The Royal Cyphers: G VI R in Bermuda

Readers may remember my July adventures with Navigator on the Aberdeenshire Circuit. Navigator returned to the States a few days after that outing, though we keep in sporadic touch via Facebook.

Navigator recently posted a bunch of pictures from her recent trip to Bermuda, and she shared this exciting picture with me. Readers may also remember my discussion of the G VI R cypher. Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory, apparently hosts post boxes (in various states of maintenance, as evidenced by the fatigued paint on this example); this example bearing the cypher of King George VI dates back to at least 1952. When Navigator sent it via Facebook, I was immediately chuffed, and thanked her profusely. Now, I share it with you, the valued blog audience.

Photo Selection: Marischal College Selfie

In early August, I was sitting on a bench outside Marischal College for Gin Afficionado to finish her shift at Starbucks so that we could go out for a drink. I decided to screw around with my mobile's camera and try to take a unique selfie. Marischal's Gothic spires and the puffy white clouds overhead made for a perfect backdrop. I frequently use this picture as my Facebook profile picture with the caption "Go boldly forth." (Gray 1 asked the obvious question: "Towards the next split infinitive?") This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of myself from my time in Scotland (though, to be fair, most of my favorite pictures aren't of myself).

Photo Selection: CN Vlad versus Shite Piper

In July, CN GBU-16 sent me a picture that had been posted on Facebook by some random denizen of Aberdeen. What's noteworthy about this picture is that it features a woman wearing a sort of ridiculous pink outfit, right next to her (then-)boyfriend, CN Vlad. For those of you who are new or rusty, CN Vlad was my Romanian coursemate who first introduced himself as being "from Transylvania, the same as Dracula!"

There's something else in the picture that's worth mentioning. See that sort of broad guy behind the pedestrian signal pole? That, dear friends, is Shite Piper. Shite Piper is a guy from Georgia - like, the American state of Georgia - who stands there on the corner of Union Street and Union Terrace Gardens, at the base of the statue of King Edward VII. Why is he called "Shite Piper"? Because he's absolutely awful. Behold, a Facebook post and ensuing conversation from August...

To the guy from Georgia who plays the bagpipes daily on the corner of Union Street and Union Terrace: please stop. You're awful, you're embarrassing yourself, the locals call you a "shite piper", and your "music" makes everyone uncomfortable. Your piping makes angry cats sound melodic by comparison. I'm begging you: please desist immediately.

KH: Might have more impact if you said this to his face...
Tom: I've learned to avoid people from Georgia.
CS: He's American? Bloody immigrants coming over here and destroying our music. That's our job. Wearing skirts and being overweight. That's our fucking job!
JF: Tom, will this persuade you to stop wearing skirts?
HM: He plays really stereotypical music and even then can get the notes right. He never shuts up even late at night which makes me feel for the people staying around that area
Tom: JF: No.
HM: I put one of my friends up in the Caledonian Hotel, and his rubbish piping was my only concern.
DD: Shite Piper is a GREAT name for a band!
DD: JF, Tom, SW and DD, AKA, Shite Piper! Let's get the band back together!
KM: He could nae join with Guitar wifey the famous musician frae Aberdeen and be called Wifey N shitey! .x.
LM: no that is an insult to the legend that is wifey

Just to clarify: KH is a girl I dated briefly in college, CS was one of my coursemates, JF and DD (and SW) are former co-workers from when I worked in Virginia, and HM, LM, and KM are two sisters and their father whom I met in Aberdeen. The "wifey" is Aberdeen's Guitar Wifey, a popular busker who plays a guitar (maybe a ukelele?) on Aberdeen's sidewalks.

I have to agree with DD, though - "Shite Piper" is a great name for a band.

Scottish Secession: A Narrative Win for Better Together

On Sunday, Critical Mass shared something from the Better Together campaign's Facebook page, and I immediately loved it, because it's absolutely dead on. The Scottish National Party and its leader, Alex Salmond, are responsible for convincing Scots (not to mention the rest of Europe and the rest of the world) why Scotland would be better off as an independent state. Thus far, many relevant individuals have raised one issue or another, and their questions and/or concerns have yet to be addressed in any substantive manner. One of the biggest recent issues has been the SNP's claim that Scotland will continue using the British pound, without any corresponding influence on the administration of the pound. First Minister Salmond, his subordinates, and their supporters in the general public answer such questions with vague appeals to patriotism, rather than detailed explanations.

Later, I saw this article: Shell boss: Scots should stay in UK. The tagline reads: "The chief executive of the oil company Shell says he would like Scotland to 'remain part of the UK'." It seems significant to me that the Scottish nationalists see themselves as a potential petrostate on the order of Norway or Sweden, but the actual energy companies think that secession is a bad idea.

E posted this article, too: 5 Reasons Why Scottish Independence Would Be A Disaster.

As I keep writing this post (this is technically now an update, I find more and more items of note to post. For example, the BBC reports that Scottish independence: Citigroup says formal currency union 'unlikely'. Notes the Better Together campaign...

A new report from Citigroup says it is "astonishing" that Alex Salmond has failed to spell out a Plan B on what would replace the Pound if we left the UK.

The report goes on to say that 'Scotland's fiscal deficit was "now significantly above UK levels" because of a recent fall in oil revenues.' This is likely to be confirmed by the Scottish Government's own figures next week.

Alex Salmond wants us to take a big leap into the unknown, but it's a risk we don't have to take. As part of the UK we have the strength, security and stability of the Pound, and can take advantage of North Sea revenues without putting our public services at risk.

In case you're interested (and on Facebook), you can subscribe to Better Together's Facebook page. In the interest of balance, you can also subscribe to the Yes Campaign. I remain skeptical of the proposed Scottish secession referendum, but I'm also willing to be convinced that the SNP has a plan and a justification for secession. The wait continues, and the SNP is running out of time to convince me or anyone else.

Demobilization: The Prodigal Package Arrives!

I could have just as easily posted it here, but I wanted to let you folks know that my final box of stuff finally arrived from Scotland yesterday. It took nearly two and a half months to arrive! Holy smokes! Go have a look at the post on the BJT blog for more information.

Photo Selection: Wideford Hill Sunset

A few weeks before I left Orkney, Rock Sniffer and I rented a car for a day and did some geocaching. December featured some gorgeous sunsets in Orkney, and Rock Sniffer and I headed to the top of Wideford Hill. We weren't disappointed, and the sunset pictures I took from the Orkney Mainland's highest point are some of my favorite images from Operation Highlander.

Photo Selection: Ear-ly in the Morning

I still have a lot of pictures from my time in Scotland, so in an effort to keep this blog interesting for a bit longer, I'll try to post one or two each week. Today's selection is a mini-tripod-assisted selfie that I took aboard the MV Pentalina early in my final week in Scotland. I can't remember what time I actually got up, but it was earlier than usual, and I'd had to pack a bag to take down to Aberdeen with me. I made the bus from Kirkwall to The Hope with a couple of minutes to spare, and I think that was the occasion when the moon had yet to set on a clear Orcadian night, lighting up Scapa Flow and the silhouette of Orkney's landscape as the bus approached and crossed the Barriers. Once aboard the Pentalina, I took a couple of selfies before sitting there for the hour-long journey and listening to one podcast or another - BBC Global News, if I remember correctly.

One item of note, which may have actually shown up in a prior post, is that Poppy Scotland badge on the collar of my jacket. It was a gift from the curator of the Gordon Highlanders Museum during my initial in-briefing, and I have yet to take it off of my jacket.

Scottish Secession: Police, Ferries, and Foreign Alliances

Well, it's time for another update on the prospects for Scottish secession. I've saved a few stories over the last few weeks, and with another story coming up today, I figured I'd clear them off of my docket.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and his allies have finally released their plan, and there's a revelation from The Independent: Exclusive: Alex Salmond 'hid legal reality of an independent Scotland’s EU status'. One of the frequent disagreements between pro- and anti-secession campaigners is whether an independent Scotland would be admitted into the European Union and NATO. The SNP says that Scotland will be ushered in with open arms, while every objective measure disagrees with these assertions.

Another issue has been Police Scotland's effort to close a number of control rooms, to include the one in Aberdeen. These control rooms are the equivalent to American 911 dispatch centers. Critics say that such a move would cause specialist fire knowledge to be lost. Aberdeen is a city of more than two hundred thousand, which is pretty significant in a region of about five and a half million people; it's one of Scotland's busiest ports, and the "Energy Capital of Europe", both of which are key elements of the SNP's strategy of turning a notional independent Scotland into a quasi-Nordic petrostate. This follows a continuing SNP policy of centralization of services to Edinburgh and Glasgow, leading opposition politicians to claim that my former home, Aberdeen, is being treated as a "forgotten city" by the Scottish government.

That sense isn't confined to Aberdeen. While I was in Orkney and since I've left, there was some controversy over the proposed (and subsequently cancelled due to public protest) closure of the Stromness police station. As I've noted previously, Northern Islanders are so skeptical of the Yes Campaign that there's even talk of remaining a part of the United Kingdom should the rest of Scotland vote to secede. I've related it specifically to ferry issues, and having spent the last quarter of 2013 in Orkney, I could talk at length about ferry issues. Instead, I'll just mention that after those prior issues with the MV Hamnavoe, Serco Northlink Ferries employed the freight ship MS Helliar during the Hamnavoe's annual scheduled maintenance in January. While the Helliar is better than the prior provision of nothing during April/May outage, the Helliar carries only twelve passengers to the Hamnavoe's six hundred. I think I may have once been on the day's first sailing on the Pentalina when there were twelve passengers or less; but the idea that the Helliar is an adequate substitute for the Hamnavoe is ridiculous. This reflects upon the SNP and the Scottish Government because there's a prevailing sense among Orcadians that Serco Northlink has tested the Scottish Government, figured out what they could get away with, and have proceeded to make a meal of it. When combined with other issues, like the Stromness police office controversy, I'm not surprised that: 1) Orcadians feel that the SNP is centralizing services and treating them as a politically expendable revenue stream; 2) no Northern Isles MP/MSP is part of the SNP; and 3) in three months, I met a grand total of one secessionist living in Orkney.

That last paragraph serves as background for this next story: Historic Shetland housing debt more than halved. As I've noted previously, the waning energy reserves that the SNP is counting on to finance a notional independent Scotland is nearly all located adjacent to Shetland - it's Shetland's oil, not Scotland's oil. Both Holyrood (the seat of the Scottish Government) and Westminster (the seat of the United Kingdom's government) are trying to convince the Northern Isles, and specifically the Shetlanders, that they either should or shouldn't support independence. I can't imagine that the matching pledges of cash from both Holyrood and Westminster are anything other than an effort to woo Lerwick in this year's referendum - yes, it's getting close! This follows the early October appointment of Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael (himself a Liberal Democrat in the current and controversial coalition government) as Westminster's Secretary of State for Scotland.* I doubt that ten million quid from Holyrood will convince the folks up in Shetland to support the secession bid.

* I teased CN Ness a bit when it happened he moved to Kirkwall a few weeks after me after being hired as Carmichael's parliamentary assistant. (I still swear that he was copying me by going to Orkney when he did.) Meanwhile, CN Homeboy opined that the very fact that there's a Scottish Secretary in Westminster at all is an indictment against England's imperialistic treatment of Scotland. Though I disagree with it, I can see his point.