Burns Night, at La Rectoria de Sant Miquel

We spent Burns Night at La Rectoria de Sant Miquel de Pineda, in the green hills of La Garrotxa. Roy Lawson and Goretti were great hosts, cooking a splendid supper including flown-in haggis and thermonuclear Clootie Dumpin'. Francesc Punsola played the bagpipes, and Roy and I read Burns' poems to a bemused audience of Catalans and lovers of Scotland.

Being abroad makes the Scot more Scottish. That could make us romantics, but Robbie Burns reminds us what it meant in the 18th century; hard work, deprivation and a society that left most with little.