Strong Winds

January is normally a month of roaring fires, long faces and early nights. Rather surprisingly this year has been a rather jolly affair so far, with parties and dinners attended and the opportunity to do some entertaining in the Tower of Trollaigh. In our straightened circumstances dearest Dottie and I can no longer fund a winter game shoot so traditional spongers have drifted away. New guests bring cameras, bikes and even horses to enjoy the great outdoors and although I miss the sharp smell of cordite and old traditions, we still can have very sociable evenings. Indeed with the arrival of February, and a bit of extra daylight allowing for more time to wander in our beautiful glen, the future looks all together brighter, particularly if one sets aside the winter weather which has brought great gales of wind from every point of the compass. Pushing open the bootroom door to let the dogs out first thing in the morning brings a lottery of deep snow, great piles of leaves or even a mild green morning with bulbs pushing up under the still bleak trees, spring birdsong in the air.

Apart from the opening of the fishing season being just round the corner, my positive mood has been buoyed up by the unbelievable news that our Balkan Brothers have persuaded their members of the European Parliament to set aside years of reform and reintroduce a subsidy and price guarantee on Tobacco production. This is quite a coup for a group that seem to spend most of their time fixing the results of international football matches. However I cannot afford to be too fussy and will be plunging into this 126 Million Euro agricultural opportunity as I have done in the past. Dearest Dottie is already sharpening her pencil for a new aspirational shopping list; however this time we really have to do something about the roof of the Tower of Trollaigh which is long overdue for serious refurbishment.

The unfortunate fact that the EU also spends 20 Million Euros each year on efforts to reduce or legislate against smoking, seems to have been swept under a carpet in Brussels along with the ash from the cigar smoking, champange swilling inmates of the corridors of power. Indeed things are so tight that I understand from my euro mole that MEP's are now making ends meet by flogging off their free laptops and even police vehicles and motorbikes, keep scanning ebay for the best ones!

Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.