Nearly Nairnshire

Although just over the border in Moray many Nairnites would think of Brodie as an honary Nairnshire Castle.

Meanwhile the new suburbs head towards Forres while the photographer contemplates 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues'

This evening looking over towards Nairn from the new (today anyway) outer limits of the town. There are a whole new system of paths up from the what used to be the old quarries at the bottom of the brae, an area where old vehicles and shed and caravans had long succumbed to nature. Now it has been cleaned up (but not too much) and there are a series of paths leading up to the new schemes. It occurred to the editor that he had no idea of what the new streets are called or even if the this newer part has a name other than the all-encompassing 'Lochloy'. Anyway on the way back into town the lyrics of a certain song came to mind:

'Up on Housing Project Hill
It's either fortune or fame
You must pick up one or the other
Though neither of them are to be what they claim '

Enjoy the song and happy midsummer to all the Gurn's readers :-)

Sunset on the longest day

RNLI annual fundraising stall

The first £200 that is raised this year will have to go to Highland Council, that is the sum they will be charging the local fund-raising group for the erection of the stalls! Up until this year the Highland Council have found a way to avoid charging the charity but have insisted on a charge this year. Maybe Nairn Charities should investigate the cost of purchasing their own stalls?

Click on the image for a larger view.

News on the war on Giant Hogweed

A co-conspirator believes that he has seen a spraying team of three moving towards Auldearn along the burn, and furthermore there are rumours of spraying at Cawdor. Have you seen or heard of other efforts to eradicate the alien menace? Please forward pictures to the Gurn. Native lands for native species! (apart from the  odd mature Wellingtonia, and even sycamores are nice after two or three hundred years, daffodils too and even potatoes are useful and...). The Gurn has nothing against alien flora, well what would our gardens be without them but we just can't stand Giant Hogweed and Japanese Knotweed and Himalyan Balsam (even if it is a relative of the bizzie lizzie), why can't they all just go home and leave all the good jobs along the riverside to the native species?


What next? Giant Hogweed gets bail?

New feature on riverside paths

Click picture for larger image

Nòs ùr: Eden Court Saturday 21 06 08

Nòs Ùr (meaning ‘new style’ in Scottish Gaelic) is a new song competition in the Celtic and Scots languages which will act as a regional final for the pan-European minority languages song competition – Liet Lavlut, held on 18 October 2008 in Lulea, Sweden.

Languages accepted: Scots, Ulster Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Manx Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Breton.

On 21 June 2008 two acts will be chosen (one jury vote, one public vote) to represent the Celtic and Scots languages/regions at the Liet Lavlut competition in Lulea, northern Sweden.

You can of course go yourself but the event will be live on-line

THE EVENT WILL BE BROADCAST LIVE OVER THE INTERNET ON 21 JUNE BETWEEN 7:30 - 9:30 PM GMT FROM THIS PAGE.

You can listen to all the entries here (just scroll down and wait for the tunes to load) and read the lyrics (with translations) here.

One more picture from the festival 'Time and Tide Installation' last night.

'The answer is blowing in the wind,'
Any chance of a bit more of that for Midsummer's Day please?

Giant hogweed suffers a giant set-back

Looks like someone has administered something fancy to the Giant Hogweed up at the Granites. Well done whoever sorted that massive clump out, plenty of Japanese Knotweed nearby begging for some of that!

Grey skies as midsummer approaches

After the spell of good weather we move into a more uncertain period where the light seems to vanish a lot earlier than it should do at this time of year.