Live It Up 144: Johnny Come Home
Posted in 1980s, Live It Up, Music at 12:00 on 25 September 2026
The first hit for the band. No 8 in 1985.
Fine Young Cannibals: Johnny Come Home
Posted in 1980s, Live It Up, Music at 12:00 on 25 September 2026
The first hit for the band. No 8 in 1985.
Fine Young Cannibals: Johnny Come Home
Posted in Trips at 12:00 on 24 September 2026
Posted in Trips at 13:00 on 23 September 2026
Pottery:-
There are two rooms in Traquair House used as libraries. First:-
Second:-
In an upper room there is this diploma given to the house owner Sir John Stewart by Charles I:-
The above lies in a cabinet below a mural:-
Description of mural:-
Further along the upper floor is a bedroom:-
One part of an old painted ceiling has been kept exposed:-
View of maze from house:-
Posted in Reading Reviewed, Scottish Fiction at 14:00 on 22 September 2026
Canongate, 2026, 316 p.

A third outing for Welshâs Rilke, auctioneer at Bowery Auctions in Glasgow – and sometime private investigator. On page 1 – no messing here – he discovers a body on the auction roomsâ back premises. This is Mandy Manderson, a Bowery Auctions client, killed with a hatpin pushed through his eye; a hatpin which Rose Bowery, the auction roomsâ owner, had been brandishing before television cameras as a potential murder weapon only hours earlier. To protect Rose, whom he knows is not a killer, Rilke removes the hatpin, cleans it up and restores it to the auction lot before calling the police.
Rilke thereafter is treading a fine line between the SIO, Inspector Murchison, son of a well-known judge, and crime boss Ray (Razzle Dazzle) Diamond, who has taken displeasure at Rilkeâs childhood pal Les, recently out of jail, but wants Rilke to find the killer since Manderson had been on his payroll.
Throw in Rilkeâs homosexuality, dodgy cop Thurso Scanlon (Lesâs nemesis and also on Rilkeâs case,) a connection to Gallowhall, a former boysâ home with a bad reputation, and the pot is well stirred.
This is the usual accomplished offering from Welsh, with rounded characters, a cast of suspects, the sense of Glasgow as a city, a well-placed hint of the perpetrator and some red herrings to follow up.
Pedantâs corner:- âA table of actors âĶ. were engaged inâ (the subject of the verb here isnât actually actors but table; âa table of âĶ. was engaged inâ,) âJetpacksâ ribsâ (Jetpacksâ several times; Jetpacksâs.) âA selection of sandwiches and shop-bought cakes were sweating beneath clingfilmâ (a selection âĶ was sweating,) âMary, Queen of Scotsâ final walkâ (Scotsâs,) âTam Shepherds Trick Shopâ (Shepherdâs, surely?) sat (x 2, sitting,) Panetella (x 3, that type of cigar is a Panatella, panatela or panetela.)
Posted in Bridges, Trips at 15:00 on 21 September 2026
River Tweed at Coldstream:-
From same vantage point but looking towards the bridge at the border with England:-
I have featured Coldstream War Memorial before, a cenotaph inset into a wall, but this is a better photo:-
This time I took a close-up of the dedications and names:-
Posted in Dumbarton FC at 16:30 on 20 September 2026
SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 19/09/26.
Football is a funny game. On the face of it this was a comprehensive win, yet at no time during it did it feel that way. Yes we scored early, a fine move down the right with Robbie Cleary and Mikey Doyle exchanging passes before Doyle crossed for Deryn Lang to get in front of his defender and smash the ball in. But the BBC statistics show we had only 31% possession over the whole game.
Mind you new loan keeper Mason Munn barely had a save to make, certainly not from a threatening shot. It has to be said he looked assured enough, a contrast to Harry Broun who has now left the club again after only rejoining a couple of weeks ago.
The formation was strange again, selection bingo once more at work. The choice of fielding Leighton McIntosh in midfield seemed odd but someone on Pie and Bovril opined he had been given a man marking job. Another returnee, Tom Lang, helped to shore up the defence. While Spartans moved the ball about – and looked as if they had played together before – they seemed to lack penetration.
We did little of attacking note in the first half after we scored and thoughts of last week’s second half capitulation against Stranraer were never far away.
The second goal changed things and, like two weeks ago against Elgin, there was an air of freakishness about it, Robbie Cleary’s corner bouncing off a defender and going in off the post. The players celebrated it big style.
I thought to myself, though, how on Earth are we winning this 2-0? Apart from the goals their keeper hadn’t a save to make. It was that kind of game.
Spartans had to come at us a bit more after that and despite our last two substitutions smacking of a defensive mindset we managed up the park a few times. Josiah Sowa, who had come on midway through the half, showed just how good he can be at exploiting space when he cut in from the left and pinged a beauty in for no 3 in stoppage time.
We’re now joint second bottom, or alternatively, joint sixth and only two points off the promotion play-off spots. No chickens being counted here though. I think the players won this despite the manager, not because of him.
Posted in Scottish Football Grounds, Trips at 12:00 on 19 September 2026
Home of Coldstream FC.
Unsurprisingly they play in Coldstream, the first village/town in Scotland when travelling over the border from England via the A 698.
The club was a founder member of the East of Scotland League in 1923 and is now that league’s longest serving member, playing in its First Division (its second tier, after the Premier,) the 7th tier of Scottish football. It has long been eligible to play in the Scottish Cup.
Home Park lies at the edge of the town’s park, also called Home Park, the play area of which is to the left here:-
South end of the football ground:-
Looking north. The path beside the pitch (right) is a public footpath which has to be closed off for matches to be played.
Posted in 1990s, Music, Something Changed at 12:00 on 18 September 2026
MacCollâs first âhitâ of the 90s. It only reached no 82 though. Lyrically itâs coming from a similar place to her first hit, Thereâs a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears Heâs Elvis. This one isnât at all ârockây, though, and has a Country feel.
Kirsty MacColl: Donât Come the Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim
Posted in History, Trips at 12:00 on 17 September 2026
Bells to summon servants, Traquair House:-
A harpsichord:-
Ground floor room:-
Cradle used for James VI (James I of England):-
Bed of Mary, Queen of Scots:-
Relics of Mary, Queen of Scots:-
Posted in Architecture, Trips at 12:00 on 16 September 2026
Traquair House is Scotland’s oldest continuously inhabited house.
House from distance:-
Closer view. there are “new” wings to either side:-
Right side new wing:-
Left side new wing:-
A drawing of Traquair House in earlier days is on one of its internal walls:-
Rear of house, hedged maze in middle ground:-