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Back to Menu Royal Highland Show 2009 Dumfries and Galloway Standard The Scots have a canny knack for heating up things and doing something very clever as a result. Scotch whisky is a good example. We, as a nation, excel at distilling alcohol a process that involves heating huge amounts of mash in copper stills. There is also a long list of Scottish individuals who have written themselves into the history books through heating up different things. Our very own James Watt refined the steam engine to such an extent that it drove the industrial revolution and subsequently changed the world. The Scottish chemist William Ramsay cooled down some of the earth’s atmosphere until it became a liquid then he heat it up again and captured, amongst other things the very useful gas neon. So, bearing all of these things in mind and my little list is by no means exhaustive, why does it seem to be beyond the wit or ken of the Royal Highland Show’s organisers to heat up a wee pickle water and have it come out of the stockmen’s showers? Yet again, this year, cold showers were the norm every morning. Forty years after the moon landings I think it should not be beyond man’s technical capability to provide warm water. I hope that for next year, the RHAS put their best man onto the job and if he fails he should be made to wear a bowler hat for the entire duration of the show; public humiliation is a powerful incentive. If showering at the Highland is the most challenging part of attending the show for a full week then having a shave comes a close second. The mirrors in the men’s toilet blocks are cunningly placed between the sinks rather than in front of them. Some thrifty designer has obviously twigged for the fact that you save two mirrors in every row of sinks if the mirrors are placed in this way. The result is that at peak times you have to synchronise with the two men on either side of you or you might just find yourself lathered up and cheek to cheek with a man that you’ve never met before. I do believe that you can find establishments in Edinburgh that will facilitate this kind of thing but at seven in the morning, while nursing a hangover, it’s not the kind of thing that floats my boat. If the organisers are getting bowlers for the bathing department at the Highland then the stock exhibitors are to be awarded bouquets for the quality of the stock that was on show. This area’s own native breed the Galloway cattle took up the centre stage and they seemed to be unbeatable in the cattle lines. My knowledge of coos is somewhat limited but I think it would be an understatement to say that these modern types of Galloway cattle have changed quite a bit over the last few years. They’re now big and long and well muscled whilst keeping many of the breed’s original traits. Just as well that the cattle have evolved to survive the rapidly changing nature of hill farming. Future Galloway breeders will owe a great debt to the men and women of the moment who have led the way forward today. At the same time over in the sheep lines another breed, the Bluefaced Leicester, seemed to be following the example set by the Galloways. The judge there handed the championship ticket out to one of the modern variety of “not so blue faced” Leicesters. An audible gasp was heard round the ring. Smelling salts were needed to revive many of the ladies and some of the gentlemen needed a swig of brandy to calm their nerves. The Royal Highland show had been seen by many to be the last bastion for the old style Blues. It will be interesting to see if the new order can emulate the Galloways, in the interbreed, some time in the future. |