There’s nothing new about a booze cruise to Berwick: pirates frequented the waters during the 14th Century, seizing ships full of wine bound for England and landing it in Scotland instead…

Scottish people are getting older.

Okay, that sounds a bit obvious doesn’t it – none of us is getting any younger – the point is that the average age of the Scottish population is increasing. But don’t worry, we have a plan…

The first prize in Nottingham University Horseracing Society’s 1989 fundraising draw was a copy of Timeform’s “Chasers & Hurdlers Annual”, plus their accompanying list of “50 Horses to Follow”.

While both books are sat on my shelf right now, I didn’t actually win the draw. I gained them, instead, in exchange for a couple of pints of Newcastle Brown Ale…

There’s a danger, in posting regular stories about the Scottish Borders to this blog-spot, that it could come across as being a bit parochial – that events only appear to matter if they take place within a few miles of Kelso.

So it was reassuring to discover, this week, that the rest of the World’s media is talking about Kelso too…

There is a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. There’s also a season to excavate massive holes in the ground (and hope that there aren’t too many stones at all) – which tends to be what we call “Summer” at Kelso Racecourse…

If I could do any job in the World, I’d want to manage a racecourse. And if I could manage any racecourse in the World, I’d choose somewhere that’s set within a verdant landscape, with undulating hills, and not too many houses to spoil the view.

A weed, so the saying goes, is simply a plant that’s growing in the wrong place.

Which is why it’s okay to admire the thistle, the national emblem of Scotland, while insisting that we don’t allow it to take root on the racetrack…

Even the non-racegoers that read this blog (and there seem to be quite a few of them, probably on account of the complete absence of genuinely enlightened racing content) will have heard of Desert Orchid – most likely as one third of a triumvirate of equine stars, alongside Red Rum and Shergar…

If horse drawn, twin-axled, vintage muck spreading machines are your type of thing, there’s really only one place to be this weekend…

Examine the floor of any visiting horsebox to Kelso races, and likely as not, you’ll find it’s strewn with empty blue Golden Wonder crisp packets (or green Cheese & Onion ones if the stable staff are lacking in the requisite taste).

Yet another reason, if more were needed, to visit the racecourses of Scotland…