snorbens_caleyman

Never actually been to that precise spot. But the topography is pretty distinctive, and, using the coastline, I went more or less straight to it on Google Earth. Then confirmed the name of the hill. It got me thinking that the hill might appear in the background of some of my own photographs. Having looked at some online photos of the hill, and checked the direction on Google Earth, I am fairly sure that that's it in the photograph below, behind the people just left of centre. No work done on that site this year - another consequence of the pandemic

Castle Grant, just north of Grantown. Owned in 2012 by Craig Whyte, but (according to Wikipedia) seized by the Bank of Scotland when he refused to make mortgage payments. I'm guessing that there might have been a few photographs of it in the local news at the time. Plenty of photos of it online.

Last clue - the Scottish football connection would have been in the news in 2012.

Nope. You are too far north. There is actually a Scottish football connection from a few years (single figures) back.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Going-Ballistic-Paperback-Ian-S-Broadfoot/303620499354?epid=89238079&hash=item46b131279a:g:9gUAAOSwSmxfCZVa £20.94, free postage. They say they have two available. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Going-Ballistic-Inverness-Caledonian-Thistle/dp/0953124010 7 used, from £20. https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/going-ballistic-inverness-caledonian-thistle-fc-the-first-decade-1994-5-to-2003-4/author/ian-s-broadfoot/ 4 available, from £19.50. There may be some overlap - ie the same vendors could be on more than one of those platforms.

Not sure. My father did manage to get someone out late one night - can't remember if it was from the hotel or not - to open up the pumps and sell us a gallon of petrol. Otherwise we wouldn't have made it home. The Freeburn Hotel at Tomatin. The photgraph below is from 1986. I don't think the place has ever been open to the public, but I think there's a chance that you will know it.

Makes me think of lederhosen - hope they have the shorts and socks to complete the look

Me too - I threw it out not so long ago, when I was tidying up. I just recently came across a few cassettes that I haven't digitised. Including one of my late father's, labelled as "Caley-Thistle merger debate - Sir Robert Cowan". I have no idea what that is! Should still have the tape deck. It's either in the attic or under a bed - unless my wife has been tidying up too

There's no fooling some people! Must try harder...

OK. Altguish Inn between Garve and Ullapool. Sorry for not memorising the previous 50 pages One from 1954 - before my time!

OK, then - Campeltown Loch. I saw enough in the Google pictures to convince me that it wasn't Here's one of my Dad's from 1992.

Thought it might be the place that a popular (?) entertainer once wished was whisky. But, having gone for a walk there with the wee yellow man, I don't think so any more.

There is - you'd be taken to the cleaners by any half-decent law student No way on earth could that be fair. You do not change the rules of a competition once it is under way - unless with the agreement of all concerned. And I mean all concerned - look at the debacle about the ending of last season. That's enough from me on this!

But you could have a club saying "We have been penalised, but Aberdeen were not. Unfair!". It could make the difference between qualifying for Europe or not, or between being relegated or staying up - or simply a difference in prize money. So you would want to have the clubs agree to it. And we have just seen how well that works

The time for changing the rules to include points penalties was when any extra rules about bubbles and other covid precautions were agreed and introduced. It's not good to change the rules retrospectively after a specific event in the middle of a competition!

Greater Manchester is also in lockdown, and they are playing a test match at Old Trafford. Provided everyone involved obeys the rules, then it is reckoned that the risks can be managed. The test match bubble certainly excludes family - hence the fuss when one England player went home between Southampton and Manchester. The test matches are being played at Southampton and Manchester because these grounds have on-site hotels, where everyone stays. Even the TV commentators - when they are not on air, they simply go back to their rooms and watch the match on TV. But the bubbles for club sports - e.g. football and cricket - are not so drastic.

Love it! One of things that amused my wife and myself down here in the London area was the "discovery", about 10-15 years ago, of porridge as a "superfood". We had the very rapid spread of porridge outlets, in cafes, health food bars, and railway station stalls, all selling this wonderstuff to the trendy young professionals heading to their offices and trading floors in the City, in Canary Wharf, and so on. What used to horrify us was the stuff that was added to it to make it attractive (or just edible). Looking at just one website, I can see, amongst many others, porridge with: almond milk oats, butter, hazelnuts, cinnamon coconut palm sugar and apple fig, agave and chia seeds date molasses and Medjool dates vanilla cream, cocoa nibs, chia, banana mature coconut, dates, almonds, apple, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, hemp seeds, cacao and blueberries. Personally, I can't stand the stuff

It's Spynie Palace, between Elgin and Lossiemouth. Former residence of the Bishops of Moray. We were staying at the Orkney Hotel in Kirkwall. At breakfast, the waitress - English, obviously new - came and asked us what we would like. My wife said: "I think I'll have the porridge today". Waitress: "OK - just hang on, I'll go and see if we got any in overnight". Ever since, I have had this vision of a porridge tanker trundling through the streets of Kirkwall in the wee sma' hours, making deliveries...

Will leave it just now in case Mantis knows. It's probably less than 10 miles from the last one...

I think I'm coming to the end of my photographs which are suitable for this thread. Will have another look for more, but if I don't contribute, it doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying it!

I knew someone who worked in a chicken factory as a summer job, and who promptly went vegetarian. She stuck with it, too

Baxters. "Neighbours of mine, just across the firth", as James Robertson Justice used to say in the TV adverts back in the dark ages. He lived at Spinningdale, and I used to imagine him doing 100 miles across the firth and back in a wee rowing boat, whenever he found himself short of a can of ****-a-leekie. Later addition: do we really need to censor the name of a Scottish soup? Wonder what happens when I write Scunthorpe...

You're right - it's easy. The PM visited a well-known establishment nearby, as part of his Farewell Tour of Scotland last week.

So I've been in the neighbourhood, but not actually there.

Only one solution then - political vetting of anyone attempting to buy a season ticket