Merry Christmas 2024

Christmas 2024 is almost upon us and indeed has hurtled towards us since the beginning of December with unconscionable speed. I was wondering what the topic of this year's Christmas missive should be, and in the end I chose an easy way out. On the 12th of December, there was a recurrence of an amazing atmospheric phenomenon where mist settles in the bottom of Glen Quharity immediately below the castle. I took a few photos on the day and was going to blog about it in any case.

Ironically, my previous blog entry was about not being someone who chases after the best sunset photos as life is too short. However, what does this blog entry contain? You got it: more sunset photos! :-)

Obviously, a winter's day in which mist settles in the valley like a white ocean while the sky above is mid-summer blue with a radiant sun is going to produce interesting light effects, so I kept an eye open throughout the day just in case. Sure enough, there was a wicked sunset - see below.

Prior to this the low evening light shone magically through the low lying mist. It actually proved impossible to photography with my modest camera phone, but here is my best attempt:

The mist blanket effect occurred around 11AM, and I knew there was a very limited time window to capture it. It had largely dispersed after half an hour. I have only seen this effect perhaps 5 times throughout my 17 year ownership of the castle, so there was no way I was not going to take a panorama and short movie to capture the best representation of  "being there". 

The first time I saw the effect was the best, when the white sea lapped up to the edge of the ha-ha, so the castle terrace became a shore. This time the mist was set a little lower, was less opaque and less pronounced to the ends of the glen, but the experience was still pretty awesome. Double click on the image below for the immersive panorama experience:

double click for a VR panorama

Here is the video:

2024 has seen considerable progress in the restoration of the castle's Great Hall. We started working on this in the winter of 2023. I thought perhaps the task would be completed before Christmas, but this should instead be early next year. Look out for an opening event. My builders have been working so hard on the great hall, and I have spend so much money on this in addition to the funds raised by the GoFundMe campaign (many thanks!), that a celebration is definitely in order.

There may be some light at the end of the tunnel, regarding taking Angus Council to task over their mishandling of the castle's restoration. In 2021, the Council's harassment of me become so extreme that they broke the law and caused me to have a series of mental breakdowns. I submitted around 50 formal complaints to the Council which were never answered, so I brought in the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

The Council did not even respond to the Ombudsman, and the matter was finally taken to the very top level of the SPSO. Two months ago, after numerous extensions, the Ombudsman finally forced the Council to respond to a single one of my complaints.

The response document signed by the Council's CEO Kathryn Lindsay is just a tissue of obvious lies and fabrications trying to whitewash the Council's wrong-doings. I even wrote to Kathryn giving her the opportunity to withdraw this document providing proof that the contents were lies. As a former public servant myself, I know how serious lying is, and presumably the document was not written by the CEO herself, who undoubtedly has done good work in her former life in Social Services, but as a CEO she should be exemplary in upholding the principles of public service. Hint, lying is not one of these principles. :-) Anyhow, the fact the Council has been evading being held to account for 3 years (and counting!), shows how broken public services are and how broken the mechanisms are for holding these public services to account.

It is good news in a way, that the Council's response is entirely indefensible, without merit and often times without sense, as this will hopefully make the Ombudsman's job simpler. So after three years of unrelenting legal work with no reward, things may be changing. Visitors to the castle are universally shocked that the Council is unsupportive of the restoration. And "unsupportive" is not the half of it. Await future hair-curling blog entries.

As ever, the restoration is one of the most acute discriminants of the human condition and the positive connections with supportive "friends of Balintore" are deeper than ever. I wish heartfelt season's greetings and best wishes for 2025 to family; friends; and those friends of Balintore. You know who you are!