Tartan Day

T A R T A N D A Y 1993
___________________________

A P R I L 6th



Today, 6th April is the official celebration of Tartan Day in Nova Scotia and
inseveral other Canadian Provinces, in honour of the trials and tribulations of
the Scots through the ages.


In 1320 the Abbot of Arbroath wrote a reply to a Papal Bull excommunicating the
King of the Scots - Robert Bruce. This "Declaration of Arbroath" is often held
up as the Scottish Declaration of Independence.

In the early 19th century, land-improvers, recent converts to the new paradigms
of economic development and efficient management (the TQM of the day) cleared
many small tenant farmers from the Highlands of Scotland in order to make room
for herds of the Great Cheviot Sheep, which required few men to care for it and
brought wealth to the landowners. Particularly swift and heartless evictions
were perpetrated in the Strathnaver district of the Sutherland estates. To make
sure that the evictions were effective, the roof-trees of the houses were
burned (in a land where timber was hard to get).

On April 6th, 1992, when the Nova Scotia Government had failed to get its
financial house in order through various schemes for early retirement and
other voluntary reductions in its permanent payroll, a number of unheralded
ejections of long-serving staff took place. During the 15-minute firing
procedure, the computer links were shut off so that files became inaccessible.




I am a McKay, (born in Scotland, and accustomed to the freedom of expression
with which that land still breathes in memory of Arbroath) of Strathnaver
ancestry, and well versed in my family's verbal history of times in the early
19th century. To this verbal tradition of the Scottish Highland clearances of
that period, I must now add, and pass on through my children to future
generations, the details of the Nova Scotia clearances of 1992.





I should add that I think that I have, after a year, survived these clearances
rather better than have most. But then most of the McKays survived in the
Strathnaver clearances too. I now do consulting in marine geophysics, in
partnership with my wife, under the name - HAGGIS GEOPHYSICS -. Many of the
files I lost, I have been able to retrieve thanks to kind friends at the
Geological Survey of Japan, where I was seconded for a year in 1990 - 91. We
are designing multichannel deep-tow equipment for seabed sediment
investigation.We are also becoming founding members of a consortium for
promoting the use of
high-performance computing in Atlantic Canada.

WE ALSO MAKE EXCELLENT HAGGIS>


Our haggis has been relished in hotels, messrooms and
discerning households throughout Atlantic Canada, from
Yarmouth, N.S. to Goose Bay, Labrador, More recently
its fame has spread to the Eastern cities of Tsukuba
and Tokyo. It has received acclaim from Lieutenant
Governors, members of the European Nobility, gentlemen
of Japan, representatives of the military, legal and
medical professions and from distinguished clerics, as
well as sundry cabinet ministers of the provincial and
federal governments. Of somewhat greater consequence is
that it has found favour with wholly undiplomatic small
children.


Haggis is available for collection at a cost of $6.00 per 500gm.
(or the equivalent in beaver
pelts)
In greater quantity, we can offer price reductions, and can arrange shipping.

Haggis, when frozen will keep for at least 3 months, and travels well.


32-channel 16 to 18 bit 120dB deep-tow seismic eels will be available with
customised features to your needs at costs around $150,000.

Unfortunately we do not supply jellied eels.






You must have found this communication somewhat unusual.
It is all true, and any flippancy you detect is intended to entertain and not
to mislead.



I would be glad to know from any historians among you if any other official
celebration has ever been so effectively promulgated in commemoration of an
atrocity (even if a mild one by the standards of the world today) perpetrated
by the promulgators.



Celebrate, and have a wee deoch an dorus for me and for TARTAN DAY.




Sincerely,



Alasdair McKay

Haggis Geophysics, 35, Edward Street, DARTMOUTH, N.S. B2Y 2P6 Canada.

tel (902) 463 7606 (usually operates as a fax between 1600 and 1900 Greenwich)

E_mail (Internet) : mckay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




Remember _ Scots never allow nickers on __
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