Scott Macdonald

On summer evenings like these, it's difficult to best a walk along the Tay estuary down at Balmossie.

By the 16th century, this dubious practice was commonplace enough to attract the recurrent condemnation of Church reformers.

It could be really brazen: King James V made various of his illegitimate sons commendators in order to give them an easy income.

Anyway, the house in Melrose is pretty!

I've developed a nerdy fascination for the role of commendators.

They were figures appointed by the Crown to manage (& spend) the considerable wealth & property of an abbey when its leadership fell vacant. Court favourites without any monastic or clerical nous could win these lucrative positions.

Across a few pleasant visits to Melrose, until my most recent visit last week, I had somehow failed to notice this handsome building a mere stone's throw from the Abbey: the commendator's house.

Apparently, according to my wife, "keep hydrated" doesn't mean "drink frozen margaritas", and I feel this is a misjudgment.

Former police box at corner of Waverley Bridge and Market Street. CC-by-NC-SA 2.0, Ian T. Edwards via Flickr.

2025 is the centenary of the appointment of Ebenezer James Macrae as Edinburgh City Architect. Dubbed "the man who shaped modern Edinburgh", his work characterised by a blend of modern form and function with traditional style. A uniquely splendid example is the Edinburgh Police Box
👮📦🧵▶️

Thinking of my holiday to #Naples last week, I'm reminded of the city's love for Sophia Loren (a secular saintly cult second only to Maradona). 😍 #Napoli

A great Opening Sentence at this morning's kirk service - Nehemiah 9:17:

God is a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, long-suffering and ever constant, and he did not abandon us.

The gardens at Caserta made for a pleasant walk in February. The fountains had classical themes to them, though it felt for o e fountain that Nintendo had been awarded the contract to design the monstrous fish!

The summer palace houses a curious Papal chapel.

Pope Pius IX took refuge at Caserta following his escape from Rome in 1849. In a matter of months, French forces had restored the Pope to power; until then he lived and worshipped at the palace.

The altar has a crisp elegance to it.

The Palatine Chapel (used for court religious ceremony, rather than for the Royal Family's private spirituality) was another ostentatiously Baroque highlight, but there is no shortage of elaborate rooms.

Caserta's purpose certainly smacks of Versailles: to project the monarchy's power and prestige.

The Grand Staircase lives up to its name. The dome in the centre of the ceiling above it contained enough space to allow for an out of sight orchestra, who would play as the King ascended the stairs.

I enjoyed a jaunt some 35km north of #Napoli to the summer palace at Caserta.

It was built by the Borbone - the Neapolitan Bourbons - in the mid-18th century. The kingdom's most celebrated architect, Luigi Vanvitelli, took Versailles as his inspiration.

The disaster yesterday wiped out Herculaneum in 79 AD will ensure that there's always a sadness to it, but the presence of modern Ercolano right by - and also on top of - the lost city infuses it with a rather surreal sense of hope.

The best bit for me was seeing the surviving mosaics and frescoes, almost two millennia after the volcanic disaster that destroyed the city. They are surprisingly vibrant.

Herculaneum is well worth a visit. The excavations are more compact than those at Pompeii but no less interesting and, going on today (admittedly very much off-season!), Herculaneum is much quieter than Pompeii.

The disaster yesterday wiped out Herculaneum in 79 AD will ensure that there's always a sadness to it, but the presence of modern Ercolano right by - and also on top of - the lost city infuses it with a rather surreal sense of hope.

The best bit for me was seeing the surviving mosaics and frescoes, almost two millennia after the volcanic disaster that destroyed the city. They are surprisingly vibrant.

Herculaneum is well worth a visit. The excavations are more compact than those at Pompeii but no less interesting and, going on today (admittedly very much off-season!), Herculaneum is much quieter than Pompeii.

Duolingo's graphics continue to perturb...

San Carlo was built by the Bourbons shortly after their seizure of the Kingdom of Naples.

To ensure that punters could observe the king's reaction to the performance - and react in kind - mirrors were fitted in the opera boxes, all allowing a view of the royal box.
#Napoli

It was great to be back in the over-the-top sumptuousness of the Teatro di San Carlo, an opera house that has been operating since 1737.
#Napoli

Arrived back in Naples yesterday to a characteristically warm welcome, though someone was a little suspicious of us...
#Napoli

I'm happy to report that the iconic 170 year old Argyle Street Ash Tree in Glasgow seems to have made it through Storm Éowyn pretty much unscathed. This was it at sunset this evening.

#glasgow #StormÉowyn #argylestreet
#argylestreetashtree #glasgowtoday

I think Pankaj Mishra showed us all we need to know about Niall Ferguson

Best image of 2025 so far. 😻

I went to see the film "A Real Pain" recently and really liked it.

Good, well-paced storytelling, some really moving scenes, and a great performance from Kieran Culkin in particular. I recommend it!

I guess I'm very likely in a minority for thinking that I struggled through a frustratingly structured biography of an incredibly odious man.

Never mind.

The breadth of the research is impressive, and Hughes-Hallett evidences so much and weighs up inevitable uncertainties and ambiguities very well and with much consideration.

I should also say that "The Pike" won a slew of awards and effusively glowing write-ups following its publication in 2013.