It’s been a good week for ... old news
Scotland is the most beautiful country in the world. We knew this anyway, but now it’s official. It has been proclaimed from the very highest heather-clad mountains after being voted as such by readers of Rough Guides.
Understandably, we were very excited about this when the news broke. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted in celebration and the Twitterati joined in in full chorus. News websites spread the word. VisitScotland sent out a press release to add its comments.
But in the excitement, no-one seemed to notice that this breaking news was actually three years old. As reported by our sister paper The National, the poll that was making headlines was published in 2014. Rough Guides had merely refreshed its web page.
Oh well ... there’s no such thing as bad publicity and the natural assets of bonny Scotland do merit endless praise on a daily basis.
Just as well this enduring beauty can stand the test of time.
It’s been a bad week for ... shepherds
If that was a spin cycle, this is more of a wool wash. A farm in Ross-shire has had so much rain this summer that the sheep have been too wet to shear.
Glenys and Donald Macmillan, of Achnagart in Glen Shiel, have been battered by a record 28 inches of rain, with their farm named the wettest place in Scotland this summer. Their 200 sheep became so sodden they are still unclipped as they were too wet for the shearing machine.
“It has been horrendous – one wet day after the other," said Donald Macmillan. "It is a noted area for rain, we go through spells of getting lots of rain, then normally it will dry up for a few days. But this last couple of years there has been no continuous dry weather.”
According to the Met Office, this summer’s rainfall is the highest for the area since records began in 1967. The rest of Scotland has fared little better, with rainfall 70 per cent higher than average in parts of the Central belt.
But who cares? Notwithstanding some soggy and overly woolly sheep, Scotland is still the most beautiful country in the world.
You heard it here first.
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