Quintin Jardine's blog

I’m pleased that you enjoyed Funeral Note, and with the general feedback I’m getting for Skinner 22. As for your question, oh yes, Maureen, I know, and so will   you in a year or so.

I will Martyn, I will. As Easy as Murder isn’t hard to find already, and it will be out in paperback in August.

‘Every writer I know has trouble writing.’

Joseph Heller

Too true, Joe, too true.

So you’re hooked on Skinner? Not all addiction is bad. If you have trouble finding him in Cyprus, http://www.campbellreadbooks.com will supply anywhere that mail is delivered.

Hats off to the paradox that is the Scottish international rugby side. Unable to beat Casey’s Drum in the 2012 Six Nations Championship, Andy Robinson takes his men on an apparently suicidal tour of the southern hemisphere, and they beat Australia, on their own turf. Fiji and Samoa, the opposition in the two forthcoming matches, will be tough indeed, but at least our guys will go there with confidence restored.

Sorry about the circumstances, but I hope that you and Oz will have an enjoyable relationship. It’s over 40 years since I left the Motherwell Times. Does your uncle go that far back? What’s his name?

Having seen Grace Jones in action . . . Jesus Christ, Gary Barlow, what did you think you were doing? Why the hell did you let the lunatic on stage with the fucking hula hoop? Annie Lennox with angel’s wings was bad enough. Having said that, the whole Anglicised evening was the best argument for an independent Scotland that I’ve seen in a  long time. Apart from Ms Lennox, the significant contribution that Scotland has made to the British musical industry was completely ignored in the great Diamond celebration. With the greatest respect to Stevie Wonder, one of my heroes since he was Little Stevie Wonder, I must insist that Texas, Del Amitri, Travis, the Proclaimers, Emile Sande, Paolo Nutini, Aly and Phil, and many others, all belonged on stage before he did.

Looking at the programme for this evening’s Diamond Jubilee concert, headlined by Elton John, it occurred to me that, quite genuinely, some things go without saying, so I won’t.

Just one question. Grace Jones? Surely some mistake.

http://va-i-ve.com/htmlfilesen/homeflashen.html

Just had lunch there; chickenpig, naturally.

It took you a while to make it to Edinburgh; I only wish you could have seen it better presented. I’m sure Brisbane doesn’t have bloody great holes all over the city centre. Never been there; one day, maybe.

Let’s not call it a sequel, for it will be much more than  that. The next Skinner . . . other enquirers please note . . . will be published in a year’s time.

Yes indeed, was it not? Hope it didn’t keep you awake.

What do you mean by ‘scheming brain’?

No, there is no mention of Euro ’96 in Grievous Angel. Neither I Bob Skinner, nor, I am sure Colin Hendry, should he chance upon the book, care to be reminded of Gazza’s goal at Wembley. I prefer to recall the one he didn’t score, against Germany, but I couldn’t work that into the plot.

You lived above the old Electric Bar? I was at the official opening of its replacement; one of the guests sang a number  called ‘Cock a Doodle Do’, (the lyrics of which are best left unrecorded on this blog) and a senior councillor became extremely obstreperous and was only persuaded to leave when the management provided him with a free carry-oot. It was a snowy night, he took some time to make it home, and contracted a fairly serious bout of pleurisy as a direct result. I remember your Uncle Andrew being about Fir Park; he had a nickname, but I can no longer recall it.

I would like to have met your Auntie Nell. As you say, for one person to live in three different centuries must be very rare indeed. I have read Dorothy L, but I confess that I always preferred Mr Albert Campion to Lord Peter.

I received a missive today from a frequent and treasured correspondent, a long time emigrant of the United  States. I hope that I do not put that friendship at risk by sharing with you, but I don’t believe I will. God bless you, John, thank you, and keep ’em coming.

You always impress us with the depth and reality of Bob Skinner and the characters around him.. With FUNERAL NOTE

you have truly outdone yourself. It’s brilliant characterization throughout, set in an intriguing plot. Your literary “experiment”

to get inside these characters’ heads works beautifully, familiar as they are to me by now. I was most intrigued. While i do

admire him, I’m not sure I’d want Bob near my daughters. Socially, I mean.

 In addition, I re-read many times the few paragraphs on PP 60 and 61, where you develop Aileen’s thinking about her

differences with Bob Skinner. I’m with Skinner in their argument.  I wonder if you based some of the “gridlock”

aspects of their opposing mindsets on the current gridlock in the U.S. Congress, where ideology is conflicting head-on

with pragmatism and common sense, with nothing good ever decided. (God help the U.S. if Obama gets another four

years come November.)

 I note with interest your frequent references to rugby, using it as a characterization device, implying, I believe, a

certain “bigness” and “roughness.” As a former rugger player at Watsons and Strathallan, and in “rugby sevens”

throughout the Border towns, I wonder if your American readers get the point. Only today is rugby getting any national

TV exposure over here. By the way, my cousin Graham Young, now aging in Edinburgh, was capped as Scotland’s

scrum-half year’s back. Dad’s old pal, my “uncle George” Murray, was a power in the Scottish Rugby Union back then.

Sir Garth might remember him, as Courtney Morrison (a magnificent Watsonian forward) surely would have.

 I cry for Scotland. A note from a friend recently visiting talks about “Hardly once, in any cafe, railway tube station,

restaurant, hotel, gas staion did we encounter a British employee. Every low paid service worker was Eastern

European, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Pakistani or other Asian, though they all seemed to work hard. Everything

has changed, and I’m not sure for the better.”  She could have written the same about California or New York. We “Anglos”

are becoming the minority here.

 I note you are in Spain, I hope their frightening economic problems don’t adversely affect your stay there. I assume

you still call quaint and peaceful Gullane home. I recall the week my Dad — G.H.P. “Podge” Alexander — wardened

at Muirfield’s 9th during The Open. He would only handle the 9th. “It’s closest to the bar,” he said..  

 Best regards, and much admiration,

 John  (now approaching  87).

And then there’s this, on the ‘Bloody Scotland’ website:

Tickets on sale now!

Be  there; it’s a must.

In a comment on my post ‘One not to miss’, Adrian Dunbar has asked me to post the name of  my favourite restaurant in L’Escala. This is my response:

Are you mad, Adrian???? And upset how many restaurateur friends???? I hope you enjoy your time in L’Escala; while you’re there, you might like to visit, in no particular order, La Clota, L’Esculapi, Mike’s, Can Roura, La Lluna, La Terrassa d’Empuries, 1869, Ca la Chari, El Roser II, Meson del Conde, Can Coll, Casablanca, Sotavent, La Clota, Pizza Pazza, Illa Mateu. It’s up to you to find them all. Oh yes, and if you have room, the best sandwich in and around town is Theresa’s ‘chickenpig’, to be experienced in a xiringuito (beach bar) called Vaive, a little north of St Marti d’Empuries.

My family likes this; I’m not so sure. What do you think?