aldivalloch

I think we've all done daft things at some point in our youth. Some of us were lucky, some not, to varying degrees. A few didn't live to regret their inquisitiveness. Every summer I regularly encounter a man who's about the same age as I. He comes back home for a few weeks to visit his relatives. He always has a good-looking, well-trained Labrador with him - because he has been completely blind since his teenage attempt at making his own fireworks. It's also worth bearing in mind that the laws of the land were a bit more tolerant of youthful inventors and experimenters back when we were young, all those years ago.

Anyone that wants to try this "experiment" should be free to do so - but should fill in an Organ Donor card first. All their useful parts could then be recycled, with the probable exception of their eyes - they'd be a bit too damaged after being blown out of their heads and rolling about on the ground.

Time to do a Pigeon Watch survey.... How many members are within travelling distance of HMP Craiginches? Those that say "Aye", get your names on the visiting rota!

There's an awful lot of Charles Bronson fans on this forum, by the looks of it...... And the next full moon's not until the 29th of the month! Now, where did I put my Wildey .44 Automag.........

Google "Press & Journal" and read the whole article, folks. It's pretty graphic.The poor lad had to shoot his dog to put it out of its misery. There's a huge number of seals here where I live and they often come within twenty yards or so when I'm out on the beaches with my black Lab, which is seven months old and very inquisitive. It's only the Cuddly Bunny brigade that find seals attractive. They may look appealing, with their big googly eyes, but they're not terribly pleasant to be around. I tend to side with the salmon fishermen and the fish-farmers, who would like to see their numbers reduced. Sealskin slippers for Christmas, anyone?

I got comprehensively beaten at badminton a couple of weeks ago by a bloke who had both hips replaced last year. I'm not that bad a player, AND I'm younger than he is. I'm not going to lie to you, it was a big operation, he was in pain afterwards and hobbling about on ctutches, and then sticks. But he's tough and he just swallowed his pain-killers, went to his physio, got his head down and drove himself through it all. And now, at just over sixty, he's probably fitter and more mobile than he's been in the last ten years. Life can be tough - you can be tougher.

Never a Glaswegian. The slot in the bin's much too high off the ground for the average wee Weegie to get his head in without something to stand on.

"Total immersion" is meant to be the most effective method for learning a language. It's well named - you either swim or sink! A few years back Mrs Aldivalloch and I were at her sister's place in the south of Spain. It was way out in the country and absolutely not in the touristy area. During our holiday her sister had to go back to Britain for a few days, so we were left to look after the place. Very few of the locals spoke English, so our Spanish was coming on in leaps and bounds - or so we thought. One day Mrs A went into the local shop and successfully bought a fresh chicken! It was very tasty - a bit like British chickens used to be before supermarkets and polystyrene trays... Anyway, buoyed up by her success as a chicken buyer, the next time we were in the shop Mrs A announced, "I'm going to tell them how much we enjoyed that chicken." "I think you're being a bit ambitious," I cautioned her. "Oh, rubbish!" she retorted, turning to the woman behind the counter and letting go a stream of "Spanish". The woman looked baffled. So she let rip again. The woman continued to look baffled. She let fly a third time, but more slowly, carefully pronouncing her words. A smile spread over the woman's face. "Ah, si, si!" she sang - and disappeared into the back shop. She returned with a big, heavy cardboard box which she dumped down on the counter. Mrs A had only gone and managed to buy their entire stock of ice-lollies. There was a hell of a lot of them in that box. "What'll I do???" she squeaked at me. "Pay up - and SHUT UP!!" I replied. "Before you end up buying that ******* zinc bath they've got hanging outside the front door."

Well, the letter got publicised in the Aberdeen Press & Journal, and before any of the less well informed start laughing, that's a newspaper that sells approximately 70,000 copies a day and has wider circulation than the "Scotsman" and the "Glasgow Herald" - I've bought it in places as far apart as Lerwick (Shetland) and Edinburgh. Mind you, most of Scotland - i.e. the civilised part, north of the Central Belt - is probably already well aware of the benefits of field sports and the pleasures of eating game......

I'm a member of a small private club which exists purely for social purposes. It's non-profit making, and exists purely for the convenience of the membership. We have regular food nights, and fishing, golf, snooker, pool and darts competitions. No shooting-related stuff, although I've tried! We field a team in the local quiz league, and take our turn as hosts, as the league has a "rolling venue" arrangement. The annual fee is very modest at £40.00 per annum, and the beer and drams, etc, are cheap - much cheaper than you'll find in any of the local pubs. And the obliging gentleman whose role it is to look after the ordering is always happy to buy in whatever the members want to drink. It's absolutely NOT elitist - the membership consists people of all ages and backgrounds. Membership is by nomination followed by the endorsement of the existing members. There's provision for "ex-pats" as well - people who live too far away to make regular use of the facilities. Their sub is half the going rate. The one essential criterion is that a prospective member should be "of good character", and that's something that works a treat because it keeps out the known troublemakers, idiots and bigots. Over the many, many years that I've been a member I've never been aware of any unpleasantness or violence within the club's premises. Robust debate, yes! And banter. Plenty of that. But all done in a civil and civilised fashion. The club has been a boon for me. Over near enough the last twenty years I've worked in what might loosely be called the criminal justice field, and and it's great to have somewhere I can go for a night out in the certain knowledge that I won't cross paths with someone who bears a grudge against me, and end up having to fight my way out of trouble. So there you are. Nothing wrong with private clubs if they're set up and run properly and fairly.

I don't have that much of a problem with it either, but then I was brought up by a mother and father who were country people, who had experienced the food rationing of WW2 with the consequent emphasis on growing/rearing your own, who knew where food came from, and who regularly wrung the necks of the hens we kept so that we could have good Sunday dinners at a time when roast chicken was a big luxury to those who didn't rear their own. The other thing is, whilst most of us Pigeon Watchers are realists and know how things SHOULD be, we also have to accept how things ARE, and how they are determined by people who don't want to think too hard about how meat and fish are sourced lest it distract them from the latest episode of "Escape to the Country". So the wise thing for us to do is to get on with with pursuing our bloodthirsty ways as unobtrusively as possible. Piling dead, bleeding geese on the roof-rack of a Land Rover isn't being unobtrusive, and I don't think the reported "incident" was a one-off, either. No criticism implied for the people who did it, just a suggestion that there's a game to be played here to keep the anti-bloodsports lobby off our backs.

This is very interesting, because the breech is almost identical to the one on the Sharp Innova I bought in the mid-1980's. I still have it, although I haven't used it for years. It required five pumps of the fore-end, shot very smoothly and accurately, but didn't seem that powerful, although that was maybe just the impression I got after years of using twangy spring-powered guns like Airsporters.

Mise cuideachd, Highlandladdie!

Oh, dear, four-wheel-drive, the irony of my comment about Arabic seems to have escaped you. It was aimed, tongue firmly in cheek, at the PW posters who believe - rightly or wrongly - that Islam is hell-bent on the destroying the culture of the westen world and replacing it with its own. As to your assertion that English is a very convenient and useful language in that it is widely spoken and understood, well, you're absolutely right, and it's dead handy for most Brits that that is the case, given their generally lamentable capacity to learn other tongues! But what I was really trying to get across is my belief that it's entirely possible to have an "official" national language (English) without detriment to what one might call "regional" languages like Gaelic, Scots and Welsh. They're important components in maintaining heritage and identity, and should be nurtured and preserved. And, as I said before, the Gaelic language was deliberately suppressed after Culloden as part of a deliberate and often quite brutal policy of subjugating the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. That's a nasty historical fact that just won't go away. As for your final comments about Scottish politicians in Westminster, stop for a moment and consider this. Who voted Tony Blair in? I think you'll find that he represented an English constituency...... And yes, independence is a hot topic in Scotland, and it's entirely possible that you might consider yourself better off without the Scots. But the indignant furore that got up on PW, last time the subject was broached, about the Scots wanting to secede from the Union, left me thinking that you're all a little bit worried and scared that they're actually going to go!

I'm often surprised by the lack of awareness that the average Scot has about his or her heritage. I see DavieM asserts that "galic (sic) was never the language of Scotland", Well, it was the language of an awful lot of Scotland, exceptions being much of Caithness, and the Lowlands. By the way, DavieM, I see you're from Hamilton. That'll be Hamilton, just south of Glasgow, which took its name from the Gaelic "Glaschu", will it not? A huge number of the place names of Scotland are either Gaelic, or derive from it. One of the reasons that the Gaelic and Scots languages have declined is that they were "discouraged" by the education system, the former particularly so. And whilst I don't want to get into the complex matter of the the Old and the Young Pretenders (the Young being Bonnie Prince Charlie) who came to Scotland in the 18th century, chasing their own personal ambitions, it is absolutely the case that the reaction of the British government to the risings they fomented was brutal in the extreme, and intended for once and all "rebellious Scots to crush" (see the original National Anthem, verse 2). I see it as a sad thing when the legacy of that bruatlity is likely to be the loss of the language, its culture, its traditions and its literature. Of course, plenty people, particularly those outside the Highlands and Islands will see it as no big deal. Well, just wait until YOU are only allowed to speak Arabic......

What does your mate want? I have a friend who's currently doing development work in promotion of Gaelic. He would be able to help with translation. I'm going to be away for the next week and won't be on the forum, but if I can help please let me know. I'll check the thread when I get back.

I'd call it a wild goose." Feral" is a term applied to something that has returned to the wild after being tamed or domesticated. Being migratory - or not - has nothing to do with it. And the problem in Orkney isn't simply the number of geese there all the year round - it's the huge influx of migratory birds that is just about to start.

Pole Star, as far as I can see you are telling us that you have heard a story that a number of years ago (not defined) someone, allegedly a Continental goose-guide, accidentally discharged his shotgun in the room of a hotel (not identified). You've raked all this up on the pretext of establishing whether an offence was committed. Well, perhaps an offence WAS committed, but given that it happened - by your own admission - a number of years ago, what relevance does it have now? I suspect that what is of importance to you is not whether an offence was committed, but that the alleged perpetrator was a Continental goose-guide. You have posted extensively in the past about the activities of foreign guides and shooters in Orkney, perhaps with good cause, but this smacks of clutching at straws so that you can "keep your pot boiling". Consign it to the past where it belongs, and move on. You are letting your resentment consume you all too publicly.

Measurements would be helpful, but to me it looks like a cartridge for a 9mm shotgun (also known as no.3 or .360" Garden Gun).

Hutchie, if you want top keep your caps lock on, carry on. But before I go away and do something more constructive than reading your rants, can I just point out a couple of things? The first is that, having read all the posts, I don't see many people agreeing with your stance. The second is that I come onto this forum because I fish, and shoot with rifle and shotgun. I've been involved in field sports for a very long time - longer, perhaps, than you've been walking this earth. That doesn't mean I have to like what is posted, particularly when it's pitched in the the rather aggressive style that you have been using. I'm sure that Fisherman Mike indeed has his own mouth, but I reacted to your criticism of him as, by implication, you are criticising others who share his perspective, myself included. I have to say that I find the tone of your response to me upleasant and booriish, and it contributes nothing to the usually quite high standard of debate to be found on Pigeon Watch, and so I will withdraw from the discussion. I wish you luck in your mission to impose your opinions upon all who have posted intelligently on this thread. You appear to have a remarkable talent for pig-headedness in the face of reasoned argument.

Hutchie, I don't really have an opinion on the red kites, but I wish you'd turn your caps lock off and stop shouting. And please don't be so disrespectful of people like Fisherman Mike. Some of the finest and most knowledgeable sportsmen that I've met in my now quite long life have been first and foremost naturalists who have taken, and continue to take, as much pleasure from just observing nature as from hunting, shooting and fishing. Finally, it ill behoves you to talk about "weird posts"! Go back and read what you wrote in your post of about 40 minutes ago:- " also I have not studied these birds incontinently..." Incontinently?? Pass the pads, folks....

Right at the start of this clip I was waiting for the music to start. Thought it was Village People about to dance their latest number! Moustache-tastic!!! But in all seriousness, don't these people have mirrors so that they can see their ridiculous rig-outs, and sane friends who can take them aside and recommend they ask their doctors to refer them to psychiatric services?

According to my dictionary (Collins), "tactical" is an adjective meaning 1. "of, relating to, or employing tactics"; 2. "used in or supporting limited military operations"; 3. "skilful or diplomatic". What any of these definitions really has to do with an ugly piece of plastic masquerading as a gun-stock I don't know. I suppose being able to tell your mates you've got a "tactical stock" / "tactical scope" / "tactical bi-pod" / "tactical knife" / "tactical boots" seems like a great way to impress - if you're a) 15, B) immature, c) a bit of a Walt. I don't think it would work for me with my pals, though. I'd get less of a hard time if I told them I had a sexually-transmitted disease. But the marketing people are awfully good at coming up with these meaningless buzz-words, aren't they?. Remember when turbo-charged cars first hit the headlines? Suddenly we had "turbo" razors, and "turbo" vacuum-cleaners as well, amongst other improbable things. I have to say that inappropriately-used terminology amuses me at first, then irritates me. Terminology like "bullet head". What the hell's a bullet head?? IT'S A BULLET!!!!

About twenty years ago I sold an air-rifle to a young friend who wanted to get into shooting and had obtained permission to take rabbits. Wisely, he decided to practise on paper targets first, so he built a very sturdy three-sided backstop out of pallets at the end of his parents' garden. He bought himself a good scope and started sighting it in. In no time, two policemen arrived -in response to a call from a neighbour - and asked what he was doing. He explained, showed them his backstop, and added that he wasn't having much success in achieving a zero. The older officer said that he was a keen shooter himself and would help him to get get the rifle shooting right while his mate nipped next door and told the neighbour to mind his own business. By the time the policemen left my friend had a gun that was shooting spot on and next door had a flea in his ear. Great result all round!! And the best thing about it is, this area STILL gets a lot of common-sense policing because a lot of the officers are country boys who grew up with shooting and fishing.

When I got by black Lab one grandson (aged 4) suggested "Pip", another (aged 2) said I should call her "Snout". I settled the argument by calling her Dileas. Much more dignified.