My Heart’s in the Highlands – Part 1

The author on the trail
[September 2, 2019]

Some history before hiking

By James T. Carney

The Scottish Highlands have always been considered the heart of Scotland even though only a small percentage of Scotland’s current population of some 6 million live there. About 600,000 live in Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city, and most live in the Lowlands of the South. Who are the Scots and how do they relate to the rest of the British?

Tuesday Voice: Ireland, Part 2

More Blarney

By James T. Carney

[Sequel to "In Erin (Against Ireland)"]

The guidebook recited the following famous rhyme about Blarney, which is near Cork and on the River Lee:

    On Galway sands, they kiss the hands,
They kiss the lips at Carney,
But on the Lee, they drink strong tea
    And kiss the stone at Blarney.

Tuesday Voice: Ireland, Part 1

In Erin (Against Ireland)

By James T. Carney

“Veni, Vidi, Visa” (or to paraphrase one C. Iulus Caesar of Brutus fame),| “I came, I saw, I used my Visa card.”
    There’s an old Irish song that tells it all. The first verse goes:

I met with Napper Tandy and he took me by the hand,
And he said, “How’s poor ould Ireland, and how does she stand?”
She’s the most expensive country that ever yet was seen
For they’re hanging men an’ women for the lacking of the green.