Great Chieftain....

I noticed when going round Morrison's in Dunoon today that there was a display cabinet full of various types of haggis with a sign connecting it to the Burns season, about to get into full flow.

But this picture I think marks a new development.  For as I walked out of the supermarket there on the main wall by the car park was a poster encouraging shoppers to  celebrate the bard with the concept of Burns and the annual suppers being marketed like any other event for which people would want to buy and prepare a special meal. 

As it happens tomorrow I am delivering a paper at a conference in the Burns Centre in Alloway  about the two bards - Burns and Shakespeare - and one of the issues I am addressing is the different ways in which the two writers are celebrated.  This is therefore grist to my mill.