May 1999

2nd May 1999 to be precise.

I had been having a pretty tough time and the main men in my life appeared to spend some time with me. Alan on my right, Dougie to the left and John behind the camera for this one. We spent time in my father-in-laws croft at Aultbea: no TV, no radio, good company, good food, good chat. And of course a wee drop of fine whisky.

I remember the day of this photo well, we had travelled north to Durness where this was taken. We turned the radio on because there was an 'important' football match on. Celtic v Rangers at Parkhead. Celtic had to win to stop Rangers winning the league. It was extremely ugly, we switched the radio off pdq: we didn't want our days to be polluted by this stuff. The referee (Hugh Dallas) was struck by a coin causing the game to be stopped for several minutes; the Celtic fans invaded the pitch, a Celtic fan fell from the top tier of the stand and in the end Rangers won the match 3-0.

The other thing of note is that I had bought that red jacket a couple years before this photo - it was expensive at the time. I still have it and wear it 2/3 times a week in winter (and of course on some fine Scottish summer days). Things are only expensive if you don't use them.