Worldismyfriend

8 august

Yesterday came up with Betty and Paul from Edinburgh… great trip! We stopped at the Falkirks Wheel which is the most amazing thing… transporting boats up the canal system from lower areas. Different to locks in the canals as this is a wheel that brings one boat down while another goes up.

Paul is just great as he give some insights into the invisible history of the place explaining about the northern most wall- the Antonine Wall - ( a mound really) that was the border of the Roman Empires expansion into Scotland established in 150AD. Further south there is Hadrian’s wall which was established some years early … but the Romans never got any further because they just overreached and then the army began to retreat.

Here in Kirriemuir (19 mills street) we had a chance to stay at the beautiful and well-known Kirri cottage of Betty and Pauls… with another summer house… superb little places these for just sitting and reading.. makes me want to do something for Kennet along the same lines now that I’ve seen them in action. Places of Retreat and sanctuary away from noise..

Later in the evening we went for a walk along the fields that flank this part of town… just glorious in the evening sun.. about 20 degrees even at 8pm.. the volumes of insects in the fields was just incredible… Land set aside for non-agricultural production… Britain produces too much food (well, its possible because the imports are so cheap… so the subsidies to farmers occurs).. the subsidies include paying famers for not working the land… but they are asked to plant certain plants that will encourage insect life and add to the landscape … so in effect they are ‘farming for biodiversity’ reasons. It’s a re-frame of what it means to be a farmer as I understood it… Its great to see… in effect it’s the limitations of free-trade creating a need to keep farmers alive but in the end the effect is far from just paying them to keep busy, they are actually making a contribution to the whole through their planting of different species.

The silver outlining of the flowers was magical… made possible by the setting sun on the fine hairs on the grasses. Paul pointed out the Hill of Dunsinane and where Burnham Woods was. The castle of Macbeth (at least in Shakespeares creation) is not far from here so we plan to go and have a look later…

I must remember some of the plants in Bettys garden. I like the idea of a privet hedge somewhere.. (such a beautiful flower!) and also a dwarf yew… and the old Tree Peony… making a great screen and self seeding happily.