Here’s where to keep in touch with “home”
“The Cairns of Warehouse were clearly visible ahead of us on top the hill, backlit by the sun. It looked a rough old climb, but the big bouncy dog was full of energy, so I allowed him go first and let him pull me up the steep bits!” Mike Clark explores 5,000 years of history on the Yarrows Archaeological Trail.
“Between 1939 and 1945 a group of magicians were working in total secrecy deep in rural Buckinghamshire. But these were mathematical magicians tasked with cracking the most complex codes ever devised.” Terry Mitchell of Bletchley Park Post Office reviews the launch of a set of stamps to commemorate the cracking of Enigma.
“It doesn’t immediately attract the eye. Ruined and untidy. No car parks or coffee shops. No manicured lawns and flags flying. Sorry. But this is history in the raw.” Mike Clark visits Pitsligo Castle and tells the tale of the last Laird.
“I strolled around the shore of Lochan Hakel hoping to see something glittering in the water. Briefly, I did, but it was only the flash of a trout as it surrendered with a final flourish to a delighted angler. No sign of Prince Charlie’s gold, I’m afraid.” Mike tells of a shipwreck which may have sealed the Jacobites’ fate at Culloden.
“July 5th: We had a food fight tonight. That was great fun. The Human went out of the room, so we chucked our bowls at each other. Beefy chunks and jelly all over the walls. Like a wallaby had swallowed a hand grenade. The Human wasn’t too chuffed, though, and refused to give us more. Spoilsport.” An extract from Mike Clark’s dog Jake’s diary…
“Three days after her visit, Sis phoned. She’d seen an ad in the local paper. It was an eighteen-month-old Old English Sheepdog/Border Collie cross, free to a good home. Cross and age were right. Could it be Zsa-Zsa’s brother?” Mike tells the unlikely but true story of how his sister’s dog’s brother became his new companion!