Further to my rantings on anthropomorphism (yes, I know, it excites you too!), through a tortuous series of events too mundane to recount here, yesterday I had the privilege of participating in a fascinating live online session with Dr Jane Goodall – she who discovered that Chimpanzees can use tools, communicate on a reasonably sophisticated …
The funny thing about obsession is that it isn’t funny at all. Many of these posts are the result of one obsessive pursuit or another, and many’s the mention of being drawn into rabbit-holes as one link on the interwebs leads to another two, or four, or so on. One bee in the old bonnet …
This blog has not been shy about the virtues of whisky; we’ve discussed the undoubted glories of coffee, and of course wine has made an appearance on numerous occasions. And there’s always room for more. There’s also a special space set aside for beer, which we will fill when the time is right. But today …
The knowledge that a waiting world is suspended on tenterhooks – or ‘tender hooks’, as they are sometimes known – awaiting news of the bird feeder that started construction so many weeks ago has been a constant burden to this unemployed freelance writer. Rest assured, work has continued in a desultory fashion over the intervening …
It’s inevitable that being something of a cycling fan, your country-bound correspondent’s interest has been piqued by the label on local maps that denotes the ‘former Hibernian Bicycle Racing Track’ just down other end of Duncan Street. It’s on someone’s land now, so I haven’t been able to have a sticky-beak, but what a tantalising …
There’s a kind of individual out there we’ve all encountered, I’m sure, and that’s ‘dog people’ – you know, people whose existence revolves around their domestic canines; whose homes run to the rhythm of their Best Friends’ whims and fancies, and who can think and speak of little else but the doings and misdoings of …
Those who've stuck with us through the lockdown months in Braidwood may recall the glib statement way back in April that as soon as we could, we’d be adding another to our number – that most essential component of any well-rounded family, a canine companion. Unbeknownst to us at the time, in a now-established social …
You will of course be familiar with my distaste for the popular tendency to anthropomorphise animals – not merely because of a grumpy, jaundiced outlook on the world in general and mankind in particular, but because that’s not what wildlife is really about – it’s a human-centric way of looking at the world, and look …
I wish I hadn’t used the sophisticated and witty wisecrack, “call me butter because I’m on a roll” the other day, because it turns out that at the moment, I’m . . . well, on a roll. Except now I can’t call myself butter without unfunnily repeating said bon mot. So, moving right along, the …
Yesterday I thought I saw a platypus! This deserves an exclamation mark due to its unexpectedness – I didn’t set out to find one, but to paraphrase the Bard, some people achieve platypus and some have platypus thrust upon them. I hadn’t given platypi much thought – there was a vague notion that they were …
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