Monthly Archives: April 2011

Pictures Full of Words

Today’s post is another photo break — and we examine the words on signage that aim to catch your attention. Both of these signs were seen on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Enjoy!

Do Angels With Bagpipes Create Sottish Foodie Heaven?

And in the sign below, it’s nice to imagine that some cranky old miser can’t always dictate his spin on the news — or pick and choose what he wants ‘the masses’ to know or think or believe.

Can it be that there is still some freedom in today's media?

Hotel Doormen Wear Kilts in Scotland

Quick photo today of yet another quirky and wonderful thing I spotted in Edinburgh.

Hotel doormen can be spotted wearing kilts!

Hotel doormen wear kilts in Scotland

How Wonderful and Quirky Is Edinburgh

Look up, look up! Re-tune your eyes so you fill your memory with the many snippets of marvelous things scattered about the city — tiny pieces of poignant sculpture — partial bits of quotes or poems — monumental architecture with almost-hidden carvings — all of it weaving a mysterious cloak that wraps this city up tightly.

Quirky, quietly beautiful, and never failing to amuse with the non-stop parade of ‘interesting’ residents and visitors alike, Edinburgh has so much going for it as a travel destination.

Squeezed between the shopfronts on the Royal Mile is a perfect example — the carving over Paisley Close which commemorates the survival of one young lad who was found amidst the rubble of several collapsed buildings in 1861. “Heave awa’ chaps, I’m no’ dead yet” is inscribed above the arch.

"Heave awa' chaps, I'm no' dead yet" sculpture above Paisley Close arched opening in Edinburgh, Scotland

Under the category of sweetness, where else in the world do you expect to see three charming teenage boys walking across a bridge in the heart of a city, two of them holding hands, and one of them wearing his kilt. It put a smile on the faces of everyone that they passed.

Kilt wearing, hand holding teenagers in Edinburgh, Scotland

Stereotypes exist for a reason, and the sheer determination, outright stubbornness, and frugality of the Scottish nature were all on display in bits and pieces on our travels. Our 2 week visit certainly convinced us that the lovely Scottish friends that we had back in Australia derived their fearless attitude and ferocious tenacity from their ancestry as well as their general personality.

The beauty of Edinburgh manages to mask the occasionally simmering resentment of the governing powers down in London. That historic anger was certainly on display in the National Museum of Scotland where the arresting poster below found quite a few people stopping, nodding their heads up and down in agreement as we watched, and creating a strong impression on me that those decades old resentments are still not forgotten.

National Gallery of Art & Edinburgh Castle Atop The Hill

Margaret Thatcher 'Oil Vampire' poster

But under the category of just-plain-quirky, how about the whiskey store right next door to the health food store? Or the wine shop that is an ‘homage’ to the old sci-fi film, Planet Of The Apes? Click to enlarge them and have a giggle!

Odd choice of shops to be side-by-side

A quirky homage to Cornelius from Planet Of The Apes

Calligraphy on wall of National Museum of Scotland: Declaration of Arbroath - 1320 AD

My most recent visit was my 4th time in Edinburgh and I have still barely scratched the surface of what there is to see and do. Trust me, I’ll be going back!

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A Bit Of A London Traffic Jam

How many pictures does each 8G memory card hold when shot in RAW format? Over 700 pics on each one??? And I have 4 and 1/2 full cards!!!

I have quite effectively created my very own traffic jam in the flow of my writing and photography output. Ouch!!!

Just a few traffic flow problems

In the last 2 weeks we have travelled from Edinburgh, through several stops in Yorkshire, and then we spent a week in London. During that time I took thousands of photos and never got a chance to edit them on the road because (to be bracingly honest!), I was simply too bloody tired to sit with a laptop and do it at night after being out and about all day.

So bear with me — there will be new articles in the next few days. But I simply must get through the culling and editing process and I have to complete the final submission of large-scale photography for a public relations assignment that I had this month.

Whew! Back to work I go!

Crushed By Crowds and Crabby

Note to self — no matter which of us says to the other one, “Oooo! They have a really big market over at (insert location of choice). Want to go?” — the default answer in a humongous city the size of London should always be no-no-no-no-no. This also falls under the category of ‘How to spoil a perfectly lovely day on the weekend.’

Jammed up in the crowds at Camden Market

But wait — it gets better. Not once (are we slow learners on occasion?) but twice on the same weekend we sampled a market. At least on the second try I took zero pictures and we walked briskly through the crowds and out the other side in less than five minutes with me saying “This is not the way I remember things being.”

Am I getting old and crabby? (don’t answer that!) Or has my tolerance for being crushed by crowds, smelling too many overlapping food aromas, hearing music playing loudly that I outgrew decades ago, seeing people draped on every available surface, and looking at items that I could find on Ebay simply erased my joy in the whole ‘market scene’ rather a lot?

I choose to regard this minor case of a shock-horror moment — complete with remarks from my husband to the effect of “If you could see your face, Deborah!” — as another time capsule moment when things were viewed from a different perspective 17 years ago. Otherwise, the population boom in London really has resulted in a population boom at the large markets and they are no longer a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Camden Lock

Crowds on every waterside walkway at Camden Market

It isn’t strictly a ‘young scene’ although the preponderance of people sitting, standing, or elbowing their way through the throngs on the waterside walkways did appear to primarily be in the under-30 category.

Elsewhere there were people in attendance of all shapes, sizes, and ages — gamely picking through the goods on offer, slurping down a latte or a chai tea, or simply people watching.

I continue to read that this market is a recommended place to go when you visit London. But unless you have lived a deprived or rural or shopping-zone-free life, I cannot for the life of me understand why a guidebook writer would find this place thrilling.

Crowded shopping in the Camden Market halls

So, if a crush of crowds with pointy elbows and massive feet, a plethora of ‘cuisine’ smells, dated music sounds, and so-so merchandise makes you as crabby as it made me, this might just be a place to avoid!

The British Museum in Lovely London

Changes, changes, so many changes. Many hours of my life were spent in the British Museum and the British Reading Room within back in the early 1990s when I was working on my Master of Arts degree and I felt that I knew the place rather well.

British Museum Front Entry

The exterior looked the same as we walked towards the steps from Great Russell Street. But the internal changes were apparent within a few seconds of entry — and as we stepped from the outer lobby into the new inner courtyard, I heard myself say aloud, “Whoa! This is stunning!””

British Museum Inner Court

I’ve had several of these moments in the last few days. It would be simplistic to expect the London that I loved to stay in a time capsule, but the changes I see both inside and outside of iconic buildings is prompting a sense of amazement.

The reframing of the space inside the British Museum has been done in such a way that it adds both drama and aesthetic pleasure to a visit there. I am therefore pleased to allow the cobwebs of my personal memory be swept away by the new broom of such stunning architectural design.