And I'll be in Scotland afore ye!!

Well never one to settle for less it was on my return to Didcot from Manchester that I realised what else I wanted to see so I arranged a wee trip up to Edinburgh by Train.










Of Course I went to lastminute.com to find a hotel and I found the Cairn which was quaint, £25 a night and ten minutes walk from the Royal Mile. Perfect!


Well, Edinburgh is just full of wonderful opportunities and reminded me so much of Dunedin it was almost eerie. In the first couple of hours I had found enough things to do to fill in a week-luckily enough Joseph and that bloody coat was sold out- so I needn't bother with that one.


And, of course, not being August, Edinburgh probably didn't offer the full range of theatrical experiences- but I must admit I managed.

As you can see there was Hamish the Hairy Coo- whom I felt a strange but powerful allegiance to- those who know me well will perhaps guess why.

I found the Fringe shop but it was closed (caught up with that on Monday) but right beside it was a tour company that offered day tours to Loch Ness.
Of course I signed on for Sunday.

However I was in the middle of doing Friday then so I immediately charged up the Hill to the castle for a GOOD WEE NOSY. Well OK it was more of a slow sidle but you get my meaning and much of the rest of the day was devoted to walking the Old Town. I found the pantomime theatre and decided that it would be a good idea for my Saturday night- a traditional English Panto in Scotland!

I also found an arthouse cinema- a rare beastie in Europe I have found- at least it is if you are not from these parts, without a car and not prepared to travel miles out of the way. As luck would have it, playing was Bladerunner-the final cut. Not exactly high art but a testimony that a classic can stand both the test of time and the hand of man.

Saturday I wandered further through the various examples of tourist fodder

As you can see from this amazing video one of my ports of call,heh,heh
......was the Royal Yacht Britannia.

And you may very well laugh but I found it very informative and interesting.

Of course after such a serious and meaningful morning there was nothing for but to give in to those amazing basic instincts again and go visit the Edinburgh Dungeon- much like, but this with a 'river' ride, the Amsterdam Dungeon (they don't yet have a kind of golden arches yet, but...)

As I have already said I went to see the Panto at the Kings Theatre - a beautiful old Pros similar to the St. James- but with a nasty bout of city council and thus in danger of closure-
.....bad, bad bureaucrats, NAUGHTY- why is it the diplomats prolong a crisis, politicians are forever building camels and administrators are constantly changing the way out of the paper bag so that everyone always ends up getting lost?

Suffice to say that Goldilocks and the three bears was the most fun I've had in a theatre in years. Of course the fact that I was the dame in a similar panto some years ago, sang some the same songs and kissed the Mayor of Lower Hutt at the Christmas Parade might have had something to do with it.


Sunday found up early and joining about eight others and our driver Michael for a wee outing- and it is here that the most extraordinary thing happened. I have had conversations with Maori people about what it feels like to return to a Marae or to the foot of their Mountain but have never experienced that myself- Sorry Mum, Wellington's home and Dunedin a lovely place to visit.

But, as we stopped at places like Glen Coe and Loch Ness, and especially near the Spean Bridge I felt this spinchilling sense of coming home that just seemed to underline just how comfortable I had felt in Edinburgh that I couldn't help reassessing that un-quantifiable something that lies outside the kin of men that defines us in a way unassailable by intellectualism or common sense.

I have peppered this entry with some of my images of this place but it will hold a very special place in my heart forevermore even if, though I plan to, I never get back there again.

Monday morning before I got on my train I returned to the Royal Mile and visited the Camera Obscura and Mary Kings Close and in funny way these two activities sum up so much of Edinburgh for me. There is some discussion around the difference between tour leaders and actors portraying events in places like this- to me they are all telling stories, an event we all invest in if we are to have any meaningful social contact with our fellow beings and the success of our efforts are always reflected in how our audiences manage to take something away from the experience- the process of mediation I think- and this is always a personal journey though a good story teller will endeavour to make sure that each listener takes away the closest common experience possible so that there is not doubt what the tellers intention was. This explains both Steven Spielberg and Billy Connolly and probably goes some way to explain George Bush. But whether you favour a teller, a tour guide or an actor its up to you to take up the responsibility of being a listener and finding the best in what you are being given. BTW I have no clear preference having seen and heard both but then I hope that I have become a talented listener.