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Nov

2024

My private hell

To the non-believer heaven and hell are hypothetical spiritual concepts. What exactly is hell? There has been enough human cruelty during this millennium to for us to imagine how awful its theological counterpart can be. The adage that it is better to build a fence at the top of a cliff rather than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom drives earnest evangelists to warn us of the dangers of denying God that await unbelievers await in the afterlife,

Hell is sometimes called the place where there is no God. The thought of a complete separation from God destroys me, but since God is omnipresent, it’s His presence among the unrepentant that will be an unending torment. My own earthly hell is the lancinating fear of disappointing God – His divine regret that I put my hand to the plough in the heady days of summer but turned back when the going got easy.

Morphing into Mrs Comfortable Church-goer? I must not let it happen.

Nov

2024

Fujo

We adopted a Glasgow tenement cat from a lady who worked in Africa. She had named him Fujo which means “mischief” in Swahili. He was an opinionated and very independent four year-old moggy. Despite being raised as an indoor cat in an upstairs terraced building he quickly learned how to use a cat-flap after he came to us in Edinburgh and eventually he became an intrepid adventurer who patrolled the streets of genteel south Morningside. His patch included the doorstep of big houses where his pitiful miaowing would result in his being invited in to dine on titbits. Fujo loved food and that he would often sit staring expectantly at his empty feeding bowl, and even attemptto lick the pattern off it after finishing his meal. I’m including a photo of us with our first new grandchild just to illustrate his rather large size!

In all the years he lived with us, Fujo never did anything except what he himself wanted. He came and went as he pleased, slept wherever he wanted, ate whenever and whatever he wanted, invariably turning his nose away from the low-fat diet recommended by the vet. Fujo also only purred on his own terms – rarely on our laps – perched over the computer keyboard or stretched across a doorway. Despite all these foibles we loved him dearly as an irreplaceable friend, and shed tears on his demise.

Unlike most domesticated animals, cats are not ‘useful’ to humans. Cattle, sheep, pigs and goats provide us with meat and dairy. Horses, camels, donkeys and yaks are means of transport. Dogs become our loyal companions. But in the thousands of years that cats have lived with us they have remained aloof and inscrutable.

So why do we love cats so much? Maybe simply because they are cats!

Oct

2024

Jury Duty

The fairness of the British trials by jury was brought home to me when I was summoned for jury duty at the High Court of Edinburgh in 1990. Scottish law differs slightly from the English in that juries consist of fifteen (not twelve) people randomly selected from the electoral register, and besides Guilty and Not Guilty there exists an additional verdict, Not Proven. In this case the defendant was a 16 yr old youth caught for supplying the drug Ecstasy at a rave disco. We jurors sat side-by-side on benches within the courtroom. None of us knew one another. At the call All rise we stood silently while the the gowned judge and be-wigged barristers filed in and and the judge motioned us to be seated.

The defendant pleaded guilty, so a full trial was avoided. His defence barrister had delivered an impassioned account of the lad’s otherwise good character, stating that he was from a good home and a first-time offender. Nevertheless, the severity of his crime necessitated a penalty and the judge sentenced him to 4 years in prison. Seeing the tearful youth being led down to the cells I felt so sorry for him and for his parents. Yes, given his age he was considered to be an adult, and yes, he had committed a serious crime and needed to be punished, but was imprisonment at such a young age alongside hardened criminals appropriate?

As we jurors were dismissed, I turned to the gentleman sitting beside me and voiced my opinion on the harshness of the sentence. I was shocked when he turned angrily onto me, shouting in my face, “You think that’s lenient do you? What if it was your daughter he’d approached at the disco and offered her a Class A drug? You should be ashamed of yourself to think that leading young people into a life of drugs merits a lesser sentence!” And with that he turned sharply on his heel and left the courtroom. I was so surprised I didn’t know how to react.

But later on, I did think I about it, and realised that the complete disparity of every single juror’s life, the uniqueness of their thoughts, the diversity of their backgrounds and experiences, as well being icognito could only lead to completely honest personal opinions untainted by solidarity or friendship with anybody else. That is as fair as it can be.

Oct

2024

Farewell to Wife

It’s the end of an era for James. After nearly thirty years of solo flying and anno domini finally on the cards this is his last tour of the remote landing strips created during World War II in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Many are now beautiful windswept fields edged with yarrow, daisies and machair, and populated by lone sheep. In good weather the panoramic views are spectacular., and James loved it. He would often say “the beauty of God’s world is breathtaking from the air”, adding that “flying in a straight line is easy – it’s the challenges of take-off and landing that I really enjoy!” So, let’s follow him on a final tour with WIFE.

Planning the flight route always begins with checking the weather forecast and making a mental note of where to spend the night if it should turn inclement. Then, phone ahead to the airfield, request permission to land, sort out the landing fee, check aviation fuel – its provision is patchy in the Highlands, and complete safety checks. Lastly, pack thermos and sandwich! After take-off remember to advise your destination of your intention to land. James once radioed ahead to a farm to let them know he was coming in to land in their field. While circling overhead he could clearly see the farmer’s wife leave the house, mount a tractor, and chug her way towards him, all ready to collect the £5 landing fee!

The western Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides was one of James’s favourite destinations . Barra’s tiny airport is the only commercial one in the world which uses the beach as a runway (Loganair’s 18-seater twin otter turboprop flies in regularly from Glasgow). The approach is not easy – there are no signal lights or runway markings and only a couple of posts in the sand for guidance. There is also usually a strong wind to contend with, and too heavy a landing can get a planes wheels sink into the sand. But the specific challenge for Barra is to factor in the times of the North Atlantic sea tides. Since the beach is the airport, if the tide is in the runway will be completely flooded. As a result flight time frames must be dictated by nature and aircraft can only land or take off when the tide is out. James always enjoyed the mental calculations required in these additional challenges, and his final flight to Barra on a nice day with his beloved WIFE was one of the best.

Mar

2024

Am I White or am I Black?

This a photo of me, an Iranian/Persian woman. In term of race parlance am I white or black? The current preoccupation with ethnicity is a conundrum for Iranians. We are ethnically Aryan (from which the name ‘Iran’ actually derives), we are also Caucasian and Indo-European. Some of my cousins have much browner complexions than me, but however brown we are, we’re definitely NOT “mixed”.

Every year I worked as nurse and midwife I was obliged to fill in an NHS ETHNICITY QUESTIONNAIRE (above) as part of their ‘good practice’ requirements. And every year I would be frustrated by the listed categories, because other than the penultimate one “White – Other White Background” I didn’t fit into any of the others, and if you tick that one you are asked to explain. Should I describe myself as “Aryan” (it’s most accurate answer)? Or should I say “Caucasian” (same as all the other Whites)? Occasionally I would write “Persian”. Every single year I chewed the end of my pen and noted something different.

B.A.M.E (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) was an acronym first used in the UK in the wake of the pandemic as a proxy for non-white ethnic minority groups. The term has now been discontinued in the UK as it was seen to be unintentionally divisive. At the time it generated a nationwide celebration of minority cultures and the successful integration of first and second generation immigrants in Britain. An Iranian acquaintance of mine was invited to give a public talk about his experience as a successful BAME immigrant under the banner of BAME – Our Stories. He justified his qualification by stating that he identified as “Black – Other” rather than “White – Other, because in his view the term “non-white” means “Non- British”!

For me that’s taking ethnicity a step too far! Without intending any disrespect, I’m racially Caucasian and can’t class myself as Black. But if the public perception of brown people of pure descent (i.e. not mixed) is neither white nor black, then what is the tick box designation?

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