Last week Colin and I spent a few lovely days where we 'cooried doon' at Ascog House on the Isle of Bute with dear old friends Mark and Helen. Helen originally hails from Edinburgh but has lived in England longer than we have lived in Scotland and we spent some time chatting about 'guid Scots words'. Words like dreich (dull or gloomy), bahookie (backside), fankle (tangle) and so on. Scots is an amazingly descriptive and evocative language, earthy and real, and as the years go by, I appreciate it more and more.

My interest in Scots has deepened of late because here in the Clyde Valley we have a brilliant theatre company whose writer Martin Travers writes original plays in Scots. They are called Braw Clan and you can read about them here. If you want a taste of just how delicious the sound of this language is, coorie doon and listen to Mary Ann's Summer Holiday, a free audio book.

Coorie, is a Scottish word meaning to snuggle. It feels the perfect thing to do at this time of year as the days shorten and the temperatures plummet. This month's book recommendation is full of ways to 'coorie in' but I enjoyed Lesley Riddoch's article in which she digs deeper for the origins of the idea,

"According to playwright David Greig: “The Scottish Art Of Coorie – in so far as such a thing exists – is the creation of working-class women trying to protect their weans from the brutalising effects of poverty.”

...David tweeted a link to Paddy Bell and The Corries singing Coorie Doon or The Miner’s Lullaby. The song is beautiful – the context fairly grim. A mum sings to her bairns about their dad working down the mines with “darkness, dust and damp … so you can coorie doon and dream”."

To coorie in isn't to live a designer lifestyle with cashmere blankets and the latest Caledonian cool accessory but to snuggle down, be with loved ones and count your blessings. Lovely things to do as the dark nights stretch ahead.