Spinning sofas

Is the Spin taking the Nairn blogosphere's penchant for sofa worship too far?

Remember last year's Enquiry by Design process?

It was organised by the Prince's Foundation and concerned future development to the south of Nairn. Most of those that took part seemed to be impressed but not everyone went away happy. A lot of people that weren't there probably wondered what it was all about but you can see an explanation of the process on a Foundation PDF on -line, there is even a picture of the event in Nairn :
'The masterplan is a shared vision, resulting from energetic discussions within a wide sta keholder group (Nairn, 2008)'

This entire process has come in for some journalistic criticism however in a recent Times article. The APT blog takes an in depth look at EbD in the local and Scottish context and makes reference to the Times article. For students of all the development proposals in Nairn this latest APT post will no doubt be a must.

Bill is unimpressed with Highland Council

...on recycling and town clock issues.

Nairn to lose an off-licence

Ironically on a day Nickel and Dime blew a little retail sunshine into the High Street there is news of an off-licence closing. The First Quench Group that own Haddows and Victoria wine recently went into administration and today the BBC business news gives a breakdown of stores to close.

'Stores will also close in Perth, Fort William, Nairn, Bellshill, Alloa, Bathgate, Kirkintilloch, Stirling, Lanark, Bonnyrigg, two in Dunfermline, and eight in Edinburgh. '

Thanks to Derek T for the information. Derek also offers Gurnites the following quote:

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." [Voltaire]

Woolies building reopens as Nickel and Dime

Good to see the shop open again, at 10.00 a.m. a steady stream of people were heading into the store. One woman left carrying an ironing board and seemed very happy with her purchase, others emerged carrying smaller items. 12.45 update: a quick walk around finds a store where space has been utilised far more intelligently than woolies ever did. It does although have a woolies feel about it, it is after all the building we all know so well. It was great to see Nairnites greeting each other and chatting as they moved around to inspect the thousands of items to chose from. Many were buying. 'Haven't seen you for ages,' said someone to a friend. And you are indeed more likely to see Nairn people in Inverness, Forres and Elgin retail outlets rather than Nairn High Street. Nickel and Dime have gone some way to redressing the balance. All we need now is a Sainsbury's for Christmas but in the meantime Nairn's wet weather retail therapy centre is open once again.

Saving Clachnacuddin FC - wise for Dave Stewart MSP to start an on-line petition?

Clachnacuddin footbal club are in dire straits and now in administration as money and time finally run out. Hopefully the fans and Inverness's business community will rally round to save Inverness's Highland League side. An unseemly row has broken out between the club and Highland Council over circumstances that forced the club into administration

David Stewart MSP (and former MP) has intervened and started an on-line petition. Perhaps not a wise thing to do because so far several of those signing the petition seem to be doing so simply to take the opportunity to make critical statements about Mr Stewart MSP. The petition is here.

Politicians can make a big enough mess of politics, perhaps they should stay out of sport and just leave the ordinary Invernessians and those elsewhere that are sympathetic to Clach's plight to sort this out.

How does Huntly do it?

A gurnite returns to town with dire news of having to get buses instead of trains again when heading for Aberdeen. It seems every time there is a bit of heavy rain the railway goes haywire these days. But anyway thanks to the pleasures of a four and a half hour trip to Aberdeen from Nairn this morning, our correspondent had a guided tour of Huntly thrown in, buses were running from Forres to Huntly it seemed to connect with another train there, only that train didn't bother to wait for the bus that was bringing its passengers. It then took lots of phone calls to supreme command at Scotrail in Glasgow to allow the bus driver to do the decent thing and take his passengers onwards to the Silver City, but that is another story.

Anyway our correspondent points out that visible through the bus windows were a Somerfield/Co-op, a Tesco and an ASDA. Now Huntly, according to the Census figures has a population of 4,412. Now Nairn at 8,418 could obviously support 2 Tescos and 2 ASDAs (we've already got about a dozen Co-ops). The point here is that there is plenty of room for a new Co-op in Nairn and a Sainsbury's. Proof indeed that, on population figures alone, the Co-op are taking the piss - they will probably walk away anyway even if the Scottish Government doesn't give us a decent supermarket for Christmas. 'The caring sharing Co-op'.

Nairn with a spin

There's another Nairn blog now, it could be the start of something small. With articles on Nairn harbour, the by-pass, the Socialist Republic of Nairn and sofas and stars it looks as though there is indeed another new blog on the block: Nairn with a spin.

Everyone safely home from Station Park yesterday?

Perhaps Buffy the Vampire slayer should be given a free season ticket?

Mild weather continues

An early morning scene captured last week by Billy Milne. Weatherwise it's still mild today despite the rain.