Fitheach

Ceud Mìle Fàilte

Thank you for dropping-by, I hope you enjoy your visit. The main content is to be found in the blog, where I discuss everything and anything, but, topics including: photography, nature, technology, food, movies, music, politics, and life in the Highlands of Scotland, make regular appearances.

I commonly write reviews of movies (or films, if you prefer). Some movie reviews are short, others will be discussed in more detail. The scope covered will be mainly mainstream English language movies from the 1930s until the present day.

About me

My name is Iain MacDonald and I live in the Highlands of Scotland (although I have lived elsewhere in the past). I use Fitheach as my online pseudonym, on this website, on Mastodon, and on Matrix. I am a big fan of Free & Open Source Software, which I use both professionally and at home.

Computing and technology tend to infuse themselves into my other interests, as once you learn some skills in one area it is convenient to use them to solve problems in other spheres.

When not tinkering with computers, I am likely to be found repairing things because living in the countryside you learn to be resourceful.

Of course, man doesn't live by SSH tunnels and kerosene vapour burners alone, so, food, as a subject, makes regular appearances, too.

My latest Life articles

My most recent ramblings can be found in the Life section.

My latest Mastodon posts

Mastodon is a microblogging app that is part of the decentralised web known as The Fediverse. See this article for more details.

Fitheach

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 13:30:23 +0000

A word or two about the spellings of Clan Donald names. MacDonell (see my previous post) is just one English approximation of the Gaelic original, Mac Dhòmhnaill. Other English approximations include: MacDonald and Donaldson.

So, even though my clan branch, Glengarry, are associated with MacDonell, my direct family chose (in the mists of time) the MacDonald spelling in English.

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Wed, 20 Nov 2024 13:15:03 +0000

New car, new key fob. 😃

It is a shame that isn't the spelling of my surname. However, it does have my clan's raven (fitheach) depicted in the centre.

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Sat, 16 Nov 2024 13:31:12 +0000

For my North American readers, please note that check is spelled cheque. 😃

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Sat, 16 Nov 2024 13:28:03 +0000

I went to the bank yesterday. Ahead of me in the queue were an elderly couple. They were depositing cheques into their account. Yup, cheques, plural. I hadn't realised cheques were still a thing.

When I got home, I got out my old chequebook. The last time I wrote a cheque it was October, 2010. Even that was an outlier. The previous cheque was written in 2007.

I was tempted to ask the couple why they were dealing with cheques, but, I had to deal with some even more old-fashioned cash.

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Fri, 15 Nov 2024 20:05:35 +0000

Overall, I'm very pleased with the car. It has great fuel consumption (up to 61mpg). For its size, it handles very well. It has a huge amount of space inside, which is what I wanted. The panoramic glass roof allows a lot more light in, which more than compensates for the privacy glass sides.

There are a few tiny niggles, like the 12v sockets being permanently on. What were Ford thinking? Although, this might be fixable.

All I need now is a long period of trouble-free motoring.

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Fri, 15 Nov 2024 15:32:27 +0000

I really liked the Tepee, it was a great car, and it served me well (138,000 miles). However, I wanted something of a similar type, but, bigger. I did consider the Citroën Berlingo XL & the Peugeot Rifter LWB. I couldn't find either of those at the right price and on my doorstep.

Instead, I have a bought a Ford Grand Tourneo Connect. It is a top of the range Titanium model with: panoramic glass roof, heated seats, Ford SYNC, 7 seats, rear privacy glass, cruise control, etc.

Review to follow.

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