DORIC COLUMN ROBBIE SHEPHERD

To contact Robbie, email yourlife@ajl.co.uk and mark your message FAO Robbie Shepherd

‘Tis the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la la la la la! Fast away the old year passes Fa la la la la la la la la! DECK THE HALLS – CHRISTMAS CAROL

Weel ye can fa-la-la as lang’s ye like bit, some like es time last eer, ere’s nae muckle chunce on gettin jolly ower a drammie or twa wi ony big bourach o freens, faimilies or neebors thanks tae the ivver-increasin varieties o the dreedit virus. It’s a case o coontin wir blessins, safe an cosy in wir ain hooses an aye able tae keep in towe bi phone or ance facetime wi wir nearest an dearest. Bit es stop/start advice comin fae oor political billies is daein nae favours tae business an ye div feel sorry for them in the hospitality trade left wi teem tables due tae last-meenit cancellations an a despairin ‘fit neist?’

At’s jist bit ae example an at the eyn o the day we’ll aa hae tae pey for’t. Meantime we hae bairnies depriv’t the excitement o performin a wee nativity play in front o their dotin mums an dads an conversely fowk are thinkin sair afore takkin their kids tae the panto. Maist worryin, on the horizin ere’s the loomin cloods o mental health an poverty.

Myn ye, we’re nae short o virtual performances ivnoo, thinkin on the laird o No 10, him wi hair on’s heid like a half-bun shaif, surely ready made for the front line o ony panto an Princess Nicola, a sleepin beauty wi only ae thing eemist in her myn fin she waakins – independence.

Ach, naething dauntit, lat’s fa-la-la raither as ‘fast away the old year passes’. Here I gie gratefi’ thanks tae aa for yer great response tae ma antrin Wirds for the Wikkeyn es passin eer. Teen throwe han includit the ‘links o the crook’ at micht o hinner’t Sunty gettin doon the lum, syne there wis the hame-made sweetie ca’d ‘plunkie’, ‘paidlin puils an bandies’, ‘murly tuck’, ‘hangman’s cheese’, ‘caffies cheese’ at ye micht fin in the ‘aumry’ an the een at hid ye bumbazed, ‘hurkledurkle’, sent in fae an exile in America. It’s an aal Scottish wird an means tae lie in bed efter it’s time tae get up an get goin. I weel unnerstan the feelin an micht be sair temptit as we get hemm’t in wi the threet o Omicron ower the festive season.

Noo gin ye be twiddlin yer thooms here’s anither twa wirds for ye tae mull ower, teen fae the gran new beuk, ‘Doric Nursery Rhymes For Loons & Quines’ translatit bi Gordon Hay intae Doric. A line in een o the rhymes reads

‘E fulpie leuch tae see sic splore’.

Fit is a fulpie an fit aboot splore? Mair than at, fit’s the name o at nursery rhyme translatit bi Gordon? A copy o the beuk tae the first oot o the bag is the prize. It’ll mak a fine belatit pressie tae be gien tae ony bairnie within yer faimily or circle o freens. Ach fin ye’re at it, fit aboot tellin’s o a treasur’t memory o Christmas as a bairn – a toy, a pairty or fativver.

Email address at the heid o the column as usual or write tae me at Your life, P&J, 1 Marischal Square, Broad Street, Aberdeen AB10 1BL.

Wi the column awa I think I’ll hae a hurkle-durkle the morn.

See ye neist wikkeyn.