Legend has it that the Pillars of Hercules are supposed to hold the sky away from the earth. Supposedly so that Atlas could escape damnation. Sadly, today we have to report that if Atlas was here in this part of Scotland he would be very damned. The pillars aren’t working! Storm Babet has come raging in from the North Sea like a woman scorned and the sky seems to have collapsed directly onto the earth. Her rage is affecting the whole of the UK but red, ‘Danger to Life’ notices have been issued. Fortunately we are on the southern fringes of the worst affected areas in Aberdeenshire. Nevertheless, when driving it seems as if Babet is just outside the car chucking buckets of water directly at the windscreen. And we could swear we could hear her laughing hysterically! Our valiant little wipers, however, were struggling to cope.

Surprise

Imagine our surprise then when, through all this biblical rain, we could just about make out a large sign saying “this way to the Pillars of Hercules“. Really? Maybe we could help with some maintenance work?  Care was needed, however, because Plato allegedly said that the island of Atlantis lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules and the pillars bore a warning ne plus ultra “nothing further beyond“. We needn’t have worried, it turned out that the Pillars of Hercules is a 25 acre organic farm. It has a shop selling their produce and a cafe. We were able to park very close to the door and make a dash for the shelter within..

Organic

As well as selling their own stuff the  large shop sells loads of other stuff, all organic or vegan in nature.

What’s in a name?

It’s an unusual place named in honour of keen neo-classicist Onesiphorus Tyndall Bruce who we last came across when we reviewed the Covenanter Hotel in the nearby village of Falkland.  He was the son of slave traders who married into money and ended up owning the whole village in the 1850s. He became keeper of Falkland Palace. Onesiphorus was educated at Eton, where else would he get away with a name like that? We seem to remember him as a bit of a spoiled brat so not sure,150 years later, why he should be commemorated like this! Never mind, the big question was would the cafe have scones?

Fiddly

Yes they did … fruit or cheese! Unfortunately the girl behind the counter may have been called Babet … a face like thunder. She may have just got out of bed on the wrong side but we have seldom experienced such miserable service. Not ‘bad’ service, just miserable. Strange because the service in the shop had been the exact opposite. Never mind, our scone arrived and it was rather good. It had a very crusty crust and the inside was nice and soft with plenty of fruit. The combination of hard crust and soft innards , however, meant it just broke into little bits when we tried to cut it. Picking up the pieces and buttering and jamming them individually was a  bit fiddly. If there had been cream and service with just a vague hint of a smile it might even have made a topscone. But there wasn’t so it didn’t.

Eventually we had to leave our cozy little sanctuary with its wood burning stove and face Babet again. Thankfully it had stopped raining but the wind was still blowing a hoolie. Going over the Queensferry Crossing bridge was interesting, Pat never once looked up from her phone.

Winning?

Labour has won two important by-elections at Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire with a massive swing to them from the Conservatives. They are hailing it as a massive breakthrough destined to send Keir Starmer into Downing Street. Perhaps they should bear in mind, however, that if the ballot paper only had two names on it … ‘Conservative’ or ‘Anyone else’, the Conservatives would still have lost.

According to the forecast the pillars holding the sky up aren’t going to be fixed for another couple of days. We’ll just stay home.