No Scotsman I, but I am familiar with the traditions of a Burns Nicht supper and indeed have in the past fallen foul of them. My wife delights in the story of my trying in vain to insert the key to our then London house and complaining bitterly that it did not fit, only to discover that the whisky had blurred my vision to such an extent that I was several doors off beam!
Back to today and I was inspired to think about Burns by an aside from my new colleague John Lapraik. I learned that in the dim and distant past (the 18th century) there was a Scottish poet bearing John’s name who was a friend of Burns’ and who just happens to be John’s something times great grandfather.
However delightful it was to live in Ayrshire and rub shoulders with the rather better known Mr Burns it seems that Lapraik’s books and poems have all but disappeared. I cannot judge whether this is a loss to Scottish literature but no such scruples deterred one James Maxwell. A contemporary of both Burns and Lapraik, and one who did not approve of the latter’s writings, he was moved to comment on their disappearance as follows:
For some devoted theirs unto the flame;
Bumfodder also others made of them.
Some turn’d to dung, and others they were burn’d,
And so to dirt and ashes all were turn’d.
Sounds a bit harsh to me! Obviously no wee tim’rous beastie he.
[You’ll find more on John Lapraik the elder here: www.lapraik.com]
Whatever your predilections in the poetry department, it will come as music to many ears that Millnet has been certified under ISO 27001 International Standard for Information Security Management Systems. This has become essential in respect of many of the services we provide to law firms and other clients and we are delighted.
And so time moves on! Millnet is off to New York (fast becoming a very important place for our business) at the end of next week to attend LegalTech 2012 and to see clients and colleagues “over there.”
I doubt whether New Yorkers celebrate Burns night as much as they go to town on their Irish connection in March but I anticipate a fair amount of eating and drinking in a busy schedule over six days. If I am not to miss them, I had better get the haggis, neeps and tatties on board before I go.
[Editor’s note. Not so fast with the haggis exports Charles. Imported haggis was banned by the United States because its food standards agency has a prohibition on sheep’s lungs in their food products. Traditional Scottish haggis is made with sheep’s heart, liver and lungs and in addition to the sheep lung ban, the US also prohibited the use of offal from the United Kingdom since the BSE outbreak in 1989. Unlike us Brits (this one anyway) Americans don’t seem that fond of offal on taste grounds alone, even without the FDA’s strictures. It seems that with food regulations, as in the sphere of data privacy, there are notable differences in the rules between the EU and the US.]