Au Revoir Scotland

....it's been Grrrrrrreat!!

( this is half of a dog pic on the " Brew Dog" pub in Cowgate, Edinburgh.)

On the walk to the train station to catch the Peterborough Train ( the Hogwart's Express) ,I took shots of a few things I'd walks past several times and had been meaning to capture. Like this blackboard sign, close to the other Cafe where J.K.Rowling DID write.

And this random cow, in the the window of a Lawyer's office. (?!)

A blend of old and new architecture.

 

An advertising sign on a bike. Ads that can be wheeled in and out are acceptable where fixed ads are not. It' such a relief driving through the countryside and in to towns without the visual assault of billboards. And yet commerce goes on just the same.

I"m actually in England now, near Peterborough, where I am housesitting for a month. However, I have another post or two of Scotland pics. I didn't climb up Arthur's Seat for nothing!!!

 

The City of Literature

Edinburgh Library. The domed ceiling on the top floor, the Reference Library, where you sit at wooden desks and are very Very quiet.

Me, being very very Quiet!

You can read Tin Tin in Scots

Or make a sculpture from a book, if you are very clever.

Words are Powerful things. These are some words from the wall in the Scottish Parliament.

 

 

A Teacup at the Palace, and a Cup of tea at Starbucks.

Culture and Education today. Such hard work. First I walked to the new Scottish Parliament Building. Some criticise it for its modernity, but I liked it for its light interior, for being to see out to the park and hill ( Arthur's Seat) from the Chamber, and its use of motifs in the design and fittings, like the wooden "reeds" covering the concrete outside, and the carpet printed ( yes, not woven) with colours of the hillsides.

As with many modern Paraliamentry Sessions, they are telecast. Each SMP has 3 cameras trained on them. ( in case we get bored with one angle?

Then off to the Palace, for tea with the Queen. She wasn't in residence, so I settled for a tour of the Toyal Chambers to see where Mary Queen of Scots used to hang out, and where her associate was dragged out of her breakfast room and stabbed. 56 times. Were they inefficient, or maybe they thought if they all had a go, it would diffuse their culpability? Palaces are musty. It's all those ancient tapestries and bed hangings. When did they last pop them in the wash, I ask you!

 

Robert Burns RedHead . I'm not sure why this got to be in the Parliament Building, but both the red and and black versions are made completely of matches.

No photos allowed in the Palace. Or at the Exhibition of Fashion in Art of the Stuart Dynasty. So I took a photo of this £55 teacup in the gift shop, before collapsing into the nearest Tea Shop ( which happened to be Starbucks.....not my usual choice, but free Wifi and a merciful break from "Tartin Tatt" of which there is a depressing amount down the Royal Mile. And their Mint tea was excellent.

 

 

How to Spend a Lazy Sunday in Auld Reekie

 

Check out the fresh food market a few metres from your door, and buy fresh raspberries, cauliflower and local smoked salmon.

Catch a bus to the Botanic Gardens. Compare it unfavorably with King's Park, but enjoy it anyway.

The East Gate

Now that's what I call a HEDGE. ( Beech)

The Palm Conservatory was closed for repair.

Walked home via Scotland Street.

The New Town is OK I suppose, if you have access to

THE PRIVATE GARDEN

Back along the Grassmarket the bikers were touting for business. This one had just persuaded three hefty guys into his rickshaw.

Others prefer a Taxi.

Then home to a cleaned apartment, with fresh sheets, ( Saturdays) from my landlord who spent 20 years in IT working for Hewlett Packhard, but decided he'd rather go into holiday lets, which makes him less income, but frees him from the computer screen. He told me about the beloved dog he and his actress partner rescued from Morroco, and how he hates the way donkeys are beaten there. He said that in the UK, there is evidence of workers in abattoirs goading and torturing beasts, and of a move to introduce CCTV with the hope of preventing this. He still eats meat though.

Good-night!

 

 

The Only Coo at the Show.

I was duped!!! No cows, only sheep. So many sheep. More sheep than you knew existed.

Sheep with many big horns.

Ewe've gotta look ya best for the show...a little paint is good for the horns!

 

 

Sheep. Many sorts of sheep.

Sheep. There's not a lot to say about sheep.

Sheep.

The end

 

People take their dogs everywhere, including The Royal Highland Show

 

 

Even ones too old to walk around.

 

They don't all have leads. Because they are well-behaved.

I missed these musos perform, but caught them petting a dog.

More Show tomorrow.

 

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I went for a stroll to the Museum. On the way I saw:

A busker,

At the Museum I found a Meissen lion, all that it was cracked up to be.

Tim would have been pleased to see a nice piece of orbital granite from near Mt Magnet, WA. It's the only place it's found.

 

What's that cheeky goat doing, on top of the Rennie McIntosh bookcase?!

And how did a Boxing Kagaroo made by a Swedish Sculpture find its way into a Scottish Museum?

I walked home a different way. It was too light and lovely to go inside, so I sat on a bench in the park and read for a bit. The view from my bench was a little distracting though.

So I walked home, around the other side of the Castle.

And went home to cook rissoles.:)

 

 

My New Favourite Place : North Berwick

Yesterday was just too sunny and beautiful to waste in the city. A trip to the Seaside was required. 35 mins on the train, through green fields. It's on the Firth, so the waves aren't big.

 

The front houses have steps that go RIGHT DOWN TO THE SAND! I could see into a lovely lounge lined with bookcases.

Others had gardening with a sea view!

An elegantly clad lass walking home from work along the sands.

It was getting a little warm for some....

There's boat trips to visit the Puffins and Seals, and a Seabird Research Centre. Or you can buy binoculars and observe them from afar.

There was a sea bathing pool.

And a cafe with a deck.

A harbour for boats...

And further along, the inevitable Golf Links with a view of the sea.

And just a street back from the beach, nice shops where I bought cropped black linen trousers for my new sophisticated Edinburgh life. Last night I went to a talk at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on Walter Scott, Literature and. Brain Science. Over a glass on wine afterwards, I spoke with a University Fellow whose Anthropologist husband is going to Perth (WA) next summer to study the cultural patterns of the Papua Nuiguinean diaspora. I was reminded of Isabelle ( the Philosopher in McCall-Smith's Sunday Philosopy Club novels, going off to study Pirates in the Far East, who turn out to be pirating music CDs).

Ahhhhh, a picture says a thousand words. Which is why no one has to read Walter Scott anymore.