We were hosts to two visitors yesterday, Doris and Katie who had come all the way from California to Edinburgh as part of a wider European trip. Doris is Lorna's gran's cousin, and Katie is Doris's granddaughter. So that's that.
Katie had heard of Rosslyn Chapel in that book by what's his name, and although she hadn't read it it yet she'd seen the film and knew she wanted to visit the place itself. So we picked them up and after a lunch at the Flotterstone Inn we hit the chapel.
Doris has difficulty hearing and conversation was tricky over the noise of the car but luckily Katie had no trouble compensating by talking for two.
Rosslyn Chapel itself is a bit of a bombsite just now. The have had a huge metal roof over it for a while now to ket it dry out and are currently dismantling it. There are temporary portakabin toilets and piles of grey bricks beside the wire fences and heavy plant. Inside is as beautiful as ever, though they now operate a no photo policy (nothing to do with the postcards for sale in the tat shop). We caught a tour but for some reason Kit was reluctant to listen so he and I were happy to wait down in the vault, then outside in the running around area.
Doris deserves some respect - at 84 she is chumming Katie round Europe, talking about her next holiday to New Zealand and how she will take Katie's sister on a similar trip in three years when she is 16...
Monday, June 28, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Rather be riding my bike...
Got Lorna and Kit back after their Cambridge adventure so it's all life back to usual. Edinburgh is still buzzing with the sound of tourists and their money so the Royal Mile is once again a great place to take pictures - street markets, buskers and lost visitors.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Shoe 3
So, here's an odd one. How many shoes would you expect to find within, say, a mile? I think finding one once would be something you'd remember but the cycle path from Cramond Brig to Dalmeny seems to have more that its fair share - four at the moment, to be exact.
Now I am not into shoes, or feet, as anyone who knows me will tell you. In summer my delight at the plunging necklines of basking ladies is wholly spoiled by the accompanying unveiling of crusty toes with the obligatory badly painted nails. Boke.
But I couldn't help noticing these discarded shoes along the path - and from the way they sit they don't appear to have been thrown from a car. Shoe 4 in particular has been placed lovingly on a wall. Shoe 1 still has its price ticket on (£5 in the sale FYI). Shoe 2 is the only right one and only Shoe 3 has signs of ever having been worn.
Three are left, one is right.
Kleptomaniac podophiliac? (Boy is THAT going to get some fun visitors to the blog...) Monopod litterbug? Crimewatch episode waiting to happen?
Or what?
Now I am not into shoes, or feet, as anyone who knows me will tell you. In summer my delight at the plunging necklines of basking ladies is wholly spoiled by the accompanying unveiling of crusty toes with the obligatory badly painted nails. Boke.
But I couldn't help noticing these discarded shoes along the path - and from the way they sit they don't appear to have been thrown from a car. Shoe 4 in particular has been placed lovingly on a wall. Shoe 1 still has its price ticket on (£5 in the sale FYI). Shoe 2 is the only right one and only Shoe 3 has signs of ever having been worn.
Three are left, one is right.
Kleptomaniac podophiliac? (Boy is THAT going to get some fun visitors to the blog...) Monopod litterbug? Crimewatch episode waiting to happen?
Or what?
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Bike beside the poppies
So Lorna and KIt are off for a few days to see the family in Cambridge and I am left to wander the house with no bedtime routine to keep me in check. They caught the train down and Kit was "ecstatic" when picking up his cousins from school.
Speaking of which, school continues to be a dominating theme in our lives. The flat is not selling and even though we are talking about August 2011, Lorna is keen to get things sorted out well in advance. The "moving to a good catchment" option would be our preferred one, but increasingly the "take him to Queensferry with me" is Lorna's angle on the issue...
It's a week tomorrow until we break up for the holiday - yay - and the next few days in school are busy with clearing out one classroom to move to another. After a fun, challenging and successful (?) year with P3 I am off upstairs to the P7s again for 2010/2011. I know the grass is al;ways greener but I am looking forward to much of what upper school teaching brings.
Speaking of which, school continues to be a dominating theme in our lives. The flat is not selling and even though we are talking about August 2011, Lorna is keen to get things sorted out well in advance. The "moving to a good catchment" option would be our preferred one, but increasingly the "take him to Queensferry with me" is Lorna's angle on the issue...
It's a week tomorrow until we break up for the holiday - yay - and the next few days in school are busy with clearing out one classroom to move to another. After a fun, challenging and successful (?) year with P3 I am off upstairs to the P7s again for 2010/2011. I know the grass is al;ways greener but I am looking forward to much of what upper school teaching brings.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Longest day
These trees are on my cycle home, and having paid £114 for a bicycle service I am keen to make the most of it before the holidays kick in. I haven't really run since the marathon, but plan to get back into it once the schools finish.
On a much more exciting note, we are going to see The Wiggles at the Usher Hall tonight :-) Having first encountered these four musical geniuses on holiday in their native Australia we have been fans ever since and their visit to Edinburgh is no small deal. I am ready...to Wiggle.
On a much more exciting note, we are going to see The Wiggles at the Usher Hall tonight :-) Having first encountered these four musical geniuses on holiday in their native Australia we have been fans ever since and their visit to Edinburgh is no small deal. I am ready...to Wiggle.
Monday, June 21, 2010
On a bus
Felt rather naked without my camera on Saturday and had to make to with my phone instead. I enjoy playing with the "Hipstamatic" camera but it gives you a completely false sense of creativity.
Spent the day on a "treasure hunt" round Edinburgh as part of a colleague's retirement day - reading plaques and statues to answer touristy style questions. It was actually good, and the city put on a good show of sun, colour and ice cream.
Then we went to the Jam House where the food was tasty but tiny, the live music was good but too noisy for a meal, and the clientele were over 50 and too horny to even enjoy their beers.
Spent the day on a "treasure hunt" round Edinburgh as part of a colleague's retirement day - reading plaques and statues to answer touristy style questions. It was actually good, and the city put on a good show of sun, colour and ice cream.
Then we went to the Jam House where the food was tasty but tiny, the live music was good but too noisy for a meal, and the clientele were over 50 and too horny to even enjoy their beers.
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