Bergen without my Bergen
This week I have travelled to Bergen, albeit without my Bergen. That probably won't make much sense unless you've been around the British Army, which calls rucksacks Bergens. Beautiful Bergen Bergen really is a beautiful place. The city nestles on the hillsides of seven mountains, with fjords in its midst. It's an ancient port, and still serves cruise ships and north sea oil tenders. Most of the photos are still on my camera rather than my phone. But I'll post some later on when I've had a chance to hook the camera up to the laptop. Trolls We went troll hunting up on top of Mount Fløyen, one of the seven mountains. Not the nasty internet sort, or even the ones that live under bridges. In the woods the locals have carved dozens of trolls and left them there for…
New Bookshelf – Bookshelves Abound = #Shelfie 06
The Bookshelves Abound series continues with the New Bookshelf. This one of the five bookshelves on the upstairs landing. It sits between the Academic Bookshelf and my Writer's Bookshelf. New Bookshelf the new bookshelf, where the new (to me) books go awaiting their turn to be read (or shelved elsewhere). The New Bookshelf is where I put all my new books when I first acquire them. It's perhaps the most overloaded Games The top two shelves of the new bookshelf has board games on it. Some of these are very old, I started playing Panzer Blitz & Panzer Leader when I was at university (1989-92). Most of the others have been acquired in 1990s, although there are some recent acquisitions, notably Shogun and Settlers of Catan. Periodicals There are two journals on these shelves. The one that you can see most…
Blood Faerie by India Drummond [Book Review]
Blood Faerie by India Drummond My rating: 4 of 5 stars I picked this up on kindle on a special offer, and finally got round to reading it over the summer holidays. I've enjoyed the Iron Druid stories, and it seemed to share some level of realism with those. Not exactly the same, but not a sparkly urban fantasy tale either. The faerie lore was quite different, and so were the druids. Blood Faerie is set in the real world, and magic happens without us noticing. So worth a read, especially on special offer. Blood Faerie Review I enjoyed it quite a lot. I would certainly read more in this world. The premise of the story is that there are some kinds of magic that the faeries don't tolerate. The Blood magic in the title being one of those forbidden…
Duncan Kemp 1871 – 1891 [Tragedy on the River Leven]
Exactly 125 years ago my Great, Great Uncle Duncan Kemp died in a bicycle accident. He came off his bicycle while travelling along the path at the side of the River Leven and was swept away in the current. River Leven near the site of Duncan Kemp's 1891 bicycle accident. © Copyright Lairich Rig and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. Duncan Kemp 1871-1891 Duncan Kemp was born on the 28th of January 1871. His father James Kemp registered the birth (on 17th February) as have happened at a private residence (something Cottage) in Stewart Street, West Calder. He also recorded that the mother was his wife, Ann Kemp (maiden surname, Dewar). They married in Edinburgh in 1864 according to Duncan’s birth certificate. The 1871 census a few months later shows Duncan living with two parents (James & Ann)…
Academic Bookshelf – Bookshelves Abound = #Shelfie 05
The Bookshelves Abound series continues with the Academic Bookshelf. This one of the five bookshelves on the upstairs landing. It sits next to the window at the top of the stairs and is next to the new bookshelf, the one the new books go on until I have time to read and shelf them properly. Academic Bookshelf The thinnest upstairs bookshelf is the academic bookshelf, which has a lot of university textbooks on it The Academic Bookshelf is so titled because most of the books on it are from various university courses that I've studied. It doesn't have every single academic book that I own on it. There just wouldn't be room, even if I cleared the games from the academic bookshelf. Working from the top, here's a run down of what you can find on the academic bookshelf Games The…