Tag Archives: scotland

Nov 06 2011
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edinburgh, Sport

Hockey in Edinburgh

Hockey is not a big sport in Britain. However, as a stereotypical Canadian, I had to find me some hockey.

I’ve been following some of the developments in the NHL, but it’s quite tough to watch games because of the 8 hour time difference between me and my Vancouver Canucks.

The local team is the Edinburgh Capitals, and they play in the top division of the British League. Unfortunately, the British League is not really on par with other European hockey countries like Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Germany. I’ve been out to watch a couple games, and the Capitals are the equivalent of a division 3 men’s league back in Vancouver.

Last year, they were bottom of the league, but they’ve been a little better the last few weeks.

To get back into it, I’ve started playing with a rec team, and have been borrowing the team equipment for the last couple weeks. I think I’d like to stay in Scotland a while longer, so I’ll have to see about getting my equipment over here.

As for watching NHL games, I’m curiously watching what happens in Winnipeg and have been pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. I’ll have to try to watch a couple more games instead of just the highlights.

I’ve got another training session this week to help me get back into shape, and then a game in a couple weeks.

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Mar 10 2011
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Food, Scotland, Thoughts and Musings

Pie

There are many truly amazing things about Scotland. Of course, there is the rich and often bloody history, the beautiful natural landscapes, and obviously the whiskey. One that often escapes mention is that you can get all you meat dishes in pastry form.

  • Sausage rolls
  • Cornish pasties
  • Steak pies
  • Scotch pies
  • Chicken/Steak bake

Some would say that this diet is not in your long term interest and those people would probably be right. However, it is essential to eat like a local as much as possible. In Scotland, that means takeaway shops. Pies and pasties have fuelled the Scottish working man for generations…who am I complain.

As you’d expect, there are some takeaway places that are just disgusting. Though the good ones call you back with their close proximity to home (or the pub) and the alluring and dominating scent of grease.  Gregg’s are a chain of bakeries, by far the biggest in the Edinburgh area. If you haven’t eaten in a while or don’t expect to, their steak and chicken bakes are a nice snack to get you through the next hour or two. The best thing about them is that they are warm and you can easily eat them while walking.  They’re not gross, but are definitely fast food. The Piemaker is on north bridge, and tastes much better than Gregg’s. It is just around the corner from the Jazz Bar, and is open late. Very convenient for a late night sausage roll.  Rose Street is another good one if I’m in the new town. For most other things, I tend to stop at the Tailend or Eatalia’s on Leith Walk. I’m sure there are better places to eat, but you can’t beat the convenience. A scotch pie is better enjoyed at home, where there are metal forks and warm chairs to sit in. I really can’t be bothered to walk 30 minutes to 1 hour for takeaway – it’s usually a cold walk and it really defeats the purpose. But in summary, meat and pastry is mmm….mmm…good

 

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Nov 08 2010
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edinburgh

Guy Fawkes Day – A soggy, smoky good time

Remember, remember, the 5th of November. I first heard about Guy Fawkes when I watched V for Vendetta for the first time. After watching that movie like 30 times now, I think the name stuck in my brain.

It is a little strange that they would celebrate in Scotland as I imagine that there are more than a few people who wouldn’t have minded that much if Fawkes had succeeded in blowing up the English Parliament.

I guess the attraction of having a bonfire or shooting off a few fireworks in your backyard explains that little disconnect. Scots love their fireworks.

Though far from being the only show in town, the main event was held in Meadowbank stadium on Friday night. I was definitely tempted to stay in and skip it as part of me thought everyone else would to on account of the rain. After 20 minutes walk, I felt soaked right through to the bone. I watched with Aarti from Salisbury Craigs by the ruins of the old abbey looking down over the duck pond – a fantastic spot to view the show as it looks right down on the stadium. Before the stadium show, there were hundreds of other fireworks being fired throughout the city. My eyes were darting all over the place: barely catching some of them out of the corner of my eye. A couple of them going off right behind our heads as a few people hauled some fireworks up the craigs. As the show got going, I almost forgot how soaked i felt.

It started with the same classical music that you’d expect. I could barely hear it coming from the stadium. As the show got going, you couldn’t hear the music at all. All you could hear was the popping, howling, screeching and explosions of the fireworks. As you might expect, this was not exactly a welcome noise to all the birds around. They were darting every which way and with the very low light all you could catch was a glimpse.

Not long after the show got going, you could see the cloud of smoke starting to build up and spread out.

There were times when you could not see the fireworks going off, let alone see them on their way up. All that was visible was the big black-grey cloud. You could still hear them going off but that was about it.

The cloud eventually made it over to the Craigs so we could all breath it in deep. There were probably about thirty of us watching from that particular spot, more on other parts of the old volcano.

In some ways I actually preferred this show over the fireworks that closed the Edinburgh Festival. The festival fireworks were beautifully coordinated and put to music. The Guy Fawkes fireworks had a more raw random feeling. It didn’t feel as planned and controlled.

A revolutionary like Fawkes probably would have appreciated it.

 

 

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Oct 23 2010
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edinburgh

L’illusioniste

Last week, I made the excellent decision to see a movie at the Cameo. It truly is an excellent venue – it’s the first movie theatre I have been to that not only has its own bar, but permits you to take your drink into the movie.  A perk that suits me fine. Besides this, the main reason that people in Edinburgh know the Cameo is for the art house films they specialize in.

L’illusioniste was made by Sylvain Chomet, the same director who did belleville rendez-vous (aka les triplettes of belleville) and was set mostly in the Edinburgh of the 1950’s with briefer moments in Paris, London, and the Scottish islands.

Its about an ageing, struggling magician who is slowly being pushed aside in favour of more popular rock and roll acts. His search for work forces him to leave Paris for London, then the Scottish isles, and finally to Edinburgh. While performing at a small village on the Scottish isles, he meets a kind but poor young girl who is enchanted by his illusions. She follows him to Edinburgh where he tries to keep the illusion alive for her by secretly taking menial jobs to subsidize his failing career prospects and to provide her with gifts. Her kindness transforms him over the course of the story and she has almost a cinderella reaction to a few pair of shoes, coats, and dresses.  

The animation was amazing. The images they showed of Edinburgh and Scotland in the 1950’s were as good as anything I’ve seen in animation. Its always fun to see places you recognize appear on screen. There was even a scene where the magician accidentally wandered into the Cameo Theatre – when you see something that hits that close, you almost want to turn around to see if he is really there. There was also a scene where he had taken a job performing in a shop window at Jenners, and I’d been there only a couple days before (I actually pass it everyday on my way to work).

I didn’t really have any plans to see a movie that night, but was very happy that I did and also happy that it was a movie with such a local connection. Edinburgh is not really known for being a hot spot of film making, so L’illusioniste is a rare story.

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Oct 01 2010
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edinburgh

Haunted Edinburgh…I finally got around to a ghost tour

Considering my morbid tendencies, its surprising that this wasn’t one of the first things I did in Edinburgh, but a few nights ago I was walking through Grassmarket and saw a sign for a free ghost tour outside the Last Drop pub. Haymarket used to be home to the city’s gallows.

William Burke/the actor playing William Burke was our tour guide. It would be hard for the real William Burke to lead the tour since he was hanged, disected and buried in 1829.  A black comedy is coming out later this year based on the story, with Simon Pegg playing Burke.

I was a little disappointed that the tour didn’t go down to the vaults, apparently haunted by a nasty poltergeist, but thoroughly everything else. The guide told some of the more gruesome stories about Edinburgh past. I’d even heard a few of them as there is a blog about Edinburgh’s Dark Side that I really enjoy.

I even met a Canadian on the tour (from Cape Breton) who was proudly sporting his Canadian flag on his backpack.

The guide told a story that I had to check out, and it was about Sawney Bean and his incestuous family of cannibals who were robbing, murdering and eating travellers that they came across over a number of years. According to that blog I mentioned the story is probably not true; it was most likely made up by the english newspapers trying to depict Scots as more barbaric than they actually were. I was happy to hear that one of the more gruesome stories was likely not true, but the guide spun a few more tales that were almost as disgusting and also true. Edinburgh has had a very violent history.

Overall, I really liked the tour and would definitely do another.

With Halloween coming in about a month, I have to plan something creepy for myself and for Dimitri’s visit.

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Jul 14 2010
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Thoughts and Musings

Today I leave for Scotland

I guess for most people it would be tomorrow, but its been July 14 for about an hour or two and I’m just too excited to sleep.

I tried going to bed twice but I’m having a little trouble shutting my mind off.

Unless I come up with a last minute brain wave, I’ve packed my bags with everything I’ll be taking with me. There is a lot of stuff I’d rather not leave behind, but I guess its in my interests to travel a bit lighter. I keep wondering what my life will be like just a few weeks from now. For the past few months I’ve been thinking about this little adventure, and now that its almost here I still can’t bring it into clear focus.

Reading usually helps me think more clearly, and I started a Michael Connelly book on the ferry the other day, so I expect I’ll be spending a lot of time with Harry Bosch over the next 24 hours trying to figure out who the serial killer is; considering the long flight and time waiting in airports, I might be finished the book by the time I land.

The last few weeks have been mostly devoted to getting the hay off the field, which still isn’t finished. There are still three or four loads of hay on the last field below the house. I’m feeling pretty strong now after throwing hay bails for two weeks; its not really enough time to get ripped but my arms definitely feel longer after lugging around and stacking some of those heavy ones.  I’m not sure what the final count will be, but its  one of the best years in a long time and dad should have no problem with the last few hundred bails – last week, we were wondering if there would be places to put all of it. 

I really should be sleeping right now because I’ll need to catch an early ferry off Denman Island to connect to my flight from Nanaimo to YVR; that will get me to the airport 3 hours before I my flight to Glasgow, Scotland around 1 pm. It’ll be around 6 am local time when I land on Thursday. I’ll be in Edinburgh later the same day. I’ve never been able to sleep very well on airplanes, and its quite possible I won’t sleep again for more than a few minutes until Thursday night.

While I wait for my train in Glasgow, I’ll be sure to grab lunch and a pint of a strong local beer – get this trip started right.

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Jun 04 2010
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Literature

Ode to a Mouse

Ever since I first read ode to a mouse in high school, I have had a deep respect for Robert Burns. His beginnings were very humble, which is part of the reason I think he had such an appreciation of the simple things in his life. But that is only part of the reason I like him. The main reason I think is that his poems are lyrical. Many were originally put to music and still are today.

The fact that they are written in the Scottish dialect also gives them a lot of charm and even though there are phrases I don’t understand,  I don’t think that takes anything away from it if you listen closely. His life has been romanticized over the years, but you can’t help but recognize how far ahead of his time he was. The political ideas contained in this poem would have been very dangerous during his time. Here is the text and a brief explanation.

I can listen to this over and over.

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