June 2009

I wish to wholeheartedly recommend the Bic Ouassou sit-on-top kayak. So far this year, I have been out on the water more than in the past five years put together. It’s stable, safe, robust (rotary-moulded polythene) and above all, easy to use.No faffing about with bad outboards and heavy, leaky boats. And it was cheap…

On a night like this, one’s thoughts in Shetland turn, inevitably (and in our case with considerable guilt) to the peat hill. Three banks cut (not by us – our friend Lornie did the heavy tushker work), half-raised (by us, slowly) and drying out so fast in this weather that nearly everyone else has their…

This is The Gaslight Anthem’s best song, and it has to be said that Bruce adds not very much to it other than his charisma, dodgy backing vocals and a very competent guitar break. Hell, that’s enough! In terms of anointing the inheritors, it’s surely significant. And thrilling for all concerned. See it here.http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/gaslightanthem/index.shtml#emp

Fantastic, almost unprecedented weather in Shetland. Too hot to go out yesterday! Today was the Mavis Grind Foy…where else can you get a seafood platter (skate, smoked mackerel, mussels and fresh salmon) for £4? Mavis Grind is a narrow isthmus where the North Sea meets the Atlantic. From Viking times until the 1950s, it was…

…by Lesley McDowell. I suppose it was inevitable that Serpentine would be coupled with Alan Clements’ Rogue Nation (same publisher, both authors working in the Scottish media, although I’m not the zillionaire boss of STV.) Fair points made, I think, though obviously as a writer you don’t really want intelligent objectivity, you want TOTAL AND…

Heavily edited by a young Chris Morris, BBC Radio Three’s Why Bother? interviews between Morris and Peter Cook (as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling) were the last flowering of Cook’s immense talent, teased and prodded by the enfant terrible of modern British comedy. Without Morris (and especially the astonishing Blue Jam) no Little Britain, no Day Today,…

Sent to the show yesterday by Colin Bell. Absolutely on the money, I think. WHAT PETS WRITE IN THEIR DIARIES Excerpts from a Dog’s Diary…… 8:00 am – Dog food! My favorite thing!9:30 am – A car ride! My favorite thing!9:40 am – A walk in the park! My favorite thing!10:30 am – Got rubbed…

The band Drive By Truckers has always kind of passed me by…occasional exposure to singles in the line of work left me without any kind of desire to find out more, despite the fantastic Muscle Shoals family heritage of the band. Former Trucker Jason Isbell has a new album out, though, with his touring band…

  It’s been sitting untouched for three months, but the Suzuki GS1000G (shaft drive: I fear chains)complete with new, self-fitted exhaust system, burst into lumpy life quite the thing this afternoon. In the 1980s, this would have been a great big huge monster of a muscle bike; now it feels, compared the the Triumph Trophy,…

I’m not sure about local book signings. On the one hand, you get a chance to meet fine folk who like you. Or the idea of you. Or the idea of your book. On the other hand, nobody may turn up. Or even worse, you can have competitive book signings with other authors, at festivals,…