Monday was Monifieth, and Monifieth meant that after work I was able to have dinner with More About the Song Rachel, now of Slow Lane Shuffle, here: http://slowlaneshuffle.blogspot.com/ Dinner and company both very good.
I then spent the night in Dundee. The fourth largest city in Scotland, Dundee's growth and prosperity in the 19th Century was based, famously, on Jute, Jam and Journalism. A significant whaling industry was also based in Dundee, largely existing to supply the jute mills with whale oil.I like Dundee, it is one of those post-industrial cities that hasn't yet got the resources to obliterate the not-so-tourist-friendly aspects of its heritage.
Dundee also has Discovery Point, where a purpose-built dock houses the RSS Discovery. There is a super-duper museum detailing the three main Antarctic expeditions the ship was used for, as well as Scott's subsequent Terra Nova expedition and Shackleton's Endurance expedition.
It is rather wonderful on board the ship - in the Wardroom all the officers' cabins have the names of their occupants painted outside. My heart, of course, belongs to Shackleton.
RSS Discovery was one of the last 3-masted wooden ships to be built in Britain. Though based on the template of the great Dundee whalers, it was designed specifically for Antarctic research. The cost, with engines and all the scientific specifications? In today's money (don't you love that phrase), just over £4 million. Here's to greenheart wood.
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