…our climate, where optimism is tempered with bleak certainty 😉

It’s the 1st March and another storm beckons with the prospect of more wind, snow and rain. This winter has been particularly wet and windy but thankfully I live indoors in my glumness, a prisoner of double-glazed comfort. Yet through the low bay window, I can see the resilient snowdrops vibrate gently in the breeze, a sort of flowing waltz with the optimism of The Lark Ascending - but storm Jorge is imminent! Yes, in Scotland optimism is tempered with bleak certainty. I do think the weather plays a big part in shaping the national psyche, so grateful we are for that sunny day but intrinsically know we’ll have to pay! It’s no wonder Robert Burns wrote of witches and warlocks and J K Rowling herself is no stranger to flights of fantasy. If Vaughan Williams wrote that swirling masterpiece for a Scottish audience, he would surely have a dark thunderous ending with a Monty Python style foot crashing through the clouds and making mincemeat of the lark.

Nuff said, we must champion our unique temperate maritime climate and shout about prosperous moss, flowing rivers and mountainous lushness. It’s our land and seascape, the dappled light, the silhouetted castle that has Scotland repeatedly ranked as the most beautiful in the world. We must also remember that many visitors are here to escape the searing arid heat from other regions of the world.

I’ve had to say goodbye to DD, my old trusted Land Rover Discovery, affectionately named after the pacifist medic in Hacksaw Ridge. He was getting older and the epson green clashed with my red and black kilt. Desmond was replaced by another Discovery but with a Euro 6 engine designed to significantly reduce harmful pollutants in new vehicles. Anyway, DD 2 lives on albeit downplayed in the company of my Japanese customers.

This year is the Scottish Year of Coast and Waters with much to celebrate locally - but more of that in my next blog😊