On 4th October 1957 the singer, Little Richard, saw God. He was on stage in Australia when he saw a light streaking across the sky. He immediately renounced his rock and roll ways and for the rest of his life he dedicated himself to the Lord or Sputnik, as it was more commonly called because, that night, Little Richard un-knowingly saw the launch of the first satellite into space.

That satellite also inspired an ex-Nazi scientist in America to go on TV and tell Walt Disney that America would win the space race as part of a publicity blitz by the American government to fire a rocket designed by a Satanist following the teachings of Alastair Crowley and Albert Einstein. A sentence I never thought I’d write but it is one which is completely true. A Nazi built a rocket designed by a scientist who worshipped Satan and thought he was destined to be the Anti-Christ. I hate to think which candidates NASA rejected.

“Hello, I work with small children and fluffy animals and I just want to make sure they are happy!”

“Weirdo, next!”

“Hello, I cure cancer.”

“Pervert, next!”

“Hello, do you accept Satan as your lawful masters and worship the great beast, Cthulu, and all it’s multi-tentacled nightmares from space?”

“You’re hired!”

The history of the twentieth century as explained by John Higg’s book ‘Stranger Than We Can Imagine’ is the story of how history can not be viewed from one angle but can only be glimpsed from a hundred different stories, all equally true. In a series of linked chapters he explains the impact of Einstein’s theory of relativity on art, politics, science and culture and the idea that there are many perspectives led to rock and roll, the internet, a man on the moon and the shattering of empires. You can find it here: Stranger Than We Can Imagine.

I think it had an impact on me because I’d just finished an article on the same topic – relativity, not Hitler – and how different perspectives change the way we think about laws. I’ve included it below because of all the things I’ve written this year, this was one I was most proud of. And the fact that it’s themes tied into my favourite book was just a nice coincidence to end the year.

Runners Up

Greenlights – Matthew McConaughey

One. Two. Three. Four – Craig Brown

The Last Policeman – Ben Winters

Things I Learned From Falling – Claire Nelson

Article

“Have you checked with Paisley? What about Gretton & Reid? I think McAlister might have something to say about this.”

When I started as a lawyer in a busy property team at a large national firm I’d hear conversations like this every day. At first I wondered who these people were. I’d not been introduced to my new colleague, Mr Paisley, on my first day. Were Gretton & Reid partners on another floor? And while there was a McAlister in the IT team – I wouldn’t trust him to switch a computer off and on again never mind seek his opinion on a rent review clause, so it couldn’t be him, could it? 

Every day I’d hear those names and it was only a couple of weeks later after checking the internal directory and drawing a blank that I realised that these were not people, they were books. No one referred to books by their title. No one said, “have you checked ‘Servitudes and Rights of Way’, ‘Conveyancing’ or ‘Scottish Law of Leases’?”. Instead, books were called by the author’s name. Which I thought was nice. It was friendly. It felt like I knew them. And this was a personal link to not just current authors but also such big names as Stair or Erskine. These weren’t just law books; they were a glimpse into the minds of the men that wrote them.

And I use “men” deliberately because, all the way back to Roman times, property law has almost exclusively been written by men. The institutional writers were men. The main textbooks we read each day are by men. There are very few textbooks by female authors. And there are none as far as I’m aware by a BAME author. Instead we have many, many books written by white men – myself included as I have written three textbooks and currently edit ‘Rennie’s Scottish Conveyancing Legislation’.

I understand that change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to gain experience and confidence to write a textbook and this will inevitable favour older lawyers and academics who are more likely to be male. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t help the future along by questioning if we have a problem with how we talk and write about property law. 

I believe that ‘law’ is not just the legislation issued by government but also the textbooks, commentary and articles that help flesh out and explain it to lawyers and the public. The best textbooks and commentary help us understand ‘the law’. They fill in gaps, they reconcile differences, they suggest changes or they show how laws work in practice and not just on the page. This very journal is a great example of that – it helps lawyers apply the law to all the different situations that arise when you deal with clients, with people. 

And those textbooks, commentaries and articles are only enhanced if lawyers with different experiences are heard, particularly in matters relating to housing and property where peoples experience of ‘home’ or, in light of the land reform agenda, ‘community’ are very different depending on their gender or race or background. The law is a mirror. Yet in conveyancing it only reflects one view. 

I believe it is vital we start to wrestle with the issues raised around the lack of diversity in how we talk and write about property law. This is particularly vital as we move to home working and as new trainees and lawyers grapple with learning the basics of property law and conveyancing in living rooms and kitchens rather than with colleagues in offices. They rely more on textbooks and commentary and the diversity that they may have received from working with colleagues in offices will be missing from their bookshelves at home. We can and should do more.

As a start, I have set myself the goal of adding a co-editor to ‘Scottish Conveyancing Legislation’ and I will be actively looking for individual contributions from under-represented groups to review existing commentary and to work on new comments on future legislation. And, as a next step, I publish this article with the hope that by publishing it I can start a debate as to whether such changes are required and, if so, what more can we do to ensure the property law in the twenty first century reflects all the people who work in property and all the clients who rely on it today.

October

During lockdown my employer gave every staff member Friday off, which meant I only worked 80% of my normal week i.e. Monday to Thursday instead of Monday to Friday.

I found working from home is less productive. I estimate I lose 20% of my time because I can not do tasks as quickly as when I was in the office. Which meant I only worked 60% of the week.

I had on average two days worth of video calls/meetings a week. I can’t get on with work whilst doing them. I lose another 40% of the week. Which means I only worked 20% of the week.

I need to keep my facebook/twitter/instagram up to date, I need to check the BBC/The Guardian for news, and I need to stare out of my window to watch the world go by. Which takes 20% of my time. Which means I only work 0% of the week.

Where do I apply for my Employee of The Year prize ?

The Met office announced the storm names for next year. Fame at last – I’m going to be a storm. I was once a hurricane. Wikipedia says Hurricane Iain had a promising start but didn’t amount to anything! Which is also what my school report said.

During a work call I met a man whose job title is “Customer Success Manager” That is a great title. He must be confident in his ability. It inspired me to change my job title. I’m now Corporate “Please God don’t let any system break today” Manager.

The highlight of October was when a Tesco delivery driver said to me “We’ve made a change to your order”

The short gap between him saying it and then handing me the item changed is a moment in time where my mind drifts to a world of excitement and possibility. What has changed? Will it be better than what I ordered? OMG – THIS IS SO EXCITING!

And then he handed me a multipack of Quaver crisps instead of what I ordered – Monster Munch!

Who does that? Who shatters hopes and dreams so cruelly like that? I WANTED FLAMIN HOT FLAVOR MONSTER MUNCH!!!! TESCO – YOU LOST A CUSTOMER THAT DAY!!

November

I have to do a first aid course. The course is not what I expected – “What would be your top 10 communicable diseases?” Its so hard to pick a favorite! I love ebola but covid is so hot right now…decisions…decisions…which to put as number 1?

Hotel rooms normally have a bible in a bedside drawer. I like what Cromlix Hotel have done instead. Their drawer has a book about a Scottish God – Sir Alex Ferguson.

There is very little else to report this month. I have to work on a project that eats up all my work and leisure time. Thankfully the weather was appalling so I don’t feel I’ve missed out on anything. At the end of the month the sun comes out for one day.

December

I watch a Scottish Government Christmas announcement via the medium of the sign language interpreter. As far as I can tell – first we are going to talk to the virus but it will be a heated discussion that will lead to a fight and then we will all end up zombies.

A BREAK FROM TRIATHLON. HERE’S WHAT I LISTENED TO LAST YEAR. NEXT WEEK: WHAT I READ.

According to Spotify my most played artist of 2020 was Taylor Swift. While I’m pretty sure that shows why you should never share your Spotify account with your wife – especially given Kylie was number two and Madonna was number three – it was close. While my most played artist of 2020 would not have been Taylor Swift I can say that my favourite song of 2020 was by her – The Last Great American Dynasty.

The song tells the story of Taylor Swift’s former home and the owner who lived there before her. It’s witty and catchy and sad and triumphant. And I love it because it sounds like a song that could have be written by The National but the fact it was by Taylor Swift showed just how great she is because while the National might have been able to write this song (and one of their members produced it), they could never have written Shake It Off. That Taylor Swift writes both shows exactly why she was both my wife’s favourite singer and my favourite song of the year. Let’s see Bon Ivor tray and write the likes of “She Wore An Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”.

But Taylor Swift wasn’t my greatest Spotify discovery this year that goes to the moment that I was looking at my wife’s playlist that she’d set up for her colleagues at work.

“Why have you got the ‘E’ version of all the songs?” I asked, “that’s a bit bold.”

“What do you mean,” she said, “it’s the excellent version.”

“No,” I said, “it’s the explicit version.”

Sweariest mutha****ing playlist ever.

According to Spotify I listened to over 3000 new genres this year and I can believe it. As I’m working from home I have music on all day and I usually switch on random playlists trying to pick things I’ve never heard as I like to work with music in the background that I don’t know. I find it less distracting than to hear songs I love. I also prefer faster music so I’ve ended up in some strange dance and techno playlist culdesacs which make my home working sound like a trendy clothes shop. I can’t say I’ve saved any of the songs to my favourites but it doesn’t make for interesting background to calls as BOOM I BOOM try BOOM to BOOM switch BOOM it BOOM off BOOM to BOOM hear BOOM BOOM my BOOM BOOM BOOM call.

Instead here are the other songs I’ve loved this year (ignoring anything which was a hit as you probably know them already (though big thumbs up to Harry Style’s Golden).

Sufjan Stevens – Sugar

In any year the man with the initial S.S would be the winner of album of the year. But not this year, well, at least not this S.S monikered man. For the winner, keep reading.

Carly Pearce – Next Girl

A song which could equally be about a serial killer.

Arab Strap – The Turning of Our Bones

And one for his victims.

Orville Peck – Dead of Night

Kanye West – Souls Anchored

Almost makes you want to listen to his Sunday Service album, then you listen to it and remember why sometimes it’s best just to stick to the one good track…

Yes – It Can Happen

U2 – Every Breaking Wave

Taking a break from playlists I also tried to listen to every album by an artist in order. I started with U2 and was surprised to find that some albums I loved have aged horribly – Rattle & Hum should have been a three song single – but others are much better with time, particularly Age of Innocence which was given away free by Apple and then deleted by half the world who didn’t want to wake up to find Bono crooning to them in their ears. This is probably the best song they’ve written in twenty years:

Sturgill Simpson – Sing Along

And the award for album of the year goes to Stugill Simpson for ‘Sound and Fury’. The only thing you need to know is that he’s the only man to ever be nominated for both best country and best rock albums and this song inspired one YouTube comment to simply say “Damn, if I knew country music sounded like this I might actually listen to more of it!”. Funk? Country? Rock? Grunge? Best album of the year.

July

I was at home in Stornoway during July. My mum speaks Gaelic so I saw a lot of Gaelic news.

Coronavirus looks more romantic when written in Gaelic. Like a soft Hebridean breeze… of death.

The news reader used the phrase “self isolation” Which I thought was strange. Surely there’s a Gaelic equivalent for that? You don’t get more isolated than living in a Croft on an island on the edge of the world. Surely you’d have a word to describe it.

Gaelic wasn’t the only langue to have to change for coronavirus. I also spotted the sign language for Coronavirus. It is two hands forming a coronavirus shape. I admire the simplicity of it as it looks like exactly what it is.

I hope the same logic does not apply to how they sign genital warts.

Whilst out for a jog I spotted a sign at a local croft. It said “Please keep you dog on a leash. Recently, a dog slipped his leash and killed 3 sheep and 6 lambs in 15 minutes”

That’s not a dog that’s a killing machine. One down ever 90 seconds.

The sign was pointless. It said keep your dog on a leash. It was on a leash. It should have said “If your dog is smart enough, big enough and angry enough to escape a leash then it is not just sheep who should be afraid. You should sleep with one eye open too”

During my time at home I tried to run 100 miles in a week. You can see it here

August

August is my birthday (and unsurprisingly) Andrew’s too. I get him a message from WWE legend Kurt Angle

I get my first portion of fish & chips since March. Many other people had the same idea for lunch so the queue was very long!

The London marathon is cancelled but the Times reports – “The Times understands that the organizers are still hoping to stage the eagerly anticipated duel between the two finest marathon runners in history, Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele, on a short course in one of the parks in central London.”

All sports events should hold events in crap locations. I’d love to see a boxing clash like this – “The Times understands that boxing organizers are still hoping to stage the eagerly anticipated duel between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, at the bins behind LIDL. Both boxers will hold a fish supper whilst a women shouts ‘Don’t do it Tyson. He’s not worth it!'”

Scientists invent Ghost Racer. Cure for covid is still sought. Maybe the scientists should work on their priorities.

September

The month started with this exciting text.

Please be Chewbacca! Please be Chewbacca! Please be Chewbacca!

It wasn’t Chewbacca.

I was able to do a bike ride that had been delayed since May. I should have spent the delay getting better at biking as my time was my slowest time ever. The graph of results looks like a covid infection rate but going downwards rather than up

I come up with a new way to tackle Covid

How to solve covid – THE PURGE! In the film, one night a year any crime is legal. In the covid purge – for one month everyone can drink, eat out and party in each other homes as much they want. Everyone else hides indoors. After a month, everyone who wants to party will have had Covid. Everyone else wont get it because they don’t want to do any of the things that make catching covid likely. Simple!

For my next trick – I’ll solve the Arab/Israel question using the cartoon wacky race.

A BREAK FROM TRIATHLON. HERE’S WHAT I WATCHED LAST YEAR. NEXT WEEK: WHAT I LISTENED TO.

The last time I was in a cinema was in March, just before lockdown. I say cinema but this was no ordinary cinema. It was a luxury cinema in London with chairs that reclined to form a double bed and popcorn that came in a sealed packet so that you knew it hadn’t been scraped from the floor. Very fancy – though not as tasty.

I was watching ‘1917’, a film about a soldier who is tasked with getting a message to the front line, a simple plot. Man gets message. Man try to deliver message. Man leaves card and says he’ll be back tomorrow. Or something like that. It was back in March and I can’t remember exactly what happened, it was two lockdown’s ago.

But I do remember this: just as the soldier was about to reach the front line, and we’re about to see whether he can deliver his message in time, the man in front of me picked up his jacket and walked out. He didn’t even look back when he got to the door just in case he could see whether the message was delivered. Instead, he’d watched two hours of a soldier walking and running and getting shot at and trying his hardest to deliver this one message and that man couldn’t give a monkeys.

At Star Wars he’s be like “Luke, I am your – “

“Nah, not interested.”

Or the Sixth Sense:

“Hey, Bruce Willis, you do know you are a gh—“

“Couldn’t give a toss.”

On the other hand, he’s probably never seen the last episode of Game of Thrones so he still thinks its the greatest show he’s ever seen – and he’s definitely going to call his daughter “Daenerys”.

Looking back now, I think he had the right approach. Leave it open. Keep the mystery. Always want more. A very apt attitude for 2020 where everything – work, life, the future, the present, the ending of 1917 – has been left hanging like they’re the unworn shirts in my wardrobe since I started working from home in March.

It seems appropriate then that most of what I watched this year involved continuing series: which were all great for different reasons but all had stories which continue after I finished watching them. Better Call Saul and The Expanse I’m looking at you.

So, instead I’m going to recommend a programme which could have continued but didn’t after the BBC pulled the plug on it after one series. Which was actually a perfect move because ‘Giri/Haji’ already had a perfect ending. And, before that, a perfect final ‘confrontation’ which you will either like a Strictly judge “love, love, love it” or you will get your coat faster than my London friend. In between you’ll get the tensest thriller, a Guy Ritchie villain, scenes which play like a sit-com, episodes mostly in Japanese, parts in anime, parts in black and white, and a moment when you can see two characters fall in love just by looking at each other across a table. It was brilliant. I loved it.

Runners Up

Chernobyl – bleak and horrifying but better than watching the news

Schitt’s Creek – just, well, nice. Double nice. Triple nice. Lovely.

Eurovision – see Schitt’s Creek but with catchy songs

The Vast Of Night – if you love 1950s sci-fi then this pays loving tribute to small towns and UFOs

The Lighthouse – just like growing up in the Isle of Lewis.

Race Around The World – couples race from one end of South America to the other. Broadcast in March in the middle of lockdown. I can only imagine the disconnect I felt watching people on holiday and surrounded by strangers is the same disconnect Donald Trump feels every time he switches on the news and hears he hasn’t won the US election.

The Mandalorian – “Hey Mando, what’s that protein drink you’ve got there?” “It is the whey.”. “Thanks, Mando!”

Devs – a science lesson disguised as a thriller

Avoid

I’m Thinking of Ending Things – I only wish I’d ended it a lot sooner. Like at the start. Or never switched it on at all. Avoid.

UPDATE APRIL 21 – Anyone swimming here should respect other users and the environment. Please treat the place respectfully. Do not park in the area reserved for the angling club and if its busy then swim somewhere else. There are lots of good options near Glasgow.

This looks like Summer but this photo was taken at the end of November and it was Disney movie weather – frozen! You could see frost on your hair as sweat froze on your forehead. Yet, with the blue sky, it at least looked good in the photos.

The White Loch is just outside Glasgow and you can find our previous reports here along with details on where to go and how to park.

White Loch – First Visit

White Loch – Where to Swim

For this addition I would add the following information.

What make it ideal for winter swimming? The entrance and car parking is right beside the road. This is important because as soon as you get out of the loch you can get back to your car in less than a minute. Or, if you prefer to hang around and have a cup of team while wrapped up warm, then there is a nice flat spot at the loch’s edge to set up camp.

What make it less than ideal for winter swimming? The car parking is right beside a relatively busy road. So, while you try and strip from boots, gloves, vest, wetsuit, hood and swim cap there will be plenty of people passing and looking at your papa smurf like body – bright blue. On the other hand, it does give you an incentive to get changed quickly and to duck into your car for a nice blast of the heater.

Any tips for swimming? Stick to the edge and, if you do get cold, you’ll never be too far from an easy to access shore.

Overall: A good location for a winter swim but don’t be fooled by the photo at the top – it doesn’t look like this on every other day of winter.