Tag Archives: Keir Starmer

Ale & Pate

8th February 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 10 Comments

How did we end up here at Ale & Pate in Dalgety Bay? You know how sometimes we go to the cinema in the morning and then go on somewhere in the afternoon. This is one of those days.

Weird films

We went to see the movie “Poor Things” at the Hippodrome in Bo’ness. There’s been a lot of fuss about it recently but we still weren’t sure if we actually wanted to see it. It’s almost two and a half hours long and when it finished we were kind of left wondering what we had seen. Set in a fantastical 19th century with gorgeous sets and brilliant acting it’s sort of hypnotically fascinating to watch and a bit weird all at the same time. We think we are glad to have seen it although not 100% sure.

Afterwards we thought we would follow the advice we had received when we posted from the The Bruce Arms in Limekilns. Tracy, the barmaid, had highly recommended the scones at Ale & Pate in Dalgety Bay. Although it is not more than half and hour by car from home we had never been there. The main road skirts past the town so unless you have a good reason to visit you just don’t. We’ve never had a reason … until now!

Originally it was just the little fishing village of Dalgety but then it was redeveloped in 1962 and became Dalgety Bay. Interestingly (or not) the tiny village of Dalgety (pop 252) almost became the capital of Australia. Not this one but one in New South Wales. Eventually, in 1908, it lost out to Canberra. Boo, we would have voted for Dalgety!

Back in Scotland we were trying to find our destination amongst all the 60s style houses that give it that kind of “new town” look. Eventually we tracked it down to a small utilitarian looking unit in the middle of a housing estate. It was above a fish and chip shop, sandwiched between a couple of Indian restaurants and next door to a dental practice. We didn’t know what we had expected but it wasn’t this!

Anyway, if we had any lingering doubts about the place they were soon placated by our first sight of the scones – they just looked fab!

Weird scones

There was a choice of “fruit” or goodness gracious, “date and orange”. It had to be one of each. Pat was already making favourable noises by the time I got started on mine. Lately, we’ve had a run of what we term “weird scones”. Not nasty weird, just different. There was “cranberry” scones at The Bruce Arms then ‘milk chocolate and strawberry’ scones at Callendar House, and now ‘date and orange’. What is going on – weird films, weird scones? No cream but both these really fresh scones had been gently warmed and mine even had a drizzle of icing on top … delicious. Our original disappointment at first sight of Ale & Pate was more than compensated by the friendly service and the excellent scones. Yet another topweird scone.

Not having been in Dalgety Bay before we decided to explore after leaving Ale & Pate. For all its ‘newness’ it does have a fair bit of history. Things would have been very different here over the centuries. DalgetyBay is built on Donibristle Estate, the seat of the Earls of Moray .

Donibristle stables — This was just the stable block for the Earls of Moray at Donibristle House. Now it is private apartments

In fairness it has to be said that there were fewer witches burned in Dalgety than in other villages along this Fife coast. Having said that in 1649, Isobel Kelloch was put to death. She had offered a head scarf to another woman who then suffered a headache. At the same time, and perhaps in the interests of equality, they also burned Robert Maxwell. He was considered an “ignorant” man and a warlock. Imagine how many people we could do away with if these views still prevailed? The mind boggles!

The beach at Dalgety Bay — Dalgety Bay with Inchcolm Island (pop 2) in middle distance and Edinburgh far right

Weird world

As well as our weird films and weird scones the whole world just seems a bit weird at the moment. The UK and the US both have elections this year. On this side of the pond we have Rishi Sunak. He just seems happily detached from reality. In opposition we have Keir Starmer. He is used to know reality but now denies that he ever did. On the other side of the pond we have Joe Biden whose reality is a now a care home. And, in opposition, Donald Trump who thinks reality isn’t actually real.

But never mind all that, as long as all we have to worry about is weird scones, we won’t worry too much! Our thanks go to Tracy at The Bruce Arms for an excellent heads up on Ale & Pate and giving us a reason to visit Dalgety Bay. In spite of searching we failed to find the harbour … we know, how can you not find a harbour? In our defence, at Buckhaven we also failed to find the harbour, so we are experts!. Some day, we will have to return. Watch this space.

KY11 9NH tel: 01383 821599 Ale & Pate FB

///myself.half.backyards

Scones

Pillars of Hercules

20th October 2023 billpaterson1@me.com 7 Comments

Legend has it that the Pillars of Hercules are supposed to hold the sky away from the earth. Supposedly so that Atlas could escape damnation. Sadly, today we have to report that if Atlas was here in this part of Scotland he would be very damned. The pillars aren’t working! Storm Babet has come raging in from the North Sea like a woman scorned and the sky seems to have collapsed directly onto the earth. Her rage is affecting the whole of the UK but red, ‘Danger to Life’ notices have been issued. Fortunately we are on the southern fringes of the worst affected areas in Aberdeenshire. Nevertheless, when driving it seems as if Babet is just outside the car chucking buckets of water directly at the windscreen. And we could swear we could hear her laughing hysterically! Our valiant little wipers, however, were struggling to cope.

Surprise

Imagine our surprise then when, through all this biblical rain, we could just about make out a large sign saying “this way to the Pillars of Hercules“. Really? Maybe we could help with some maintenance work? Care was needed, however, because Plato allegedly said that the island of Atlantis lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules and the pillars bore a warning ne plus ultra “nothing further beyond“. We needn’t have worried, it turned out that the Pillars of Hercules is a 25 acre organic farm. It has a shop selling their produce and a cafe. We were able to park very close to the door and make a dash for the shelter within..

External view of the Pillars of Hercules — Not cold but definitely not a day for sitting out

Organic

As well as selling their own stuff the large shop sells loads of other stuff, all organic or vegan in nature.

What’s in a name?

It’s an unusual place named in honour of keen neo-classicist Onesiphorus Tyndall Bruce who we last came across when we reviewed the Covenanter Hotel in the nearby village of Falkland. He was the son of slave traders who married into money and ended up owning the whole village in the 1850s. He became keeper of Falkland Palace. Onesiphorus was educated at Eton, where else would he get away with a name like that? We seem to remember him as a bit of a spoiled brat so not sure,150 years later, why he should be commemorated like this! Never mind, the big question was would the cafe have scones?

Fiddly

Yes they did … fruit or cheese! Unfortunately the girl behind the counter may have been called Babet … a face like thunder. She may have just got out of bed on the wrong side but we have seldom experienced such miserable service. Not ‘bad’ service, just miserable. Strange because the service in the shop had been the exact opposite. Never mind, our scone arrived and it was rather good. It had a very crusty crust and the inside was nice and soft with plenty of fruit. The combination of hard crust and soft innards , however, meant it just broke into little bits when we tried to cut it. Picking up the pieces and buttering and jamming them individually was a bit fiddly. If there had been cream and service with just a vague hint of a smile it might even have made a topscone. But there wasn’t so it didn’t.

Eventually we had to leave our cozy little sanctuary with its wood burning stove and face Babet again. Thankfully it had stopped raining but the wind was still blowing a hoolie. Going over the Queensferry Crossing bridge was interesting, Pat never once looked up from her phone.

Winning?

Labour has won two important by-elections at Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire with a massive swing to them from the Conservatives. They are hailing it as a massive breakthrough destined to send Keir Starmer into Downing Street. Perhaps they should bear in mind, however, that if the ballot paper only had two names on it … ‘Conservative’ or ‘Anyone else’, the Conservatives would still have lost.

According to the forecast the pillars holding the sky up aren’t going to be fixed for another couple of days. We’ll just stay home.

KY15 7AD tel: 01337 857749 Pillars of Hercules

///polo.forecast.calendars

Ordinary, Scones

Cafe Tiki

24th October 2022 billpaterson1@me.com 6 Comments

You know how it is … you drive past a place on a regular basis and every time you do you think “I wonder what that place does?” but you never actually make the effort to find out. That’s how it was with this place, Forth Valley Sensory Centre. Barely half a mile from where we live yet it was a complete mystery. The name, of course, kind of suggests help for those with impaired senses but it doesn’t give that much away. Today we decided to find out what it was all about.From the main road you don’t see that much of it but it’s actually quite big and very modern. And to top off our surprises, it has a cafe, Cafe Tiki … excellent!

Wellbeing

The Centre provides services for those who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as those who are blind or partially sighted. It also seems to provide services across a huge area including Clackmannanshire and Stirling. It has over 30 groups, classes and activities to improve the wellbeing of folks with compromised sensory conditions. They’ve even got a Sensory Garden but the weather today meant it wasn’t a day for exploring that. Technically there is nothing wrong with our senses. We know that many of you might disagree with that but we did wonder, in these circumstances, what sort of reception we would get. No problem, we were welcomed with open arms. Under interrogation though we did confess to an excessive-fondness for scones. And that’s when they directed us their scone treatment centre … Cafe Tiki.

It was mid afternoon and it was about to close so we had the whole place to ourselves. We were looked after by a very friendly lady (she was from Glasgow so, of course, she was friendly) who informed us that there was only one single scone left. “That’ll do” we said “we’ll share it“. She disappeared behind a screen and before you could say Jack Flash she was back with the scone. It was already divided into two and loaded with jam and cream … argh! Not to worry, the intention was good. And it wasn’t as if she could give us another one.

Cooking blind

We sat at a table adjacent to the counter and our lady proceeded to chat to us the whole time we were there. She informed us that one of their chefs is deaf and completely blind. Can’t really imagine that! We were quite enjoying our scone but she said that someone else baked them. This was not a topscone by quite a way but we really enjoyed being here and finding out about all these valuable services.

During the course of our cafe chat we did at least learn how to ask for the essential accoutriments for a scone in sign language.

Prime Ministers in record numbers

Perhaps, since this is a sensory centre we should have mentioned our rather painful sensitivity to recent political news. Could they desensitise us? Too late, the news has just come in that Rishi Sunak is to be the next British PM. There have been 58 British Prime Ministers … three of them have been in the last seven weeks. At this rate we might even reach 100 by the 2024 General Election.

Of course, Rishi is merely leader of the Conservative Party at the moment. In true British obfuscatory style, there’s only one man in Britain that can appoint a new PM. That’s King Charles III and Sunak will be his first. In her 70 years on the throne the Queen had 15 Prime Ministers but, unbelievably, the way things are going, Charles could beat that record. Unless Keir Starmer can nobble the King, or Liz refuses to come out of the cupboard under No10’s stairs, Rishi should be PM by tomorrow. He will be the 10th conservative PM in a row that Scotland hasn’t voted for… isn’t that great!

Perhaps the value of the Sensory Centre is best summed up by one of the volunteers “it gets me out of the house and allows the person that I am picking up to get out as well. When they turn around to me and say they’ve had a great day, it makes my day knowing I have helped”.

FK1 4DD tel: 01324 590888 Sensory Centre

///sofa.move.tweezers

Scones, history and a dollop of politics