Snow Go In Dundee

The Courier reports that:

There were accidents aplenty over the weekend, with main roads blocked by trapped cars and jack-knifed lorries. But, for the most part, the accidents were not serious and there were few reports of injuries.

November's record snowfall overnight on Saturday brought a freak weather condition with it — as many areas experienced a rare weather phenomenon known as thunder snow.

Thunder and lightning are usually accompanied by rain, but snow fell heavily instead as storms raged overnight and into the day.

As for me I walked down Clepington Road towards Pitkerro Road, all the way down the Kingsway to the Apex Training Centre near the Scott Fyffe roundabout, only to find that it has been cancelled. En route, the streets were fairly quiet, not least I imagine because many cars were snowed in. The ploughs and gritters and had done their job making sure the main roads were open though and I saw a few buses on the roads too.

I was amazed however at the actions of a couple of older people who were trying to get to Arklay Street Post Office. Both were walking with the aid of sticks and were having great difficulty getting over the heaps of snow created by the ploughs at the side of the road. It reminded me of the queues of pensioners that used to form before opening time at Tesco in the Wellgate. There's just nothing gonna get in the way of them!!!

The City Council's website also advised that:

All Dundee City Council-run schools will be closed on Monday and the council will announce plans for Tuesday as soon as they are known. Check www.dundeecity.gov.uk for updates.

All family support centres and learning disability centres in Dundee, along with the Oaklands day centre for older people, will also be closed.

Dundee College is also closed, but Dundee High School has said it will be open for all who can get there safely today.

By late morning the Courier reported that:

A Met Office spokeswoman says at least another 10cm of snow will fall before the showers drift away.

Dundee, Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross can all expect temperatures to drop below zero tonight, making conditions on Tuesday even more treacherous.

Although the worst of the lightning and snowstorms that hit Tayside and Fife may now be over, there will be no respite from the Arctic conditions until the end of the week.

"There are a lot more snow showers to come later today and although they will dry out overnight, temperatures will drop as low as -3C in Dundee and lower inland so it will be very frosty tomorrow," said the Met Office spokeswoman.

"There will be some snow showers on Tuesday afternoon and we could be looking at another 10 centimetres in all before the snow moves away."

Temperatures as low as -20C are predicted in some parts of the country.

View Over Howff Cemetery, 30 November 2010

Snow, Thunder, Lightening

I woke at 6am this morning. I was still in that half sleep of not being sure I was awake or dreaming, when I saw a flash and heard a peel of thunder. Sleep ensued quickly as I am not one for rising at that time on a week day, never mind on a Sunday. It was with amazement that there were several flashes of lightening and thunder around noon, whilst it was still snowing outside. I can't ever recall this combination of weather in North East Scotland, nor have I heard of it either.

I have just googled this and according to Wikipedia it appears to be called "thundersnow" and it has the following features:

- a thunderstorm with snow falling as the primary precipitation instead of rain

- the snowfall acts as an acoustic suppressor of the thunder

- in the United States, March is their peak month of formation, and on average, only 6.3 events are reported per year

- the thunder also is unique and instead of a typical "clap" and "roll" the thunder sounds like a large electrical arc or a blown transformer without the reverberation

- thunderstorms with snow are more likely to occur near the coast, where the relative warmth near the sea meets the colder condiions inland

This article also noted that:

On the 26th and 27th leading into the 28th of November 2010, Aberdeen, Scotland experienced thundersnow, including hail stones which were of golfball size. A thundersnow event was also reported in Perth and Dundee in Scotland, in the early hours of the 28th of November, 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow

The STV website noted that Dundee's Police HQ had been struck by lightnening during the storm:

Police in Dundee arrived at their snow-covered headquarters this morning - to find the building had been struck by lightning.

Snow and thunderstorms brought double trouble to the east coast overnight, a rare phenomenon caused by freezing cold air moving over warmer water.

And Tayside Police's HQ was struck by lightning at around 6.30am, affecting the phone network across the city.

Emergency 999 calls were not affected but the force had to initiate plans to re-establish non-emergency lines from its fallback facility located in Perth.

Superintendent David Tonks, head of the force's communications centre, said: "Members of the public can be reassured that 999 lines and all other IT systems are not affected.

"The non-emergency system is of a resilient design and has never previously failed.

"However, from speaking to the specialists in this area this morning, it is clear that despite the best efforts of engineers it is impossible to prevent complex systems from being affected in such extreme conditions.

"I am though sorry for any inconvenience caused."

STV weatherman Sean Batty said: "We are getting thundersnow in places because of the very cold air travelling over warmer water in the North Sea.

"That creates large clouds and thunder, especially in the east."

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/tayside/212556-police-headquarters-struck-by-lightning/

Gavin Keymer created a facebook page dedicated to this event entitled "I survived the great Dundee thunder-snow-storm! 28/11/10" and the page said that it was, "The time of the near-apocalypse in Dundee & Tayside. This storm, of biblical proportions, brought catastrophe to Dundee, teaching us that it is actually possible to have snow and thunder and lightning at the same time!"

http://www.facebook.com/dundeethundersnow

The Snow and Power Cuts in the 1970s

Whilst walking today in the snow with my daughter she remembered a time when the car got stuck as we were going to visit her grandparents because our electricity had gone off. I was telling her about the 1970s when there was an enforced three day working week and power cuts were introduced due to a shortage in the electricity supply brought about by miners'strikes. As we were one of the few houses to have a gas cooker, my Gran was called upon to boil pots of water so that our neighbours could make a cup of tea. I can remember vividly sitting around candles, singing songs and playing cards. I was never in the Scouts or Boys Brigade but this was bit like going on camp - it was great fun!

Wonderful Words and Phrases - Random

This is a word that I always thought was not contentious and means “doesn’t conform to a pattern” (my definition). It’s a word that my daughter uses frequently and in the ways that she uses it has come to mean a variety of things.

Urban Dictionary calls it, "The latest buzzword used amongst mindless teenagers as a way of showing just so utterly irreverent their predictable sense of humour is. Particularly dominant among English teens and University students, the word "random" or the act of being "random" is a desperate plea for others to recognise how totally against the grain of the norm you are and that you're really crazy and out there. Trouble is, being "random" is predictable, boring, moronic and extremely sad indeed."

Example: “Omg I have to tell you what happened it was just so random!”

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=random

I Ate All The Pies

For all the talk about healthy lifestyles and the Scottish diet there’s times when you just have to have something stodgy and greasy. And in Dundee we have our iconic food in the form of Wallace’s Pies. There can’t be many Dundonians who haven’t got some childhood memories of Wallace’s. For me, it was a trip into town and eating a greasy pie sitting in the City Square. On the one hand there was Wallace’s Auld Dundee Pie shop in Castle Street and then there was Wallace’s Land o’ Cakes in Crichton Street. I remember my granddad telling me that Wallace’s actually split into two companies due to a fall out between two family members. Both companies stopped trading years ago.

There is, however, a company called Wallace Family Bakers, based in Longforgan and this comes from their website.

Based in Dundee, Angus on the East Coast of Scotland, Wallace Family Bakers produce a large and varied collection of bakery products using only the best local produce. Our fleet of vans deliver daily across the length and breadth of Angus to local convenience stores and supermarkets. We have been established for many years with a growing reputation of producing the finest quality products. Our website will be continually updated with further information about the history of the company, our location and a full range of products, visit us regularly to keep in touch with ’your local baker’ or if you have a specific enquiry email us oninfo@wallacebakers.co.uk.

Unfortunately the website doesn’t give any more info than this. Consequently I don’t know if the pie in the photograph emanates from this company but I can assure you that it tastes very like the Wallace’s pies I remember.

Demotivational Posters

These have been around for a while. They are parodies of motivational posters hung in offices to inspire staff to work harder or "smarter". Demotivational posters have become art forms and the previous post is an example of a classic one. Here's one of mine.

Mistakes

In the past week I have received two gifts from persons who have gone to a lot of trouble to let me know they have been thinking about me. You know who you are. You have helped me restore a bit of faith in humanity at a time when I have been feeling my role in life has been to serve as a warning to others. Thank you!!

Wonderful Words and Phrases - Howk

howk [ howk ] (past and past participle howked, present participle howk·ing, 3rd person present singular howks)

transitive and intransitive verb

Definition:

Scotland dig: to dig, or dig something up or out ( informal )

[14th century. Originally holk, related to hole, hollow]

Example - whit ar ye daeing howking at yer nose?

All Kramola Fizz Cola Flavoured Drink Crystals

In my post of 31 October I lamented the loss of Creamola Foam from the shelves of local stores. My daughter has, for the last few weeks now, said that she was getting a tub from a family friend and I was intrigued to know what it was going to be like. Well it's not Creamola foam and as you can see from the tub it's very different packaging. So, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Kramola Fizz.

This little tub produced a glass of cola flavoured fizz in line with the instructions below. The actual colour was more of a red cola and taste wise it was fairly bland and not very fizzy. A recent article on the raspberry version came to a similar conclusion.

http://www.tasteofglasgow.com/2010/09/creamola-foam/

For the record here is the tub and a list of the ingredients.

Shake well, two teaspoons in half glass of water, stir well.

Ingredients:

Sugar

Bicarbonate of Soda

Tartaric Acid E334

Citric Acid E330

Potasium Citrates E336

Cola Flavour

Saccharin E414

Acacia Gum E110

Quillaia Extract

A McCandlish

Low Auchensail

G82 5HN

tel: 01389 841269

You Gotta Laugh

Buy the Daily Mail on Saturday November 20 and start collecting tokens so that you can claim a beautiful commemorative plate to celebrate the royal engagement of HRH Prince William of Wales to Catherine Middleton on November 16, 2010 - it's yours absolutely free!

This bone china plate from Royal Doulton has an RRP of £75 and is exclusive to readers of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.

How To Claim

To claim your commemorative plate, simply collect 50 differently dated tokens from those that we will be printing each day in the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday from Saturday November 20 up until Friday January 21, 2011; six tokens must be from the Mail on Sunday.

Then send them with a cheque for £2.75 (made payable to the Daily Mail) to cover postage together with your full name and address details to the address that we will publish later in the promotion.

I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - Gender Studies with Professor Linford Christie

Linford Christie has shocked his fellow I'm A Celebrity contestants by declaring that "it's a man's world".

During a discussion on sexuality and promiscuous girls, the former international athlete said that women "cannot expect to do what men do".

Christie said: "It's a male society unfortunately. [I'm] not being a chauvinist but it is. But you know with guys if a guy went out and he slept with ten girls, he'd come and say and we would just pat him on the back and say, 'Big up', but a girl would say, 'That's a hoe'."

As Stacey Solomon and Jenny Eclair challenged his views, Christie declared: "Women cannot expect to do what men do. [There are] certain things that men do that women should not do."

He continued: "Women are supposed to be more decent than men. I'm sorry to say that… I'm not saying that it's more acceptable in society that men can be skanky hoes and women should not be.

"I'm not saying it's right… I believe there are ways of behaviour women should not do.

"The thing is now where we're going in society because, and this is the thing, because they get the women's liberation thing and women believe that if a man can do this I can do this to...

"As a guy I go around and sleep with women if I wanted to but who gets the reputation, I don't get the reputation…We live in a male-dominated society and this is just how I see it."

An offended Solomon replied: "I don't believe that men dominate and you get more rights than me. I choose to believe I rule my own world."

Christie shot back: "No you don't. Men rule the world. It's your life but men rule the world."

I'm A Celebrity continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1.

Wonderful Words and Phrases - Eke Out

I don't think this phrase was used a lot in our household but it's one that is commonly used in Dundee. I think of "eke out" as meaning to economise or to make something go further. For example my gran would eke out her stew by adding dough balls to it. When she retired she eked out her pension by budgeting.

I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - Dating Tips by Britt Ekland

Reality TV is back again and we have another cast of minor celebrities to love or hate. Following yesterday's post on Lembit Opik's chronologically reducing dates we present s selection of Britt's conquests.

1973 - had a son with record producer Lou Adler

1975 – lived with rock star Rod Stewart

1979 – 1981 dated and became engaged to rock singer Phil Lewis

1980 – dated former Bay City Roller Singer Les McKeown

1984 – married rock musician Slim Jim Phantom

Is it just me or is there a pattern here?

I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - Dating Tips by Lembit Opik

Reality TV is back again and we have another cast of minor celebrities to love or hate. Today Metro newspaper profiles the dates former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik, born 1965.

2002 - started dating ITV weather presenter Siân Lloyd (aged 44)

2006 - started dating Cheeky Girl singer Gabriela Irimia (aged 23)

2009 - dates underwear model Katie Green (aged 22)

2010 - dates student Merily McGivern (aged 21)

Is it just me or are they getting younger?

The Lost Art of Album Covers

You had saved your “hard-earned” pocket money for weeks. You oozed over the racks before deciding where your limited budget would be spent. You were attracted to the double gatefold, especially if the lyrics were included on the inside. You were looking for extras that were included such as a poster or stickers. You went home and poured over your latest art purchase, handling it with care as if you had been to Christies instead of Chalmers and Joy

If the light show was integral to the concert experience then the cover was integral to the album experience. By albums I am of course talking in old money. This is imperial rather than metric, twelve inches rather than 12 cm, analogue rather than digital, magnetic rather than optical, vinyl rather than polycarbonate.

At that time my friends and I all had decent quality hi-fi turntables and systems. We got excited at the quality of recording when listening to Dark Side of the Moon and other albums associated with superior sound. But this is not about how albums sounded, this is about how they looked. As well as the sound, Dark Side of the Moon also had "the look."

OK to start with there is the blank canvas of 12 x 12 inches. Small enough to be stored neatly at home but large enough to enable complexity and detail and with an album that had a double gatefold the artist’s work could extend to the reverse of the cover and/or on the inside cover also. There is a definite development on album design evident from say the early 1960s into the late 1960 and early 1970s. If we take for example albums by The Beatles we can see that 1963’s Please Please Me and also With The Beatles from the same year use basic photographic images of the band. It is not until 1966 and Revolver that we see the use of illustration by Klaus Voorman. The standard must surely have been set with 1967’s Sergeant Pepper featuring a day-glo collage of famous people surrounding the band.

By the 1970s the attention given to album design was part and parcel of the popular music product and it gave some artists and designers the opportunity to make their mark. Best known for a succession of covers for the band Yes, Roger Dean’s distinctive fantasy landscapes and design of the band’s logo was very much part of the Yes experience. Storm Thorgerson cut his teeth with Pink Floyd and has gone on to sustain his involvement in cover design to the present day with bands like Dream Theater, Muse and Biffy Clyro.

Compact discs became commercially available in 1982. Fast forward thirty years and we have had two generations that have grown up without exposure to the album cover culture. It appears as if this was the beginning of the end for the album cover. Indeed, my friend’s wife, who is an art teacher, did a school project on designing album covers. Her class of teenagers just didn’t “get it.” With the increasing popularity of digital music downloading the role that packaging (and thus the "album cover") will play in consumer music sales in the near future is uncertain.

However it is good to know that there are sites devoted to the album cover aficionado and here are a couple of links:

http://www.sleeveface.com/

http://www.superseventies.com/greatestalbumcovers.html

A Right Royal Palaver

OK folks, sit down, strap in, and brace yourself for a rollercoaster ride that started yesterday and will continue till, well, whenever really. But be sure it will be longer than the two minutes duration of your favourite thrill at Alton Towers. For here we are destined for the marathon not the sprint, the mountain not the molehill, the Real Madrid not the Cowdenbeath.

Yes Oor Wullie is getting hitched to common Kate next year in the wedding of the century. The media are oozing over what a wonderful match they make and we have our good news story upon which we will all be expected to dine and forget that the country is up to its eyeballs in debt. When the news broke the story dominated our TV viewing yesterday, special extended programmes bullied their way onto our screens, knocking the scheduled ones into the wet gutter.

Perhaps the most interesting of opinions in the press was the speculation of who might design the all important dress. That’s for the bride not the groom apparently. One fashion editor suggested, such is Kate’s fashion acumen, that she might get her dress done by Vivienne Westwood. Well if one wants to out Jordan that other Katie (Price) then yes, go ahead.

I am not going to spend a lot of time expending my energies on what is basically another couple marrying. However I could not let it pass as we will be hearing about it again and again and again. This won’t happen here although I can’t promise it won’t get another mention.

Already the comparisons are being made with that previous royal wedding. Indeed by the time they get hitched, thirty years will have passed. My only advice to the happy couple might be don’t go to Paris for your honeymoon.

Arnold Palmer’s Pro-Shot Golf - A Toy I Did Get for Christmas

I’ve always thought golf was a great game and one that is unfortunately spoiled by golfers. What I mean by that is that I always found it difficult to separate the game from the players. My experience of those who played was that they were all a bit, well, boring, materialistic and overly concerned with their pecking order in the social rankings. One of the many abiding memories of my previous career was the many dull Monday mornings tolerating office colleagues as they went over their Sunday golf round in meticulous detail such that it was lunch time before any work got done. Such was their passion for the game, or at least its trappings, you would think they were experts but it never seemed to be matched by their ability, judging by their large handicaps.

Yet I have great childhood memories going up the the putting green at "Swannie Pnds" with my granddad. When I got a bit older I graduated to playing "pitch and putt" at Balgay Park in Dundee and at Springfield Park in Arbroath. I also was the proud owner and proprietor of my very own six-hole putting green in the back garden. It was built by my very own granddad and being a plumber, he cut a length of plastic downpipe into sections to make cups for each hole. During the summer I used to tend to my course by cutting the grass then going over it with a big concrete roller, again made by my granddad. Looking back on it I’m sure it was just a ploy to get out of cutting the grass himself. I also had my own putter, a cut-down wooden shafted putter that my granddad had acquired for free from some house he was working at. Golf balls were acquired free of charge by plundering the rough at Caird Park Golf Course.

In recent years there has been some great golf games for computers. I remember my late father-in-law liked to play Actua Golf on the Play Station 1. I have Tiger Woods 2009 for the Wii and it is a superb game. Golf translates really well into these computer simulations.

In the pre-digital, mechanical era, Arnold Palmer’s Pro-Shot Golf was a popular and successful game. This is a toy I did get for Christmas one year. It consisted of a miniature golf club with a mini Arnold Palmer figure at the foot of the club. You pulled a little lever on the handle of the club to operate Arnold’s swing. It also had little interchangeable clubs, woods, irons, putter etc. With a little tee and a foam green you turned your living room into a golf course.

This game was published by Marx Games in the mid 1960's but it was re-released in 2006 for the 21st Century golf market. Now called just Pro-Shot Golf, the game has been updated with modernised clubs, logos etc but in essence it looks pretty much the same. It’s good to see that some things from yester year can make a revival.

Johnny Astro - The Toy I Never Got for Christmas

Now that the shops are full of Christmas displays, I was thinking about toys that I got for Christmas when I was a boy. The great thing about the internet is that you can now research the history of these items, get pictures too.

The years after the 1969 moon landing were magical. Between 1969 and 1973 there were seven manned Apollo lunar landings. The excitement surrounding these events was also evident in the toys available in the stores. I remember having a super Airfix Saturn V rocket, but one toy that eluded me was Johnny Astro. The box says it all:

Really Flies

No Wires

No connections

Full Spacecraft Control

I wanted this toy soooo much that I prayed every night in the run up to Christmas. The TV ads of the time showed a circular white balloon floating or flying gently in the air, guided by you onto the landing area. Unfortunately, it seems, the ads promised something entirely different from the actual product. I have now found out that the toy was nothing more than a variable speed fan which was used to blow the balloon onto the landing area. Apparently it was impossible and so it is with relief to discover, over 35 years later, that my disappointment at not getting this toy was somewhat misplaced.

OK so that’s one trauma dealt with and now just another three and half thousand to go.

Fuzzy Felt

Remember fuzzy felt? Fuzzy Felt was created in 1950 by Lois Allan The toy consists of a flock backing board onto which a number of felt shapes are placed to create different pictures. In my day the felt pieces were simple silhouettes but I note that they now come in versions that are more detailed printed shapes. For a farmyard scene, for example, pieces would typically be cows, sheep, chickens, horses, cats, dogs, a farmer, and a tractor. Other scenes might include hospital, pets, vehicles.

In this era of technological wizardry devices are getting smaller, more powerful and more mainstream. This drives prices down due to economies of scale. They are therefore becoming more accessible by younger children. I would have thought that simple toys like fuzzy felt must surely struggle to compete with smart phones and ipads. However a 60th anniversary set has recently been produced so it must be finding faith yet. I can remember one of my children got fuzzy felt for a birthday present once. It was met with an indifferent response and confined to the back cupboard where it remained. Someone mentioned it the other day and I had totally forgotten about its existence. Instantly I was transported back to primary school with the little felt board and lots of shapes and bright colours. The simple pleasures in life are to be treasured.

Has Big Rist (an anagram of British Gas)

British Gas is flexing it's muscles as 8 million customers will face a 7% hike in their bills despite profits increasing by 100%. Consumers will feel that suppliers have not make cuts when conditions allowed it, but are quick to raise bills as wholesale prices nudge up.

The announcements could be the start of a trend, according to Ann Robinson of price comparison website Uswitch.

"After a two year lull, household energy prices are about to resume their steady climb upwards again," she said.

At a time when public sector pay awards are virtually frozen for the next three years it will be a case of tightening the purse strings as the behaviour of British Gas must surely be the tip of a growing iceberg.

Tonight's Tea - Chicken Pathia

Ingredients:

oil, 1 fl oz

thinly sliced onion or pepper, a few slivers

tomato puree, 1 ½ level tbsp, mixed with 2 tbsp water

BE spice mixture, 1 tsp

¼ teaspoon of chilli powder

½ tsp dried fenugreek leaves

½ teaspoon of salt

1 tbsp of sugar

1 tbsp of mango chutney

2 tbsp of lemon juice

10 fl oz (approx 300 ml metric) BE curry base gravy

fresh tomato, a few quarters (5 or 6?)

fresh coriander, to garnish

Method:

heat the oil in a pan, add the onion/pepper mix, and fry up for about a minute

add the tomato paste, mix powder, salt, chilli powder and fenugreek, stir in well and fry up for about 30 seconds

add half the base gravy and stir in well

add the sugar and mango chutney and stir in

add the lemon juice and stir

The Dens Road Market

For once I am reminiscing about a place that is still there and still trading. It is however such a different place from the market that I remember. It now has maybe less than a handful of traders who have the whole building to themselves and they all seem to be selling the same furniture and household goods.

How about this quote from the Dundee City Council website, October 1981 - Bygone News http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/bygone/oct1981/#

Dens Road Market

Dundee's own Petticoat Lane...

Dens Road Market

Rated Scotland's finest indoor market - where bargain-hunting ends!

Something For Everyone:-

The Golden Age

The Younger Ones

The Trendy Set

Over 100 stalls

Come and see for yourselves - There isn't anywhere quite like Dundee's own market!

Opening times: Tuesday 9.30am - 2pm, Friday 9.30am - 5pm, Saturday 9.30am - 5pm, Sunday 10.30am - 4.30pm.

That there wasn't anywhere quite like the market I would agree with, but Dundee’s Petticoat Lane and Scotland’s finest indoor market is stretching it a bit perhaps. The “trendy set”, what on earth is that all about! However over 100 stalls is how I remember the market in its hey day which was well before 1981.

My own memories from Dens Road Market are much earlier than that and date from the late 1960s early 1970s. I remember there being lots of stalls. At one side of the building there were some really manky looking ones selling second hand clothing that would have made a jumble sale look classy. There were also other ones that were more akin to proper traders. I can remember my granddad looking at a stall that sold tools and my granny used to buy net curtains there. There was at least one cafe selling teas and hot food and my granny used to go there every time she went to the market. As a younger adult I remember a second hand book shop that had lots of good paperbacks at reasonable prices.

One thing that never changes though is the smell. It’s a difficult smell to describe but it’s sort of dusty and musty, though not in an unpleasant way. It really takes you back to childhood.

The City Arcade and a "Taste" of the Orient

The City Arcade was such an integral part of my childhood but I can’t really remember a huge amount about it. Perhaps it closed when I was quite young.

I always remember going down the entrance in the pend that runs between Castle Street and City Square. You can still see the door now. At the bottom of the stairs there was a life size Dalek that you sat in. Probably the most well known ride must have been Champion the Wonder Horse and I seem to recall it sang the theme tune.

Perhaps the strongest smell from that time would have been at the entrance at City Square where there were roasting chickens turning on a rotisserie. I think this may have been Mitchell’s of Letham? Probably my strangest memory from the Arcade is that my granddad bought a little tin case of a thing called “Tiger Balm”. This was a hard cream that you rubbed on your forehead when you had a headache. It sort of tingled or stung so I suppose that counteracted the pain but I also remember it had an anti-septic smell so I wonder if it contained local anaesthetic. I remember my granddad was delighted to see it in a shop in Dundee, because he said it was the first time he had seen it since he was in Singapore or Malaysia when he was in the Army.

The Dundee City Council website has some great little snippets in their byegone section, for example:

July 1906 The New Arcade

Everybody says "Splendid Have you been to see it? The window displays are lovely"

Incidentally, there are quite a number of special bargains to commemorate the opening at different counters, and a hint is just as good as a bookful of directions, is it not?

July 1959 Home Made Beer or Stout

Make your own beer or stout at home. 12 pints from 2s packet of Malt, Hops etc. Full directions on the packet. Special yeast 4½d per packet. By postage extra.

Radiant Health Centre,

City Arcade,

Dundee.

April 1960 Wedding Bouquets

Wreaths and Sprays

By

Floral Artists

Imrie

City Arcade, Dundee.

The Flairs

I wonder how many people will have heard of “The Flairs”?

Having my grandmother’s side of the family hailing from Arbroath meant that I spent a lot of time there as a child and being without siblings meant that two of my cousins were the nearest thing I had to brothers.

Along with the Angus Show, a trip to the Flairs was an essential activity, and this usually happened on a Saturday or a Sunday when the adults were off work. To me, the Flairs was a beach. It was a special beach. It was our beach. For holiday makers in Arbroath going to the beach meant crossing the main road from the Red Lion Caravan Site. The Flairs however was a secret beach that required local knowledge and because of that it was never packed out with people.

This place was full of excitement. As you climbed down the path at the southern entrance, there was a pipe sticking out of the cliffs which someone had linked to a freshwater spring, I assume from the nearby farmland. There was also another freshwater spring nearer the top end of the bay, but this was only accessible at low tide its outlet was amongst the rocks on the shore and again it required local knowledge to find it.

The shore comprised a raised grassy area, a sandy beach, and various rocks leading out to the sea. The grassy area was where the adults built a fire, to boil water for whelks, or to cook potatoes, baked beans etc. We always had a picnic and hot food. The adults had a teapot and some pans stored in the grassy undergrowth that was left each year, waiting for our next visit. That’s how remote and safe this place seemed. On the beach we of course played football and built sand castles. The formation of the rocks meant that there was a natural inlet, that was flanked by rocks either side, when the tide came in this created a ready-made swimming pool.

A trip to the flares was never complete without going through the caves. This had to be done at low tide. You entered by the nearest cave which we called the dark cave as it was pitch black. You navigated round the cave by keeping your hand on one of the walls and it let round to the other side of the cliff. When you got round the other side you came back through the light cave, which had some daylight at both sides.

I now know that they are called the “Forbidden Caves” and the picture below shows the entrance to the dark cave.

picture copyright Ian Paterson Photography

http://www.ian-paterson.com/

used with permission

The adults used to collect “buckies” or whelks from the shore at low tide and these would be put into big pots of water to boil up and then be eaten. I could never eat them as I hated the look of them but my granny used to have them on bread! Round our streets we used to get the man coming round selling them and shouting “whelks ten pence a bag”. Well we collected hundreds of bags for free.

Although known as the Flairs, it has a proper name, and is called Carlinghuegh Bay. It is located to the north of Arbroath and is part of a continuous stretch of sea cliffs and rocky shores. The cliffs are widely studied as they show a spectacular series of erosion features including sea stacks, blowholes, caves, wave cut platforms and arches. Carlingheugh Bay has a raised beach and relic sea cliff thought to date from approximately 6,000 years ago.

The Angus Show

For what seemed like every summer as a child, a high spot in the calendar was a day at the Angus Show. Held in Victoria Park, Arbroath, this was an extravaganza of motorcycle display teams, stunt cars and open-sea simulated helicopter rescues. Top that off with a chance to climb into a tank and this show was a huge adventure. “Vickie” Park was a natural location for such an event. The flat grassed area, normally consisting of football pitches was turned into an arena, where all the action happened. It was flanked on one side by the North Sea, and on the other by a steep hill, which made for a natural grandstand. The ring side seating consisted of hay bales, which made for an uncomfortable though practical close-up view.

It was years before I realised that this was actually an agricultural show. It was always referred to as the “Angus Show” when in fact its full title was the “Angus Agricultural Show”. Perhaps the hay bails, livestock and tractors should have been a hint! In between the high points of the day’s programme was the showing of the animals but of course the various bulls and heifers meant little to a lad growing up in a council housing scheme.

We were always seated on the hill so that we could get a good view. You had to be there early to make sure you got your place as this was a popular event, attended by thousands of people. I must have been about 4 or 5 at the time when I went on a wander and got lost as I couldn’t find where our family was seated. I ended up being found by a police lady and there was a call-out on the public address system. My granddad came and collected me and I was so relieved and excited to see him. I think they were impressed that I was able to give the Police my name address and date of birth at such a young age that I didn’t get into trouble.

The last time I was there was when I took my son to fly a kite I made. Strangely the park seemed much smaller than I remembered it.

Over 150 years old, the show moved its location to Brechin in 1997.

The V&A at Dundee - Winning Design by Kengo Kuma

"We were delighted by the quality of all the designs which were submitted to the competition and I think this is reflected in the huge public interest which our exhibition of models has generated," said Lesley Knox, Chair of the V&A at Dundee project and of the jury panel.

"Kengo Kuma's proposal was the unanimous choice of the jury panel and is a worthy winner; a building that will delight visitors and encourage them to revisit it again and again. It demonstrates a clear understanding of the city, offers a new experience of the river, and will be as exciting internally as it will be externally.

"This has the potential to be one of Europe's most exciting buildings."

Kengo Kuma said, "It is a great honour to hear the news and my team and I are grateful for this significant opportunity. I am thrilled to be able to work with those at V&A at Dundee in order to give shape to their vision, to contribute meaningfully to the cultural richness of the city.

"It will be an exciting endeavour that will combine the tradition and heritage of the Victoria and Albert Museum and our new ideas. Furthermore, we are enthusiastic about the amazing site, the city and environment - it is our intention to find a balanced approach to nature and the city life of Dundee. We wish to bring our best efforts forward, with vigour and passion."

The jury panel made their unanimous decision after an extensive process of assessing the designs, interviewing the architects and their teams, and viewing some of their previous work. The public view was also factored in with thousands of questionnaires and comments drawn from the 13,000-plus people who visited the exhibition and those who viewed it online.

http://vandaatdundee.com/your-future/

Cresta - It's Frothy Man!

Cresta was a very popular drink in the 1970s. It was very fizzy but not in the same way as normal carbonated drinks. It was much smoother and when poured it had a fizzy head on top not unlike a pint of beer.

Like other organisations, Cresta approached television advertising as a crucial mechanism for talking to the world at large. Cresta was advertised by a cartoon polar bear who wore shades and had a New York accent! The bear’s catchphrase was, “It’s Frothy Man!”

In 1993 it was announced that Tesco was to remove the Cresta brand from its shelves due to the introduction of own-label products. This happened at a time when its sales curve had already taken a downturn.

For those who remember the ads here’s some links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVBz75KEzAk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_sWNnKoQiY&feature=related