Cats in Vegas

Glasgow may have lost its fantastic cat murals, but it seems Las Vegas is helping make up for the loss.

Vegas Cat Mural

Siberia in Scotland suggests time to plan holiday

The current blast of cold air we are ‘enjoying’ from Russia/Siberia is dragging our average temperature below 3°C, and last night took a dive below -3°C at one point.

I’m hoping the forecast remains accurate (woke up to snow this morning). Although it shows this nonsense carrying on until the end of the week, things get better after that and the daytime max is predicted to start rising again.

Because this is cold air being ‘parachuted’ in, it actually feels a lot colder that it did during the frosts and freezes we had a couple of weeks ago.

I was thinking it would be nice NOT to be here at the moment, and this bus trip to go see an atomic bomb being detonated seemed both a bargain and a good idea at the moment.

You might even come back with a nice warm glow that could last for a while, just like the Ready Brek kids.

Warm Day Trip

Some say…

They brought in kids that lived near Sellafield when they filmed this series of ads ;)

National Trust for Scotland receives American millions

I hope the recent reorganisations and reforms at the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) have the desired effect that its members seek.

Although it is some years since I was a member, I would have to admit that I was left with a feeling of unease, and uncertainty about where my money was really going, or what it was achieving. I couldn’t put my finger on anything specific, but just couldn’t close the loop in my mind, and convince myself that it was a sound investment. This shouldn’t be misinterpreted as suggesting anything untoward, rather that I seemed to have a gut feeling that it was wasting money, despite the good works it seemed to be achieving.

I gave up after a few years, and had run out of spare cash anyway, and economising meant it was cheaper to pay the straight admission to a few properties, than for the various subscriptions I used to maintain.

Maybe what I was feeling unconsciously was reflected in part of the reform, where it was suggested that the Trust had accumulated “all sorts of bits and pieces over the years”, and that these were nothing to do with heritage, and should be ditched. If this was the case, then it would be good to get on with the clear out, and perhaps see it return to the preservation of some of the treasures that it may have divested itself of in recent years.

Looking through some past issues of The Scots Magazine (and realising I haven’t seen new issue for years, such is my collection – thank goodness they are small! ), I was reminded that there seemed to be frequent clashes between the Trust and those who had made bequests of properties and/or gardens, with significant acrimony between Trust and executors in some cases,   and exchanges being made in public through the pages of the magazine, which would probably have been better kept in private. Hopefully this sort of foolishness is also something that the above mentioned reforms will consign to the past. (Oops, all of a sudden I’m beginning to remember why I departed.)

There’s no doubt the NTS has, and has demonstrated a fine ability to look after some wonderful properties, and recruit many skilled craftspersons to carry out work which requires almost lost and forgotten techniques, and this has won it friends around the world, such as William R Lindsay, an American millionaire from Las Vegas, who died recently and is thought to have left a substantial sum of money to the charity.

Although he wished to remain anonymous, it seems The Scotsman newspaper reported his identity.

Within the preceding 18 months, it was revealed that he had donated some £2.5 million to the NTS, although the final donation from his estate was still to be determined as lawyers were dealing with his estate. His past contributions had helped with projects at Culzean Castle and the Burns centre in Alloway.