Quotidian

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 10: The Fall

The arrival of Autumn sees all our main characters engaged in enjoyable tasks and projects – picking apples, stacking firewood, making a woodland labyrinth, singing in a choir. Anne-Marie even makes a surprisingly successful Sunday visit to her mother. Andrew is also waiting to hear about the outcome of his phone call from the Wigtown Book Festival. When the response comes, it proves extremely consequential. Two suspects have been arrested and are being questioned by the police. Andrew, Anne-Marie and Michael are each required to give statements, and this causes some tension between them. Then Andrew receives a curious voicemail from DC Harris.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: In this story I mix up and blur chronologies, geographies and biographies. Any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental. The 12 chapters of the novel Epiphanies and Robberies appeared sequentially throughout 2023. They have now been re-drafted and are in search of a publisher.

The novel also has a playlist to enjoy, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XSzB1w8hfrRPUBzs4KFNF?si=JkkDbGmRQM2WeHjcOrFO

My novel gets a playlist!

My excellent colleague and friend Devi Vijay lives in India, but we keep in fairly close touch. Knowing our shared interest in music, she recently sent me an article about all the musical works referenced in the writings of a famous Japanese author. The article contained a link to a playlist, so the reader could listen to the complete canon, book by book.

Since I’m writing my first novel at the moment and one of my main characters is a musician, the playlist particularly caught my attention. A mystery story set in south west Scotland in the year 2023, the novel is being serialised and appears here month by month.

Inspired by the nudge from Devi, I looked through my draft to date, and made a list of all the pieces of music that are mentioned so far. I was quite surprised at the result. There are general references to different musical forms and tropes, as well as the work of particular composers and performers. But I was somewhat taken aback to see how many specific works crop up from named artists, dotted through the unfolding narrative.

I set about looking for these recordings on the internet and compiled a list, with links, in a Word document. This I sent to my good friend Tony Hirst. He is one of a small group of people who each month read my latest chapter and give comments before I publish it on my blog. He is also a dedicated and tech-savvy music fan, whose conversation is littered with casual references to playlists, podcasts, downloads, and such like.

To my astonishment, and within a couple of hours, Tony sent me a new link. I opened it up to find a highly professional-looking playlist, derived from my novel and which can be enjoyed alongside reading the text.

So here, with thanks to Devi and Tony, is the Epiphanies and Robberies Playlist, for your entertainment! I hope you enjoy it, and who knows, some more tracks may appear before the year end?

Oh and by the way, if you are wondering who the famous contemporary author is, the answer of course, is Haruki Murakami.

Finding a place in the world: the inspiring story of Amy McCreadie

When you are chairing a job interview and explain to the incoming candidate how we are going to proceed, it’s common to receive a polite nod of nervous understanding before the panel members start their questions. When instead, the candidate gives a huge smile and says ‘Awesome!‘ then you know this is no ordinary job applicant.

This was how I first met Amy McCreadie back in 2019.

She got the job of course, and came to work with me on an established research project concerned with end of life issues around the world. In this she was an instant success and quickly gained the admiration and respect of the whole team.

Unfailingly positive, she took on multifarious tasks, from project administration and finance, to public engagement and event organisation. She learned new skills in videography, assisted with the production of online learning materials, all the while supporting the research staff and postgraduate students across the whole group.

When the project came to an end, I was delighted that the University retained Amy in employment and provided her with a platform for further development. Since we haven’t worked together as colleagues for a few years, I thought now would be good time to catch up with all she is doing. Amy is undoubtedly an excellent candidate for my unfolding series of interviews with remarkable people in Dumfries and Galloway.

I hope you’ll agree with me that what she has to say here is hugely inspiring and demonstrates what it is possible for young people to contribute to the life and times of our region – not only in the world of paid employment, but also through creative engagement and service in the local community. The energy is awesome!

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 9: Closing In

News breaks of two further robberies, this time in Kircudbright, apparently back in July. Harris shows Andrew a series of images of two campervanners and sailors, taken over the last few months. It’s now clear these are the thieves, but the police are nowhere nearer to catching them. Michael, Esme and the girls seem to be in a better place, as the divorce proceedings start to go through. Anne-Marie has an exhilarating month of live performance and on-location recording. The band and her new-found record company are delighted with it all. Meanwhile, Andrew heads off to the Wigtown Book Festival, where in a bizarre series of events on the last day, he is convinced he has seen the seen the art robbers.

The novel also has a playlist to enjoy, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XSzB1w8hfrRPUBzs4KFNF?si=JkkDbGmRQM2WeHjcOrFO

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 8: Lammas

Andrew stirs DC Harris to make contact following a letter about the art robberies, in the Dumfries Weekly. They are now cautious allies in sharing information and hunches, not least the possibility of a double strike occurring in the near future at Kirkcudbright. Anne-Marie, and her mother, along with Caitlin experience the curiosities of the Open Garden Scheme. Andrew is taken to a choral concert and afterwards persuaded by Anne-Marie that he should join a choir in Moniaive. Michael and Esme nudge towards a more harmonious ending of their marriage. But having figured out where and when the next break-in might occur, the three sleuths are thwarted when they go to the Kirkcudbright tattoo and firework display but see no signs of burglary or criminal activity.

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The novel also has a playlist to enjoy, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XSzB1w8hfrRPUBzs4KFNF?si=JkkDbGmRQM2WeHjcOrFO

Encountering labyrinths

At Lammastide 2015, I was lucky enough to secure a modest rent and a long lease on the field adjoining our house in south west Scotland. I set about planting trees, initially in circles and later, linking them together with mown paths.

One circle consisted of fairly closely planted hornbeams. My idea was to create a kind of screen, enclosing the space within. Soon after the trees went in (early 2017, I think it was) I filled up the space with daffodils, planting the bulbs into the meadow grass. The trees were patchy in their growth, and still are to an extent. The daffodils thrived immediately, an early variety that makes a great splash of colour, just when we need it most.

Then in summer 2020, and on a whim, my friend Artur, just before he returned to live in Poland, cut a pattern in the grass within the space. In August of that year, after the terrible fire in Beirut, I planted a small Cedar of Lebanon in the middle, as an homage to those affected.

Unschooled in the detail as we were, the creation was neither labyrinth nor maze. One path led to the centre, with concentric circles leading out from it.

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 7: Lament for Sarah

His grant application complete, Michael goes camping near Kirkcudbright and thinks he might have bumped into the art robbers. Andrew is facing the first anniversary of Sarah’s death and talks at length to Anne-Marie about the whole story. DC Harris has a disarming conversation with Machars Gordon that chimes with a mysterious camper van, left abandoned in a motorway service station. Michael tries a new tack with Esme. A huge crowd gathers in the Kirkgate graveyard as Andrew, with haunting music from Anne-Marie, pays tribute to his late wife.

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The novel also has a playlist to enjoy, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XSzB1w8hfrRPUBzs4KFNF?si=JkkDbGmRQM2WeHjcOrFO

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 6: June Stolen Books

The month opens with news of a second robbery. This time it’s rare antiquarian books that have been stolen from a private collection in Galloway. Andrew’s interest is soon piqued, but he is unaware that the thieves are already goading the beleaguered DC Harris, who now has a another case on his hands, but little progress to show for it. Caitlin and Esme meet for coffee and a quizzical conversation, but Michael and Esme’s attempted resolution of their personal problems goes badly adrift. The June weather is superb and a far cry from the floods of January. Michael presses forward with a new research proposal, and Anne-Marie’s composition takes on shape and colour. As the month ends, there’s another twist of the knife for DC Harris.

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The novel also has a playlist to enjoy, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XSzB1w8hfrRPUBzs4KFNF?si=JkkDbGmRQM2WeHjcOrFO

Growing garlic

Over the years I have grown leeks, onions, shallots, alliums and chives but it is only recently that I have started to cultivate another member of that bulbous and pungent family. Like so many things, it started with Gardener’s World on the BBC and a demonstration of how to grow this nowadays ubiquitous kitchen necessity: garlic.

The method looked simple, so in October 2020 I decided to have a go myself. When no one was looking I filched a couple of healthy looking bulbs from the vegetable rack and divided them into separate cloves. In a nicely raked section at the end of a raised bed I planted two rows, placing the cloves about three inches down and covering them over. Quite simple.

Garden exotica

I readily admit that I am no plantsman. I’m simply an untutored gardener who frequently struggles to remember Latin names, or even many of the common ones. In general my approach to the garden is to create an emotional effect that stirs the spirit. I’m interested in the full symphony rather more than its constituent parts. More focussed on the overall look and atmosphere, than any specific plant within it.

But on a June weekend in 2021 it was a real pleasure to have a close encounter with two particular specimens, where I not only know the names, but which also have a distinctly exotic air that adds to the overall feel of the place. Examining them close up enhanced my appreciation of their beauty, but also piqued my interest in their particular botanical features. As it turned out, each of them has its own curious story of origins, associations and idiosyncrasies.

Both are forms of lily.