Hogmanay

On his last album John Lennon had a song which included the words:-
"Life is what happens to you when you're making other plans."
Today the plan was simple, first off breakfast, then Tesco for last shop off year, then ash, shave, fall asleep.  Simple and straight forward.
So awakened by a coughing fit before seven am, forced up when half asleep, struggled around to Tesco by 10:30.  The place was busy, many kids wandering around putting things into mums trolley, mum swiftly returning them as she walks.  However as I left the house I noticed one of those Royal Mail 'You were out' type cards scrunched up in the letterbox left from yesterday.  The ratbag!  This meant that after Tesco I had to limp all the way down to the sorting office for this very important and unexpected parcel.

This parcel, unexpected but hoped to be something expensive, turns out to be a picture calendar of 'The Broons' that would not fit through the door.  Thirty five minutes of hobbling, a few minutes with a miserable fat bloke, too fat to deliver mail, and all for this!  Naturally my sister did not mention she was sending this, though she usually does send a calendar, but mention was there none, and I have just finished filling in all the birthdays on the cheap calendar I bought myself.  Bah!
Sadly this interrupted my planned day and now I suppose I will have to sit here and avoid doing the many things I planned.  What were they again...?  Ah, sleep, well maybe I will manage that one...

  Edinburgh Evening News

    
Hogmanay is the Edinburgh word for drunken hedonism.  Not that I would ever had anything to do with that.  In my day it meant gathering at a pub, then near midnight being where the  crowds gather, outside Tron Kirk then.  It appears that these days the Edinburgh toon cooncil wish to make it more appealing to foreigners, foreigners with money, so not only is the Hogmanay celebration packed with fireworks and famous bands the previous evening a torch light parade marches through the toon.  I the late 60's they did not allow us burning brands, the constabulary thought it unwise!  
Anyway, some think the present day show is merely to bring in foreign cash, which it is, and preparations for the event take precedent over everything else.  Even to the extent of cutting down the Christmas tree that stands at the top of the 'Mound' and replacing it with an advert for 'Johnnie Walker whisky.'  The tree ought to stand until the 6th of January but clearly money talks and the tree, with the Christmas spirit, goes with it.  A mistake I feel.
I will loiter in my bed tonight, possibly with John Barleycorn to keep me company, possibly asleep. The hedonistic days are long behind me, although at one shilling and eleven pence a pint (two shillings and  penny on Friday and Saturday nights) there was a lot less hedonism than there is today. 

The year is passing, let us go forwards...

  

Friday, Pay and Railways.

Friday night, rain or not, the citizens of this municipality are running around unconcerned by the Turkish invasion and possible genocide in Kurds land, the Irish discussions re Brexit that so dominate the media, nor indeed the 'TERROR' attack as the 'Daily Mail' put it in Manchester.  This is Friday so it is time to enjoy the end off the week they say.  Who can blame them, possibly those who have to work Saturdays I suppose.  It can be very annoying to see the majority enjoying the 'normal' time off when you are left working.  During pleasantries with the lass in B&M yesterday I mentioned how she would soon be free for home.  Her somewhat disgusted reply informed me she finished at 8 pm!  The poor lass, she still had so many hours of joy ahead of her.
B&M are one of the shops who have a large turnover of staff.  'Basic pay,' very possibly poor management, certainly not much fun with many of the customers, and little sense of 'fun' to be seen from the staff members.  Other shops local to this have similar turnover and I suppose they care not as there is always someone desperate to try a short while working here.  There is not a great deal of choice!
Sometimes I wonder at the poor work I have done, the inept management, sometimes corrupt and self seeking, at other times very efficient and capable but not with money to spare.  I wish I had trained in something when young but when young I cared not, to be honest I would have soon been dumped anyway as I lacked what was required until Jesus came along and gave me a kick.  Then I chose low paid work like Hospitals and charity work, unpaid!   I enjoyed that more than lining my pockets however.  Some things are worth more than cash even if I did little.  I am now a 'Jack-of-no-trade' and fail to fix everything I break.  This is a regret but too late now.  
I sympathise with those looking to another ten years or much more in such work.  I doubt Bojo's latest wheeze will do such people much good, in the EU or out of it.  The Hedge fund managers, not on low pay, will be encouraging him however by flashing cash in front of his face.   

I suddenly feel the need for a railway picture.  This one is of Edinburgh Waverley Station in 1914.  It is to be regretted that all the trains have left for their destination, on time I expect, and as the photographer, whoever he was, coaxed his glass plates into place several would be steaming through the tunnels beneath his feet in either in or out direction, on different tracks I hope.  

Seen from the other end, the southerly direction via Berwick and on to Newcastle and London, we have a picture from I think the 1870's.  It may be the 1890's however as some fool has forgotten to mark the date on this one.  My grandfather was driving engines at that time while living nearby, possibly one of these.  The 1881 and 1891 census has him listed as 'engine driver,' a highly skilled and dangerous operation.  At that time drivers might work 12 or more hours, in all weathers, on passenger and goods trains.  Both could be troublesome and both had timetables to obey.  Passenger safety was very important to the railway companies, they said, but as you see the carriages are short, made from wood, had no heating it appears from these pictures and I cannot tell if these had gas lighting or oil lamps installed.  They might just be 3rd Class of course. 
The drivers and firemen joined 'ASLEF' 'Associated Society of Locomotive Steam Enginemen and Firemen' rather than the 'NUR' the National Union of Railwaymen,  as they wished to be seen as slightly above the common railwayman.  Class is not something that comes from above but from within!  Together they changed the pay structure and hours of the men but the ability to get yourself fired, for almost anything, was great, and the dangerous working conditions for many improved only slowly.  There is no way conditions and working practices of the 19th century could be imagined these days in the UK, Brexit of course might bring them back.

Books!

Amazon

The first thing to note about this book is the lack of personal info re the author.  A Google check gives little away.  He is 'controversial,' writes occasionally for the 'Scotsman,' the right wing unionist paper, and has failed to be elected to either Holyrood or Westminster.  He writes lots of books on Scotland but only arrived in Edinburgh in 1975, when I left.  Why so little info?
Usually people criticise a writer, I found only one woman doing so, no info on him, his lifestyle, the company he keeps, this is surprising.  Or should we read between the lines?
The book itself, some 388 pages of small font, begins in the distant past when earth movements left volcano's and passing ice flows shaping the city.  From either of the two towering rocks, 'Castle Rock' or 'Arthur's Seat' we can see two more in the distance, one above North Berwick and the other across the Forth near Leven.  Redundant volcano's later used as fortifications by passing generations with 'Castle Rock becoming the home of Scotlnd's greatest city.
The sloping ledge which runs from the castle down to Holyrood Palace enabled a city to arise but the slope on either side also led to towering 'skyscrapers' long before New York thought of them.
Fry leads us through the growth of the city, ensuring his views are made clear each time, from the struggle of the Scots Kings to own the Lothian's and create a border, through the growth of the Canongate, the 1707 riots when England usurped Scots freedom, the '75 rebellion and the changes that followed as the new town arrived and up unto recent times.
It would be interesting to compare his book with that of other authors.  There is much interesting detail within but is his interpretation correct.  A second view would be good.  That said it is worth a read, he has clearly spent much time in the Central Library studying his subject and deserves to be read.  I must look for another viewpoint however.

 Amazon

Another Edinburgh book but slightly different.  This one concerns a Lawyer studying in Edinburgh who formed the First Foot-ball Club in 1824.  A lot of research has gone into discovering the author, not a man I would wish to associate with I must say, those he played with and their life afterwards.
Football of one sort or another has been played everywhere since man first kicked a ball.  Present day football was famously organised by the Hooray Henry's at Cambridge when they finally agreed on a form of rules they mostly accepted.  The arrogance of the English leads them to claim they began football while we all know the truth.
Forms of football were apparently played in Edinburgh schools.  That is middle class and 'toffs' schools as the majority of kids were working from the day they were born and schooling, let alone time to play football, was a pipe-dream.  While at university John Hope began to play in the fields around foot-ball with his mates, all from university.  John was meant to be a lawyer, his notes which are the foundation of the book detail every penny spent over the years.  Names of all, subs paid, and costs of ball and hire of field are all noted with precision, as a lawyer would do!
However John became one of those Christian types and a middle class Victorian one at that!  This did not stop the games, indeed he went on throughout his life to encourage people, especially the young and poor, to play all sorts of games and spent much money in helping them.  His personality meant that he was kind but a bit of a bore also and he never married.  With his money and legal position he would be attractive to some but romance never blossomed.
The 'foot-ball club' died in time but not before many men had passed through John's notebooks.  At the end of this book details of the men who joined are added and it is interesting to note that while almost all are middle class, wealthy, in professional jobs, many were medical men, the majority died in their 50's and a few long before this.  Only three or four made it to 90.  Even the healthiest smoked too much, suffered frequent illness which could not then be cured and the hazards of missionary or serving the Raj in far off places ended many a life at that time.
1824 is 50 years before the Heart of Midlothian and many other football teams as we know them today came into being.  This book reveals the desire for sch games long before their birth.  Indeed it was increasing wealth, shorter hours and half day Saturday after the 1860's that led to an expanse of all sorts of sporting endeavours for all classes.  John Hope would be glad he enabled many to participate long before this even if it cost him much money.  

Otherwise Occupied...

I may have made a mistake.
The other day I scrutinised the games still to be played and splashed out £30 on a 'Now TV' 'Sky Sports Pass.'  This enables me to see Sky Football coverage on the laptop.  Now as I also have BTS for Scottish football this enabled me to view more than the occasional match.  
Since then I have viewed quite a few.
Yesterday I watched three games and did almost nothing else.
Today I escaped from church a wee bit earlier than I wished, cadged a lift from a young woman and arrived home in time for the Edinburgh derby at 12:15.  This was better than last weeks wimpish offering and questions must be asked why Hibs players are so well liked by referees.  But I'm not one to complain...
After this, while preparing a burnt offering which may be with me for ever, I watched a bit of Burnley v Manchester City, this was disappointing after the proper football from Easter Road and soon I turned on to the Rangers v Aberdeen game where another showing of Glasgow Rangers bias enabled the blue bigots to win by two penalties to none.  Mr Defoe must wonder what he has to do to be sent off!  He not only handled the ball twice he also clouted the goalie and then feigned injury. The ref did not see a blatant assault ten yards ahead of him!
What is more is for the first time I realised that the referee, Don Robertson, is in fact now a FIFA registered ref.  Apart from a friendship with Jim Fleming who heads up Scots refs how on earth did this man get to that level? 
I then caught the second half of the rather poor English offering, Manchester United v Chelsea, a somewhat meaningless game after the first one I had watched.  This contained little emotion and less football but a lot more money.
I considered watching the MLS game from the US after this but wondered if maybe I was becoming hooked on this SKY lark?  As I look around I note lots of empty and half empty cough bottles, rubbish lying around, papers unread, mail unopened, dishes unwashed.  Could it be I need to switch off for a while?  
Surely not... 

 

Gray Edinburgh

After sunny days, most of them missed by me, I wander out today under gray leaden skies with a chilly wind annoying.  I suppose we will have snow sooner than April.  
This is annoying as I have to spend the next couple of day cleaning the place.  My niece is bringing her boyfriend on Sunday (Sunday with football on?) for some reason.  She comes once a year to see if I am alive and if there is any money, she is disappointed in both.
So tomorrow I must finish the bathroom work, the sinks, dust everywhere, then hoover the dust piles, polish woodwork, tidy books and other things lying around, iron shirts, wash others first, put out the rubbish and open the windows.  
I am worn out already.
If luck is with me I will force feed them in a local cafe, if it is open and if it is not crowded with the local ageing Mods who gather there occasionally with their scooters.  That saves giving them e.coli and time and effort.  
But what is she after this time?

 
Because of the work done on our behalf by the noble parliamentarians the Parliamentary Standards Authority has given them a 2.7%pay rise, around £2000 each.  This means they will be getting just under £80,000 a year each.  Now personally I consider that small beer for an MP.  People who decide Law and routine purposes in life ought to be rewarded with a great deal more than that.  I would suggest a minimum of around £150,000 -£200,000 for such employment.  Of course with a nation under austerity that would not be appropriate, however that would not stop this lot, and such a rise would be unworkable in today's situation.  Also so many of these 'workers' have other jobs.  Lawyers take time of to make ten times their salary on a case, doctors run off to rip of private patients and almost all have 'directorships' that bring in the cash for little effort bar their name on the headed paper.  The advantage of bigger wages would be by tempting in those who earn a great deal more now in their employment, even if they were only MPs for five years or so.  The present lot have sold out for or against Brexit and have little self awareness to take a stand on any principle of any kind.  As such I am not sure they deserve a wage increase and new blood, with principles would be good to have.

    
There is something bout old photographs that are catching.  I refer to pictures of places you once knew.  Here is Edinburgh, 'Up the Bridges' as we used to call it near Tron Church, where lots of major stores once wasted much of my mothers time.  I like such photos as we can compare how things have changed and yet over a hundred years on they remain the same.  
My dad would have been two years of age at this time, 1910, the world was advancing in so many ways, scientifically, socially, economically and it is clear from the picture three men have done reasonably well out of things so far.  I wonder who they were?  How come they can stroll along during working hours while others, on little pay, work?  It is clearly summer, the old man is wearing an overcoat, the younger ones are not.  Watch chains protrude from the waistcoats, hats are worn indicating class, successful men but in what I wonder.
The buildings remain the same I guess, shop names change, goods change but the basic function remains as always commercial.  The lighting will have improved, surely that is gas lighting but how would the 'Leerie' get up that high?  Could it be early electric street lighting?  The cobbled streets are famous in Edinburgh, especially on the northern side where snow aids the buses as they slither down through Stockbridge on frozen cobbles.  The traffic however is considerably less, walking there would result in a few words from a bus driver and the horse and cart is now replaced with 7.5 ton vehicles delivering goods.  
Many changes but instantly recognisable and made me cogitate for a while.

Edinburgh Changes the World.

Edinburgh, 'Scotias Darling,' sits high and mighty upon the castle rock, a symbol of strength and power if ever there was one.  Like so many symbols it is of course untrue.  Not only in the last hundred years has such an edifice become useless is major wars it was also found to be ineffective in holding back the forces of 'Bonny Prince Charlie' back in 1745.  That was the year Charles attempted, rather badly to retake the throne of Scotland and England for his father James.  This Jacobite rebellion went as successfully as the others with Charlie eventually taken over the seas to Skye dressed as a woman and rowed there by another, Flora MacDonald.  This conflict, such as it was, the last proper British 'civil war' ended badly but left a deep scar on Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland.
In 1707 the parliament was stolen by deceit and removed to Westminster, Scotland's few Members of that house to small in number and for the most part forced to the sidelines, could do little there.  Edinburgh, deprived of parliament and the hangers on that followed in its wake, died a death and economic collapse was real for many years.
Following the rebellion various attempts are stimulating the city were aroused with many becoming very strongly attached to London.  Even the Kirk was divided with many younger men looking south for reasons of their own and many others looking south and also to France and the so called 'age of reason.'  Men such as David Hume wished to remove power from the Kirk, a power it had wielded since the reformation, and replace this with reason, in his case of course 'his reason.'  Many went along with him, few who attended church then as in many other years were actually believers, most just stayed out of trouble, and a great many of the 'educated' wished to investigate 'reason.'  Hume went so far as to try to teach Edinburgh people to speak 'English' so as to improve their chances in the world.  Not all went along with this as a walk down the High Street today would prove.  Then came Adam Smith with his fancy ideals of trade.  These ideas appealed to Margaret Thatcher even if she missed out his bit about caring for the weak in society.  It appears he wished to encourage trade but allow the cash to flow around so the poor were not left behind.  Margaret heard the bit about profit but not the bit about the poor, 'trickle down theory' was just another way of keeping all the cash to themselves, as today's Conservative cabinet prove. 
Edinburgh did take advantage of what was n offer and men like George Drummond made the most of things.  The 'New Town' was laid out, the 'Mound' created as a way of transport there and back, the 'Bridges' erected and the 'Nor Loch' drained, thus the Edinburgh we know came into being even if the progress was slow and the rich preferred to live to the south of the city and not the north.
This book by James Buchan was published in 2004, I wish I had read it at school!  I learned things, many things, about Edinburgh I did not know.  How ignorant I was of the growth of the city and the people behind it.  How stupid of schools not to teach so much more about our city.  Much was taught, but there again the class I was in contained many who found spelling 'Edinburgh' pretty difficult so maybe it is understandable.  
This was a good book, with insights into people and events I knew not.  Many things I understood and those living there would comprehend the place much better with reading this book.  It must be said some of the philosophical ideas were not just boring but a weariness to read, but that goes with the study I suppose.  This was one of those books you just cannot put down, so I didn't.

   
Sometimes we have young folks studying for appropriate degrees in museum studies, their hope being to end up running the British Museum or some such.  I see it as my duty to ensure they realise that such exciting work comes with sitting at a computer entering details hour after hour, precision being a must and only after that actually setting out museums, creating exhibitions and meeting the public can be contemplated.  Another aspect is kids work.  Yesterday morn I spent a wonderfully exciting time preparing these cut outs for the kids.  Quite what they do with them I did not ask, I just went ahead while in between searching the web for info for the lass who will be going to a local school soon.  Two of us eventually sat then chopping things up, searching the web, weaving occurred in Egypt at least 500 BC did you know?  And all the time we sat there people came in to disturb us.  Some to enter there names for events, some to bring in Christmas raffle tickets before we knew they had gone out, one couple to bring the granddaughter to see the museum.  And the phone kept ringing also.  We were so busy time to go home came before I knew it.   It was a good day mind.

Like a Stranger in a Foreign Country

A picture in the Edinburgh Evening News just now got me thinking.  Yes I know this is hard to understand but it is true.
The photo featured a Sikh giving a prize to a youngster for some reason and this brought to mind all the 'Daily Mail' wingers grumbling that their country 'was not what it once was' and 'foreigners rule us now.'  This of course the main reason for voting for the disaster of Brexit!
It appeared to me in that photo that the Edinburgh I knew and grew up in has long gone.  This is indeed the case, it is over forty years since I lived there and even if no 'foreign Johnny' had arrived since then the place would no longer be the city I knew.  In many ways this would be good, in others it is a disaster, but change happens everywhere constantly and we have been part of this.  Sometimes we are urging change and ignoring those grumbling against change, then we are the 'Keep it as it was' school objecting to anything that means 'new.'
Sadly I thought I cannot grumble about such things.  The Christian must view the world as a temporary dwelling, not a permanent home therefore the world we wish to keep must be jettisoned because holding on to that is a form of idolatry.  We seek 'our' world, the safe happy place in which we are content, forgetting that Jesus died because that world was as corrupt as all other parts of the world, and we enjoyed some of that corruption but excusing it as 'part of our culture.'  
Our culture must now be Gods culture not the worlds.  Scots culture was about the best in the world, if you ignore football violence, sectarian behaviour and drunkenness that is.  Christians can no longer be part of the 'best culture in the world' as it is not actually the 'best thing for the world,' only Jesus is.
The point somewhere in my muddled mind is that I can easily object to Edinburgh being filled with Sikhs or Muslims, Hindus or any other kind but in the end I can only deal with 'people' not 'types of people.'  My Edinburgh was only in my head, my personal experience, and while I can give thanks for being brought up in such a good environment I ought to be living in a better world, the one Jesus offers not the world in my mind.  Edinburgh of course has always had invaders arriving.  The Sikhs have been there for almost a hundred years, many come via the Port of Leith for business or diplomatic reasons or to attend the university or Medical School so incomers are not new in Auld Reekie. 
The Old Testament has much to say about welcoming strangers whether they live amongst you or are just passing through, Middle Eastern hospitality demands a favourable response ought we to do anything else?  Some Christians however have failed in this many joining UKIP and such parties, in an attempt to stop the nation they know becoming a different nation, the 'It is not my country any more' attitude.  They are right, it has never been their country it has always belonged to God and he gives it to whoever he will.  The Christian must live in a tent like a nomad he has no permanent home on this earth.  The world in which he lives can never be 'his country' and always be what he wishes it to be, it will never be what he wants anyway lets face it, life is constantly disappointing us, life will never be what we wish it to be. 
Of course I am a foreigner is a strange land... 

Edinburgh, Unchanged I Say....

Busy

Life in the pre Brexit world has been busy.  
On Saturday I spent the full day at the museum and much enjoyed being on my feet all day. 
My knees are now informing me of their opinion on this.
It was busy and I had spent the days before this running around.
One deed was to buy a new laptop, the old one giving too much trouble, slowing down, bits beginning to fall off, and other glitches that annoy.  It is a few years old now and I suspect unable to get the best out of updated software.
So on Friday morning I spent much time installing things.
The wi-fi would not connect, the plug fell out, the wrong connection appeared, I mistook another for the right connection and spent several long minutes fighting with it before I realised my mistake.  Eventually I got connected and had to follow the Microsoft blue pages asking if I wished to be kept private or be connected direct to the FBI/CIA?/Special Branch/Scotland Yard etc.  After a short lifetime I got things going and now slowly I am converting it for my use.  Sadly some things, such as 'Live.com' are no longer available and I used their gallery for my pictures.  Now I need another way to connect the camera to the laptop without using their phot thingy.  No doubt other problems will arise.
So I have one suitable picture on here, taken in 1844 from Edinburgh Castle looking east.  The new Walter Scott Memorial can be seen sticking up into the sky, gleaming white stone, now somewhat blacker ebven though cleaned in the 70's.  On the hill in the distance Nelson's Monument, an upside down telescope you notice, standing high above on Calton Hill.  In the foreground the early Waverley Station takes shape, the buildings under the camera soon to be destroyed, I wonder how rotten they were by then.
Today I made it to St P's, had a good time, wandered back to watch the Heart of Midlothian lose to Celtic and fell asleep.  The Spring sunshine tempts me outside, well the evening aor now does that, but sleep will be a better idea.  You may be surprised to know that I need my beauty sleep.
Day off tomorrow, I may just sleep on...

 

 I was sent this....

Beached!

Life is so unfair!
I had a hard day at the museum today, Kids are on holiday and not only did they come in to join the published activity many came just to get them out of Mum's hair.  In between kids came the Grandparents and lively (very) three year old, people enquiring after things that ended four years ago and one after another for this or for that rushed through the door.  I never got a moment to myself!  It got so bad that I honestly considered locking the door so i could put my feet up but the boss did not appreciate that idea for some reason.
In between the postwoman appeared, I shoved the grandparent I was attempting to get money from aside and raced after her.  I knew she had a packet for me and I was not in, I was here not there.  She knows me and helpfully indicated she had a packet for me, in another bag!  We arranged that I would be at home when she got there around one O'clock and when the time came I rushed up the road slowly in time to find I had missed her.  She must have had an easy day today, not normal on this round I know as I used to do it.  So my packet, the new 'BT Home Hub' for the Fibre Broadband that starts tomorrow now lies in the sorting office laughing at me.  I have to walk all that way for it early tomorrow to spend a day sorting it out.  I realise, as you do, that it normally takes five minutes to sort out but this is me.  I suspect it will not come into operation until about midnight, not that I am cynical!  Bah!  Life is unfair.  (First world problems!)

A large Greek inspired monument to Dugald Stewart (1753-1828) a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.  His friends created this now soot blackened monument to him in 1831.  The Greek influence of the citizens of Edinburgh was strong and many Greek inspired creations dot the city.  However it was because of the deep intellectual fervour, still found in such citizens, that brought about the nickname 'The Athens of the North.'  Quite right too even if half of what they wrote and said was indeed a pile of cobblers, but it was well thought our cobblers.  The unfortunate influence of Adam Smith on the mad baroness Margaret Thatcher was one lasting legacy of those who resided in the fair city (under the gray clouds).  You can tell that when I took this picture it was summer, the clouds are quite thin and almost, but fail to, let the sun shine through.  I had a better picture than this but somehow I have deleted this.  My life!

Historic City

In another lifetime I wandered around Edinburgh looking for photographs.  Having been brought up there for around twenty or so years I discovered on the occasions I returned that there was nothing to photograph.  This is because you do not see what is all around you when you live there, it is just there!  You learn about the history at school to some degree but what is in front of the nose is more important especially when in the teen years.  The 'Castle,' the 'Royal Mile,' the 'Palace of Holyrood house' all these existed but were just there.  The same thing happened to me when spending a night in Bath, the town not the tub.  A great deal of Bath is built in similar style to Georgian Edinburgh that I did not 'see' it, it was just there!  It therefore surprised me one day to realise that Edinburgh is full of photo opportunities.  Suddenly one day I noted the architecture was different from London, the sky bluer, at least one day a month when the clouds part to let it shine,and history was and is all around!

The 'Merkat Cross' pictured at the top is historical.  In days of yore, when Scotland was as it should be independent, civic announcements were read out by the 'Herald' of the 'Lord Lyon King of Arms.' These were announcements concerning laws passed by the Scots Parliament situated on the further side of St Giles Kirk from the Merkat Cross itself.  Today Parliamentary Elections are still announced by the Herald from this Merkat Cross.  Proclamations, edicts, burnings and punishments were also carried out at the cross.  In 1565 Sir James Tarbet was tied to the cross and pelted with eggs for saying the Mass which had been banned several years before.  Murderers, rebels and outlaws were hanged, some after being broken before hand at the cross.  Life for the criminal was not very kind in those days.
This Cross is a Victorian version of the original.  That is thought to have originated in the late 1300's and stood out in the main thoroughfare, later it was moved to the side and in 1760's it was demolished.  I suspect Sir Walter Scott while not responsible for the Cross was a guide and an encourager for those who wish to keep Scotland's history alive.
The 'Lord Lyon King of Arms' still today has an important job ensuring standards regarding er, standards are kept up.  Recently several Scottish football clubs were informed that portions of their badges and crests infringed the law and were taking advice from the Lord Lyon regarding their legitimate appearance.  He is not a man to be fooled with!    
The drain seen at the side of the Close is also interesting, it would have in times past been very interesting as it would have flowed with excrement chucked out of the windows above.  As I recall the emptying of pots was done at night, the cry of 'Gardyloo' being uttered as a warning to those slushing about in the Close below.  As the closes on both sides of the High Street slope downwards the refuse would run away but not always taking everything with it.  The rich lived high above leaving the stench to those down below.  It is no wonder Scotland is more egalitarian than England and now wonder also we developed so many leading medical personnel!

It is not possible for anyone in this world not to have heard about Greyfriars Bobby, the dog who slept on his masters grave in the churchyard after he died.  So therefore I will not mention this but I can say I have been in the pub behind a couple of times, very much a student pub in the 70's, I suspect it remains so still. 

Meandering

A stones throw from Edinburgh Castle there stands these houses built in the late 19th century I believe.  Above the roof of one stands this cat like creature apparently waiting to pounce upon the park land far below.  When we passed this as a kid the family would point this out but I could never see it.  No matter how hard I scanned the rooftops I was too dumb to see what was in front of my eyes.  Standing half way up the 'Mound' I looked for the cat but go see nothing yet one day while passing there it was.  You can tell by the Edinburgh it was summer.  Actually I am not sure this began as a cat but the weather beat hard at the thing and a cat is what remains.  No idea what it could have been.

The London penthouse in which I dwelt for many years contained a 'cat woman.'  This one, who's name I forget, became a a friend to me and often joined me in my humble abode, it joined me everywhere if it could as cats do, however on this occasion the brute was making use of cat woman's garden.  By garden I mean the area above the front door which acted like a garden if you like rock hard ground.  Having eaten everything in sight I suspect he now retires to sit in the sun.  Clever cat.

This is a scene from a trip on a boat somewhere on the Irish Sea in the 90's.  Hunting for oil?  I canny see what else they would be looking for.  Maybe as a nuclear power station is not far away from this place could this be the result of too much atomic power leaking into the sea?  Maybe someone should look and see if they remains in place?   With even the Saudi's worrying about the loss of oil revenue could it be these have indeed been removed and replaced?  If so I wonder what with?

This appears to be Bournemouth Pier long ago but I suspect it remains the same today.  A wonderful beach here, well cared for, much used all year round, and a huge tourist benefit for the town.  This is a place I miss, especially when the crowds have departed or long before they arrive.  Maybe I ought to consider whether it is time for a weekend living of the second family?  Maybe I will wait until the sun shines again as it appears to have gone out now.  I will try again in Spring.

The Church at the Gates of Heaven, almost...

I've been tidying up the cupboard.  I now have a box half full of old photographs and a large bundle of these set aside to scan into this infernal machine.  How lucky you will be to see pictures taken in the days of the distant past.  Lots of them!
This one of course is Tynecastle Park Edinburgh which you will recognise instantly.  Many moons ago the huge board announcing the home of the Heart of Midlothian stood here but for reasons of crass stupidity this was removed during reconstruction work.  This reconstruction was under way as I passed and we can see inside only because the stand at this end had not yet been built.  I believe it is now home to Mr Smith, author, raconteur and wit, of our acquaintance a man who is lucky enough to sit here weekly and even luckier enough to write about what he sees in the local free press.  Good for him!  Recently it has been announced that the old stand to the right and out of the picture is to be rebuilt.  This will increase the ground capacity and stop folks worrying needlessly re the safety of the present structure.  It is said this stand was completed late in 1914 as the men working on it ran off to enlist in the army at the outbreak of war, a story I have not found evidence for but it does appear likely.

 
This was I thought a rather delightful shot of St Giles Kirk when I found it but age has ruined the dark bits somewhat.  However turning it into B&W has helped to create a nice enough image of Edinburgh inn the gloom, when is Edinburgh not in the gloom?   Edinburgh is so hard to get to nowadays.  I have nowhere to sleep, no transport and no money so I could make use of the bus pass all the way to Berwick on Tweed and walk from there I suppose?  Maybe that is a bit too far?  I could spend three or more hours in Stansted Airport for a one hour flight and get the bus in from their, or travel by train to Kings Cross and travel by train for six hours or so to Waverley Station.  Just thinking about it all makes me wonder if it would be worth while, especially now the cold east wind is hurling wind up my trouser leg.  I might just wait till Spring, the Haar eases of then and the gloom lightens up somewhat.

It is difficult enough to travel to London just now let alone Edinburgh.  Each weekend for the next couple of months (which means until Spring) they are working on the lines so all trains are replaced by buses from Chelmsford onwards, that's normally a 45 minute journey!  No weekend in the 'Big Smoke' (Smokeless now so what to call it?) for me these days.  In time all this will lead to an improved service or at least that is the hope but the cynical commuter puts things differently!  It does not take much to disrupt a train service, one man stood in front of one just outside the station and argued with the driver for 45 minutes because of a ticket problem.  The friendly travel police took him away.  No train service can be satisfactory all the time but privatisation has made it worse and that is the ideology driving this Tory government today.  Things will only get worse!

 
I wonder where that is?
It looks a bit Londonish to me but I have no recollection of taking this picture.  It is possible I took it on my travels but who knows.  I quite like it.
You can tell I have not got out, not that there is anything to see around here just now.  Instead I cleaned the fridge (bi-annual event) and sorted these pictures.  I ripped up and dumped hundreds in a cruel but required exercise today.  Most were duplicates, many were children unknown belonging to friends, many more were our lot and not worth keeping now and others were just rubbish.  The wheely bin will be heavy next time dustman!  
Work tomorrow, someone skiving off again!

Soldiers Mascots

ITV

The Edinburgh Festival, and the accompanying 'Fringe,' bring many illustrious individuals into a city which can boast a great many already.  One major event at this time is the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in which bands and others from all over the world participate to rapturous applause, often in the rain!  This year once again one of Scotland's favourite nations, one in which ties were made stronger during the second world war, had soldiers representing their country at the tattoo.

Edinburgh Zoo is one of the most famous in the world, or at least in Edinburgh.  There are a host of animals confined here, some along with controversy it must be said, and there are also a host of Penguins, some of the zoo's favourite characters.  Each day since the early 50's a gate is opened and the Penguins, if they feel so inclined, wander out along a chosen path before being returned to their pen.  usually this occurs without incident and the Penguins feel happy enough it appears with the adventure.

One Penguin however has been Knighted!

Sir Nils Olav, a King Penguin, became the mascot and Colonel in Chief of the Norwegian Kings Guard in 1972 when the King's Guard were attending the Tattoo.  Originally given the rank of 'Lance Corporal' (Visekorporal) the Penguin was promoted each time the Guard attended the Tattoo.  Sir Nils passed away in 1987 and his successor , Nils Olav II, inherited his rank.  Sadly he too passed away in 2008 but Olav III also accepted with no hesitation the rank and position awarded his predecessors.  During the visit in 2008 Nils was awarded a Knighthood the honour approved by King Harald V.   On the 22nd of this month some 50 members of the King's Guard attended the Zoo and a crowd gathered to watch Sir Nils receive his next promotion this one making him a Brigadier!     

Such activities are not unknown, regiments often have goats or dogs as mascots, the Polish Division during the second world war inherited a brown bear cub called 'Wojtek' which not only continued with them through the was in Italy and France but was seen carrying ammunition during the Battle of Monte Cassino!  So helpful was he to morale and in carrying ammunition that he was enlisted as a soldier, reaching the rank of Corporal and having his own paybook.  With many Poles settling in Scotland after the war Wojtek entered Edinburgh Zoo where he happily ate cigarettes thrown to him by ex-Soldiers.  He ate them as there was no-one to light them for him!  He died in 1963 and I can remember seeing a Brown Bear in the zoo but I was not told this story.  A statue of bear and soldier  keeper now stands in Princess Street Gardens.
The UK, where important things happen!

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I A'Door Me

After months of procrastination I managed to make a start - again - on fixing the slats on the cupboard door.  This time armed with cheap wood glue I slotted the slats and gunked the ends only to find the last attempt left the gap a wee bit too wide and they fit but only just.  Still I put my handyman skills to the proof and remembered again why I failed technical subjects at school all those long years away. 
After many rude words I managed to fit the top half so as though it looks fixed.  Anyone who opens their eyes, or I fear opens the door, will soon discover a weakness or two.  I expect next time I touch the door to be back at the starting gate. 

This little job held me back long enough to prevent me reaching the shops when they were quiet.  So this afternoon I walked among the living dead around Sainsburys wondering why I bothered.  I only had to shoot two customers and one was driving a black van when he attempted to run me over. I lacked suitable pity for him at the time.  What is it about supermarkets that make people girn so badly?  Normally I am in early so I miss the crowds but the rest of the day in such a place is a wonderful way to practice patience.  

When I first graced this world the family lived in a tenement in Granton.  For the first three years of my life, little of which I recall, we lived a short walk up the road from the harbour pictured here. This photo was taken in 1958 it says and I can recall going down there with dad to look at this rig sitting in the far side of the harbour.  I had no idea what it was for until today when I found this picture on facebook and discovered it was used to search for coal under the Forth.  It is different from what memory recalls so this may be a different rig or my memory may falter but the era is about right.  
The view north over the Forth is fantastic, one of the great memories of Edinburgh.  To the north lies the Forth and Fife opposite, the view to the south reveal the Pentland hills and for a major city the escape to the countryside is  remarkably easy.  How I missed that in London!  
The building on the right was at first a Hotel but for most of the 20th century, and possibly still, it was a land ship for the Royal Navy.  The large ships in the harbour also stopped in a similar spot to the left of the picture, a harbour soon afterwards filled in for industrial buildings.  To the left there was a small school house that my dad attended.  Two doors, one marked 'Girls' and at the other end 'Boys' and quite rightly too, but last time I was in that area the only possibly building had boarding around it advertising the company I could not determine if the school still existed.  At the entrance the road to the left led along to the promenade where relaxation and sea watching took place.  To the right we could eventually reach Leith.  A high embankment carried a railway into town, a railway that closed around 1962, and the embankment has long since gone also.  Behind the embankment lay a small beach and on any occasion I wandered down there I was struck by the smell of fire.  It was the done thing then when at the seaside to gather driftwood and build a fire, even in summer, the smell lingered forever afterwards.  The road on either side near the camera rises upwards as you will realise Edinburgh slopes down to the sea, sometimes we fall in. 

A more recent picture nicked ungraciously from facebook shows a more modern image.  The view has been devastated by the ugly new blocks of flats that take so much money from young trendy people, and to the left there are many more such buildings.  Those with a clear view up or down the Firth of Forth will have a fantastic sight before their eyes, not too sure what the others will see mind. 
The ships have long gone, even Leith harbour appears to be struggling with such reconstruction these days, and at Granton I think only rich folks yachts can be found today.  There have long been such yachts but the actual Yacht Club has sold its premises and moved elsewhere or died.  
As always some things remain, the toilet block stands as always, the buses halt here before trudging back across Edinburgh, and people still climb the stairs grumbling at the effort.  
Is this an improvement?  Is it progress?  Is it the passage of time?
Life goes on and we cannot stop it.  

Here in the soft south I spend a lot of time looking at old pictures and comparing them with the reality today.  On the local facebook page old pics are offered and people reminisce about their childhood and youth, always claiming "it was better then."   No it wasn't really, even if the fifties were better in many ways for kids in the end the 'good old days' are always in our minds.
1958 was good in many ways for me but there were fears and problems also.  For a start we had school and that was not my favourite place.  The fears and problems of childhood disappear and we forget the bad things that caused us worry then, the fears can be worse now of course, but
we were lucky to be living in an era of peace and even prosperity, a time such as my folks had never known before.  We moved into a three bedroom place, bathroom and kitchen, dad got a better job, and we got a TV.  How the world changed then!      
There are good memories in the past but in three quarters of the world war was raging and millions died.  The 'Good old days' are always in our heads, nowhere else.

Pondering...

The question was put "Why don't you live in Edinburgh?"  A question I must report that has often been asked of me, sometimes from between gritted teeth.  This got me thinking as to why.  There are many reasons, cash being the most obvious.  Had I been rich I would have a wee house up there and one wee house down here spending winter in the warm soft south and Spring and summer, or the odd day as it's called, up there.  Actually if I had money I may move to Portugal where it is warm most of the time!  The Festival and its Fringe in August would certainly force me elsewhere, even the north pole would do to avoid the millions of weirdos who arrive in Edinburgh at that time, some of you may possibly be amongst them!
Who do I know in Edina now?  Few family members around and mostly well out of the city, no living space for me there.  They have their own families and lives which differ from mine, they have little need of me.  The people I knew when I left, for good as it turned out, in 1975 have moved on, who knows how they have changed over the years?  The one remaining pillar is the Heart of Midlothian footbll club and it is now impossible to get in to see them as they are crowded out each week!  The more I consider it the less I see for me there.
I was born  in Edinburgh's Western General Hospital in nineteen hundred and typing error, an excellent hospital ten times the size from when I first arrived.  Edinburgh then was an decent place to grow up, the housing was new, the neighbours got on well, attitudes after the war carried much that had developed during the war and many wished to create a better world.  Schools disciplined the chidlren, a slap on the legs at primary was not uncommon, and the leather strap across the hands just as common in secondary school, today teachers will not even raise their voices to the brats!  In spite of having nothing kids got everything as parents took advantage of their new lives, lives that were hard but much, much better than those they endured as youngsters.
Edinburgh then was a darker place, generations of soot covered the buildings leaving a black exterior, rain mingling with smoke from countless fires at work and home brought to life the nickname ''Auld Reekie.'  An all too often bleak city in winter.  However then as now Edinburgh teamed with history, all facilities required could be obtained especially if money was available and there was always lots going on.  This now has increased abundantly as these more propserous days have opened up new avenues of enjoyment.  (Bah Humbug! I begin to cry, bring back misery!)
However Edinburgh may have had many good things it also had some bad ones.  Many memories I have are not of good times but bad ones.  In spite of all that is on offer much more is required in life and I had to go elsewhere for that.  
Having worked in London a few years before I retunred there to attend the Baptist Church in Westbourne Grove.  This was Gods plan although I did not realise this at the time.  This then became home for men for another twentysomething years.  Edinburghs advantages fade when confronted with the Living God!  This was a good, though difficult, time.  Living at first in some ropey housing then moving into one box after another does not please some folks but it was a life and I was in the right place.  Edinburgh however had at least got sky!  From the window looking north we could see across the field and the Forth the hills of Fife, in London we could see one row of houses after another.   As the song says, "We could see to Hackney Marshes, if it wasn't for the houses in between."  The pace of life did not bother me until my forties and the church also broke up at that time the period of Gods work moving into a different direction.  When that period ended I removed myself to this part of Essex for another twenty years, but that is another story.  Would I go back to Edinburgh now?  If Scotland became independent it would be an exciting idea.  However I cannot afford to move to the shops let alone Edinburgh or a wee hoose in the Highlands.  It snows less here also!  
I have not discussed the attitudes of the peoples either.  They vary enormously from this area, London and Scotland.  The culture is different but hw different from when I lived there?  Then there were few drug takers, but many drunks, now drug gangs in our area abound.  Traffic is greater than before, the pace higher than I am now used to and it would be more likely I would move into a smlaler area, but where?  I like the slower life now, age is telling, and wish to see the sea again.  A rich man would move near the sea and close to but far enough from a decent size town.  He would also be found in the Algarve during winter however! 
Ah dreams....

Quick Moving People

Busy day today.  Reading, writing, and messing about with the tiles on the bathroom floor.  In doing that I managed to set the radiator valve leaking (don't ask) and now it will not stop gently dripping every so often.  I ache everywhere and worse will arrive tomorrow when I struggle stiff necked to the museum.  Bah!

However I just came across this wonderful piece of filming.  Professionally done and well worth a look!  Part two follows on from part one.  Very good indeed!

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Miserable City

Aberdeen, you may not have noticed, has been awarded the 'Plook on the Plinth Carbuncle' award for the first time.  And not before time some would say.  The 'Urban Realm' magazine, no I've never heard of it either, chose Aberdeen ahead of Cumbernauld, and that says something and also East Kilbride in the west and Leven on the Fife coast.  

Aberdeen is famous for being the hub of the Scottish oil business.  The fourth of the main Scottish cities it is one of the coldest in the UK let alone Scotland.  I can assure you the cold grey mist rolling in of the sea that Sunday morning in 1968 still remains in my memory when a few young lads looked desperately for some entertainment before returning to civilisation in Edinburgh.  Aberdeen is also famous for the civic pride of Victorian days that caused them to tear down buildings, realign the main road 'Union Street' and rebuild it with Granite!  Sadly the costs were so high Aberdeen went bust!  It became the thing to joke about miserly Aberdonians, probably dating from this time.  Harry Lauder the Edinburgh singer invented a Scottish stereotype character who wore a 'tammy' on his head, carried a crooked walking stick and was incredibly miserly.  This must have been based on Aberdeen people.  

Now it is some time since I visited the place, we won by two goals to one last time I well remember, but council men are no different there than elsewhere and money talks and developers spoils even the heart of Edinburgh Scotland's magnificent capital city with modern day architecture and backhanders aplenty (allegedly!).  Aberdeen is no different.  

At least Aberdeen does produce a speciality, the 'Rowrie' a type of 'Aberdeen Roll' that is well worth buying, not that they would pay of course. 

The fans of the football club it must be said 'stand free' from the sectarian bile often found in Glasgow and follow their club with a good away support.  They remain however the most miserable outside of Glasgow however.  Never happy, always innocent, always finding fault elsewhere.  Fans of Edinburgh's glorious Heart of Midlothian would never act in such a manner, it would be unthinkable. 

Cities and towns ought to have something individualist about them but the larger shops always wish to have their own shop fronts.  When I cycled form Edinburgh to London in 1974, I was younger then, I could not help being aware that every town had the same High Street.  Often there was once some individuality but now the ground floors all looked like every other town.  Looking up we can see many differences in the buildings but on the ground cheap plastic fronts make every town a place of takeaways, opticians and newsagents, all alike, all cheapening the town.  

Side streets often reveal something original, houses from before the war show fine details, but since the financial side and the invention of plastic all has deteriorated badly.  

This town also has too many charity shops filling the High Street.  People ask what can be done but no councillor suggests lowering the rates.  I wonder why? Maybe specialist shops and the town might thrive?

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