I’ve had worse views! It’s an amazing place, this Burgh Island Hotel. A pity we’re only staying a short time, but we’ll be back!

We’ve just arrived at Burgh Island Hotel and it’s as if we have travelled back to the last century. This is where “Evil Under the Sun” and other films were produced and you can understand why it fascinated Agatha Christie!

I walked to the top of Totnes Castle - dating back to the 13th century - and I really need to work on my calf muscles. One of the most obvious things was confirmation that the land is totally parched, with temperatures still in the high 20s. No wonder many farmers have already finished the harvest!

I’ve just finished “Truly Gifted Kids” by Nige Tassell and it’s hugely recommended. Not only for Sprouts fans (though that helps), but anybody who loved the 80s and knows all about youngsters’ dreams clashing into reality and rickety bones. The music lives on forever! @nigetassell.bsky.social

We’ve arrived in Totnes on our way round Devon and Cornwall. Lots of bookshops, galleries and museums and a fair bit of “mystical” emporia. I now understand why the joke has it that when somebody needs medical assistance, the cry is: “Let me through, I’m an aromatherapist!”

We’re in Taunton tonight as we head towards Devon and Cornwall later in the week. I was hoping there might be a cricket match at Somerset CCC, but nothing. Such is the negative impact of this bloody Hundred event on every other part of the sport - including next summer’s Ashes series!

I found some of the press coverage from the days when two of us recorded an LP in 1978. The hairstyles are cringe, but I can at least say we made the record at the same Edinburgh studio where Prefab Sprout recorded “Swoon”!

Look what just arrived in the mail. I’m really looking forward to reading this and we’re away on holiday on Saturday, so this will definitely be in the suitcase! @nigetassell.bsky.social

This is from nearly 60 years ago. The eight-year-old batsman, name of Drysdale, gets his hands on his first real cricket bat while visiting an uncle in Cheadle Hulme in Cheshire. I don’t know what the footwear was about - maybe I took the term “slippers” a bit too literally!

I’ve been sorting through a cache of old family photographs and found this one of my late father sending a picture back to my grandparents while he was serving in Italy in 1944. He was never the same afterwards. The horrors he witnessed at Monte Cassino stayed with him for the rest of his life!

We’re away for a meal tonight. I quite like this spelling of my name!!

What a lovely afternoon. I’ve spent a while talking to three Aberdeenshire stalwarts who remember when the great West Indian maestro, Rohan Kanhai, spent two seasons at Mannofield. Memory upon memory, century upon century: these were great days for Scottish cricket!

Spot the famous birth here!

A very sincere thank you to the thousands of people who have bought “Simmy”. It was a privilege to work with Neil on the book. The response has been close to overwhelming! #Simmy #PitchPublishing #AberdeenFC #GothenburgGreats

I was at the cricket club earlier and caught this image of a rainbow in the middle of a red sky. I only have a mobile phone camera, but I think it's pretty cool!

A belated farewell to Jim Glennie, who was the last surviving Gordon Highlander on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944 until his death at 100 in July. I wrote this short tribute. No paywall! www.scottishbanner.com/2026/08/03/s...

Oh well, let’s see what the future brings. I‘ve had an excellent summer break, but it’s time I did some more work. Sorry for flouncing out. Hopefully, I can reconnect with a few people on here!

This should have been a major story, but here it is reduced to an item In “News in Brief”. I’ve absolutely no doubt that if this had been a Muslim roaming the streets of Edinburgh and attacking white people with knives, it would have been given major coverage. Who’s making these judgments?

It’s seriously hot today. And it’s only going to get warmer in the next week!

It’s a gorgeous night in Aberdeen and here’s a reminder that it will soon be the longest day (at the weekend). These pics were taken at 10.28pm and while it hasn’t been a great summer so far, the dusks are often transcendent!

Well, this was disappointing. I love Steven Spielberg’s work and was looking forward to “Disclosure Day”. But it’s just so long, tedious and cliched. The film’s not terrible - though the script is a mess - but you expect so much more from a maestro. The “X Files” did it better 30 years ago!

I found a bee struggling on the ground in our garden today. Gave it some sugar water and, mercifully, it perked up and flew off soon after. I took a picture of another bee pollinating an orchid. They’ve had it tough this year - it snowed in Aberdeenshire last week. Hopefully, it will heat up!

That’s another morning of island-hopping and we’ve arrived in Kirkwall from Westray, via Papay. A bit of a stomach-churning experience, but here’s the certificate for completing the world’s shortest scheduled air service! It was a thrilling experience! #BucketList

I’m looking forward to the publication of this book about Prefab Sprout, one of the most underrated bands of the 1980s/90s. Paddy McAloon wrote so many wonderful songs on albums such as “Swoon”, “Steve McQueen” and “From Langley Park to Memphis”! #PrefabSprout

That’s us back in Westray. The flight from Papay seemed even quicker on the return journey. As an afterthought, I think I might have captured the Grinch among the turquoise waves in the second pic!

Papa Westray in Orkney is a hidden gem. We’re loving the sunny weather and stunning beaches, even if the conditions can change in the space of a few minutes. The curlews are a delight as well!

I’ve just spent a magical evening in Westray with the circus of puffins who dwell around the coastline. They were amazingly gregarious; a group of them came towards us and were perfectly content with being photographed. Some even seemed to be posing! #Westray

I’m no nature photographer, but these are quite nice images of the plovers and other birds - in the little video - which are enjoying themselves a few hundred metres from our house in Westray!

Remnants of the old and new around us in Westray; the skeleton of a whale at the museum, a derelict old telephone box and a bank building which - amazingly - remains open two days a week!

And we’re away into the blue yonder, on a ferry from Kirkwall to Westray, where we’ve booked a cottage and are relishing an escape from the noise and nonsense of the wider world. We’re even going on a two-minute flight this week! It already feels very refreshing!