David M. Addison – författare

Travelling anti-clockwise, David M. Addison seeks his kicks on Scotland’s equivalent of Route 66. Otherwise known as NC500, the route takes you through five hundred miles of some of Scotland’s most spectacular scenery. No wonder it has been voted as one of the world’s five most scenic road journeys.

There are many mays of exploring the NC500. You can drive it, cycle it, motorbike it or even walk it, even if you are not one of The Proclaimers! And there are as many activities, places of interest and sights to be seen along the way as there are miles.  

This is a personal account of the author’s exploration of the NC500 as well as some detours from it, such as to the Black Isle, Strathpeffer and Dingwall. Whatever your reason or reasons for exploring the NC500 may be, you should read this book before you go, or take it with you as a vade mecum. It will enhance your appreciation of the NC500 as you learn about the history behind the turbulent past of the many castles; hear folk tales, myths and legends connected with the area; become acquainted with the ancient peoples who once lived in this timeless landscape, and read about the lives of more recent heroes such as the good Hugh Miller who met a tragic end and villains such as the notorious Duke of Sutherland, who died in his bed (and may not be quite as bad as he is painted). There are a good number of other characters too of whom you may have never heard: some colourful, some eccentric, some very eccentric.

You may not necessarily wish to follow in the author’s footsteps in all that he did, but if you read this book you will certainly see the landscape through more informed eyes as you do whatever you want to do en route NC500.

Sit in your car and enjoy the scenery for its own sake (and remember you get a different perspective from a different direction, so you may want to come back and do it again to get an alternative point of view!), or get out and explore it at closer quarters – the choice is yours, but this book will complement your experience, whatever you decide.

When, in 1978, as a participant in a teacher exchange programme, the author, accompanied by his wife and young family, exchanged his boring existence in Grangemouth in central Scotland for life in Missoula, Montana, in the western United Sates, he could not have foreseen just how much of a life-changing experience it would be not just for him and his family, but for his exchangee as well.

He was prepared for a less formal atmosphere in the classroom, while, for their part, his students had been warned that he would be Mr Strict. It was not long before this clash of cultures reared its ugly head and the author found himself in big trouble. But, as he had found out from the very instant he arrived on the continent, just because we share a common language it doesnt mean Americans do things the same way. And the Montanans, he was to discover, do things more differently still.

There were times, in the beginning, when he wished he had stayed at home in his boring but safe existence in Scotland and there were times when life got more than just a little bit too exciting for comfort. But mainly this is a heart- warming and humorous tale of how this Innocent abroad, confronted with one culture shock after another, overcame his trials and tribulations and thanks to a whole array of colourful and kind people, finally came to realise that this exchange was the best thing he had ever done.

Blundering about Sorrento and its environs in search of culture, the author unwittingly resists his wifes never ending attempts to civilise him. From the heights of Vesuvius, to the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, along the beautiful Amalfi coast and, of course, not forgetting Sorrento itself, the authors propensity to get himself into cringe-making embarrassing situations reaches new heights and plunges even deeper depths as he embarks on the second week of his holiday to Italy, and takes up from where the first book, An Italian Journey, stopped.

Ubiquitous Dutchmen, domineering drivers, pestilential teenage girls, a mafioso maitre d, not to mention a glamorous older woman these are just some of the colourful characters whom the gods send to cross the authors path and severely try his patience, whilst his own bungling incompetencies result in an hilarious narrative as he attempts to extricate himself from yet another fine mess he has got himself into.

With a fine eye for detail and his penchant for the off-beat and the peculiar, the writer describes not only the people and events, but also the places he visits. You may have visited Sorrento before, but youve never seen it quite like this!

Music, music, music. Right from the start of his package holiday to Menorca, music plagues and obsesses the author. But lets face it, as Iona, his long-suffering wife can testify, hes a pretty intolerant sort of a person.

Seen through his eyes, this book provides a sideways look at Menorca, a sort of rough guide to the island, (but not nearly as rough as his next door neighbours in his holiday apartment).

Informative, but at the same time witty and amusing, A Meander in Menorca is an idiosyncratic commentary on this little island from its earliest inhabitants, the ancient Talayotic culture, to the present-day tourists, some of whom have no culture at all.