ABOUT
The Man Behind the Madness
Alright, ya nosey bastard!
So you’ve found your way to the About Me page. Either you’re genuinely interested in who’s behind this collection of Scottish nonsense, or you’ve clicked the wrong bloody button.
Either way, welcome!
My name’s Paul. I’m 42, born and bred in Scotland, and I’ve got a wife and two wee girls who keep me on my toes.
I’m a Scottish dad who grew up through the 80s and 90s, back when the internet wasn’t in everyone’s pocket, your pals actually chapped your door, and Saturday mornings meant cartoons rather than scrolling through endless shite on a phone.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the old days. The music, the films, the games, the daft things we used to do as weans. Maybe I’m just getting old, but sometimes I reckon we had it pretty bloody good.
Anyway, this is my wee corner of the internet.
Pull up a chair. Get the kettle on.
Why I Write
I’ve always had a head full of memories, opinions and random thoughts.
Some are about growing up in Scotland. Others are about places I’ve visited, things I’ve eaten, hills I’ve climbed or whatever happens to annoy me that particular day.
I’ve climbed Ben Nevis, spent years reminiscing about the 80s and 90s, and developed a probably unhealthy appreciation for a decent roll and square sausage.
And sometimes I just fancy having a good old rant.
I’m not trying to be a journalist, an influencer or some kind of internet personality.
I’m just a Scottish bloke writing things down before I forget them.
There’s also plenty about the modern world that gets right on my tits. The constant surveillance, the endless political nonsense, the way everything seems to be turning into a subscription, and how much of the internet has become one massive advertising platform.
I miss when things felt a wee bit simpler.
Doesn’t mean the old days were perfect. Far from it.
But there’s nothing wrong with looking back and having a laugh.
How RuggedScot Came to Be
RuggedScot started as somewhere to document my travels, memories, recipes and whatever other shite happened to be rattling about in my head.
It’s still early days. I’ve only got about eight bloody articles, and I’ve probably spent more time messing about with the website than actually writing anything for it.
Typical, really.
I’ve changed the design more times than I care to admit, moved things around, broken things, fixed them, then broken them again because I decided a border was two pixels too thick.
The latest version takes inspiration from the old internet.
Remember when personal websites had colourful buttons, guestbooks, daft graphics and a bit of personality?
That’s what I’m trying to bring back.
Something colourful, a wee bit rough around the edges, and something that looks like an actual human being made it.
There’s not a mountain of content here yet, but I’m getting there.
Assuming I can stop fucking about with the design long enough to write another article.
The Geeky Stuff
For anyone interested in what’s running behind the scenes, RuggedScot is built with Astro.
The articles are written in Markdown, which means I can just open a file, type away and publish without messing about with some enormous content management system.
The site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages.
I previously ran it on my own VPS, but decided to move away from that setup. Not because I’m a cheap bastard. Well, not entirely.
It just made sense to keep things simple.
No need to maintain an entire server just to tell folk how much I love Irn-Bru or reminisce about Blockbuster Video.
The website is mostly static, quick to load and doesn’t need a mountain of complicated software running in the background.
And most importantly, it’s still my own wee space on the internet.
Why Bother Blogging in 2026?
Good question.
Apparently, blogging is dead.
Everybody’s making TikToks, filming themselves eating their dinner, or asking AI to write 500 articles about subjects they’ve never actually experienced.
Meanwhile, here’s me sitting typing away about square sausage and childhood memories.
Living the dream.
But that’s the thing. I don’t write because I’m chasing followers or trying to become the next big thing.
I write because I enjoy it.
I’ve got decades of memories rattling about in my head. Growing up in Scotland, family life, old technology, daft adventures, climbing hills and all the other wee experiences that make up a lifetime.
If I don’t write some of them down, they’ll eventually disappear.
And I don’t really want that.
This website is my digital brain dump. Somewhere to keep those stories alive, have the occasional rant and hopefully give somebody else a wee laugh along the way.
If ten people read it, brilliant.
If nobody reads it, well, at least I’ve got somewhere to talk absolute shite.
Anyway, Enough About Me
That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know.
Have a wander around the site, read a few articles, maybe leave something in the guestbook if you fancy it.
And if you’ve got memories of growing up in Scotland during the 80s and 90s, chances are we’ll have a few things in common.
Thanks for stopping by my wee corner of the internet.
Stay rugged, ya beautiful cunts!