * 25 March 2009 in the capital 'People of Athens fight for green space':

ATHENS (AFP) — It is one of the most built up cities in Europe. Now fed-up residents of Athens -- enraged by the pro-development attitude of their politicians and emboldened by recent anti-government riots -- are taking matters into their own hands. Residents of the bohemian district of Exarcheia have scored a rare victory by turning a carpark into a small but much-needed park almost overnight.

The stories of environmental action in the Hellenic Republic are coming in fast nowadays. When I started this blog in 2007 Greek environmental politics was near invisible on the internet, with such sites as could be identified often moribund. No longer.