Burghead

Burghead is a small peninsula in Scotland not far from Elgin. There is a small harbour and settlement and the remnants of an old Pictish fort along with an appealing rocky shoreline.

Frosty (2010 - 2024)

Frosty was a rescue cat. We think he was a Turkish Angora. He was brilliant white with blue eyes and was deaf, as many white cats are. He arrived by chance in December 2019 when he was already 9 1/2 years old. As much as my wife likes cats and other animals she is a born worrier so it always seemed that another cat was out of the question after our last one passed away in 2001. Being deaf was what made it possible because he was a house cat and would not go out meaning he would be safe. Apart from an odd 10 days of suddenly hiding and only coming out for food he settled in fairly well and then in March 2020 Covid came along and we spent a few weeks at home with various bags and boxes from the office where we work and Frosty loved it, a veritable adventure playground with loads of new places to sleep. He truly became 'our' cat from then on gradually turning in to a lap cat as well, naturally favouring my wife.

We then found he would venture in to the garden, initially on a lead, then under our watchful eye and ultimately left to his own devices. Generally a brief soiree and then he would hurtle in . He hardly ever ventured from our garden, being a real home cat and we loved his ways.

Sadly Frosty started to display some health problems a couple of years ago and although he rallied with the aid of treatment from the vet the problems began to have a more obvious effect and today, after a few poor days for him, we had to make the extremely sad decision to call time. Almost 5 years has gone too quickly and the house seems quiet and empty this evening but we gave him the best we could and console ourselves that he was very happy in that time. Frosty you will be missed big time.

Papplewick Pumping Station

Papplewick Pumping Station was built in the 1880s to pump fresh water in to reservoirs that then supplied the city of Nottingham. There were two beam engines and six boilers in situ to do this and they remained in use, basically unchanged, until 1969 when the site was decommissioned.

The site is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is open for tours and also has live steam days. We were there a week before the next live steam but one of the boilers was already lit as it takes a week to gently build the boiler up to pressure and heat the water to produce the steam required as a very cautious approach is taken to operations today.

The Pumping Station is typical of Victorian extravagance with much decorative detail that has no purpose outside of being ostentatious.

Ballindalloch Castle

Ballindalloch Castle, a little south of Elgin in Scotland, is the family home of the Machperson-Grants and has been since 1546 when the first tower was built. The castle has been extended over the years notably in 1770 and 1850. We went for a look last month on a damp day that turned to pleasant sunshine for a good while after lunch.

Quite a bit of the castle is open to the public but as it is still a family home photographs of the interior are unfortunately prohibited. Never the less it is worth a tour. However, the castle exterior is quite photogenic and there is a nice walled garden and rock garden providing pleasing vistas.