onbike1939

That is kind of you but given my decrepit state, travelling for me is not an option. It's good to hear from people with pride in their Scottish heritage and I take pleasure in it. I'm hoping that I live long enough to see my country as independent though the odds of this happening would seem to be lessening lately.

Now there's a thing. You are the first American I've seen that wears a kilt of the correct length.....congratulations. Many MacGregors of that period were forced to leave home up in the Sutherland region and emigrate or drift south. I take it you're aware of their reputation of cattle stealers and warlike ruffians. It's gratifying to find family connections so far away.....please send lots of money and food parcels and clear out the spare bedroom.

Not many here can afford footwear.....it's sad but we are a hardy race.

In the SAS medics receive training in emergency departments in hospitals. I have heard some very funny stories about the happenings there involving those patients who abuse the nurses there.

I'm told that we have many things in common and that a friendly and welcoming way with strangers is among them.

You have no idea how reassuring I find this.

How very, very, dare you. You have already been told in P&R that the whole Universe is perfect and that this is indicative that it has been created by God. Now do not come into this unsullied place with your pessimistic and outlandish ideas so get thee hence back to P&R where this sort of things belongs......bloody trouble-maker.

Since you ask.....quite a lot really. Back in 1603 my family name on my Father's side (MacGregor), was banned by the English King and the use of it was punishable by death. The clan was forced to take other names and many chose the names of colours....White, Brown, Green etc. and this was the case with my family. Not many people know that.

Many thanks......this is new to me and is something I really must try.

Wow! I've never heard of this method used for steaks.......can it produce a medium rare one? My favourite way of cooking steak is using a cast iron Griddle....quickly searing both sides on a high heat and then a little lower temp until the steak yields to just the right point under finger pressure. Unfortunately I can't use this method as it sets off my smoke alarm....not a great problem as I don't eat too much red meat.

You and me both sister........and as for trying them on.....forget it.

There is a film made in New Zealand called "Once we were warriors" which I found profoundly shocking. It showed the tensions and divisions amongst the Maori people and their attempt to cling on to their traditions in the face of modern-day pressures.

Don't......it makes inferior coffee. Buy a Moka pot, it makes good coffee and you'll never regret it.

It always has been......I would have thought, given the public's attitude to teachers. This is also reflected in their salary structure.

Pupils at my school were regularly beaten on the hands with a leather tawse. This could be for anything at all including failing an exam and whole classes were punished like this. This was used even up to the time when I started teaching in the seventies and I remember being questioned by teachers as to why I refused to do this. They didn't like my answer. https://www.google.com/search?q=lochgelly+twse&oq=lochgelly+twse&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l4.5468j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Public.......which offered no academic qualifications. Left school at fifteen and entered University in my early thirties after Army service.

The best gift you can give to any child is to instil a love of reading. Doing so will increase their proficiency across the whole range of subjects. If however the parents themselves do not read then this may be unlikely to happen. The lesson that should be imprinted upon the heart of every politician and educator, is that enrichment at an early stage in a child's life will pay dividends in their later stages and this will not only benefit the child.... but also the nation as a whole.

I did miss the sixties.....literally that is, as I was in the Army and rarely home during that time. I would like to think that Page grossly overindulged in sex and drugs in order to make up for me missing out.

I tried these and they were really expensive.....didn't work a damn.

I've now reached the age where my friends are popping their clogs with depressing regularity. To be expected of course....just the way of things when you become old. My best friend of fifty years lives in France and I do miss seeing him......we talk on the phone every week and it's reassuring to know that he remains the same neurotic, twitchy hypochondriac he always was. I can feel in my water that the bastard is going to outlive me.

I find it sad when people say that they wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they retired early and shows a compete lack of imagination. I took early retirement just before I was fifty and have never been bored since that time. Again to believe that stopping working means that all learning stops, is again extremely short-sighted. Today...more than any other time, learning opportunities abound, given the plethora of these to be found on the internet. A friend of mine in my writers' group who is in his eighties, added to his original university degree by taking an honours degree in creative writing and then immediately went on to take a Law degree which will finish in a years time. Life should be much, much more than just work, and it's important in my view to have an inner life which can sustain you when your working life comes to an end.

Now you see....this I find hurtful. OK........our relationship may not be that of friends.....more of an older person as a kind of mentor and guide....but whatever, never think I don't care.....dear me no.

Well......that made me mist up a bit. I know...I know.... I'm old and grizzled but I want to dance too much weight and a buggered back but I want to boogie dodgy heart and a problem peeing but I want to pose, preen and pucker up my knees are knackered and I fall over but I want to do that funky strut and turn can't hear much as I'm pretty deaf but I want to be-bop to that beat I'm past it I know but here's the thing I want to dance... I really.... really want to dance.

And now you tell me. I've been looking for you all my life.

You do know it's possible to have both....right?