Tusitala

. . . . . . . . . . . . was the name adopted by R. L. Stevenson when he lived on Samoa in his latter years. Having suffered poor health all his life, he went there hoping the climate would suit him better than Scotland's dreich weather; it didn't seem to as he died on the island at the fairly tender age of 44. One of his claims to fame is that he gifted his birthday to a young girl who had been born on Christmas day and had to combine her celebrations with the family party - generosity doesn't need to be expensive.

This statue, near to Colinton Manse where he spent many of his childhood summers with his grandfather, was unveiled last October by the author Ian Rankin - a fan of the works of Stevenson. It was designed by Alan Herriot who also sculpted Wojtek the bear which will soon be erected in Princes Street Gardens, close to The Scott Monument; RLS cost a mere £34,000, the bear, £250,000.

An inscription on the base of the statue reads, "All through my childhood and youth I was known and pointed out for the pattern of an idler; and yet I was always busy on my own private end, which was to learn to write. I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read and one to write in." It carries a facsimile of Stevenson's signature and is a direct quote from one of his books, "Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson."

Personally, I wouldn't have punctuated it this way, and a preposition is not something I would normally end a sentence with. But then I'm not a world famous author.


I now seem to have fixed my internet access, and a few other annoying little problems. I use the highly recommended "Avast" virus checker which has the great virtue that it is free, I just needed to force it to do a full scan and then follow its instructions. It took a full five hours to run but, apart from that, was fairly painless.