October | 2013 | Guy Portman's Blog

Aberdeenshire

Oct 25 2013

Last week I took a break from working on my second novel to visit Aberdeenshire on the east coast of Scotland (see map below).

(Courtesy of wikipedia.org)

On exiting Aberdeen airport I came across these remarkable spider web patterns on a hedge by the car hire depot.

Commercial forestry is very important to Aberdeenshire’s local economy. Picea sitchensis or Sitka spruce, a coniferous evergreen tree originating from the west coast of North America has become the predominant species in recent years, replacing the native coniferous species. Sitka’s popularity is due to its rapid growth even in poor soils. Sunlight struggles to permeate dense Sitka forest, resulting in a dearth of life on the forest floor (see below).

Peterhead, Europe’s largest whitefish port, sits at the easternmost point of mainland Scotland. British residents may be familiar with the port from the popular television series, Trawlermen. On entering Peterhead I was greeted by the sight of this fishing vessel.

Seals love the port (no prizes for guessing why). Below is a photograph of a Grey seal that I saw. It was so close that I might have been able to reach down and touch it. Their reported ferocious bite was enough to prevent me from attempting to do so.

A former fisherman showed me around one of the boats. Here are some pictures I took:

I suspect the living quarters would probably get some getting used to for us land-dwellers. The kitchen was rather quaint or so I thought.

Note the Xbox on the right of the sleeping quarters. I can only imagine what playing computer games on the high seas would be like.

A shot of the engine room with an engineer hard at work.

After the tour I took a look at the fish market being prepared for the following morning.

Below is a Monkfish (Not sure I would eat them if they looked like this when they were served).

Mackerel (see below)

Ling

The Peterhead port tour offered a fascinating insight into another world.

Famous Authors Who Died Poor II

Oct 18 2013

The following post is dedicated to two world famous and iconic authors, who died poverty stricken.

Oscar Wilde

(October 16th 1854 – November 30th 1900)

Notable works: The Importance of Being Earnest, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The flamboyant Oscar Wilde was a writer, poet and playwright, acclaimed for his enduring wit and writing abilities. At the height of his fame in the early 1890s’ Wilde was a successful playwright and a mainstay of the London social scene.

However his world was to come crashing down with his arrest for gross indecency with other men in 1895. A guilty verdict and the resulting legal fees forced the author into bankruptcy. Sentenced to two years of hard labour, the intellectual Wilde, who was used to a life of relative luxury, suffered terribly, his health going into marked decline. Many of his friends deserted him, his name was removed from marquees where his plays were showing and the sale of his tragedy Salome fell through.

The Irish playwright was to never recover and at the age of forty-six Oscar Wilde died virtually destitute of cerebral meningitis in Paris. His final address was made from the squalid Hotel d’Alsace where he had taken up residence. He wrote:

‘This poverty really breaks one’s heart, it is so sale, so utterly depressing, so hopeless.’

O.Henry

(September 11th 1862 – June 5th 1910)

Notable works: The Gift of the Magi, The Ransom of Red Chief, A Retrieved Reformation.

Born William Sidney Porter, O.Henry is remembered as a renowned and prolific short-story writer. The author published hundreds of short-stories during his lifetime, many of which contained his trademark surprise ending.

O.Henry’s early writing career included founding Rolling Stone, an unsuccessful humour weekly and writing a column for The Houston Daily Post. In 1898 Henry was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling funds whilst employed at First International Bank.

On being released early in 1891 for good behaviour Henry moved to New York City where he made a comeback. In the ten years prior to his demise he published over three hundred stories and became America’s favourite short-story writer. However when he died in 1910 Henry was virtually penniless. This was no doubt due in part to the alcoholism that afflicted him in later years and the fact he was carefree with money, on several occasions spending his advances, but not delivering the promised story or script.

Click here to read Part One.

Oktoberfest

Oct 11 2013

Last week I went to Munich for the annual beer festival, Oktoberfest. This is what I did there:

Karsplatz

My first sight of Munich on disembarking the train from the airport was the famous Karlsplatz (see above). The sightseeing continued with a visit to Marienplatz where I was greeted by its iconic spire.

Marienplatz

After which I visited this church (see below), located close to Marienplatz, its name escapes me.

It was now late morning and I was feeling pretty thirsty so I had my first stein (1.3 litre/2 pint capacity). Only one of them is mine.

After which we took a taxi to Oktoberfest, a short distance from the centre of town. The picture below captures the sheer scale of the event.

The place resembled an enormous fairground with vast beer tents situated either side of the main thoroughfare.

(Courtesy of www.themeparkreview.com)

In the image above a number of the rides are clearly visible. For some the rides proved not to be conducive to heavy beer consumption.

The image above goes someway to capturing the reverie in one of the beer tents.

Early the next morning found the esteemed author posing for a photograph (see below).

I was somewhat surprised to come across this person surfing in the river, something I had never previously witnessed in the centre of a city.

Below is an outdoor library. Perhaps we should embrace the concept here in the UK, considering our declining literacy levels. On such a wet and cold day this library was not particularly inviting however.

Below are some of the German beers that I sampled at Oktoberfest. Augustiner was my favourite and I can only hope that it appears in our pubs here in London one of these days. I would not recommend the Paulaner in large quantities, it is very heavy.

Lowenbrau

Beer2 Becks

Alcoholic Authors III

Oct 04 2013

As my Alcoholic Authors series has proven to be fairly popular here is a further instalment.

Dorothy Parker

(August 22nd 1893 – June 7th 1967)

Notable works: Enough Rope, Sunset Gun, A Star is Born.

American writer and poet Dorothy Parker was renowned for her sardonic wit and writing abilities. Parker sold her first poem to Vanity Fair in 1914 and went on to have an incredibly successful career, which saw her publish books, short-stories, screenplays and poetry. Her achievements include being a script writer for the Academy Award nominated film, A Star is Born.

A lifelong heavy drinker, Parker suffered from bouts of acute depression, even attempting suicide on several occasions. In later years as a direct result of her habit she was to suffer declining health. There has been much speculation as to why she drunk so heavily, perhaps it was a result of a traumatic childhood – her mother died when she was a small child, or her failed marriages and affairs; the author was married three times, twice to the same man.

Parker once famously said about her favourite drink martini:

“I like to have a martini,

Two at the very most.

After three I’m under the table,

After four I’m under my host.”

Little has been documented about Parker’s drinking habits, this may be in part due to the often isolated nature of her consumption, but also because as a woman her alcohol excess was never glorified.

Jack Kerouac

(March 12th 1922 – October 21st 1969)

Notable works: On the Road, The Dharma Bums, Big Sur.

American novelist, writer, poet and artist Jack Kerouac was a member of the Beat Generation that also included William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Kerouac primarily wrote autobiographical novels in a spontaneous prose style. His most famous book, On the Road, set against a backdrop of poetry, jazz and drug use was the defining work of the postwar Beat Generation.

Kerouac was a very heavy drinker, who particularly enjoyed Margaritas, having developed a taste for them during one of his trips to Mexico. The author was acutely aware of his drinking problem, often expressing a desire to quit or at least moderate his habit. In his book, Big Sur, Kerouac eloquently explained the nature of alcoholism. He once said, ‘Don’t drink to get drunk. Drink to enjoy life.’

In later years Kerouac’s alcohol consumption increased as he found himself feeling isolated from the burgeoning counter-culture movement that he had reluctantly started. On October 20th 1969, Kerouac was rushed to hospital with abdominal pain. He died the following day from an internal hemorrhage caused by cirrhosis of the liver, caused by a lifetime of alcohol excess; he was forty-seven years old. The author’s legacy is that he will always be remembered as a literary pioneer and an integral part of the Beat Generation.

I am currently in Munich at the annual Oktoberfest beer festival. It seems likely that the alcohol theme will continue next week when I plan to recount my time there.

Click here to read Part 2 of Alcoholic Authors.