Cold But Clear

Hello from the dark streets of Edinburgh.

On Deck

I’m a little late with this week's update, mainly because I had another interview, which always throws me into research and review mode and means I struggle to focus on my writing. The second reason (and a much nicer one) was that my wife took me away for the weekend to North Berwick, partly for Valentine’s Day and partly because I could not remember going previously.

It was cold but clear, and we walked up and down the coast, had lunch in a good pub, and had dinner in the hotel. I still can’t remember going, but I will definitely go back. One of the bonuses of getting older is that I can repeat activities, and it feels like the first time.

I was hoping to find out a little more about the Berwick Witches, but it seems this story has been ignored, which is not a surprise as it’s violent and nasty, but it would be good to give the over 100 women who were accused their voices back.

Reading

The Unforgiven Dead is an excellent book that deals with themes I am familiar with but has a different Scottish setting.

Articles

Switzerland has always fascinated me, and I was lucky enough to travel there regularly until recently. On the surface, it seems picture-postcard perfect, but in its relationship to money, it has a dark heart: Here Lives the Monster’s Brain.

Watching

Robin Of Sherwood - when I was a kid, Saturday evenings were spent watching this TV show. It influenced me greatly with its mix of history and pagan myths. Born near Nottingham, the story of Robin Hood was one I was brought up on. He was our local hero, and probably because of him, I, too, became both an archer and fencer. Play in the local woodland was about hiding in the green and playing the role of the wolfshead. This retelling, taking in both the Robin of Loxley and Robert of Huntingdon, adds a layer of magic and old gods dealing with the Norman stranglehold of the country.

The cast is young, with some familiar faces to us in the UK, and through the fighting and some of the lines are a little stilted, it is great fun. This version of the Sheriff of Nottingham, played by the scowling Nikolas Grace, must have been the starting point for Rickman’s version in Prince of Thieves. It also stars the lovely Judi Trott, my first crush.

And I’m out. I need to get back to writing. In these troubled times, make time for what you love; everything else becomes background noise.