“A HIGHLAND LEGACY” by Hamish Mackenzie

Edition 25 – January 2021

Welcome to the January Edition of our Newsletter

Happy New Year - and it’s been a great start of the year for the newsletter because I have received lots of items to put in it! It is full of articles by you, the members! So a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who has contributed to this month’s newsletter and please don’t forget to keep sending in your articles.

The above photo was taken by Helen Campbell and you can see more of Helen’s fabulous seasonal photos on page 4.

One thing you may notice in the newsletter is the U3A logo has now been changed by National Office to u3a. So for our eagle eyed members – it is not a typo!

With the wonderful news of the vaccine being rolled out (and I know several members have been lucky enough to have already have received it) we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully it won’t be too long before we can all safely meet up again.

Don’t forget our next edition will be published on Thursday 18th February and will hopefully be another bumper one so please remember to send in your contributions by 12th February.

Please send any contributions to 1 Karen: [email protected] Music in Our Time

Music Inspired By Travelling by Alan Malloy

Looking forward to the happy time when we can travel again, I have taken this theme for my music article this month. I hope you find these songs, mostly contemporary, enjoyable and uplifting.

Up-Up And Away This song takes me back to my teenage years: happy times for me. The group performing this is The Fifth Dimension. The song was a hit record for this American group in many countries and such was its success, that it was recorded by many other artists including Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Diana Ross and, Nancy Sinatra. Hearing this song makes my spirits soar, I hope it does the same for you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5akEgsZSfhg

Ticket To Ride Of course we all remember this song, released by The Beatles in 1965. While the sentiments may not be especially positive, the tune itself is upbeat and happy. The song got to Number 1, the Beatles’ seventh consecutive number 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyNt5zm3U_M

Fly Me To The Moon This song was most famously sung by Frank Sinatra and is strongly associated with the Apollo missions to the moon. Sinatra’s recording was released in 1964, although the song was originally written ten years earlier and recorded by several other artists including Johnny Mathis and Peggy Lee. Originally entitled ‘In Other Words’, Peggy Lee persuaded the writer Bart Howard to change its title. Interestingly, the song was taken on cassette to the moon by the crews of both Apollos 10 and 11. (Apollo 11 famously landed on the Moon in July 1969.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQR0bXO_l8

Planes and Boats and Trains This song was written by Burt Bacharach with his lyricist Hal David, and first recorded in 1965. It soon became a hit and was performed by Bacharach himself and also Dionne Warwick in America, and in this country, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Bacharach wrote the song for Gene Pitney, who declined to record it saying “It’s not one of your best.” Dionne Warwick is the singer in this clip, and is to my mind one of the best performers of this wonderful song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwOngoEnVgw

Walkin’ Back To Happiness For my final song, I’ve chosen something more environmentally friendly - walking. This song was performed most notably by Helen Shapiro in 1961. It sold over a million copies and was top of the pops in many countries. It is a happy, optimistic song and a perfect way during Lockdown to finish this article on travelling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwGGFo5FDew

1 1 Useful Information!! 8

New measures announced by the First Minister last week have come into force:

Click & Collect Only retailers selling essential click & collect services - such as clothing, footwear, baby equipment, homeware and books - will be allowed to offer click and collect, with access inside the premises not permitted.

Takeaway Customers will no longer be permitted to go inside to collect takeaways.

Alcohol Drinking alcohol outdoors in public spaces will now be against the law in all level four areas of Scotland.

Stay At Home People must not leave or remain outside the home unless it is for an essential purpose.

Work Inside Homes Work is only permitted if it is essential for the maintenance and functioning of the home.

Work From Home The law already says that we should only be leaving home to go to work if it is work that cannot be done from home.

Coronavirus in Scotland

Stopping the spread starts with all of us.

You should:

 wear a face covering

 avoid crowded places

 clean hands and surfaces regularly

 stay 2m away from other people

3  self-isolate and book a test if you have COVID-19 symptoms (new continuous cough, fever or loss of, or change in, sense Helen Campbell has been busy with her camera again!

Crab apples in winter light

Moniack forest walk Bark, so lovely in wintertime

Helen says ‘from my Bishops walk, with Judy. Signs of spring just round the corner as snowdrops about to show, catkins and pussy willow opening on trees and of course the amazing shoreline and sky that we enjoy, so blessed in our surroundings in Easter Ross.

“A HIGHLAND LEGACY” by Hamish Mackenzie

Our esteemed editor asks whether we have been doing anything during lockdown that might be of interest to other members. In my case I have finally managed to complete and to bring to publication a book that I started writing when, thirteen years ago, I reached three score years and ten:-

Hopefully the blurb should give you some idea of whether my book might be of interest:-

You can explore the book further with Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature. Should you perchance be minded to risk buying a copy Amazon offers a discount from the retail price of £18.99 - but I would urge you to be generous enough to buy it at the full price from the Tain & District Museum, whose income has suffered during the pandemic and to which I have donated the first print run. They will mail out copies from https://www.tainmuseum.org.uk/a- highland-legacy.asp .

John Webster 07/06/1920 - 05/12/2020

On the morning of Tuesday 15th December, it was with great sadness that family and friends gathered together at the St. Duthus New Cemetery in Tain to bid a final farewell to our dear friend John. It was a glorious winter’s day, with bright sun and a cloudless, blue sky, perfect weather for the outdoor funeral service which was led by Rev. Andrew Fothergill. Two hymns were sung, ‘My times are in thy hand’ and ‘Thine be the glory’, which were accompanied by a keyboard. Moving tributes were paid to John by one of his daughters and his oldest grandson, recalling his loving nature, his incredible sense of humour and his indefatigable spirit of adventure. The service ended with ‘Going Home’ (Dvorak’s Theme from the New World Symphony,) played beautifully by a lone piper. John’s obituary was published in The Scottish Times on Wednesday December 30th 2020 and The Scotsman on Friday January 8th 2021. Both are available online and make for truly captivating reading. Our thoughts and prayers are with Pat and family at this sad time.

Dear ERAS Friends

Thank you for all your messages of love and support after John died. They were a great source of comfort and encouragement. I shall miss him, as I know you will, but we all realized that it was his time to go – I`m pretty sure he`d decided it was too – and his funeral gave us the chance to let him go on his next big adventure with our love and blessing. I was so glad some of you were able to join us at the outdoor service, and only sorry everybody couldn`t come up to the hotel with us afterwards to share some memories.

The encouragement and support has been there throughout lockdown as well, and I`m sure everyone has been greatly cheered by and benefitted from the messages, `funnies`, videos, the frequent checking in just to make sure everyone was ok. I know we were. And then there was – and is – the Newsletter …..! I`m so glad that has continued, by popular request.

Our membership of U3A has added so much to our lives over the past (five or six?) years and we have (and do) treasure the friendships made. With interesting places to go, fun things to do and learn , and always, friends to meet and chat with – a part John particularly enjoyed – we have had a full, and fairly active, social life which has been a source of much pleasure to both of us. I am especially glad that John was able to be interested, active and engaged right up to his 100th birthday. (Your part in the lockdown celebrations for that occasion will be a lasting memory!)

Thank you all for your friendship, to both John and me. I look forward to many more happy times – hopefully some of them, some time in the not too distant future, face to face rather than via a screen.

See you soon – one way or another!

Love

Pat

News from our Interest Groups

Easter Ross and Sutherland u3a Reading Group January 2021

We met via Zoom on Friday 15th. We were discussing The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict. As previously agreed our leader, Lyn Dyke, allocated us each a question to have prepared to answer. After our social chat and update on various things Lyn asked each of us in turn to answer our question with spaces in between for the rest of us to comment. On the whole most of us enjoyed the book and found it interesting. We all agreed that whilst restrictions continue we would like to continue with our Zoom meetings once a month.

Although the story is fiction, it is based on fact. One of our group had done a bit of research into Mileva Einstein's diaries and those of some of her friends and acquaintances. She reported that the book was definitely fairly accurate about the events of Mileva's life from when she went to the Polytechnic and her eventual separation from her husband, Albert Einstein. I will never hear the man's name again without thinking what a horrible man he was. It is almost certain that he stole Mileva's ideas on relativity etc and passed them off as his own. Between that, his many affairs and being a pretty disinterested father as well as treating his wife very badly he was a very selfish, nasty man.

Our book for February is the Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd. It is set around the start of the 20th century and is about a young woman who travels from Edinburgh to China by boat to marry. Her husband has little to do with her and she has an affair with a Japanese soldier. Once this becomes known she is forced to flee to Japan where her life is less than ideal.

We are currently considering books to read for the next 6-10 months. Please if you have read anything you would recommend email me the title and author of the book as soon as possible. We read almost all genres and are very open to suggestions. Also if you would like to join the Book Group, even if it is just during the current restrictions, do let me know. A huge thank you to Lyn Dyke for continuing with the Book Group during the pandemic.

Easter Ross and Sutherland u3a Walking Group Walk Around Carbisdale Castle December 2020

Once again we were lucky with the weather. We met at the lay-by just beyond the rail bridge at Invershin. Once all the Covid related rules were gone over, Peter led us on the walk. Leaving the lay-by we crossed the footbridge by the rail bridge over the River Shin. This crossing is not for the faint hearted as you are walking across a metal grating with the swirling river well below you.

However the views across to the Castle and beyond are worth the scary bridge crossing. The pod in the foreground is labelled as ‘The Pub!’

We continued on to the Castle where we noted there is building work being done. Does anyone know who owns it now and what they plan to do with it?

Richard appraised us of a potted history of the Castle. I couldn't believe it was only completed in 1917 as I thought it was much older.

Carbisdale Castle was built by the Dowager Duchess of The 3rd Duke of Sutherland between 1905 and 1917. She had a major dispute with her family about inheritances after the Duke’s death and received a financial settlement, as long as she did not live in Sutherland. She bought the land at Carbisdale, just in Ross-shire, but overlooking Sutherland. The castle was known as the “castle of spite.” The Sutherland family could see her Castle every time they travelled on the train. Additionally, the four sided Tower had only three clock faces, because she would not give the Sutherland family the time of day.

The Castle was bought by Theodore Salveson in 1933 and in World War 2, it became the royal palace of King Haakon VII, the Norwegian king in exile. In 1945, it was gifted to the Youth Hostel Association and was a youth hostel until 2011. It has been bought by a private organisation.

We then walked through mature woodland eventually meandering along a burn which at points was gushing down a waterfall and over large rocks. It was truly spectacular and we all commented about how lucky we are to live where we do. We stopped at a waterfall to admire it and to have snack.

We continued to a beautiful serene loch where the trees were mirrored in the water.

We followed a smaller path going downhill to the site of the Battle of Carbisdale where Richard again gave us a bit of history.

The Battle of Carbisdale took place in April 1650 between the Covenanters (supported by Clans Ross and Munro) and the Royalists under the Marquess of Montrose. The Covenanters were victorious and the Marquess fled to Ardvreck Castle, where he was captured. He was taken as a prisoner to Edinburgh where he was executed, but spent a night in Tain on the way. He was kept in the Ark, a building in what is now a car park on Academy Street, although the motorcycle shop premises behind were part of the Ark.

Here we got a superb view towards Bonar Bridge and the estuary.

We continued on downhill following a burn and crossing a couple of wooden bridges.

Soon we were back at the bridge over the Shin and in our cars.

Another superb walk and fabulous company. We departed wishing each other all the best for 2021.

A huge thanks to Peter for leading the walk and providing pictures. Also to Richard for doing the history research and to Sue Findlay for her pictures.

Easter Ross & Sutherland u3a Geology Group News The Geology Group had its second Zoom meeting in December, when Peter gave a presentation about ‘Scotland’s Faults’ – geological ones of course! Peter’s presentation used about 50 slides and photographs including quite a few taken during previous years’ field visits. They were put together as a PowerPoint presentation and each slide provided an opportunity for members to discuss and ask questions.

The map of Scotland is literally shaped by four major geological faults. The low-lying Central Belt is defined by faults where the Highlands begin to the North and the Southern Uplands start to the South. The position of these faults can easily be seen from above.

The Great Glen fault is another very obvious line, where the whole of the land north of the fault has moved about 65 miles North East relative to the rest of Scotland.

In the North West of Scotland, the Moine Thrust is less obvious, but it is of great interest as a ‘classic’ zone where some of the early geologists first worked out how many of the world’s mountain ranges were formed. This is recognised by the area being one of the international ‘Geoparks’, and there are many information boards as you drive around the area, with a major display centre at Knockan Crag, near Elphin.

To the South, there is another feature roughly along the England/Scotland boundary, where between 500 and 400 million years ago two continental plates, previously 1,000 miles apart, gradually came together and joined up into one land mass.

The Moine Thrust near Kylesku, where you can readily see the thrust surface where the grey mountains in the centre of the picture have been thrust up and along the sloping reddish coloured rocks beneath, moving about 30km at this location.

The next geology group will be a ‘back to geology basics’ session on Thursday 21 January, at 2.00pm (to be confirmed). This will be aimed at new group members and provide an opportunity for others to revisit some topics covered previously. If you would like to join the group for this session please let Peter know at [email protected].

Stir Crazy by Rhoda Malloy

The definition of ‘stir crazy’ is - “distraught because of prolonged confinement”. It is a phrase that dates back to the early 1900s, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, and was used among inmates in prison. It referred to a prisoner who became mentally unbalanced due to prolonged incarceration. It is based upon the slang word ‘stir’ which means prison. I am sure that this is how many of us have been feeling recently. What with Lockdown restrictions and horrendous sheet-ice coverings on all local paths, I decided in a fit of desperation, to dig out my oil paints and follow a Bob Ross ‘Joy of Painting’ programme. If you are seeking an hour or two of mindful meditation, this is an effective way to concentrate on the here and now and lose yourself in an all-consuming undertaking. Have a try and share the results with us! You don’t need oils or a canvas - sketches, drawings, colourings in or painting by numbers pictures would be wonderful contributions to our newsletter, plus you will receive the added benefit of a couple of hours spent living ‘in the moment’.

Hobbies by Ruth

Time exists to be passed and hobbies do the trick. Pick a few to get you through your leisure time. There's pleasure to be found in sports. Pull on your shorts and kick a ball into a goal or whack it with a bat or racquet. Club it till you shove it down a tiny hole.

If you don't know how to do it, go to classes. Learn to decorate a cake or partake in rubbing brasses. Some choose amateur dramatics, some join a choir. Or hire some skates and pirouette around a rink. Thinking people go for chess or bridge or scrabble. There are oils in which to dabble, clay pots waiting to be thrown and a gay array of stunt kites desperate to be flown.

Don an anorak and spot some trains or planes. There's an embarrassment of garden gnomes who need good homes. Time can be spent arranging crested spoons or thimbles. You can nimbly stick old postage stamps into a book. Sit and knit or sew or smock. Run amok with a crochet hook.

I don't play ball. I am no good at crafts Gaudy cakes don't turn me on at all. Trains, planes and skating leave me cold. I hold no desire to win at games. I cannot act or sing. I spent my time collecting things.

Liars and cheats, I found a lot of those. Lame ducks who needed tending till they got back on their feet. A lot of wolves in sheep's clothing, I had quite an eye for them I can spot a perfect waste of space a mile away and could proudly boast a host, a colourful array of losers - easy to choose, the supply never ran dry. As hobbies go, it was really quite cheap selecting these defective men to keep in my collection.

But, every now and then, I wish I'd taken up embroidery or origami, skateboarding or steeple chasing, picture framing, stock car racing, all-in wrestling lion taming, swallowing swords, or even - floral art.

And not passed my time, breaking my heart.

Just for fun

Edition 24’s ‘Guess the Object’ was, of course a Christmas tree decoration!

Autumn colours at Aldie Burn

Nigg sky at night

Can you guess what this object is? Answer in the next edition of the newsletter. Thanks to Rhoda Malloy for this month’s interesting object

Glorious autumn colours

Jeanie Lloyd sent in this recipe. It was just for a bit of fun to keep her husband occupied prior to Christmas!

Christmas Cake Ingredients shop bought small fruit cake shop bought ready made icing (various colours) set of instructions leave husband in kitchen to get on with it and this is what you get -

A MELTED SNOWMAN CAKE

The cake was apparently delicious, but the royal icing was a beggar to get off the plate! 20

……. and this is from Rhoda!!

Intriguing reads to get you through another Lockdown

Fed up with the same old meals? Why not seek inspiration from these new and innovative publications? I am sure they will provide a real tonic during these trying times!

‘The Best Start to Each Day’ By Hammond Deggs ‘A Perfect Breakfast’ By Chris P. Bacon ‘Pancakes’ By Mabel Sirrup ‘Making a Decent Cup of Coffee’ By Phil Turr and Cath Tierre ‘Continental Sausages’ By Frank Furter and Sal Armie ‘Cooking Pasta’ By Al Dente ‘Crumbs in My Cuppa’ By Duncan Biscuits ‘Favourite Pizza Toppings’. By Anne Chovie ‘French Cuisine’ By Sue Flay ‘How to Organise a Picnic’ By Al Fresco ‘Turkish Fast Food’ By Donna K. Bab ‘Waiting For Dinner’ By Sally Vating

If cooking is not for you, how about a bit of ‘self-help’ with these fascinating new books which cover a wide range of medical issues.

‘Symptoms of The Common Cold’ By Ron E. Nose ‘Back Problems’ By Eileen Bent ‘Carbuncles’ By Ivor Boyle ‘Antibiotics’ By Penny Silling ‘Bacteria’ By Mike Robes ‘Hypnotism’ By N. Tranced ‘Mosquito Bites’ By Ivan Itch ‘Eating Disorders’ By Anna Recksia ‘Dentistry’ By Phil McCavity ‘Does my bum look big in this?’ By Hugh Jars

Prefer to keep workmen at bay during Lockdown? Use the following books to guide you through those D.I.Y. jobs that you now have the time to tackle.

‘Bricklaying’ By Bill Jerome Wall ‘Installing French Windows’ By Pattie O’Dors ‘Carpet Fitting’ By Walter Wall ‘D.I.Y. made simple’ F. Oughtless-Lee

Jackie Palfreman had a book of Pam Ayes poems for Christmas and thought she would share this very topical one with our members.

2020 by Pam Ayres

I’ve been to other countries where you pray you don’t get sick, When you’re taken ill, no kindly ambulance comes quick. No motor biking paramedic roaring through the rubble, Where, if you have no cash to pay them, mister, you’re in trouble.

We have a kinder system, which is comforting to all, It strives for our well being, be we elderly or small, With expertise, professional, extended country wide, So, in an emergency, a world is at our side:

Consultants and anaesthetists and those who man the door, Specialists and surgeons and the folk who mop the floor The porters and the nursing staff who labour night and day, And never ask the patient if they have the means to pay.

A plague has come, a plague that’s new, yet old, as old as time, Fomented out of suffering, and cruelty, and grime, With unimagined images which linger in the head, Refrigerated trailers for the storage of the dead.

With calm and regulated care, staff with one accord, Though fearing for their families, are working on the wards, Where end of life care nurses, in their strange protective dress, Hold a fading hand to dull the pain of loneliness.

Thanks to every doctor, every midwife, every nurse, Every single worker in the fight for life immersed. Whatever god you recognise, may your endeavours bless, Sending love and gratitude to you, The NHS.

Pam Ayres April 2020

‘The Brook’ by Lord Alfred Tennyson is a favourite of Charles Robb – who writes:

The Brook is a poem often read in schools. I only knew The Brook as a short poem. It was not until much later that I learned it was a poem within a poem. It is a haunting story with the Brook giving its comments during the main story. The Brook is a poem that haunts me especially as the words sound like the movement of water through the various hurdles. It is an onomatopoeic poem. I came across the full version after an internet search a while ago after reviving my interest in poetry. You can read the full version of ‘The Brook’ here.

Maybe this will bring back school memories to others.

If you would like to read the full version of this poem within a poem and can’t find it on line please let me know and I will email you a PDF copy. The editor

The Brook

I come from haunts of coot and hern, And here and there a foamy flake I make a sudden sally, Upon me, as I travel And sparkle out among the fern, With many a silver water-break To bicker down a valley. Above the golden gravel,

By thirty hills I hurry down, And draw them all along, and flow Or slip between the ridges, To join the brimming river, By twenty thorps, a little town, For men may come and men may go, And half a hundred bridges. But I go on forever.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow I steal by lawns and grassy plots, To join the brimming river, I slide by hazel covers; For men may come and men may go, I move the sweet forget-me-nots But I go on forever. That grow for happy lovers.

I chatter over stony ways, I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, In little sharps and trebles, Among my skimming swallows; I bubble into eddying bays, I make the netted sunbeam dance I babble on the pebbles. Against my sandy shallows.

With many a curve my banks I fret I murmur under moon and stars by many a field and fallow, In brambly wildernesses; And many a fairy foreland set I linger by my shingly bars; With willow-weed and mallow. I loiter round my cresses;

I chatter, chatter, as I flow And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river, To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever. But I go on forever.

I wind about, and in and out, with here a blossom sailing, Lord Alfred Tennyson 24 And here and there a lusty trout,

And here and there a grayling,

Sandra Richards has been looking into her family tree –

The members may be interested in what I have been up to regarding tracing my ancestors. It is amazing and very time consuming which is just as well with all the time to spend in lockdown.

So I will start. Back in April I joined ‘My Heritage’ site as I have always wanted to know about my paternal grandmother. Unfortunately I was to be disappointed as all avenues went to a dead end. So I concentrated on my paternal grandfather. This has been a great journey and to this day I am still getting more and more information to add to my 'tree'. My husband bought me a package on how to research and a roll of paper which is sold to accommodate the different generations, a bit like a wide thick toilet roll!! Well I can tell you that just the other day I finalised (well I think finished) finding out about my ancestors on my paternal side. Wait for it...... my paper is 7 foot long!

It obviously starts with me and goes back 16 generations to the year 1458. It took a lot of working out when I was sent different people who MAY be related to me so it was a matter of checking and cross checking all the time. Not least of which was the fact that so many families used to give a son their first name. So I can tell you that I have 2 Franks plus my brother was named Frank! 1 Lewis, 2 Henrys, 1 Thomas, 5 Johns, 2 Georges, 1 Edward and 1 Alexander. It was interesting to note how the surname was misspelt the further down the generations I went, which also made it difficult to confirm the validity.

Unfortunately I don't come from royalty and fortunately no one has committed murder or the like! Well not on the paternal grandfather's side! They all worked on the land until my grandfather came along and he worked in a foundry making bricks. A funny story that went around the family was that during the 2nd World war someone thought he was an undertaker and he was asked how many he was burning a day and he said 1000 or more to which they went pale. He did enlighten them later.

Interestingly until my grandfather was born all the other generations were born in Sussex. My grandfather was born in Cheshire as were my father and myself. Spookily, I went to live in Sussex when I took a nursing post there and only recently moved to Scotland as I felt I had a connection with Scotland, where the next part of my tale unfolds.

Last year I decided to have my DNA done. It revealed that I am 49.9% English, 39.9% Irish, Scottish and Welsh, 9% Scandinavian, and 1.5% Baltic.

Just last week I had correspondence from a lady in Australia who also had her DNA carried out and said we were related somewhere down the line. It appears she is related to a Gillian Gillam and this was my great grandfather’s aunt. I sent her an email to see if she had any information to help me with my Grandmother and lo and behold she gave me information that I have long waited for and I was right she WAS born in Scotland, Glasgow to be precise. The family always made a big thing about New Year and Hogmanay and I always had parties for New Year and still do apart from this past year. I am over the moon as I can now start my journey with my paternal grandmother. It also makes sense that I felt connected to Scotland.

Of course my journey has only really started as I have to research my mother's side. She was Welsh. You would expect me to know a fair bit about my mother but she died when I was young and according to her bible where she wrote that her sister and mother died within 2 weeks of one another when she was fairly young as well. Thankfully I have a cousin who is 88 and has given me something to start with but she was only 11 when she looked after me.

Then of course I MUST start looking into my husband's side of the family and so the journey continues. Well that's all for now!

If you are interested in researching your family’s past, don’t forget we

have our ERAS u3a Family History Group which I am sure will start meeting up again as soon as we are allowed. Are you a member of this group? How about sending in some tips on how members could get started with their research.

Nostalgia

Jean Griffiths has sent in this lovely story of her Memories of Cyprus

Some years ago whilst wandering around the back streets of Polis we passed a house with a garden which had trees full of lovely plump lemons. My husband mimicked plucking some and although I know he would never steal anything I shouted at him. Unbeknown to us we had been seen by the lady of the house who beckoned me in indicating would I like some. In my poor Greek I said “ena, one would be lovely, thank you”. With that she disappeared into the trees. Her husband suddenly appeared and, thinking I was lost, started shouting and pointing down the street. A car screeched to a halt behind me and a young man got out looking very puzzled. Who was the strange woman his father was yelling and gesticulating at and where was his mother? Luckily she emerged from the trees and with the great generosity of the Cypriot people her arms were full of lemons.

I then had an unsteady trip back to the car. Husband being the instigator of the fuss had long since disappeared.

The homemade lemonade was delicious.

How I wish we were fit and able to walk down that street again.

Wandering around the Baltic by Catherine Vass

Our travels in post iron curtain countries started by four of us boarding a Ryan Air flight from Prestwick to Riga, capital of Latvia. The flight was a new experience. Lots of Lats returning from working in hospitality. My husband (who is robust!) and two burly Lats, who had all been seated at the very front of the plane, suddenly shot to their feet to incapacitate a very drunk and surly man who was about to use the galley as an alternative toilet. At 10.00am!

When we went to collect our rental car we were told it had been crashed by the previous customer but we could have a Renault Traffic people carrier. We ended up with lots of room, a good view of the countryside but a nuisance in narrow streets of Riga. Many Latvian roads are hard pack. The locals seem to drive at a constant speed which seemed too fast for the road conditions but we found this eliminated lots of the vibration and bumps.

Riga is a busy city, the most striking architecture is the Art Nouveau facades of buildings lining boulevards radiating out from the centre. We enjoyed a meal in the old town in a roof top terrace looking over the domes and spires of the city. A highlight was a visit to the market housed in WW1 Zeplin sheds. The stalls were overflowing with every berry you could think of and lots of different fungi. When we were travelling through the forest we saw lots of people picking all the wild foods to sell. The market sold local honey, fish, cheeses and meats. Lots of hand knitted socks, gloves and hats and local embroidery were also available. In Latvia and Estonia all the public toilets have a babushka stationed, knitting. They were universally sombre and unsmiling. We think this is because they are ethnically Russian and felt very much second class citizens. We found this to be even more evident in Estonia where Russian citizens were protesting about the suppression of their culture, rather ironic.

We moved north out of the city and our next stay was in the Gauja National Park. We stayed in the stables of an estate which had once belonged to a Scottish industrialist at the beginning of the 20th century. It was distressing to see orchards and fields untended, overgrown and fallow. Fruit was unpicked but the new occupants were starting to establish tourist accommodation. We had another memorable meal, fish newly caught from the lake and fresh cheesecake with forest fruit.

We then moved into Estonia to stay in a spa resort, Parnu. The spa hotel we stayed in was very popular with Finns having treatments. We found it all a bit regimented and lugubrious. The highlights were taking tea and cream cheese pastries in a beautifully painted wooden pavilion which looked as if it had stepped out of Czarist Russia. Our afternoon tea was accompanied by a pianist in full concert regalia. In the evening we watched cranes come in over the salt lake as the sun set.

Our next stop was the capital Tallinn, a fairytale city but not nearly as welcoming as Riga. We found Estonians to be more reserved than the Lats and the Russian occupation is more evident. We visited the remains of a nuclear submarine station

and accommodation blocks with gaps in the breeze block structures which must have been intolerable in winter conditions.

We visited Cape Juminda the scene of an enormous sea battle. In the waters around the cape about 25,000 people (both soldiers and civilians) died in August 1941, when the Soviets tried to evacuate their fleet and army from Tallinn to Leningrad. Our impression was that like Romania, the Baltic States have gone from Soviet occupation straight to having the most modern of communication systems and a highly educated, young English speaking workforce. This is because of the vast EEC Regional Development Fund support. In my opinion this can only be of benefit to the stability of Europe.

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From our Chairperson, Franca

Newsletter Prattle Hello All

Well I am detecting a much more positive note from those of you I have heard from. Some of you have had your jabs and that has cheered all of us thinking we'll be soon. We'll all be starting to think of life after Covid which in itself is a lovely thought.

It has been a long hard winter. In fact my husband and I were just commenting that it is a long time since we have had such a long spell of cold, icy weather. Everywhere has been so slippery so maybe the fact that we are not supposed to be out and about so much is a bit of a silver lining. My daughter who works in A&E in Edinburgh tells me that they normally see about four broken wrists a week and over the last few weeks it's been an average of a hundred a week!

Anyway keep dreaming of spring and life after Covid.

Stay safe

Franca

These three short stories were written by Tony Sandy as entries for a 100 word story competition

BREAKFAST TIFF

“Call that bread – it's more like expanded polystyrene! How do you expect me to eat that rubbish? Butter? It's just yellow sludge. Talk about a greasy spoon! I'd drink the coffee, only I bet it'll taste like the muddy water it resembles. Is that supposed to be marmalade? It looks like engine oil. This table cloth isn’t just dirty with age and use – it's covered in thick dust as well. How can the authorities allow this? Why don't they shut this dirt trap down?”

The empty Museum of Modern Life, reflected back its neglect. Poor dummy! ______DAVE

“Look Dave, I've taken you on because I owe your dad, Big Louie, a favour, so don't let me down.”

The following week trouble started “When I said give Jimmy Johnson both barrels, I meant of the beer he'd ordered.”

Christmas week was bad too. “When I told you to deck the halls, I meant decorate the pub, not beat the crap out of Phil and Jane Hall.”

Then - “What have I told you about smoking fish Dave? Not while at work, now stub it out and do what I pay you for.”

The final straw... “This is the last time I'll ask you to babysit, you're fired! Now get off Sidney, you've squashed him flat.” ______THE PRISONER*

What had I done? I never did find out.

There I was, thrown in this cell and never let out. They wipe my mind every night, so I can't remember who I am and the governor ignores my pleas, like I don't exist. How many years have I been here? Where did I come from? Nobody seems to know or care: Here I am and here I seem to stay. In the early days I managed to get out but they hunted me down and dragged me screaming back here. Bloody people! Call this a care home! *(dedicated to Aunty Bunty)

Easter Ross & Sutherland u3a Quiz

Many famous people, both real and fictional, are known by one name. What is their other?

1. Baden - Powell 2. Beethoven 3. Bismarck 4. Brunel 5. Casanova 6. Chaucer 7. Chippendale 8. Chopin 9. Constable 10. Disraeli 11. Edison 12. Einstein 13. Eisenhower 14. Galileo 15. Gauguin 16. van Gogh 17. Holst 18. Khrushchev 19. Lenin 20. Lloyd George 21. Machiavelli 22. Maradona 23. Marconi 24. Monet 25. Mozart 26. Mussolini 27. Napoleon 28. Nelson 29. Sir Newton 30. Pepys 31. Picasso 32. Putin 33. Rembrandt The answers to this quiz are at 34. Scrooge 35. Stalin the very end of this newsletter – 36. Stradivarius no peeking!! 37. Tchaikovsky 38. Tennyson 39. da Vinci 40. Wedgwood

Cucumber Just a thought to end on

Coming in the Next Edition As I say each month – what is in the next edition is entirely up to you! The deadline for contributions for the February issue of ERAS Connected is Friday 12th February. So plenty of time to put your thinking caps on and send me your jokes, recipes, funny stories, poems, local news, nostalgia items, short stories etc. etc. Remember this is our newsletter – by the members for the members! Our February Edition will be published on Thursday 18th February 2021

Please remember when sending in items for inclusion in this newsletter, make sure you let me know if you are happy for your name to be added.

Many thanks The Editor (Karen) [email protected]

Answers to the Easter Ross & Sutherland u3a Quiz

1, Robert Baden - Powell 2. Ludwig von Beethoven 3. Otto von Bismarck 4. Isambard Brunel 5. Casanova Giacomo 6. Geoffrey Chaucer 7. Thomas Chippendale 8. Frederic Chopin 9. John Constable 10. Benjamin Disraeli 11. Thomas Edison 12. Albert Einstein 13. Dwight Eisenhower 14. Galileo Galilei 15. Paul Gauguin 16. Vincent van Gogh 17. Gustav Holst 18. Nikita Khrushchev 19. Vladimir Lenin 20. David Lloyd George 21. Niccolo Machiavelli 22. Diego Maradona 23. Guglielmo Marconi 24. Claude Monet 25. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 26. Be nito Mussolini 27. Napoleon Bonaparte 28. Horatio Nelson 29. Sir Isaac Newton 30. Samuel Pepys 31. Pablo Picasso 32. Vladimir Putin 33. Rembrandt van Rijn 34. Ebenezer Scrooge 35. Joseph Stalin 36. Antonius Stradivarius 37. Pyotr Tchaikovsky 38. Alfred Lord Tennyson 39. Leonardo da Vinci 40. Josiah Wedgwood