Author Archives: ngwright

Jan 17 2015
Leave a comment
Music

Ridin the Rails

I’m not sure how well known it is, but like me and Sheldon Cooper Johnny Cash was a big fan of trains and loved singing about them every chance he got.

Consider that opening line to what was arguably his most famous hit, Folsom Prison Blues, “I hear that train a coming, its rollin round the bend and I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when”.

In my mind, I have always associated trains with freedom and possibilities, and it feels pretty good to share that with the Man in Black. When I was in Europe, I felt like nearly every village, town, and city was reachable by rail and ready to be explored. In Calgary, there is no Via Rail route but that hopefully won’t last forever – I’m hoping they’ll at least re-introduce a Calgary to Edmonton route since I can still recollect that feeling of everything being a train ride away. Plus, who doesn’t love a good train song.

The next time that I go away I’ll have to put together a really good playlist to relax to as the train rumbles down the track and the world flies by.

Tagged ,
Jan 14 2015
Leave a comment
Calgary, Travel

Calgary (1972)

What a fascinating look at Calgary (1972)

Coming down Centre Street Bridge, the Calgary Tower looks down almost majestically.

The video is courtesy of British Pathe and their massive archive of video footage.

Tagged , ,
Apr 18 2013
Leave a comment
Thoughts and Musings

Brand new blog for my new life in Calgary

Immortal Scotland seemed to outlive its usefulness now that I’m a Calgarian now and almost a year out of Scotland.

My priorities these days are meeting new people here in Calgary and building up that social circle that makes life bearable. I’ve started a new job at the Calgary Construction Association running their online planroom. Its been a stressful week as I try to find a new apartment here in a very difficult market. Currently, my commute is very long on the train and a pair of buses so I hope to find something that makes my early mornings not so early.

I’ve been on meetup.com and will be volunteering at the Calgary Underground Film Festival this weekend. Plus, my partner Aarti will be here in a couple weeks after her time in UK for job interviews.

Oct 14 2012
Leave a comment
Uncategorized

Missing Scotland a lot these days

Its been a few months since I’ve written on here, and truthfully I didn’t know if I’d even try to keep this blog going after returning to Canada. I haven’t been writing much recently, and I really am missing it. I’m also missing all the great people I met in Edinburgh and some of the amazing places I got to see. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for things to come together on the job front, but I know it will eventually if I am patient. The farm life is peaceful, but moves a bit slowly. I’m working on a website for the farm, and I thought I might post a couple things here to get me writing again.

May 24 2012
Leave a comment
edinburgh

Walking Edinburgh’s Union Canal Tow Path

On Saturday, I crossed part of an interesting walk off my Scotland Bucket List. Leaving from Fountainbridge, I walked 14 miles of the Union Canal getting as far as Broxburn.

Looking at the map, I thought I would have gotten a lot further – at the start of the day, I thought I would make it to Linlithgow without any trouble. The distance was a little deceiving. Things always seem a lot closer on the map.

Unusually for Scotland, the weather stayed fairly dry for the whole day. Most of Edinburgh was inside watching the Scottish Cup Final so I definitely felt like i was doing something different.

Near the start of the walk, around Harrison Park, there were loads of people playing with their kids, running, and walking dogs. Once I got past Hermiston Gait though and crossed over the motorway I would see other walkers very rarely.

There were more cyclists than walkers as I got further out, which is probably what I would do if I wanted to go all the way to the Falkirk wheel along the canal.

The whole thing is a pretty impressive piece of engineering. Its very narrow and shallow in places, but you have loads of bridges and these massive viaducts including a very high one at Slateford that passes over the Water of Leith.

When it was first built in the 1820’s, it was mainly used to haul coal and other freight. The narrow canal boats were pulled along by the current and horse power.

Nowadays, the remaining boats are more recreational. A few people even live on them.

I don’t know if I would be able to do but it seems like a pretty idyllic life – you can choose to berth wherever and if you don’t get on with your neighbours or just want a change of scenery you travel a few miles upstream. People in the UK have some really romantic ideas about their canals, but in reality I don’t think many really take full advantage of them.

Around the 1930’s, the canals fell out of use as freight moved to railways. Cities like Amsterdam have tens of thousands of people living on canal boats, but in the UK its definitely a smaller scale, more rural thing. I saw a fair number of these boats berthed in Ratho but its not on the same scale that you’d see in Europe.

Initially I was hoping to stop their for a bite to eat, but I discover that the Bridge Inn was fully booked up for a wedding.

Before tiring myself out, I managed to cross over a couple more impressive aqueducts, and was able to do some plane and train spotting from the same part of the canal. About a mile and a half outside of Broxburn, the canal goes right underneath the Edinburgh Airport Landing Path, which coincidentally is very near one of the two Edinburgh-Glasgow rail lines.

You can see the Ratho viaduct in the distance, which is also a not too shabby bit of engineering.

By the time I got to Broxburn I was thoroughly wiped so decided to forego the last 10 miles to Linlithgow and catch a bus back to Edinburgh.

Tagged , , , ,
May 14 2012
Leave a comment
Scotland

Blair Castle

Blair Castle is the seat of the Murrays of Atholl. More than any castle or country home I’ve been to so far, the decor is all about hunting which is understandable when you consider the beautiful grounds it sits on.

Its hard to paint a full picture, but visiting the castle was a highlight of our visit to Pitlochry. One of the first things you notice is the wild man of Atholl. He is absolutely everywhere.

He is part of the Murray family crest, and is usually holding a key and an axe with both his arms raised. According to the legend, the wild man of Atholl was supposed to be a great hunter from the area who was sent after a marauding MacDonald who was stealing cattle and terrorizing the countryside. He brought his quarry back in chains.

The groundfloor hallway is lined from end to end with stag antlers and the grand ballroom is filled with taxidermy. The Murray family have also collected paintings, furniture, and tapestries with a definite hunting theme. The drawing room was filled with stuffed birds and small animals wearing hats.

One of my favourite paintings from the trip – John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl

I couldn’t place where I’d seen it before, but it probably would have been at the National Gallery of Scotland by Princes Street Gardens. Apparently, this was a controversial portrait at the time because the Duke was wearing a kilt at a time when wearing tartan was banned (because of its association with the Jacobite uprising).

You can see the castle in the background, but I like the sleeping dog in the foreground – he looks like he has had a full day helping the master with the hunt.

Blair castle has gone through several transformations over the years, and is still a residence even today. The earliest part of the castle dates back to the 13th century, but it went substantial renovations during the Georgian and Victorian periods.

We walked through each of the rooms, and saw some interesting artifacts including the armor worn by Bonnie Dundee when he died at Killecrankie and a chair made almost entirely from deer antlers on the central staircase. The house and furniture is all very luxurious, and you can imagine that each item has a lot of history.

Outside we explored the woods and made our way over to the old Kirk and Hercules Garden where we could look back for some impressive views of Blair Castle. The surrounding trails on the estate provide some more idyllic views, but since this was a short visit we made our way back to Blair Athol and then Pitlochry.

Tagged , , , , ,
Apr 29 2012
Leave a comment
Scotland, Sport

Rec Hockey in Dumfries – Scottish Plate Weekend

Unfortunately, we didn’t win it like we’d hoped, but it was a fun weekend all the same.

The structure is a little bizarre. Instead of playing three 20 minute periods, each game was two 15 minute periods so even though we played three games on Saturday that was only 90 minutes of running time hockey.

I play goalie for a team called the Edinburgh Stingers

We won our first game against the Dundee Devils by a score of 3 – 2. This game could have very easily been a tie, but we got lucky because of a slightly odd rule that meant one of the Devils goals was called back. All penalties in the tournament were supposed to be called right away (no delayed penalties). So when one of our players hooked a guy coming in on a breakaway they had to call it back when the guy scored.

The second game was against the Highland Capitals. We played with them but they got 2 goals in the first few minutes of the first period and we couldn’t come back. We played them to a scoreless draw in the second period but couldn’t get the offense we needed. The teams were closely matched so if we’d gotten more shots on goal, this game could have gone in our favour.

The third game was against the Dumfries Demons. We’d watched them play the Capitals to a draw earlier in the day so we felt like we had a good chance. They even beat the Glasgow Chiefs, which was a surprise. However, this game did not go well for us from start to finish. We did a lot of puck chasing and didn’t find ourselves in their zone for very much of the game.  The worst bit was I took a hard slap shot through traffic off the inside of the leg that has now swollen up to a nice bruise.

Unfortunately, by the start of our fourth game, we’d been eliminated from medal contention so our game against Glasgow was going to be our last. I started, and George the other goalie went in for the second period. We lost the game making our record 1-3, which was a little disappointing (its always more fun to win) but it was a whole weekend playing and watching hockey which is a pretty fine way to spend a weekend.

The Dumfries rink is a little smaller than the ones at Murrayfield or Dundee, and I feel like I spent most of this trip either at the rink or the hotel. I didn’t feel like I had the energy or inclination to do a proper tour around Dumfries and Galloway, but may do that over the next couple of months. I’ve yet to make a visit to the Globe Tavern or the Robbie Burns House plus there is some good cycling in that area that may warrant further investigation.

The Wickerman Festival is also nearby, so will have to see about that.

Tagged , , , , ,
Apr 25 2012
Leave a comment
Scotland

Visiting Pitlochry

This past weekend, we took an overnight trip to Pitlochry in Perthshire for a little exploration and adventure.

I’d heard good things about it but was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more to do. The village is very tiny – you can walk from one end to the other in a matter of minutes. The buildings are beautiful and the whole place is filled with hotels and very picturesque. We even had dinner and drinks at the Old Mill Inn. We ended up going for a walk on Saturday and enjoying a little of the countryside. There are some pretty fantastic views within a short walk.

Getting up in the morning, we passed a group of two dozen cyclists – there was literature at the hostel highlighting some of the cycling trails nearby and bike shops in town. We hadn’t made plans to go cycling, so ended up catching a bus to the nearby Blair Castle and Gardens.

I think I’ll do a later post about the castle because it was pretty packed full of history.

After finishing there, we took a walk around the grounds. It was a little strange actually because a lot of North American trees were planted including some big Douglas Firs and California Redwoods. It almost felt like I was walking through a forest  back home.

On the edges of the grounds was the old kirk, resting place of Bonnie Dundee, the Jacobite general immortalized by Sir Walter Scott in the famous folk song.

Bonnie Dundee by the Corries

Bonnie Dundee, aka the Bluidy Clavers, actual name was John Graham 7th Laird of Claverhouse, was a professional soldier, close friend of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and military leader of the Jacobite army. He died at the Battle of Killecrankie which was fought nearby. It was an important victory for the Jacobites, but also a costly one.

Without their leader, Killecrankie was followed up by a major defeat nearby at Dunkeld.

From Blair Castle, we walked backed to Blair Atholl, and then went on to the Killecrankie visitor centre for lunch before starting a hike back to Pitlochry. There was lots of information about the battle including a few interesting sights along the way. Like the name suggests, Soldier’s Leap is the place from where a retreating government soldier leaped from the rocks into the river below to escape pursuing Jacobites.

The railway viaduct was really impressive, and we passed a high bridge with a bungee jumping platform. Its weird because its something I’ve wanted to do for a while but have really got around to.

Lots of people were taking advantage of the outdoors. People were fishing, biking, walking their dogs, and it was a good six mile walk from the visitor centre to Pitlochry. Luckily we had some decent weather to do it in.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Apr 24 2012
Leave a comment
edinburgh Video

Adopting a kitten in Scotland was one of the best ideas ever.

Its been almost 6 months that we’ve had her. We named her Eva (after the character in Wall-E). I’d just put some catnip on her scratching post and she went right after it. She’s looking at me as I writing this trying to telepathically convince me that she should get some more. She’s almost a year old now – we got her from the cat shelter in Leith at the end of october and love her to bits… even if she wakes us up way too early on weekends. Also, her whiskers are really long and floppy now – it makes her look like some kind of wizard.

Tagged , , ,
Apr 16 2012
Leave a comment
Music

Hilarious…public outcry overturns City of Vancouver Engineering Department’s Bagpipe Ban

The ban was so quiet that even the Mayor didn’t know about it until he was questioned by reporters. An award winning piper was informed about it when he tried to apply for his busking license and was denied.

Apparently, the city engineering department had received noise complaints from some particularly non-musical residents and decided the only solution was an outright ban. I’m not saying that there are not two sides to every story, but there is a time when you have to ignore noisy residents and business owners and let common sense prevail. The story is more about bagpipes, however, all percussion instruments were included in the ban, so its hard to figure what kind of reaction city staff were expecting.

As a current Scottish resident and former Vancouver resident, I’ve become a fan of the bagpipes. Its not everyone’s taste, but Vancouver staff could have easily avoided the controversy all together by resolving those complaints with measures short of a ban or just telling those people making the complaints to go culture themselves a little bit. I tolerate all the awful top40 that some of these people like, so they can probably learn to tolerate a few drums and bagpipes for the sake of having a city that is culturally vibrant and musically diverse.

The most newsworthy thing about this incident is how long it took for staff to realize what anyone with common sense could have told them. From the very beginning of the ban, this was only going to go one way. Mayor Gregor Robertson asked staff to examine the ordinance after reporters asked him about it (he couldn’t outright contradict them in public), then it was overturned a few days later with vocal support from other Canadians of scottish descent.

Its good to know that there are still some people who are determined to make Vancouver look like a no fun city.

Tagged , , , , ,
← Older posts