Robbie Burns Day

This is a BIG day for all true blooded Scotsmen.

It is Burns Day.

The Scottish bard was born 215 years ago in Ayrshire, Scotland. Of his sheer genius there can be no doubt but, as for its source, he freely admitted it was from God.

"My gift found me as Elijah's robe that smote  Elisha and from thence bade me write poems about my fellow men and my beloved land."

And write he did; on every subject imaginable.

There is a beauty on "The Louse" which he saw crawling on a lady's bonnet in church, and one on the fragile world of the field mouse with the famous quote:

 "The best laid plans of mice and men aft gang awry."

His satire on "Holy Willie" , the assistant minister at his church, is a blistering attack on hypocrisy, whilst "Auld Lang Syne" still draws tears from the eyes of ex Pat Scots at Hogmany.

Then, for those of us who love the verses of the Bible, there is no finer example than his para-phrasing of psalm 90.

My friend Ian Campbell has a saying

"There are only two kinds of people. Those who are Scots  and those who wish they were."

Burns will appeal to both.

Ian