On my way back to Orkney, and I've made time for a dip in Catcleugh Reservoir before stopping over with friends near Jedburgh. The weather has been gloriously warm since my return to the UK, and I have the water all to myself (no, I didn't manage to read the overgrown sign whose contours I failed to fully discern behind some nettles). I would have liked to swim across the Reservoir, but being alone, opted for lengths of the coast. This is the sweetest tasting water I've ever swam in - the people of Newcastle are well served.
Speaking of unreads and unsaids, I'm getting the impression from my own blog that I do nothing but EU-trot & dip. Good, I like this impression, and hope to elevate it to a reality one sunny day. Until then, here's some small scribble-up of what took me to Konstanz, aside from friendship: Diplomacy and the Unsaid.
Back in the water, I'm musing about freedom and prepositions when something nibbles my toes. Time to cross the border - no, not between species, but across the lake vs loch divide. Apparently the only natural body of water called a 'lake' in Scotland is Lake of Menteith, the 'Lake' being a corruption of the Lowland Scots 'Laich', meaning 'low place'. The other 4 lakes are all man-made. 'Cleugh', meanwhile, is Scots for 'ravine' or 'steep fold of land'. I wonder whether 'cliff', 'cleft' and 'cleave' are related? Here's Etymonline on 'cliff': Old English clif "rock promontory, steep slope," From Proto-Germanic *kliban (cf. Old Saxon clif, Old Norse klif, Middle Dutch klippe, Dutch klip, Old High German klep, German Klippe, "cliff, promonoty, steep rock"). Clift, as a variant spelling, was influence by or merger with cleft, so though similar sounding (and meaning), those two are seemingly not related. Must get hold of an Indo-European dictionary.
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