Edit – changed my mind. 🙂

This is a short film which covers the origins of the Scots language – from the Linguistics and English Language Department at the University of Edinburgh – very clear, and very interesting (to me, anyway!).

I found this thread quite fascinating and went away to look things up – here are two things I found, just in case anyone else is interested …

This short film is a soothing massage. It’s of a lady from Shetland talking about herself and her poetry. From 8 minutes in, she recites a poem of her own … simply gorgeous (to me anyway).

We’ve just seen what could have been a Spitfire with another old plane over the Lowlands.

matt_oab … jings, well done, Sir.

Nice pics mogrim – great to have this kind of scenery close by.

My everyday running scenery is somewhat less impressive, although the other day I did enjoy running alongside a couple of horses racing each other in the field beside me – they beat me fair and square. 🙂

New running shoes are ordered – a bit like waiting for ‘New Bike Day’ – although clearly not quite as exciting. I’m easily pleased.

Funnily enough, I can’t remember ever being taught anything at all about the Scots language / dialect. Not even Burns. I probably just wasn’t paying attention. Mind you, I didn’t grow up in Ayrshire.

If you had been at my school, with an Australian accent, I suspect you would have been pretty popular!

You lot might like this … Oor Wullie – from The Comic Art Website.

Oor Wullie crashes his bike

There’s definitely slang in Scots too that’s distinct from the more formal dialect. “Ah dinnae ken” is Scots, “ah huvnae a Scooby” is slang. Most native Scots speakers would recognise both but understand the distinction.

Absolutely this … but when I was at school – sometime in the middle ages – we were discouraged from using even the more formal dialect, as you say.

seosamh77 – I found this to be an interesting read:

Smith, Jeremy. (2017) Scots: an outline history. Online https://dsl.ac.uk/about-scots/an-outline-history-of-scots/

Thanks richmtb – interesting.

Residual features of Scots are often regarded as slang.

I very much recognise this – use of certain words or pronunciations were not encouraged in polite conversation, at school, &c..

Some Scots words have such a great sound to them and would probably be fun for children to learn – although, of course, your daughter may be past the age for word fun!

Scots as scots speak it today, is simply a dialect of english.

Arguably, Scots as Scots speak it today may be the result of gradual anglicisation of an original Scots language. I don’t know – just a suggestion.

Yer man in the video did not grow up speaking a different language, the vast majority of the words he’s even suggesting for the scots language are literally just down to accent and aren’t different words at all.

It’s possible he may have been moderating his language, to some extent anyway, to remain comprehensible to his audience. Again, I don’t know – just wondering.

Nae doot thair are hunners mair.

Just a quick glance at the Concise Scots Dictionary suggests you are entirely correct – hundreds, if not thousands, of words which I suspect would not be recognisable to the average reader of English, myself included.

Very interesting website here – Dictionary of the Scots Language – with some interesting comments about language versus dialect. I’m off to educate myself.

Thanks richmtb – found this fascinating – and could really relate to being told, by societal influence, that words that were normal to me were frowned upon.

^ 😂

Och, ahm feelin’ richt at hame hereaboots.

Great news. 😃

Ah well … we can but dream. 🙂

Oven is sparkling! Looks as if there might even be a nice casserole on the bottom shelf.

Nice bikes both! 😃

I used to do all my running locally on that sort of surface using running shoes, and it was never an issue. I still use them occasionally around here if I want to do a faster workout – trail shoes give you great protection and grip, but at the cost of less speed.

Thanks mogrim – very helpful. I suspect speed will never really be on my radar – probably not possible to run much slower than I do – shoe choice will likely never help me 😂.

The only surface you really want to avoid is anything with pebbles or similar small stones as they hurt.

Thanks – good to know and, for the moment anyway, not an issue for me.

Thanks turboferret – very interesting. And good to know – I suspected my trail shoes might be a better bet if it was wet.

I mean, they’re clearly not the right shoe for the job, but you’re not going to immediately break yourself if you use them for that.

Great – thanks lunge!

I know … sorry … I really don’t belong here! 😊

In relation to sore shins – I’ve really noticed the effect of the greater impact from running on tarmac – mostly on my shins – hence the search for some road shoes, as I’m currently running in my trail shoes. (I only have one pair of running shoes – I know this may be hard to believe for some of you 😉).

turboferret – thanks for describing that stretch for shin splints – it has worked well for me.

Soft shoes encourage you to clout the ground harder and the duration of the impact is extended.

My biomechanics is pretty rusty – but I would have thought an extended duration of impact would reduce the risk of injury. Apologies if I have inferred incorrectly from what you said – happy to be educated – what knowledge I once had is likely out of date.

It’s the combination of heelstriking, overstriding and lower cadence that often causes shin pain.

but you want to aim for a nice, quiet, fast foot strike with minimum slapping against the ground.

I think I naturally run with a high cadence and short stride. I had been thinking this was something to fix – but, perhaps not. As always, very helpful.

Very helpful and interesting posts about shoes – and well-timed for me, as I’m currently hovering over the buy button for some road shoes.

I have one outstanding question … please let me know when I run out of credit for questions, as I’m aware I can’t contribute much to this thread – apart from enthusiasm 😃.

I’m thinking of some sofa shoes from Hoka – they seem to be what I’m looking for. Performance is not an issue for me – just want to improve within myself – but comfort, enjoyment, and longevity (of my poor old bones &c.) are important.

My question is … would a Hoka road shoe also be okay for a dry, hard-packed dirt trail – a few roots here and there, some lumps and bumps – but a fairly even surface? I’m doing most of my running on tarmac at the moment due to current circumstances, but will gravitate back off-road when I can. Or would it be better just to wear my (non-sofa) trail shoes for that type of surface?

On the subject of burdening others with one’s problems – a view from a different perspective. I like to listen to the problems of people who are close to me. I find it very worthwhile – a win win situation. My friend gets things off his / her chest and feels valued and not alone; I feel useful, and usually learn something new about my friend, myself, or the crazy ride we call human experience. It strengthens the bond between us.

Thanks mogrim. I have a couple of parkruns near me and would definitely think about having a go once they are up and running again.

I also caught a look at my shadow this morning with my arms moving in a typical dad dance kind of way, how embarrassing.

Me too 😊. I try not to look!

Just popping in to say another thanks for help received here from lunge, djambo and mogrim. Finished my first week of running with that advice, and this is how it went …

I loved the interval session. I spent the middle 10 minutes of the run, as suggested, doing the harder efforts – using telegraph poles as a guide, maybe 20-30 seconds each time – and then reverted to my normal plodding pace for recovery until my vital signs felt back to normal for the run, ready for the next go. I think I managed eight efforts in all – each successive effort becoming somewhat less impressive than the last! The final 10 minutes home afterwards definitely felt harder than usual – but perhaps that was partly because of the noticeably higher humidity that morning too. Anyhow – It was fun. 😃

Next time out I did a normal run (will try to pick up the pace a little as I go along), and in the third run of the week I added an extra 2 min to my 30 minute run – so, a bit less than 10 % – and that was fine – I noticed it, but it didn’t make me want to fall to my knees!

The great thing was – I felt like I was able to make a little progress – but at a pace which seems both doable, and sustainable for me going forwards. Thanks again for all input – much appreciated.

40th – can’t really remember.

50th – a nice new violin, a new bow, and a framed print for the wall – all special to me, make me smile every day, and remind me of the special people who gave them to me. Oh … and some Lego – not planning to grow up any time soon.

scotroutes – ^ 😱

Midgies here – and, as others have said, I’ve never had cause to refer to them in the singular.

scotroutes – I’m itchy just looking at that – makes me want to stay indoors forever 😫

Sorry for the slight hijack OP – I’m not able to help – but for women …

Hoping to be in a similar position in the next 12 months and I’m hopeful that it’ll be easier to find similar ability riders in the tweed valley than it is seemingly everywhere else.

GolfChick — maybe check out The FNY Collective.

soup-meals designed around a volcano built from mashed potatoes

WHAT?!? … runs off to peel some potatoes 😃

LOVE this. 😃

10p pushed into your hand on the way out with a strict instruction not to tell your parents.

Heart-warming.

I remember there used to be loads of crazy ice lollies at the ice cream van as well, Dracula, fried eggs, funny feet, and some ice cream ones with a picture printed on it, haunted house I think.

Much more choice than today, and they had jokes on the sticks. Why did they stop doing that?!

Yes – much better selection of interesting lollies back then. My all-time favourite was a Strawberry Split – was also keen on Funny Feet, Haunted House, Twister, Zoom – always hard to choose.

I liked the lolly stick jokes – helped to soothe the disappointment of reaching the end of the lolly!

mogrim – thanks very much for taking the time to pass on all this info and advice – all very helpful indeed, and much appreciated.

Yes, three times a week – and your suggested strategies – both for a single fartlek type run, and for the content of each of the runs in a week – sound ideal for me. I can take this framework and make it suit, and it will certainly make it more interesting to have a different focus for each run.

BTW I did one of the first C25K plans about 20 years ago, and here we are today…

Very reassuring.

Walking this morning rather than running – there’s a narrow-ish path, just 50 yards or so on my route so, in these crazy times, I’ve been running it to reduce the chance of meeting anyone on it. Inspired by the ideas here, I picked up the pace this morning and ran much harder than usual – loved it – invigorating – felt like a kid – although wellies perhaps not the ideal footwear! Looking forward to trying this ‘chasing lampposts and trees’ out on a run tomorrow.

This was caused by a baked bean toastie.

I feel your pain – always too hot to eat straight away – always too impatient, and hungry, to wait.

has anyone done proper trifle yet?

Still love proper trifle – my Mum still makes me one at Christmas time – although these days it’s made with much nicer custard, and raspberries on top. Not fussed about the spongy layer – but the combination of custard, cream and fruit … 😃

Anyone remember kellogs rise and shine powdered orange juice

Yes! I have some vague memory of once eating this straight from the packet with a licked finger. Not recommended TBH – and didn’t have quite the same effect as Space Dust!

djambo – thanks very much for the sound advice – I’ll do my best to follow it! Thankfully I’ve been injury free so far. I’m working my way back through this thread gradually and have noticed the frequent mentions of injury … that, and shoes!

lunge – thanks very much for taking the time to reply – very much appreciated. Great tips. I do have a “track” nearby but, to be honest, it’s so lumpy and bumpy and overgrown with grass and weeds that I don’t use it … however, I could use the grass football pitch for measuring out harder intervals. I like this!

Actually have little idea of what distance I’m covering – I don’t run with any tech (yet!). I like the idea of adding a little extra at the start. Very good.

Many thanks – will report back in a few weeks.