Christmas Post

Blogging will be a trifle haphazard as the wider Huttonian clan descend on the small-house-in-Duns in relays. Some (6) for Christmas. Others (4) for Boxing Day and the rest (2) for BD+2. Even with the fabled extension open and functioning the 4 non breeders are moving out to an even-smaller-house-elsewhere-in-Duns for 4 nights and the nearly two year old is impeding the great work by having to sleep under the computer, more or less.

So Last Post will sound at 7pm.

Labels: Christmas in the Borders, Small House in Duns

  ¶ 12:49 PM (1) comments

 
That's no Eyesore. That's my house

A bloggee has suggested a new competition: the ugliest/most inappropriate/ nastiest building in the Borders-lets specialise in Ber Wick Shire to narrow the field a bit.

The bloggee writes :
My nominations for eyesores of the Merse could be any of the new buildings around Whitsome, but at least, despite their tastelessness, single storey, apart from that vile thing behind the old village hall. The mother of all architectural excrescences has got to be the 2-storey executive hoosie by the side of the B6437 south of Whitsome which is not only ugly and inappropriate but has the compounded disadvantage of totally pointless location being totally without views. My runner-up is the grotty little new settlement at Ravelaw or maybe that vile housing estate at Berrywell.

Hutton Think Tank are on the job, again and suggest (based on the extract above) three categories :
(a) Vile (b) Eyesore on Stilts (c) Tasteless (d) Absurd

Of course a really outstanding entry could win all categories and the prize outright
My candidate would have been the Berwickshire Housing Associations much vaunted 'Green' house in Ayton which had every planet saving gadget known to woman imaginable-even the solar panels were operated by other solar panels. Cutting edge of something; sure, but so (unnecessarily) ugly that the BHA had great trouble in finding a tenant. This is five years ago and it may now be occupied. And it may indeed have been given a makeover with the solar panels replaced with an integrated wind turbine with pink sails-so I'll not formally enter it in the (b) category until I have sen it again.

In the meanwhile a short contest on the most tasteless small town Christmas decorations.

Mail early and correct postage please

(The image is Duns Christmas Tree -2007 version. The 08 one was lit up last night and report to follow)

Labels: Berwickshire, Christmas in the Borders, Vile houses

  ¶ 10:39 AM (1) comments

 
Number of women drink drivers causes concern

Is the second main headline in today's Berwickshire and it goes on


Two drivers caught in second week of Borders campaign




ALTHOUGH a fortnight when many people clocked off for Christmas and enjoyed a party of two, the number of drink drivers took a downturn in the week December 17-30.
Three drivers were caught under the influence in the Borders in the first week of the nationwide festive campaign but this fell to two over the course of the second week. This is exactly half the number of offenders who were detected at the same time last year.
And for week three there was just one, which is equal to last year's figure and and brings the total so far to five which is lower than the result for the same period in 2006.
Of the drivers caught during the past fortnight one was detected in Galashiels on December 22 and a police spokesperson has confirmed that a driver was arrested for driving under the influence in Peebles on Christmas Day.
So far the campaign is going well for G Division (Borders), with the present figures suggesting that drivers are starting to get the message about the risks and consequences of drink-driving.
However, with week four including New Year's Eve which sees more than its fair share of revellers across Scotland it's still too early to tell if the overall figure for 2007 will represent a step in the right direction.
The results for the whole of the Lothian and Borders Force area were less encouraging with 35 drivers being caught in total for week two. This is substantially higher than the figure of 28 for the same period last year.
The figures for week three follow suit with 38 drivers caught in total, up on 2006's figure of 32.
Statistics released by the Association of Chief Police Officers show that drink drivers are coming from both genders and all age groups.The total number of drivers caught under the influence so far in this year's festive crackdown stands at 657, and of this total over 100 of those caught were female.
Assistant Chief Constable Jim Green, Secretary of the ACPOs Road Policing Business Area, said: "It is a disappointing statistic that over 100 female drivers have been found to be over the drink drive limit since the festive safety campaign began. I am also alarmed at the number of young drivers detected by officers as having been drinking or taking drugs before driving.
"For many years there was a perception that middle aged male drivers were the worst offenders when it came to drink driving but our figures show that a wide spectrum of people in Scotland are taking a risk with their safety and the safety of others."

The Borders come quite well with only 6 drivers nicked over the three weeks of Christmas out of 657 in all Scotland. Mind you given the empty roads around here half a dozen cars could represent a high percentage of vehicles on the road.

I don't know about the incidence of drunken female drivers. But in my experience a very high proportion of aggressive and inconsiderate driving can be put down to the distaff side. Usually the culprit is in a 4wd and a few have FWAG* written all over them. One other Borders type is the person always complaining about dangerous drivers whilst she (in the instance I am thinking about) propels her vehicle very slowly and in a way which makes it difficult to be overtaken thus raising the blood pressure of anyone unfortunate enough to be stuck behind her.

Fortunately the person in question rarely heads towards Duns

(* Farmers' Wives and Girl Friends-Blog-ed)

The image is from Fishwick Traffic Police Files: allegedly taken through the windscreen of a car on the Fishwick Bypass on a New Year's eve. The Driver was allegedly over the limit and in possession of a half eaten Magic Mushroom

Labels: Christmas in the Borders, Drink Driving, Women drivers

  ¶ 10:19 AM (0) comments