Smashing...

...pumpkins.

Well, with the madness of Hallowe'en behind us, the pumpkin festering gently in the porch needed to be put to some use. A wee visit to the Torlundy Farm shop at the weekend saw the kids tucking into a winter-warmer type bowl of spiced pumpkin soup. The Christmassy smells sold that one to me so a wee Google brought up this gem from Valentine Warner

Assistance from the youngest child in the chopping department (supervised, honest!) helped get from this...












to this...











in little over an hour and a half. We didn't go for the serving it in the pumpkin idea, seeing as we'd already chopped it up and roasted it with cinammon, cloved and nutmeg before even finding the recipe!

It was really, really lovely...and we've got tons left to freeze. The addition of home-made bread added an extra wee warm glow.

Is there anybody alive out there?

Radio. Justify the reason behind your style.

So. That's Springsteen and Teenage Fanclub already and I've not even started my story yet. Seems everyone loves a bit of radio.

More to the point, and admirably demonstrated in Fort William on Monday night, everyone (still) loves Auntie Beeb.

In these times of voter apathy and the supposed 'me first' culture, I was truly gratified to hear such a groundswell of opinion in favour of what is, for me, the classic communication medium. It very near brought a tear to the eye.

Before anyone starts to worry, I've not simply been approaching random people and asking whether or not they listen to the radio. No sir. I was the one approached in the street and asked that very question.

How rude!

Tbc

Eggshell blue...like a bunny rabbit's eyes

It's easy, all too easy, to grumble about the paucity of today's television, particularly when it comes to comedy. All too often we lament the passing of great shows like Only Fools and Horses whilst managing to forget the aberration that was Sorry. For every Good Life there's a Joey.

Thankfully, albeit surprisingly, the BBC's Children's Department is addressing the issue. Like a funnier Little Britain, "Sorry, I've Got No Head" is, according to The British Comedy Guide, "a fast-paced and irreverent "grown-up" sketch show for children, in which all the roles are played by adults." Their glowing review continues:

You'd have thought a sketch show made for children's TV would be a bit simple and patronising - this comedy is neither of those things. It's just like a normal sketch show, but without any rude words. In fact, it is better that a lot of the sketch shows that are aimed at adults!

As an added bonus, Sorry, I've Got No Head isn't written or performed by obscure unknowns - far from it - British comedy fans should recognise nearly all of the cast (James Bachman and Marcus Brigstocke in drag in the Little Britain-esque Jasmine and Prudith sketches are a particular joy).

The aforementioned dragged-up Bachman and Brigstocke are indeed a joy; here they are in glorious action...

Cold snap

How exciting. Following on from this post from a few weeks back, the BBC have decided to use the photo that I sent to them as part of their "wow, don't the Highlands look spectacular in the snow?" featurette on the Highlands & Islands microsite. Which is nice.

Rather weirdly, of all the possible shots of the Highlands and Islands, two of these ten are from Strontian!

Anyway, fame at last...

That's for to take my sister to the picture show...

The BBC's Outnumbered is consistently brilliant, perhaps never more so than in the recent Christmas special.

The whole thing was magnificent but, right near the end, they completely randomly had a family singalong to the excellent Felice Brothers "Frankie's Gun" - it's priceless and you can see it at 8mins 12s on this clip.

Then, when you've established that it's clearly one of the best songs you've ever heard (because your ears are saying "hey, is that someone mashing up an accordion version of Bat Out Of Hell with Knockin' On Heaven's Door?") you can go here and download it for free.

And after that, you can see Bono rather touchingly forget the words to the aforementioned Dylan classic in aid of Dublin's Simon Community.

Fife get over excited

Lovely wee documentary on the Fence Collective here from the BBC...

And here's a brilliant website featuring head Fence-ster King Creosote, Bandstand Busking...

Distinctly below par...

This story from the BBC's Highlands and Islands news caught my ear...

A golfer was so pleased with winning a card allowing him to play for the US Professional Tour he did not notice he was speeding, an Inverness court heard.

The punchline? You've guessed it - he's been banned from driving for six months. That'll make hitting the greens that wee bit trickier I should imagine...