The Longest Day
I was waving at Fred MacAulay through the studio glass in Inverness this morning, but I just couldn't get his attention. He was up north to film some sequences for a forthcoming TV series and therefore presented his morning show from our studios here. I managed to grab a quick word with him after the show and we compared notes about the weather conditions on the A9 last night. Awash it was. It was, of course, The Longest Day today and I loved Fred's explanation for filming on a day when you get maximum daylight.
"If you've ever seen how long it takes me to record a thirty second piece to camera, " he said, "you'll know why the producers need all the daylight they can get."
Then at lunchtime I headed up to on the outskirts of the city. The fram is now a family adventure centre owned by friend and fiddler Bruce MacGregor. Every month they have a ladies' luncheon with a guest speaker. Bruce had asked me to talk about my job as well as my reasons for relocating to Inverness. I think I coped with most of the subsequent questions, but was slightly taken aback when someones asked me if I get paid for doing these kind of talks.
"Do you think anyone would pay me for this kind of performance?" I asked her, and I could see that the rest of the audience agreed I had barely earned my free lunch.
For the record, I'm not allowed to accept payment for such talks, but I if organisers offer a fee I usually ask them if they'll consider making a donation to Children In Need.
Across our programmes was popping up from his home in Shetland where, of course, they had more daylight than anywhere else in Britain. Tom also hosted a special edition of his afternoon show from the waterside at Lerwick and the lives music was terrific.
Tom was still going strong when I heard him on Archie Fisher's programme later that night and when both were comparing notes about their favourite piece of traditional music, I was completely persuaded by Tom's choice of Margaret's Waltz.
The version played by Aly Bain, is simply beautiful and a wonderful end to a long day.
