Edinburgh Rambling

 

You see, the thing about Edinburgh is that it's this great little town, country but ritzy with it. And I tell you, more restaurants than you can shake a stick at. But that's as maybe, go exploring and see what the town's really about.

About passages or alleyways, apparently, which they call "closes," and their terminus in "courts."  Now we know and so do you if you go off the beaten path in Edinburgh's Old Town. This, by the way, was a right medieval warren of a place back in the day. 

It's less so now, perhaps on account of Old Town's Quality moving to New Town in the 18th C. This, readers, is perhaps the finest Georgian set of buildings anywhere on the planet and, to be fair, it is beautiful if windswept.

In related news, many witches were burned here and some Scots MP wants them pardoned. A barrister pal questions this, "Should Major Weir be pardoned?" Good question, eh? Well, he's waiting for an answer. In the meanwhile, the venerable if shrinking COE's gone pretty much full gay. 

Good luck with that, 

LSP

I Like The Look Of This Place

 

Yes, Edinburgh's Royal Scots Club, conveniently situated in New Town. It was set up after World War I as a tribute to the 11,162 Royal Scots who were killed in the conflict and flourishes today, retaining close military association.

Whatever, it has a dining room.

Pleasant. Ladies Side?

Behold tartan.

And a Door.

What a great club and you can imagine the scene. High spirits at the bar and next step? Chucked in the Forth or maybe the Leith. Some of you may have enjoyed just that. That in mind, the DLC has recip rights, obviously.

By the Left,

LSP

Edinburgh

  

York's great, no doubt about it, but D and I were on a mission to get to the Athens of the North via Vauxhall Tigra. Would the four wheeled runabout make it up the hills of the scenic route? It did, mercifully, and we stopped at Bremenium, a Roman fort north of Hadrian's Wall. Not much remains today but you can see traces of its walls and triple ditch. It once held a significant force of 1000 men.

Then on to Edinburgh to meet an old friend who, among other things, is President of the fabled Ghost Club. He gave us a great tour of the city, New Town, the Royal Mile and much, much more. Excellent, what a great place until... 

You get to the Scottish Parliament building, which is hideous and cost 400M GBP. They say architecture reflects the soul or spirit of the people who build it; northern parliamentarians, take note.

That aside, I was struck by the place, street after street of Georgian houses in New Town and then the old medieval city by the castle. Beautiful now but it must have been a noisome place in the days before plumbing made its way into the tall tenements and courts, gardyloo.

So go to Edinburgh if you can and enjoy the architecture, history, pubs, restaurants, museums and galleries of the city. It was great to be back after nearly 30 years and great to meet up with our ghostly friend, what a good man.

Was haggis involved? Yes. Were there pipers? Everywhere. Did I wear a kilt? No, I did not. Were there ghosts? Possibly at the Arthur Conan Doyle Center. Next stop? Back south to Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Aberystwyth.

Cheers,

LSP