Weel Done, Cutty Sark!!

It's Burns Night.

For one night, the whole of Scotland's supposed to be going crazy celebrating the poetry of our National Bard.  We should be joining in the celebrations with a handsome serving of traditional Scottish fare (No!! Not Deep-Fried Mars Bars washed down wi' a bottle o' Buckie!) but since I'm abandoning my poor husband and disappearing off to the Writer's Group, our Burns Supper has been put back by twenty-four hours or so.

Perhaps it's my genetic inheritence (born in Glasgow, of Welsh/English parents) but I just can't get this Burns thing!  Yeah, his stuff's great, but the way he's worshipped gives the impression that Scotland has never produced anyone else of cultural significance throughout her history.  As for poor old Ayrshire...  When it comes to selling the place as a tourist destination, it's Rabbie, Rabbie, Rabbie all the way. 

It may come as a surprise, but there's more to Ayrshire's history than Rabbie Burns and golf.  It's a nice place, with lots to see, but it usually gets bypassed in favour of the Highlands.

I digress.  I have fond memories of Rabbie.  A few years back, I was hired to do a job near the Burns Cottage in Alloway.  We opened a couple of test pits, and  in the last of these, no sooner had the mini-digger taken its first bite out of the ground thanit uncovered a hoard of abandoned Burns memorabilia buried around the end of World War One (yes, we were able to date the find that closely!).  Now, I know I'm quite a connisseur of hoards, but that's of the prehistoric metalwork variety, and though I'm sure I've asked all manner of gods, saints or ancestors to grant me the honour of finding a hoard of my own, I never expected it to be a collection of china ornaments and framed postcards of Rabbie Burns.  But that's what happened.  It was bizarre.  It was surreal.  And it's an experience which will never be repeated.

Of course we had endless fun making up explanations.  Was it votive, like a fine Bronze Age shield placed in a peat bogs for the ancestors?  Were these items buried for reasons of security, like a hoard of Scots medieval silver pennies placed in a pot and hidden in the wall of a house as the English armies marched swiftly northwards? Nope.  They probably just didn't sell well enough so they got unceremoniously dumped.

On entirely unrelated matters...  Had a great day at work today.  My first professionally commissioned artefact illustration came out in print today in a journal, and it looks lovely.  Even though the illustrations in my thesis have been in circulation for ages, somehow they don't count. 

And they're sending me out on site again tomorrow!  Second time in two weeks, which is amazing...  Sadly, the weather forecast ain't so good, but it's not a particularly difficult job so we shouldn't get too bedraggled.

I wish I had some photographs of Alloway Kirk to show you - the 18th century gravestones have to be seen to be believed.  Never seen any witches cavorting round there, mind. 


Happy Burns Night, wherever you are!!

Weel Done, Cutty Sark!!

It's Burns Night.

For one night, the whole of Scotland's supposed to be going crazy celebrating the poetry of our National Bard.  We should be joining in the celebrations with a handsome serving of traditional Scottish fare (No!! Not Deep-Fried Mars Bars washed down wi' a bottle o' Buckie!) but since I'm abandoning my poor husband and disappearing off to the Writer's Group, our Burns Supper has been put back by twenty-four hours or so.

Perhaps it's my genetic inheritence (born in Glasgow, of Welsh/English parents) but I just can't get this Burns thing!  Yeah, his stuff's great, but the way he's worshipped gives the impression that Scotland has never produced anyone else of cultural significance throughout her history.  As for poor old Ayrshire...  When it comes to selling the place as a tourist destination, it's Rabbie, Rabbie, Rabbie all the way. 

It may come as a surprise, but there's more to Ayrshire's history than Rabbie Burns and golf.  It's a nice place, with lots to see, but it usually gets bypassed in favour of the Highlands.

I digress.  I have fond memories of Rabbie.  A few years back, I was hired to do a job near the Burns Cottage in Alloway.  We opened a couple of test pits, and  in the last of these, no sooner had the mini-digger taken its first bite out of the ground thanit uncovered a hoard of abandoned Burns memorabilia buried around the end of World War One (yes, we were able to date the find that closely!).  Now, I know I'm quite a connisseur of hoards, but that's of the prehistoric metalwork variety, and though I'm sure I've asked all manner of gods, saints or ancestors to grant me the honour of finding a hoard of my own, I never expected it to be a collection of china ornaments and framed postcards of Rabbie Burns.  But that's what happened.  It was bizarre.  It was surreal.  And it's an experience which will never be repeated.

Of course we had endless fun making up explanations.  Was it votive, like a fine Bronze Age shield placed in a peat bogs for the ancestors?  Were these items buried for reasons of security, like a hoard of Scots medieval silver pennies placed in a pot and hidden in the wall of a house as the English armies marched swiftly northwards? Nope.  They probably just didn't sell well enough so they got unceremoniously dumped.

On entirely unrelated matters...  Had a great day at work today.  My first professionally commissioned artefact illustration came out in print today in a journal, and it looks lovely.  Even though the illustrations in my thesis have been in circulation for ages, somehow they don't count. 

And they're sending me out on site again tomorrow!  Second time in two weeks, which is amazing...  Sadly, the weather forecast ain't so good, but it's not a particularly difficult job so we shouldn't get too bedraggled.

I wish I had some photographs of Alloway Kirk to show you - the 18th century gravestones have to be seen to be believed.  Never seen any witches cavorting round there, mind. 


Happy Burns Night, wherever you are!!