On Time

I got a nice feeling when I read Hamish Brown’s “Give Them A Big Hand” in the May issue. He said the church clock in Elie had only three faces. It reminded me that the Old Kirk in Kilmacolm also had a square tower with only three faces. Along with a good friend we drove to confirm this, and sure enough the church tower has one blank side. On looking more closely we noticed that all three faces were different. The east-facing clock was bigger than both the north and south clock faces. But they were not the same. The north-facing dial had IV in the 4 position, the correct Roman numeral, but the south-facing dial had IIII in the 4 position, which is the common symbol. Readers might want to know why 4 is IIII. The story goes that a clockmaker was going to make a clock for King Louis XIV. He made the workings and the case but got his apprentice to make the face. The night before the presentation the clockmaker noticed the error but did not have time to correct it. Louis XIV did not notice the mistake, and all the clocks since then had IIII. From then on clocks were made with this “error” and were called Louis XIV clocks.

J McFarlane, Inchinnan

 

Dangerous Nest

Some years ago when I lived in Wick, a friend of mine who maintained Hydro Electric lines throughout Caithness was called to a remote sub-station which had failed. The cause turned out to be two very charred crows: their nest was fashioned, like Jim Crumley’s ravens’ nest in Iceland (Nature Watch, May), from barbed wire. Not an ideal material for nest building in a sub-station, given the high winds of Caithness.

Dan MacQuarrie, Blairgowrie

Birds Can Read!

Jim Crumley’s story re nesting birds in the May issue was most interesting, as are all his contributions. A bird’s nest made of barbed wire sounds most uncomfortable, but it reminded me of a nest I once found. It was way back in the 1970s when I was staying in Hastings, East Sussex. I was cutting the garden hedge in the autumn when I came across an old bird’s nest which was lined with a polythene bag on which was printed in large letters “You can’t beat wool for warmth”. So who says birds can’t read?

Cynthia Green, Helensburgh

 

Dough School

As a regular reader of The Scots Magazine for many years, I was surprised and delighted to read that there is a new published edition of the Glasgow Cookery Book (reviewed in Books In Brief, February). For me, that book was a real life saver. Just married and completely new to Kenya in 1955, I had fondly imagined that cooking was a matter of “common sense and a cookery book”. Sadly, I did not seem blessed with much of the former and lacked the latter, other than the Kenya Cookery Book, excellent in itself, and compiled by the Women’s Guild of St. Andrews Scots Kirk, Nairobi. But this was a book for “those who knew”, and tended to be delightfully vague every now and then. I had no idea what “a cup of butter” meant. What size was a cup, for goodness sake? Worse still, all I had to learn on was a black cast-iron Scots-manufactured stove called a Carron Dover that looked as though it had been seconded from an industrial museum. It was wood-fired and there was no electricity where we lived. My father in Scotland asked if there was anything I wanted sent out for my birthday. I had a sister who was a “dough girl” and remembered her Glasgow Cookery Book, so asked for a copy and couldn’t wait for it to arrive. I still have it and still use it. What a godsend it was in those early days as it was foolproof and the only thing it couldn’t tell me was how to successfully stoke my stove. However, I even managed that – eventually – and could even turn out an egg sponge in the primitive oven. All these memories came flooding back when I read the review of the new edition. Mine was published in 1955 by John Smith & Son (Glasgow) Ltd, a reprint of the second revised edition of 1954 so it must have been popular and very up-to-date. I would love to see the new version and will take that opportunity when I am in Scotland later this year. It seemed sad that the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science closed down, as it was a wonderful place and in its day extremely well- equipped. I am so glad that its cookery book lives on.

Mrs Julia Lawrence, Nairobi, Kenya

Kirkie Recollections

The article about Kirkintilloch and the Forth & Clyde Canal by David McVey in the February issue of the magazine brought back many memories, as a wee boy and a teenager. My grandparents lived at Auchenreoch prior to moving to Milton-of-Campsie. I was taken many times as a wee lad to shop for the messages to Lowe’s Grocery in the Cowgate and on one occasion to the canal to see the Gypsy Queen before it was broken up. In my teenage years during visits to Milton-of-Campsie I would visit the Black Bull or Pavilion Cinemas, afterwards have a fish supper from Coia’s chip shop and as my friends and I increased in wealth (more pocket money from our parents) we would visit the Peel Cafe, listen to 78 rpm records on the jukebox, have an iced drink or ice-cream with raspberry and put the world to rights in our discussions. Then we were off to the dancing at the Miners’ Welfare to dance to the Bluebirds Dance Band.

Robert M. Young, Cumnock