Note - You can read this as well as other posts here.
Scottish stuff - The Wild Haggis is pictured above. This elusive animal is an integral part of Scorland’s folklore. Various species are adapted to the mountains, forests, and lowlands. Like many animals, they also are in danger from climate change. Read this to learn more.
Yesterday was Robbie Burns Day, to celebrate the late Scotch poet. Apparently, he showed up to freeload off some friends for supper, so he offered to pay his share by composing a poem. I’m not sure if they had Wild Haggis at that dinner or if the cook made her own version. It is a strange dish. Somehow, in some ancient land, millennia ago, an inventive/desperate cook decided to try stuffing a sheep’s stomach with oatmeal, suet, spices, and sheep’s “pluck”. Pluck is the heart, liver, and lungs - because why not? And it obviously worked. I had some years ago, but it was locally made, I think, not wild. I didn’t ask what was in it. In the United States, haggis made with sheep’s lungs is banned. There is a black market for it, of course, but a major supplier, Macsween, substitutes lamb heart. No word yet on whether Trump’s new health relaxed health recommendations will change this.
Speaking of Scotland, did you Hurkle-Durkle today, recovering from last night’s festivities, and faced with yet more winter? It’s a 19th-century Scottish word that the Dictionaries of the Scots Language defines as “to lie in bed or lounge about when one should be up.” More examples are in the article.
Budget vacay - Can’t afford a fancy and expensive vacation? You don’t have to wish for those days of travelling with Frommer’s “Europe on $10 a Day” clutched in your sweaty hands. This article has some solutions for “Champagne dreams and beer budgets”. It’s a good read, here are some highlights.
1- Destination: Try Quebec City instead of Paris. Or a tour of Ontario vintners instead of California’s Napa Valley.
2- Dates: book in off-season. My ex and I went to Greece decades ago in September. Cheaper, still warm, fewer annoying tourists, and friendlier locals.
3- Accommodation: Airbnb is not always cheaper. Try budget hotels, hostels, or house swaps.
4- Wander: Don’t spend all your time in the city centre. Grab a subway or a local train.
5- Payment: Be cautions with credit cards, it’s easy to overspend. Prepay with points and cash.
Border fences - US/Mexico fences are always in the news, portrayed as America’s only defence against invading convoys of deranged murderers and rapists. We have a border with the US, too, up here in Canada, but other than the occasional snow fence or row of flower pots, it’s unfenced. Until now. Local police in Delta BC bypassed the council and erected a 30m chainlink fence on the border in a local park. Discussions are underway.
Bears attacking cars - Or not. Check out this article. Four LA residents were arrested this week for submitting claims after using someone in a life-sized bear costume to attack their cars. Damage, shown in the videos they submitted, was for scratched paint and ripping interior leather upholstery, for total claims of $148,839. Apparently the insurers compared notes and launched “Operation Bear Claw to sort it out.