The Old Academy

To the Town Hall (formerly the Pump Room) yesterday evening for the consultation about the Old Academy. Moffat is a place people stop off at on their way somewhere else as well as come to stay in, whether for life or for holidays. One thing we do not have is an exhibition space. Perhaps we should become a tiny Tate along the lines of Tate St Ives? There is a Darwinian argument for creating spaces for many small businesses - the ones that flourish will gradually come to occupy more space as unsuccessful ones slip away. So: a centre for small start up businesses - to include manufacture, of course. The bicycle was, if not invented right here, developed not far away by a local D&G blacksmith (see Bella Bathhurst's latest The Bicycle Book). Invite a bigger business to relocate? Enterprise, excellence - reminds me of the very sad news of the death of Edward (son of Eddie) Stobart's death at the untimely age of 56. RIP.

Spa vignette

From today's online Scottish Review, of particular relevance to those of us contemplating ways to reintroduce 21st century hydrotherapy to Moffat:

The Recreation Room, which would make a splendid ball-room, has a piano that once was grand, and upon its willing notes a lady 'of uncertain age' is performing 'The Irresistible Quadrilles' which begin with 'A frog he would a wooing go', while no fewer than eight persons, none older than 40, are gliding through 'figure 4'.
This quadrille business, as many excellent Hydropathists will tell you, is just the thin end of the wedge. In 10 years, it will be the polka, and after that the wicked waltz. What are the Hydropathics coming to?
J J Bell on a Scottish hydropathic holiday, 1880s

The meals were served at long tables; one had to mix with one's fellows and make the necessary genteel conversation. There was a fine, full breakfast followed by a fine, full mid-day dinner. There was a good plain tea at half-past five, with scones and cookies and 'fancy bread' abounding. Those who had just arrived, and had missed their dinner, had to be given value for money and so got eggs to their tea or cold meat. At half-past nine a service of milk, bread, butter, and cheese was laid on in the dining-room.
Those late for meals were confronted by a money-box into which, for charity's benefit, they paid one penny per (unpunctual) person, thus atoning for sin. There was always grace before meat and at 9.45 prayers in the drawing-room. At 10 o'clock or so one withdrew, possibly hoping for a nice read in bed. Vain expectation unless you had brought your own candles! The lights were officially turned off at 10.30.

Ivor Brown on a Scottish hydropathic holiday, 1950s

The amber lozenge

If you happened to be walking past Milburn House at 3am this morning and heard a loud laugh that was me reading Elif Batuman's The Possessed - adventures with Russian books and the people who read them. There is one episode, not lol, of particular interest to Moffat Book Event readers, because it concerns Persephone, as follows: the author is staying in Samarkand ostensibly to improve her spoken Uzbek - she is a first generation American of Turkish origin - with her partner. On their first night, Elif's partner falls ill and their host treats his fever with an infusion created by scraping at an amber lozenge and a pink rock in a box. Later, Elif recalls a fellow student of Russian literature coming to tell her that the key to the phrase by the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam 'as I come to you from the rubble of Petersburg, take a little honey from the palms of my hand' and 'Psyche is slow to hand Charon the amber lozenge' - both items refer to the copper coin Psyche carried in her mouth to pay Charon the boatman who carried people across the Styx (river of death) when she went to Hades to look for Persephone. Mandelstam's phrase 'mednaya lepyoshka' is the same used, following the distinctive shape, for Samarkand bread. This book is an unmissable treat of observation, made more enjoyable if like me you have been there and done many of the things she so wittily and unforgettably describes. Also, this morning, a postcard from Nikolai Tolstoy with a picture of Merlin on it - he must have written another book as well as The Quest (set in Moffat). The illustration on the card is from The Coming of The King - the first book of Merlin published by Bantam Press. There is a chapter on a visit to Lev (War and Peace; Anna Karenina)Tolstoy's estate in the Batuman book.

So much for self sufficiency

One chapter into The Rational Optimist and the case for international trade and the fruits of specialisation - in other words, the opposite of 'living local' and minimising carbon miles - becomes clear. Oh dear. Here is a beautiful picture Documenting Change at Crookedstane Rig last Oct 2010 by Lizzie Rose to cheer up this wet day (but we and the trees needed the rain).....

Rational optimist

Delighted to discover that Matt Ridley's The Rational Optimist is being serialised for free to readers of The Times online. It is another beautiful spring day and I have just posted a contribution to the debate about selling off English forestry on the Saga magazine forum known as Sagazone. All these opportunities to exchange opinions are part of a great new freedom and are changing our society as we watch. It beats throwing a shoe at the TV set anyway. Stacey has come up with the brilliant idea of marketing our April 16 Love and Marriage event in Moffat as the ideal Mother's Day gift. Well done Stacey! Wearing my Mum's hat I am taking cards and posters for Abi's Edinburgh Festival preview show after L&M across to the Moffat House hotel this afternoon.

An interesting question

How far is it possible to manufacture a "natural" environment, we might ask. And after how long does a species stop being the equivalent of an illegal immigrant and receive its ecological Green Card? Conservation has become a philosophical as well as a practical minefield.. Thus a review of T C Boyle's thirteenth novel When The Killing's Done in this weekend's Financial Times. This is a topic of interest to me as a grower of a so-called 'exotic' conifer which has been grown here since it was introduced by Scottish planthunter David Douglas in the 18th century. When did the potato, to take one example, become a welcome naturalised feature of the British landscape? This is a debate which I look forward to having, and hearing all the arguments at our autumn Moffat Book Event on the themes of identity, provenance and terroir - to be grouped conveniently under the umbrella title 'Belonging'. At the cellular level, identity is vital so that the components of a toe know that is not an ear. Of course, we are not just collections of cells - but people seem to need a narrative which includes familiar features in the landscape, shared history, accepted customs and practices and so on. Who we are and how we live together is a process moderated by the law but in some senses elastic, a moving target which from time to time is worth pausing to consider.

Spring undoubtably sprung

Well the week flew by. The Community Wildlife Reserve was well and truly opened on Tuesday, and is a triumph - a credit to all concerned from the firm that donated the land (an ex-quarry) to the designer, builder and enthusiasts who pushed it forward. We split into three groups to walk around after Geoff cut the ribbon on the bird watching hide by the pond. I walked with the group led by Gary Tait, the bird expert who did the surveys up at Crookedstane. He reassured me that my bloomer about hen harriers was not as colossal as I feared - I told the RSPB man that we have hen harriers nesting in our trees and he said crushingly that they nest on the ground, which Gary says is not invariably the case. Anyway, as we walked round the edge of the wetlands area I thought I heard frogs so three of us tiptoed across and there sure enough was frog and toad spawn. One of our co-walkers who runs the Lockerbie reserve said he had counted 57 toads on the road there (in Lockerbie) the night before. Later that day, my son in law Jim reported so many frogs &/or toads on the forest road at Crookedstane on Monday, just sitting there, that he had to just close his eyes and drive on. A great bonus of the cup of tea and sandwich at the Initiative after our tour was the opportunity to chat to Jean Purves and David Booth about plans for upgrading Station Park. I mentioned the idea of making a Kneipp Walk - a facility available in many Swiss and Austrian spa resorts, excellent for walkers' tired feet but not only for them. A Kneipp Walk is a shallow cold water track with different surface textures to be walked barefoot. It does you the world of good, apparently, alongside another cold water treatment known as an elbow bath. Yes! It's all to do with the boost to your immune system supplied by immersion in cold water. So we are back where Moffat started, with hydrotherapy - but for the 21st century. Credit for suggesting that goes to Julia Williams who runs a clinic at the Wellbeing Centre on th High St. Maybe I am being simple-minded but why not recreate a well-being centre in the Pump Room (aka Town Hall)? In the post later in the week came a welcome letter from Count Nikolai Tolstoy saying that he will come to our autumn Moffat Book Event to contribute to the debate about 'Belonging, identity and provenance' (not forgetting food). There are early signs that Moffat Let's Live Local will be welcome collaborators and we may spread our wings over two days rather than, as for Love and Marriage in Moffat on Sat April 16, just the one. I am stuck on page 104 of Civilization - Niall Ferguson has adopted the same tiresome device as Ian Morris in Why The West is winning - For Now : playing 'what if?' (the 14th century Chinese sea voyages of exploration had continued; what if we not the Spanish had colonised South America). They did, we didn't, nothing more to see here folks, lets move on.I received three handwritten letters this week: one from a 93-year old, both the others from friends in their 80's. Everyone my age (rising 70) uses email.