Bushmills and the Whiskey Factory

It was an icy cold day today. I needed some food supplies and I didn't know how treacherous the roads might be so me and Finn set off for Bushmills on the tractor. Conditions weren't too bad and it seemed a thaw had set in.

A car coming from the direction of Bushmills pulled up ahead of us. A side window was lowered and a young man of oriental appearance spoke:

Is this the road to the whiskey factory?

No. There's nothing of interest that way.

Well I suppose there might be the odd illicit poitín still on the foothills of the Antrim Hills but I wasn't going to tell him one of Northern Ireland's closely guarded secrets, was I?

No?

No.

I tried giving him some directions but after a few attempts it was obvious that he was only getting more confused so, to coin a phrase, I said, "Follow me". After a six-point turn and nearly getting stuck on the banking he and his companions followed me to the town.

When we reached the distillery car-park, I pointed to the whiskey factory, he gave me the thumb's up and we waved each other good-bye.

Freedom of Information Disclosures not Fully Redacted

Back in September 2008 I blogged a story about Government officials' inability to properly redact personal details from documents that are released following Freedom of Information requests.

For example, the Department of Culture Media and Sport placed online some documents it had released that related to the Giants Causeway World Heritage site. DCMS removed the personal information following a request submitted by Jim Allister MEP but the information had by that time found its way into Google cache. After a follow-up request DCMS arranged with Google for the cached material to be removed from the public domain. That you might imagine should have been the end of the problem. But no.

The DCMS material in PDF format is currently visible in the National Archive's web archives. When you open a document the correspondence appears with the personal details blacked out. However, when you click to view the PDF document as a text file the personal details are there for all to see!!

Update April 20, 2011

It seems the electronic redaction 'disease' has reached epidemic proportions :L

NUCLEAR SUB SECRETS REVEALED BY MOD ‘SCHOOLBOY ERROR’

How NOT to redact a PDF - Nuclear submarine secrets spilled

NALIL Blogger on Route 66

I've just passed another milestone - my 65th birthday!! I thought I'd try out one of my new found freedoms/privileges this morning - pensioners rates. The admission charge to one of our local attractions is adults £2, pensioners £1. So I put my £1 coin on the counter and proudly boasted that I had just become a pensioner - well, officially anyway. She reached the coin back and said, "Here's your birthday present!!". Isn't that nice?

Two days ago I got a call from Agnes, one of the local members of NALIL - see banner above. Could we meet to celebrate my special event? I got a real surprise when I arrived at her home this morning. Agnes had contacted other members of the group in secret and, when I opened the box, inside were cards from members in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as from here in North Antrim. I was gobsmacked. I'm often at risk of having my gob smacked but that's another story! Many thanks to one and all.

Bushmills - Kiss the Causey

New road signs in the Scots tongue are sprouting up in the western end of the Kingdom of Moyle. I notice that some local folks are using Scots words in their online social network messages, probably not knowing the words' origins. It'll probably be awhile before these newly translated names find their way into the satellite navigation systems :)

Dictionary of the Scots Language

Irish dictionary online

The Isle Road runs south from the Whitepark Road to the Islandranny Road, passes close to Islandcorr and Araboy Isle and ends up in the Islands of Carnmoon. This sign is at McKenzie's Cross, at the junction of the Isle and Straid Roads. Inch is Scots for a small island. The Irish form is Bóthar an Oileáin.

The Feigh Road runs north from Dunseverick School on the Whitepark Road to the Causeway Road. I've not heard this road called Plantin Road. The A2 running north out of Bushmills - up the Plantin Brae - passes through 'the Plantin', a plantation of trees on the Dundarave Estate. The Irish form is Bóthar na Faiche (faiche = lawn, green)

The Causeway Road runs from the Smuggler's Inn on the Whitepark Road round by the Giant's Causeway, Dunseverick Castle and back on to the Whitepark Road. Causey is Scots for a causeway. The Irish form is Bóthar an Chlocháin.

to kiss the causey, to 'come a cropper', to meet defeat

causey clash, --- tales, street talk; gossip

cawsey dancer, 'a gadabout, one who is continually in the street'

Runkerry Road loops off the Causeway Road by the miniature railway station. Swelch is Scots for a whirlpool and Heidlan for a headland or point. The Irish form is Bóthar Rinn Chaorach (Rinn Chaorach (?), 'headland of sheep')

Castlenagree Road runs north from Twaddle's Cross on the Straid Road up the east side of the Dundarave Estate to the Whitepark Road at Ballyallaght. The Irish form is Bóthar Chaiseal na Graí (Caiseal na Graí, 'the stone-fort of the horse stud') Cuddy is Scots for donkey, ass or, occasionally, a small horse.

"Ye're a bonnie pair," as the cuddie said when it saw its lugs in the mill-dam.

A cuddy's gallop's sune done.

Clogher Road runs east from the Castlenagree Road across the Straid Road and on to the Isle Road. Stany is Scots for stony. The Irish form is Bóthar an Chlochair (Clochar, 'stony ground, stone building, convent' or Cloch Óir, 'stone of gold')