Scottish Roundup

Early December is an odd time of year. It’s not quite Christmas, despite the best efforts of the shops to convince us otherwise. We’re still at work, not yet at the stage when we can skive off for the last few hours, eating mince pies and chatting about bread sauce recipes. So as we teeter on the brink of festivity, restraining ourselves from opening the brandy for a few more days, what better way to while away the time that with another Scottish Roundup?

You’re right. There is no better way. So let’s crack on. There are, basically, two subjects that the Scottish blogosphere (Scogosphere?) has been tackling this week, and the first is the wind. Or to give it its official title, Hurricane Bawbag. Deililly at Tiptilted starts us off with a rather touching memoir of her childhood as an latecomer to Scotland, and her gradual adoption of its culture. She sees the Hurricane Bawbag term as an example of the Scots humour and dexterity with language that she enjoys, and she’s not alone. A Burdz Eye View spent Thursday alone and unwell under a duvet, turning to Twitter to keep her informed and entertained. Love and Garbage went one step further, providing a valuable public service with her live wind blog, in which she charted Hurricane Bawbag’s progress from quite windy, windy and very windy up to its full power of very very very windy gusting to very very very very windy. The Met Office must have been looking on in awe.

And so to the second hot topic of the week, same-sex marriage. The consultation on this closed this week, prompting a flurry of blogs focusing on the matter. Up first is Mairi Campbell-Jack at Bright Green Scotland, who takes on Scotland for Marriage’s arguments against changing the law. She finds support from What’s in Kelvin’s Head? who reports that his congregation have sent in a response that’s in favour of the proposals.

Ellen at In a Bun Dance doesn’t explicitly tackle the subject of same-sex marriage, but her blog about the non-nuclear shape of her family is very timely, pointing out that families can come in all shapes and sizes. And MamaJ of the new blog, At Least Daddy Can Cook, is also thinking about relationships in an affectionate tribute to her friends, who have helped her through life’s ups and downs, including a battle with depression. It’s a good reminder of the really important things in life, and a counterpart to the rather depressing research that Better Nation has been reporting on, which found that more Scots would be likely to vote for independence if it made them £500 a year better off.

A sobering thought, which is just as well as there’s another week or so of sobriety before we can get properly Christmassy. So line up the Santa hats, fill the fridge with Cava and ready the mince pies: the seasonal starting gun will be firing very soon. Merry Christmas!