St. Andrew's Day

I've chosen to mark St. Andrew's Day with a poem by Scotland's Bard, Robert Burns. As a twist, though, I've not gone for one of the most obvious poems, but rather one which is critical of the main driver in the 1707 union with England - Money!

The Scots' plan for an overseas outpost and colony (the Darien Scheme) in the 1690s had gone disasterously wrong and forced the Parliament to seek political as well as monarchical union. Burns laments that gold had suceeded where steel hadn't.

Of course, whatever the whys and wherefores of the union in the 18th Century, as a 21st Century Scot, I am very much a Unionist. Regardless of its flaws, Scotland has been well served by it and has also served it well. The relationship between the constituent members of the United Kingdom may change, but it would be sad to see it broken.


Anyway, here's the poem:


Fareweel to A' Our Scottish Fame by Robert Burns

Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory;
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name,
Sae famed in martial story!
Now Sark rins over Solway sands,
And Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England's province stands -
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

What force or guile could not subdue
Thro' many warlike ages,
Is wrought now by a coward few,
For hireling traitor's wages
The English steel we could disdain,
Secure in valour's station;
But English gold has been our bane,
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

O, would or I had seen the day
That treason thus would sell us,
My old grey head had lien in clay
Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour,
I'll mak this declaration:
We're bought and sold for English gold
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!


Andrew

P.S. It could be argued that the poem has added resonance in the light of the recent loans and other support the Scottish banks have received from HM Treasuary and the Bank of England!

Click here for more poetry posts.

50 not out

This is my 50th post to this blog. To mark the occasion, I'm going to do some analysis of my postings so far, with the intention of seeing how things change and develop over the course of each 50 posts.

Top tags:

• Sport (9)
• Blog (6)
• Photos (6)
• Remembrance (6)
• 5 on the 5th (5)
• Poetry (5)

Number of posts with comments: 26

Most number of comments for 1 post: 5

I've surprised myself at the relative balance between sport-related blogs and political topics. I'm also surprised at the number of posts about the process of blogging, but that perhaps betrays a certain introspection. I'm pleased to have introduced poetry to the blog, and also the Virtual Gallery. For further entries related to these, see the list of tags to the right, or use the search box.

For the next 50 posts, I anticipate a similar eclectic mix of topics. My recent excursions into poetry are set to continue on a weekly-ish basis. I've lined up my next guest blogger, to follow on from Stephen. Talking of Stephen, my monthly postings to his "5 on the 5th" will continue. I hope to add to the Virtual Gallery and widow's web series of posts. I'm also planning on sharing more of me through a "10 things about me" feature, just as soon as I can think of 10!

If you have any other suggestions for features and topics, please leave a comment below.

Andrew

the widow's web, part 2

This is the second in an occasional series in which I share some of the websites I've come across and liked. Some I'll visit often, others just now and again.

When putting together this recent post, I visited the website of the Rembrandthuis Museum. It transpires that the site has lots of interesting stuff on it - including a virtual tour, information on etching and, of course, lots of information on Rembrandt's life and work. Although everything you click seems to generate a pop-up window, it's a well constructed site and well worth a visit!

One site that I've been aware of for years but only recently started to use regularly is Digital Spy. It's great for entertainment stories in handy bite-sized chunks. The stories are often gleaned from the press, and should sometimes taken with a pinch of salt, but it's a fun source of celebrity gossip and reality TV news. It also caters for those with an interest in cult and American telly shows.

The final site is one I've not explored as much as I want to yet, but is the inspiration behind my other blog. Have a look at Authentic Happiness for more information on Positive Psychology.


Andrew

positivewidow

A few days ago, I posted this entry about ways to become more positive. One of the techniques suggested was to record, on a daily basis, 3 positive things that had happened that day.

In the interests of scientific research, I have decided to start doing so, and have set up a side-blog for the purpose. I also hope to look at other techniques and blog about them either here or there, as the mood takes me!

You can follow my daily ups - no downs are allowed - at www.positivewidow.blogspot.com


Andrew

Virtual Gallery - Room 3

The third room in my online gallery features the work of an artist that I first came across around 5 years and 1 week ago, when I went to Amsterdam for my 30th birthday. At the time, his work was the subject of a retrospective at the Rembrandthuis museum.

His name is Erik Desmazieres and he creates large scale etchings. Some are figurative works, but many are warped town and cityscape's. Unfortunately the scale and detail of the prints is lost slightly, but I hope this gives you a flavour of his work. Below the pictures I've put links to webpages featuring a number of his works - as it happens, one of these is an old page and makes reference to the exhibition I saw 5 years ago!


From top to bottom, with apologies for missing accents:

L'Atelier de Rene Taze III (1981)
La Magasin de Robert Capia (2008)
Herengracht (2004)
La Librairie Paul Jammes (2000)
Galerie Vero-Dodat (1989)

You can see more of his work here and also here.


Andrew

For previously featured artists, click here.