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YOUR LETTERS YOURletters


NATURAL HIGH Several years ago, on a beautiful, cloudless, windless summer morning I delivered two friends to the local airport, for a very early fl ight. When I got back home, on the spur of the moment, I decided to take advantage of the fi ne morning and take myself off to the golf course, which I duly did, driving off from the fi rst tee before even the green staff arrived to start work at 7am. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, I had the world to myself; what more could I ask for? A small burn crosses the third fairway, and as I came onto the


bridge I happened to glance downwards. There on the bank, not 10 feet away, crouched a mother stoat and three tiny kittens. I stopped, squatted down on my hunkers and watched. For about 30 seconds the mother studied me and I could almost see her considering her options; did she try to make a run for safety with her family; did she make a run for safety herself (unlikely); did she try to save one and abandon the others; did she face up to this apparent danger; etc etc? Finally, she made her decision, lifted one of the tiny kittens in her mouth, gave me a quick glance, scurried along the banking and disappeared up a drainage pipe. A few seconds later she re-appeared, alone, sidled back to the remaining kittens, which, in the meantime, had not moved a muscle or blinked an eye. She repeated the exercise, exactly, and arrived back at the remaining kitten, which had still not moved a muscle, or taken an eye from me. She lifted the last kitten in her mouth, gave me one last, apparently lingering, look as much as to say ‘thank you’, made her way, more slowly along the bank (I would like to think) and disappeared up the drainpipe. I didn’t move for a few seconds; for me it had been a situation that


occurs only once in a lifetime. I felt that, for a short time, I had been privileged to be a part of nature. A truly unforgettable experience. Archie Barclay, Torbrex, Stirling


POTTER ABOUT THE HOUSE After reading your article about Peter McRabbit [The Tale of Peter McRabbit, December 2013] I would like to point out that Beatrix Potter sat down at Eastwood House in Dunkeld to write The Tale of Peter Rabbit to Noel Moore not Dalguise House. If you look at a copy of the letter she wrote it has Eastwood, Dunkeld at the top. Jill Davidson, by email


THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN...


I was interested to read the piece on Damian, who was possibly the fi rst man to fl y, in a recent issue [Soaraway Success or Flight of Fancy? November 2013]. The photograph showing Pilcher fl ying was taken at Eynsford, Kent and he is fl ying his last glider, the ‘Hawk’, not the Beetle, which, though built in Glasgow, was not fl own up here. Good to see Percy getting a bit of well deserved recognition – he was the fi rst person to make repeated heavier than air fl ights in the UK, at Cardross during the Summer of 1895. It was also good to read the piece on John Byrne, a marvellous man and artist. He was the year below me at the Glasgow School of Art.


Professor Dugald Cameron OBE DSc (and former Director of GSA), Skelmorlie, Ayrshire


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