FEBRUARY 5th: Feast Day of St. Buo - see Nooks and Crannies, below
News of a near cat-atrophy on Wednesday 14th, when Jen andAngus had to go away to Glasgow for Jenn's final scan. Angus got home from work at about 1.00pm and they loaded up the car. It was a miserable, cold day and Biscuit the cat was outside looking very sorry for herself. As they were getting their tickets at the pier, Coco the Labrador was seen circling their car with great interest, but nobody paid much attention. The journey was reasonably uneventful. On arrival in Oban, they parked for about 15 minutes to go to the Bank etc. On their way down the road they stopped at the Halfway House for petrol, and again in Inveraray to spend a penny. They arrived at their destination at about 8.00pm.
Meantime back in Colonsay, Kirsty and Donald were going frantic because Biscuit had gone missing. They searched both houses and the two cottages to no avail. As Biscuit is very much a "home" cat, this was very unusual.
Rather later, at about 1.30am in distant Cumbernauld, Glasgow, the household was heading for bed when Angus happened to look towards the glass front door. Sitting on the step was a grey and white cat…..very wet and looking suspiciously like Biscuit! As soon as he opened the door and said her name she came right in to the house. Unfortunately, at this point it was impossible to tell if it was really Biscuit as she was so wet and no longer had her collar on. So to avoid kidnapping someone's cat, Angus phoned young Donald on his mobile - woke him up - and on asking him if everything was ok at home learned immediately that "Biscuit is missing"!
On checking the car in the morning, it appeared that she had climbed under the bonnet and somehow managed to hang on for dear life, the whole way from Colonsay to Glasgow in terrible weather conditions. A cat box was duly purchased so Biscuit could travel in reasonable comfort back to Colonsay and her expedition does not seem to have resulted in any ill effects, but talk about "a cat with nine lives!"
There was an excellent turnout for the meeting on 22 January, a full account of which can be found on this link: NURSING PROVISION IN COLONSAY - THE FUTURE
In a nutshell, 75 people learned that trends in the NHS are such that a permanent resident GP is no longer a viable longterm aspiration for the island. This was not an official statement, merely a reference to a very obvious probability that Dr. John Currie will be one of the last in a valued succession.
Those present were reminded that the provision of nursing cover in the recent past has been based upon a wing and a prayer, and that our rapidly aging population needs this situation to be addressed with some urgency.
It was suggested that we could rely upon more nursing auxiliaries, if we had more manpower and were happy without full qualifications and to leave our doctor in professional isolation. Otherwise we could have a properly qualified nurse, in which case there were two further options. On the one hand, we could settle for a qualified nurse who had no ambitions for career development and who could face with equanimity the inevitable decay of professional skills and peer position. Or we could go for a qualified nurse with the ambition to develop skills towards the goal of becoming a Nurse Practioner, able to fulfill some of the tasks of other medical professionals.
At the end of the day, islanders seemed to think that what is needed is a qualified nurse, now, ready and willing to do the work. That person's personal ambitions were a matter between the nurse and the NHS, just as long as they did not get in the way of actually doing the job in question. It was felt that the question mark over future GP provision was not related to the provision of nursing care and that if or when the matter arose it would have to be addressed in the light of circumstances prevailing at that time.
To avoid doubt - we still have our doctor, we have no official reason to believe that any change is imminent but we do have to bear in mind various straws in the wind. On such straw is cash - if the information that we were given is correct, any successor to Dr. John Currie will have to be prepared to accept a total budget of £13,000 to include salary and all associated costs. This is believed to be rather lower than the going rate, but should help to minimise liability for Income Tax.
Mobile telephone company "Orange" allegedly arrived in Colonsay to make the final adjustments to their long-awaited station, only to find that the aerials had blown away already; Angus MacPhee is looking after Alex's dog, "Digger" - when trying to separate frozen chops sliced the end off his thumb - seemingly just beat Digger to it by a nose to get it sewn on again; the school bus service endured disruption when the windscreen fell out (luckily overnight); Calmac has confirmed a major new ferry to be built for Islay and a smart new three-storey terminal building at Oban for the Colonsay run, with full disabled access; new ferry timetable fully published and reservations are now being accepted for the summer season; pupils at Kilchattan are learning both traditional Scottish Country Dancing and Conversational Gaelic; the editor fielded 58 attacks by the "My Doom" virus and was comparatively lucky - thanks to Jenni McFadyen's efforts House of Lochar survived 170 assaults, but has unfortunately been caught by something else; the BT "Blackboard" which dominated Scalasaig for 30 years has been removed; and here is a holiday snap:
GAELIC COURSES IN COLONSAY 2004
An intermediate/advanced workshop is on offer in the week of 29 March to 2 April, with the possibility of a Beginners' or Not-quite Beginners' course the following week, 5-9 April.
The course will be conducted as in previous years by Alastair Scouller, a professional linguist whose knowledge of Gaelic includes the dialect elements special to Colonsay.
Please contact Alastair for further details or to signal your interest. All who have attended these courses have been delighted by the professional manner in which they are presented and by the tutor's ability to balance a wide range of abilities and aptitude.
Email: scouller@globalnet.co.uk
In Australia, you can buy sun protection which actually works, does not make you look like a Black and White Minstrel, is water resistant and does not have s sticky finish to attract flies and grit and ruin your clothes. There are probably others, but "Face of Australia" SPF 30+ can be highly recommended. Perhaps it is available in UK, if not persuade friends to send you some.
If you are thinking of travelling, consider using the services of a business called Flight Centre. They appear to be a franchise operation, because they seem to have branches everywhere. People who study business opportunities might do worse than to check them out as an operation which is seriously well run and likely to thrive; ordinary mortals might like to note the name in order to make use of their services. They definitely have branches in UK and the one at 164 London Wall proved highly efficient.
NOOKS & CRANNIES - St. Buono Bardus
At the risk of provoking a difficult correspondence, readers are reminded of a saint whose local connections might encourage inclusion in their devotions. On page 203, Loder quotes extracts from "Scotia Sacra" by Fr. Hay, a Latin manuscript of 1700 in the collection of the National Library, Edinburgh. The translation is not ascribed but may well be by Loder himself, in which case it would be very reliable; on the other hand, his knowledge of catholicism was somewhat circumscribed and a close reading of the original might prove rewarding.
In a footnote, Loder tells us that Fr. Hay was a canon of St. Genevieve at Paris, and Prior of St. Pierremont. Loder goes on to report, in connection with the Rites of Mass, a comment from Origines Parochiales: "From internal evidence, however, and from other causes, considerable doubt may be entertained of the authority and accuracy of his account". That statement is, perhaps, debatable but readers will note that it is a specific reservation.
The following translation is given by Loder, from page 596 of the manuscript:
"Ornesay: A Priory of Canon regulars in the Western Isles.
Here the body of St Buon surnamed Bardus and his works were preserved with divine care, and his name chanted in festal song."
Who was this saint? We can begin by considering his "surname", Bardus. In this context, it is an "additional" name, not an hereditary one, described by OED as "an additional descriptive or allusive name attached to a person". Bardus is the Latin word for "Stupid" but we can discount that meaning for obvious reasons; in fact it will have been the latinised form of a Gaelic appellation - almost certainly "bard", from which we derive the modern surname of Ward. Dwelly defines the bard in some detail and mentions that "The Celts, being passionately fond of poetry, would listen to no instruction, whether from priest or philosopher, unless it were conveyed in rhymes. Hence the word "bard" meant also a priest, philosopher or teacher of any kind".
His personal name will also have been latinised, so one must consider Gaelic names that might form a suitable root. There are of course many thousands of Celtic saints, most of whom were Irish, but careful examination suggests one candidate in particular - St. Buo. Further information is still being sought, but a search on "Google" provided some references which need to be explored. One led to "The Saints of Ireland" by Mary Ryan D'Arcy, where we learn that the Feast Day of St. Buo is February 5, and she quotes from an Icelandic writer, Angrim Jonas:
"In the 9th century, a northman, Helgo, received an Irish exile Ernulph with his religious family and gave him welcome and permission to build a church dedicated to Colmcille in a village called Esinberg. He states that a holy Irishman by the name of Buo while yet a young man became a distinguished missionary in that same province."
Ryan reminds us that "when the Norwegians "discovered" Iceland in 860, they found Irish books, bells and staffs on the island". Irish monks, including possibly St. Brendan, had been sailing to the Faroe Islands and to Iceland in the 7th and throughout the 8th century, and Irish place names survive there yet. "In 825, the Irish geographer Dicuil, in his "De Mensura Orbis Terrae", quotes, concerning the summer solstice, "certain clerics who remained on the Iceland Island from the first of February until the first of August"."
Any reader with access to a good library could assist by checking:
Fitzpatrick B (1927) Ireland and the Foundations of Europe, New York, Funk & Wagnalls; (Vol II, p. 147)
Little, G A (1946) St Brendan the Navigator, Dublin, Gill & Son; (pp. 74, 96, 168, 223)
Neeson E (1967), Book of Irish Saints, Cork, Mercier Press (p. 37)
O'Hanlon J. (1875) Lives of Irish Saints, 10. Vol, Dublin (Vol II, p. 341)
Toynbee A J (1951) Study of history, New York, Oxford press (Vol II, p324)
Icelandic readers could check the traditions at Esinberg and see what is known about Helgo and the writings of Angrim Jonas. Any assistance from our readers will be welcomed. It would be good to know more about St. Buo himself, and to know if any more likely identification can be put forward. How did his remains come to be in Oronsay? What happened at the dissolution of the monasteries? In many places, such relics were left in place, but when a building was to be abandoned they would perhaps have been removed elsewhere. And on a slightly different tack, can anybody suggest the Gaelic for "servant of St. Buo"?
For convenience of readers, letters now appear in two sections. Anything to do with current events appears here, and letters to do with the Magazine section or historical research etc. will appear at the end of the Magazine section.
An old message is reproduced below
"The Lyon in Mourning" by Bishop Robert Forbes
I have been trying to locate a copy of the above book for many years - would it be possible to put a request in your next Newsletter to see if anyone can help?
Sylvia Taylor
020 7650 5646
To which a reader (Nanopig@aol.com) replies:
The Lyon in mourning is online (just change the volume number for the other volumes)at the following at http://www.nls.uk/print/transcriptions/lyon/vol3/browse/
The Editor would like to thank Mary B. for the generous gift of a day-to-the-page "Let's Make Fun of the French" calender. It will be inspirational in the months ahead.
The Magazine Section