beachcomber

I'm surprised John Teasdale's Elgin City team haven't been included yet.

Ashers pies at Nairn - yummmmmmmm - 99% salt !

I'd take Caley back to the Highland League days when they visited Station Park for their regular rogerings by the Wee County - Happy days

Beachcomber is just back from the Nairn v Elgin Scottish Cup Tie.

4-2 to Elgin, but they got two soft penalties and County had a goal chalked off for a dubious offside, so I'm claiming it as a moral victory.

I'm sure the ref was John Teasdale !! (I saw him in the P&J looking for a job back in football right enough !)

Big crowd, good crack, City supporters pouring off the trains at Nairn Station, The Vic jumping before the game, snaking queues at the gate, Cowshed hoaching, all in all, a cracking day out except for the official score.

photos from the gurnmeister here

maybe the board just don't want to be reminded of their last costly interaction with a person of Romany origin

Do you reckon ICT can bounce back to the SPL next season, and what are the biggest threats to them not making it ?

The table doesn't lie, but I honestly didn't expect to lose today.

Reality only hit me at the final whistle.

Hello from the North Sea - By feck the next 45 minutes are going to be high stress.

Dour is usually the first adjective used in relation to the Scots (closely followed by drunken right enuff), but from that grim dark brooding presbyterian cloud of gloom occasionally emerges the most stunning flash of inspirational forked lightening which can generate enough energy to change lives and light up the whole world.

Without one we wouldn't get the other.

Aye mun, it's all part of being Jockanese

What's he going for - is there a new Canadian Celeb Big Brother starting ?

If they let him in, could we not instigate a similar ban here to stop him returning.

Whilst I sympathise with most of his causes I find him pretty nauseating.

For me, it's the 'Caledonia' phenomenon.

Check out the opening sequence of Monty Hall's show from Applecross on the box on Sunday night.

If you wish you were there and a living breathing part of that country then that would maybe give you the feeling of what it is to be a Scotch-man, or rather a Highlander.

I clearly recall living in London and nearly greetin at the scenery on Monarch of the Glen, I'd never really experienced homesickness until then.

It's always highland phenomena that really get me - the moors, the stags, the mountains, the glens, the slate grey skies and seas, with the odd blue sky day just to show off what it can do when it wants.

Views over Auld reekie can do it too.

Not so keen on the Weegie end of our wee corner of the cosmos right enuff. If Glesga was to become part of England-shire, that would solve all my problems with the bonus that the the OF could then join the EPL, although they'd be more at home somewhere in Oireland apparently. Not to keen on Eberdeen either now that I think about it.

aye, this democrcy malarky aint all it's cracked up to be

Seems to me that road signs, which should be a purely utilitarian item for directing drivers in the right direction, are the wrong medium to be used for promoting the Gaelic.

I'm not convinced they're dangerous, but they are bloody annoying and hard to read.

If the politicians think they have got all that money to burn, couldn't they chuck it at business premises to get them to erect bilingual signs/literature etc. instead of cluttering up the signposts.

pogue mahone

All the 'headhunters' and 'recruitment consultants' I've come across have been nothing but fast talking opportunist spivs and flash harrys.

You'll never Waulk alone ?

'Bring it on Home' - bring it on back

Davie Johnston

A Penthouse Cottage - nice idea - a potential niche market for Tullochs ?

Nairn is what it is - a fast fading Victorian sea-side resort that's seen better days, (a bit like your correspondent) with a run down High Street, but still with a great beach and home to the odd Oscar winning actress and ICT chairman. It doesn't pretend to be much else.

But Snecky masquerading as a cosmopolitan city - you've got to laugh.

Face it, Inversnecky IS a backwater. It's a dull regional town, miles from anywhere with limited attractions for most twenty-somethings, unless they're tree hugging, munro-bagging, gore-tex fetishists.

There's not too many professional footballers want to spend their free time hiking the Lairg Ghru.

These young lads want pubs, nightclubs, more pubs and more nightclubs full of would be WAGs who're game for whatever it is premiership footballers aspire to do with them.

Unless ICT start paying them silly money (which they thankfully can't and won't), there's no incentive for them to head North and there's not a whole lot can be done to change it.

Most of the folk I've come across who argue otherwise have never actually lived anywhere else and still think having a Markies makes the place a city.

Not a song, but a book we did at school ......Little Black Sambo by one Helen Bannerman - any relation Charles ?

The main bit I always remember was the bit about the tigers turning into butter, not that it was in any way racist or derogatory. Those connotations were later ladled onto it by the PC brigade. I somehow doubt it's still used.

Actress Tilda Swinton, a recent oscar nominee, lives in Nairn, in what strikes me as a complicated relationship.

Read all about it

and she was recently on David Letterman and they had a good laugh about ..... "Nairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn", sure the clip will be on youtube somewhere..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYykI78bBAI

So, in summary, it appears that the most amazing fact about Inverness is that it's near bohemian and cosmopolitan Nairn

I suppose it's a bit like fishing in as far as you sit for ages with your rod in your hand hoping for a bite (apparently)

Can't remember the exact prices, but don't let it put you off, it's a darn site cheaper than an afternoon at the TCS and it really is worthwhile going, it's one of the best visitor centres I've seen, and as Mr2000 says above, the cafe's not half bad either. Can't vouch for the ghosts, but if Feb 8th says it's haunted - it's haunted.

Would it be a old 'Motte and Bailey' style castle site they were referring to?

Might help with your enquiries.

I visited Cardiff recently and Cardiff Castle is a great example of this type of design.

Cardiff's well worth visiting too - I was very pleasantly surprised by the place. (as usual, I digress)

In fact Beachcombers country residence in Shanghai is built in this style to keep the marauding invernessians at bay.

Ach I know, but it's a story that's been floating around for so long as to become a bit of a good urban myth. I'll ask Tatlers editor for verification next time they're round to do a feature on the modern art collection in my Shanghai mansion.

Charles my good man, if anyone can shed light on 'Bill McAllister' (if that was inded him), then I'm relying on you.

Nairn didn't have to get evacuated in 1930, but the Highland Council are now doing there damndest to evacuate any semblance of autonomy and community from the town with their invercentric policies.