Was misty and rainy all day in the Rhineland
Have you ever thought, “There must be a reason for it!” when no reason seems to exist? It’s called Apophenia, coined by the German neurologist Klaus Conrad. While I had made plans to visit Belgium and Greece before I left for Germany, the idea of visiting Scotland was last minute. The first thing we did when Shey and John picked me up from the hotel on Wednesday morning was to take Shey’s computer to a computer repairman. Shey explained the problem to the repairman, but the fact that her computer was ancient, around the same age as Dundee in cyber years, the only response the repairman had was that she needed to buy a new computer.
The problem sounded more like an issue with the monitor than the computer. After we got back home, we checked out the computer, did some troubleshooting, and the issue was indeed the monitor. Shey and I got the problem solved. Voilà! No need for Shey to buy a new computer. In an apopheniatic moment, I told Shey I guessed the reason I came to Dundee was to help her figure out her computer problem. Call it guiding spirits, divine intervention, or simply coincidental, helping Shey solve her computer problem was well worth the effort of going to Dundee.
I noticed a dollhouse on the floor in Shey’s cool attic studio, and asked her about it. She opened up the dollhouse and explained that her father made it for her when she was a child. Her father was a very good craftsman, and left her a precious gift and lovely memories from her childhood.
I asked Shey if she wanted to write about her father for this post. It turnes out here father, who she always thought of as simply her father, was a very special man in the lives of many people as Shey explains below:
“It was just wonderful having you visit Timothy. And I was actually really touched by your interest in my dad’s handiwork. Of course when I was wee I never thought Dad was anything other than just my dad, the guy who could fix anything, for anyone . A molder to trade, he had such nimble fingers, I’d actually bring him all the broken toys from the kids round about and ask if he’d mend them. And he did. It was why when I was eight and he offered to make me a dolls house for my birthday –well I had to pick the most complicated plans in the model making shop, a Tudor mansion because of course he could make and mend anything. I didn’t know about his very difficult upbringing, his mother dying when he was four, that his father was the family black sheep of a reasonably well to do family, that Dad left his reserved trade occupation, in order to serve his country in three conflicts in bomb disposal, thought nothing of nearly giving his life to save a North Korean peasant family while fighting for the UN against the North because retreating Northern troops had mined their paddy field–their only source of food, in addition to trying and failing to save the life of a young man whose leg had been blown off in that same conflict. I just knew he was my Dad who could fix anything. And in my mind, he’s still that to me. In a world that wasn’t always kind to him , he was unfailing kind to all of those about him. Thank you Timothy for giving me the chance to talk about him.”
John wrote a play called ‘From Jute to Joysticks’ that includes a song about Shey’s dad disposing of the grenades in the Korean families’ field. Their play was also performed at the Verdant Works. Shey sent me a clipping from an article about the play titled, “Nostalgic play documents the city’s shift from ‘Jute to Joysticks’”:
“As Quinn describes, ‘From Jute to Joysticks’ “is a play about the re-invention of Dundee with its proud history of innovation. To put it another way you might say, ‘Hats aff tae the past. Jaikets aff tae the future!’.”
Songs written for the play include a piece harking back to memories of The Lone Ranger’s visit to Green’s Playhouse in the Nethergate, with another acting as a tribute to Dundee-man John Scofield; the father of Shehanne Moore, the play’s director. The remarkable story of Scofield’s bravery as a bomb disposal expert in the Korean War – winning a medal for risking his life by entering a bomb littered paddy field along with his Australian comrade, to save a North Korean farmer and his family – is documented and celebrated through music in ‘From Jute to Joysticks’.”
A page out of the program for “From Jute to Joysticks”
Atlas: “That is such a touching story, Paparazzo! High paws to Shey and John for sharing the history of Dundee through theater and music, and giving us a glimpse into the life of John Scofield.”
Off Center & Not Even 
An eclectic bog, to be proud of, Tim! Great!
I’ve used apophenia a few times in my blog, because I often get this feeling, mate.
Atlas, my favourite. Cheers.
Thanks, Inchie.
What beautiful post. Shey, thank you for sharing your father with us.
Tim, thank you for sharing so much of this special journey with us, through all the pictures along with your thoughts.
I know your family and Jake and the cats are looking forward to your return. 🙂
Thank YOU Susan, Timothy very generously wanted to do a post about the doll’s house which I told him my dad had made. And well, this is what it became. Something utterly amazing, I can’t thank him enough for actually.
Shey and John are so warm and gracious. They more than thanked me with their hospitality and sharing their love of Dundee with me.
You were so easy to share with. Once someone bestowed themselves and they were sheer torture actually . . . . Such sheer torture we considered running away!
Hahaha!
Beautiful post Tim 🌹✨
He’s more than done my dad proud.
Thanks, Gabriela.
My pleasure 🙏🌹❤️
Timothy, I am speechless. I don’t know how to thank you for this wonderful post. which for me is quite something. You’ve done this, you’ve done my dad more than justice. High paws to you and all the love in the world. I will be sharing this on FB tomorrow if that’s all right and I will be doing a blog about your visit and linking to your posts and also this one, if that is all right with you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you
You thanked me a lifetime over with your hospitality, kindness, wonderful stories, taking time to visit with me, and showing me around Dundee. I was impressed by how much you and John love Dundee and how you express that love through theater, music, and volunteering. Thank you for taking a few days to share your lives with me.
Thank you Timothy, truly. Dundee is a city that had had so many knocks, from the medieval destruction ones, the complete swamping sizewise in the 19th century, to its industrial fall but it is quite a city and very compact in the center. It has risen from its knees so many times. Even when the jute mills shut with the ‘new industries’ already gone or going. We know it has rough edges and yeah a lot of the new jobs are in the hospitality sector. So what? At least there’s jobs. Tourists come from all over. That Slessor Gardens placie in the summer is home to still well known rock bands and singers, Tom Jones was one last year. The place the Lone Ranger once visited had the Kaiser Chiefs a few months back. There’s cities where the main industry…like oil for instance… that have sunk. It was a pleasure to share with you. And spend time.
As industries and technologies boom and go bust, art, music, and theater often endure as the glues that hold places together between the booms and the busts.
I fully agree with the other comments. This is a wonderful and touching post, Tim.
Thanks, Herman. I had such a great time spending time with you and Niki, Marina and Socratis, and Shey and John.
Timothy I also have to say… you stepped in to help me. Okay it wasn’t a mined paddy field but the hing was you kindly offered. And when you did you saw the doll’s house. You were indeed sent for all these reasons and this just goes to prove it.
It was an easy fix, mind you, but you would have been in a cyber-mined paddy of woe and despair had you purchased a new computer and lost all your vintage applications that won’t run on a new computer.
Yeah…lol… vintage is the word, which was why I was kind of after a not so modern one. I was speaking online to a blogger whose PC packed up and her daughter was coming for the weekend to help install the new one. She works for a tech co. It took HER all weekend and they had to get help eventually.
You can run a virtual vintage computer on a new computer using software that creates a virtual machine to run a vintage OS inside a new computer and operating system. The problem is that virtual machines are technical and can be complicated to set up and maintain.
Is certainly sounds it….
A truly wonderful story about a remarkable man AND the amazing doll house he made for his little girl oh so long ago. It is really a work of art! Beautiful……
Pam
Thanks, Pam.
Thank you Pam. He’d made a smaller earlier one for me which he gave to the girls next door when he made this one cos they had nothing.
xxx you, truly. Re Timothy posting all this, and dropping off on his own plans to come here, I also think the words I have always said re my dad are true, ‘Sometimes it is more than being in the right place at the right time,’ it is what you are as a person xx
Oh I totally agree with you………….absolutely!
Wonderful story.
Thanks, Gigi.
I loved Shey’s tribute to the kind of man her dad was. I was very moved by it.
It’s a very moving story. Thanks, Liz.
You’re welcome, Tim.
You know Liz, Timothy asked if I anted to write a few lines about the doll’s house and I didn’t write them. They wrote themselves. And what with the PC sort and this,? Well, it was like he was meant to visit. Down to this post, he emailed to say he was keeping the photos he’d planned on putting it and what he was going to say back.
I had a lot of other photos prepared for the post, but after Shey gave me all the details, only the dollhouse, her father, and the play mattered. The other photos would have been noise and distractions.
Timothy, you are a good guy x
Very nice!
A smashing post about your time spent in Dundee with Shey and John. I can see why Shey’s dad meant so much to her. Not only was it a lovely story, you got her computer working again – so well done to you on both counts.
Thanks, Malcolm. Craftsmanship catches my eye, and I was fascinated by Shey telling about how her father made it for her. She didn’t give all the details about his wartime exploits, but I could tell he was special.
While the problem made the computer unusable, it was not at all obvious what was causing the issue. Luckily, it was an easy fix. That saved Shey from descending into new computer hell and burning with rage at the loss of all her vintage apps, none of which would have worked on a new computer, and all the years of work associated with those apps might have been lost, also.
Also Timothy, there is quite a problem here in this area with internet which doesn’t always help things because machines are using a lot of resources when they operate to keep the signal. It does not matter how many fancy ancy cables that keep getting put in, it is all to do with surroundings. Marconi may have invented the wireless, he fully credited a local man with the work he’d done here because of the way all signals bounce off the Tay,
I notice my phone’s signal varied greatly from one place to the next. It was a good thing I took a screenshot of the QR code for the bus ride, because the signal was not good at the stop, and the email couldn’t load the QR code.
Honestly??? I have said for years you have to experience it here to know what folks mean. My daughter—Max and Riley’s mum–lives not five mins away on foot and cos of the high up land opposite them and behind them she has to go into the garden to get a phone signal. SO if I say this is good to hear, it is only cos folks don’t believe what we say here. The only place I have seen t his bother was when we used to go to Glencoe. The dar partk of the place we stayed was aye full of folks waving their phones about trying to get a signal. They seldom had internet access and also when folks went missing, it was pretty obvious if something had happened to them why it took a year to find their bodies… Just as well you had that pic
Flaky reception is common for hilly places and thick-walled buildings. I learned to take screenshots of flight confirmations and e-tickets after the confirmation email with my flight back to the USA would not load on my phone; therefore, I could not prove to the Zoll officer that I had a ticket home. She finally let me through after giving me a stern, steely-eyed “Dummkopf Amerikaner!” look.
I always have my bank card in my pocket here. Despite the Mr kind of sneer-ying re that fact -cos see phones to me are like Pc’s when it comes to vintage– you have no idea of the times when his own fancy one will no work, he has been quite grateful for the bank car get out.
My phone pay has generally not worked over here, so I have used cards.
Well we are heading off to Arisaig for the weekend and Like that my card will be going along! Horrible situation to be in if a phone does not work.
That’s a way from Dundee. Looks like a lot of great scenery, archaeology, and history in Arisaig.
Well, like you Malc, Timothy is a great blogging friend. So it was wonderful to meet him and of him to take that time. You might say the PC took the right day to break down!
Works both ways Shey and there has to be a stronger word than coincidence for that to happen
True. The world is quite a place that way.
You know Timothy… I hope they bring out such a thing as a vintage PC… END OF. For folks like me.
As I explained, it’s possible with a virtual machine, but technically difficult. As it stands, providing off-the-shelf virtual legacy PCs would not be profitable, and most likely a tech support nightmare.
I know. It all comes down to dosh. John had a lovely email from the boss lady at Verdant Works to ask him to thank you for that wonderful blog you did and also to say that they would like to use bits of it, as in the ink and fully credited images in some of their promotional material.
You can give her my email. If she wants to contact me, I can give her better-quality images than what I post. I also have a lot more images than what I posted, as you know.
If that is okay , I will give it to John to send on. Thank you x
It’s okay.
What a wonderful tribute to your friend’s dad, Tim!
The dollhouse is beautiful and in remarkably good shape after all these years! Amazing!
Such great craftsmanship!
oh it is a good 62 years old!!.
I also have the wooden garage he made for the previous house. It is a good 4 years older and my girls used it for their Sylvanian families.
Shey has taked great care of it. Thanks, Becky.
I did all the inside Elizabethan years ago to amtch all the work Dad did on the outside. I thought I should!
I also meant to say to you re the Tay Whale, the skeleton of which you saw in the museum, … that this is the story of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Whale
That is quite a story. A creature sent by God in a time of need to help the poor fisherman, according to the doggerel poet William McGonagall.
William is our next play…. Well the Mr’s but I am meaning for oir faithful aye onboard whatever the odds and wherever the place group. xxxxx for looking him up, he bottom line with him is… he has stood the test of time…
Love this post, Tim! Yes, it must have been meant to be that you were there to fix Shey’s computer, and what a lovely tribute to her Dad! That dollhouse is something special, so many details, a true gift!
Well I think he was not only right place, right time, Timothy was also willing and prepared to help. I always think that is another dimension.
Thanks, Tiffany. Could be. I read an article saying the universe may not be random at all, and that things happen more purposefully than scientists have been led to believe.
Absolutely. I know they call it karma and you know the funny thing too is if you look again at that page you shared from the Jute 2 Joysticks’ program I had put what is at the top on it at the last before it went to the printers because I also believe that you can have all the ability in he world to sort something right in front of you –right place, right time–but it also takes willingness and kindess.
Amazing post, Tim! YAYAY!!!! One of your best.
SHEY! Wow, your dad is fabulously wonderful. Not just because he can make the best doll house a girl could ever have, because he is a war hero…a human hero… but also because he is half of what made you.
I adore this story about your father.
.. and of course Tim was sent on this trip to fix Shey’s computer issue. I have no doubt. xxxooxoxoxoxo
Thanks, Resa. Shey and John are very special for preserving the life and times of Dundee through their theater and music. I really enjoyed the time we spent together. Time I will cherish forever.
We enjoyed meeting you and all the time spent. Sob. Sob. It is a week ago already…..
Time passes quickly.
Aye… There’s a week gone by already.
Wonderful!
Resa xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Of course Tim was sent to sort the PC and do this blog!!! Lol. We chatted about you , in the best of ways. xxxxxx
Lol… well …XXXXXXXXXXXXX
A touching story!
Thanks, Geoff.
What an amazing post!
Thank you Luisa and for commenting on the Fb link I shared xxxx
You’re more than welcome, as always, my dear Shey 💞
Thanks, Luisa.
You’re more than welcome, Tim 🙏
That is a beautiful dollhouse, and tribute here to Shey’s father. I am glad you were able to help solve her computer issues, too. In your own way, Tim, I think of you as a person who can fix or mend anything, someone who has his own long history of being kind to and helping others.
Aww. Thanks, Lavinia. One of the staff gave me a little plaque for my desk that reads, “Fixer of Everything!”