The Officially Original Loch Ness Monster Blog
– insights from Mikko, probably the world's leading cryptozoologist and Nessie expert
by Mikko on Thu 25 Mar 2010 19:07 GMT
Loch Ness has been thrown into chaos as unions have called all out UK rail strikes from 6th April. If you are travelling around this time then be sure and check what’s happening or your trip might become monstrous.
Nessie is furious that people may not be able to travel to visit and researchers based in the area are also fuming at the disruption that will be caused to their various Loch Ness projects.
Loch Ness and the Highlands have been dealt a body blow as Flybe announced that it will axe the critical Inverness – Edinburgh air route at the end of this week. That’s right, if you want to visit Loch Ness or look for the monster or enjoy the beautiful Highlands you can only get from Edinburgh by a three and a half hour bus ride on the dangerously potholed A9 or on a very expensive and slow train.
This is yet another disaster and we demand something is done about it.
by Mikko on Mon 22 Mar 2010 10:26 GMT
Applications for planning consent have plunged 24% between 2007 and 2009 with Aberdeen down by 28%. This all shows that the economy is still locked in a desperate recession with no light showing at the end of the tunnel. The green shoots – if there were any – have been killed off by the worst winter in 30 years and, greedy Highland Councillors aside, everyone is suffering.
Visit Scotland of course is in its home country of cloud cuckoo land – where everything is always better than last year and everybody has rose tinted spectacles.It looks ever more silly as an organisation and should be scrapped.
The Inverness Courier asked its readers “Does Inverness deserve its nomination as an architectural “carbuncle”? and so far 69% have voted yes! This comes after millions have been wasted on a scheme called Inverness Streetscape and must call into question the whole mechanism whereby decisions about the once beautiful old city are made.
Put in a nutshell, the streetscape scheme is a disgraceful flop that is now hated by many and £1 million over budget and its not even finished. In fact, thousands of £s more were also wasted on “street art” whereby graffiti artists were invited to spray rubbish of any kind onto the walls of vacant retail units. Some was vandalised or even used as open toilets by people leaving pubs and clubs.
Apart from voting themselves ever bigger living allowances and magnificent – and free – three course lunches (available to councillors everyday) the people elected to look after this area really don’t seem to know or care what goes on.
by Mikko on Thu 18 Mar 2010 11:19 GMT
Now there is another plan for a new loch side complex mooted by a local exhibition centre but it appears to be a spoiler for the much needed and sensibly planned Jacobite Cruises development at Brackla and one must hope that it is quietly forgotten as an early, if tasteless, April Fools joke.
However, were it ever to be presented as an actual plan, which seems very doubtful, this scheme will be met with the most unyielding and rigorous national and international opposition campaign possible; every element of it will be subjected to public scrutiny and painstaking analysis to ensure that the more important interests of the very sensitive landscape and the community as a whole are protected along with those of hard pressed smaller businesses.
Obviously the track record of the applicant must also be carefully scrutinised. This scheme is in an inappropriate area for commercial exploitation by any sort of “tartan tat” or “fluffy Nessie” emporium and yet it is proposed by a company that seems to exist by catering to exactly that market. The Loch Ness Exhibition would appear to lack any track record for what Mr Bremner calls “safe and appropriate” development which is “entirely appropriate to the location.” One only has to look at the huge heaps of “tartan tat” and “fluffy Nessies” that confront customers at Mr Bremner’s existing exhibition and the onsite architectural monstrosity, the Drumnadrochit Hotel, to see that such an aberration cannot be allowed to be developed on the shores of the loch. Even for those who like such things, the market is already more than over supplied.
This scheme, were it to go ahead, would also put an end to any hope the Loch Ness area has of becoming a UN World Heritage Site – a designation which would help to safeguard the fragility of the unique environment (something we all know that we must carefully consider these days) and the interests of the local community as a whole.
As to the number of “jobs” created, we have seen ludicrous numbers put to these kinds of schemes before. Because we are now much better informed through long experience of past schemes (and also have to hand the history of such claims as well as access to things like Investor in People statistics etc.), it will be easy to turn the microscope onto the substance behind any details which are presented along with every other element of this particular scheme.
Unfortunately, left unbridled, there are some developers who would happily see power boat water skiing brought to Loch Ness, which is why inappropriate development or commercial exploitation of any sort must be blocked at every turn and we shall play our part to the best of our ability to protect this beautiful place.
We will keep you updated…
by Mikko on Sun 14 Mar 2010 20:02 GMT
Nessie poses a continuing problem for science. In cryptozoology she is referred to as a cryptid; a creature that is thought to exist but which has not so far been proven beyond reasonable doubt. Certainly, it’s not possible to state that the Loch Ness Monster is in fact a plesiosaur or a seal, salmon, eel or sturgeon but the abundance of eye witness evidence must lead to the conclusion that something is in the water and we just haven’t found it yet.
Bearing in mind that Loch Ness contains more fresh water than all of the lakes in England and Wales put together and is so deep that it would comfortably drown London’s Telecom Tower (formerly the Post Office Tower) then you can picture why we are finding it so hard to get conclusive proof. But the search continues and the truth is out there!
by Mikko on Sun 14 Mar 2010 10:28 GMT
A key viewing point on the A82 by Loch Ness has been closed off by Scotland Transerv (the guys and gals who sometimes slap the odd blob of Tarmac on our battered and bruised highways). The lay-by is sinking into the loch and its retaining wall is also badly damaged. A Highland MSP (member of the Scottish Parliament) has called for it to be fixed in time for the tourist season so that Loch Ness Monster hunters can use it to spot Nessie. But, frankly, the entire A82 road between Inverness and Drumnadrochit is in a dangerous state with terrible deep potholes and these should be fixed first.
Don’t worry if you are visiting the area; Loch Ness has lots of other lay-bys on both the north and south sides and you can also spot her from your home via our Loch Ness Live Cams
Moe on this story in The Inverness Courier
Yes, as Scotland drew against England 15-15 in the rugby at Murrayfield and Nessie the Loch Ness Monster stayed submerged due to light rain showers in the Scottish Highlands, Hadrian’s Wall was lit by hundreds of flaming torches carried by volunteers.
Official history says this landmark, visible from space, was built by the English to keep out the barbarians from Scotland but we believe it was actually the other way round.
Read more and see it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8565759.stm