January 2007

Here’s the new song, Welcome to Bobland, in all its Garageland glory (what a great piece of software…if only I knew how to use it!). Download or just listen online, and remember, if you do meet Bobby Z on the Cairngorm railway, do tell him that Shot of Love is the great underrated album, Self…

The tragic and very sudden death of my accountant, Bob, has meant that for the first time in a decade or more I’ve been having to pore over the income and expenditure of the Morton endeavours. Failing completely to understand anything at all about capital allowances, written down values and all that gubbins, I simply…

Much as one deplores the activities of those Devonians who have been ransacking the containers of other people’s stuff washed up in Lyme Bay…one can’t help but be amused by this…

…has just arrived. There is snow on Ronas Hill! It’s cold and changeable but relatively survivable – one of these days when you really want just get on the all-weather gear and head for the remotest parts of Northmavine, such as Uyea, the Lang Ayre or the top of Ronas Hill itself. Good to see…

Lines on the occasion of Mr Bob Dylan buying a house in Nethybridge… I was living in a caravan in AviemoreWith a rescue greyhound called JoeAnd a Polish girl called PerditaIn the first of the winter snowsAnd the condensation fell like rainEven the dog wore a plastic suitPerdita went back to KrakowShe was suffering from…

…is remarkably easy. No excuses. Well, all right, one or two: The Tom Morton show is completely unscripted, and occasionally things can become a little fraught, what with technical breakdowns (we had a weather-related loss of my connection to the BBC yesterday) and the need to do four or five things at once ( check…

A truly dreadful trip home on the MV Hrossey, 14 and a half hours of misery, not really because of feeling sick in the dreadful conditions, but just the discomfort and inability to sleep. Susan reminded me that I once wrote: “The difference between the ferry and the ‘plane is this: On the ‘plane, you’re…

Terribly saddened to hear late last night about the death of Harry Horse (Richard Horne) and his wife Mandy. All day I’d been wondering about the identity of the couple found dead in Shetland. Devastating to find it’s people you know and admire so much. It’s all over the papers, as I suspected it might…

BBC Scotland is in the middle of installing something called VCS Dira, which is basically a piece of software for taking in, editing and playing out everything from news to music. I hope I’m not letting any digital cats out of pixellated bags here, but the only effect on my work at the BBC has…

Grey and wet, as per usual. Managed to get here in the dubious Ford Maverick, no trouble so far except for what sounds like a small hole in the middle silencer. I am so sick of bad cars. That is the last time I buy anything vehicular on eBay. I’m 51 years old and it…