Live from Edinburgh
November 09, 2003 ~ 3:30 p.m.
EDINBURGH, Scotland, U.K.�Jesus, this fucking mouse is annoying! Does anything ever work properly in these internet cafes? I�m going to have to clean this entry up when I get back home, but at least I get to report from the capital of bonnie Scotland.
At first it seemed we wouldn�t do much on our first day here and, indeed, we didn�t. After arriving at the hotel, we slept for about five hours and finally set off for a local restaurant at 8 p.m. We were feeling rather pleased with ourselves for finally seeing Scotland. But that feeling turned desultory when the wife became the target of vocal anti-English sentiment. As she retrieved money from the machine, she enthusiastically commented, �Oooh, look, Scottish money!� (Scottish pound notes are different from those in England.) I heard her say this. But I did not hear what Jo (my mom-in-law) reportedly said, that a man had replied to her, mocking her �oooh,� and then said, �fuck you.�
This is only a guesstimate. He could have been speaking to someone else in the area or on a handless cell phone. I never heard this nastiness myself; neither, amazingly, did the wife, though Jo swears it happened. If it was directed at her, he clearly interpreted her enthusiasm for disgust. As if the wife would be so purposely insulting.
�We�re on the street for five bloody minutes and already we�re getting bashed,� the wife said bitterly. It was enough to almost make me begin to feel sorry for the English. Although they likely won�t ever admit it, they are much like Americans with respect to the fact that they�re not much liked in certain places. The Welsh, Scottish and Irish all bear grudges against them. If they fly halfway around the world to the antipodean continent, they�ll get laughed at and called �pommies.� Canadians are quick to let you know that, if they bear any British blood, that they are Scottish -British as opposed to English-British. So, dear reader, if you are English and have engaged in any anti-American thoughts or actions, please remember this: you�re none too popular yourselves in many parts of the world. The only place where people really swoon at you, and will follow you around like puppy dogs just to hear your accent, are ... Americans! Just remember that �
Anyway, we can�t state declaratively that this was a case of Sassenach bashing, so our spirits picked up after a meal at an Indian restaurant on Leith Way. Then we retired back to our hotel.
Today, however, we did it all: A walk up through the hilly, windy streets to Edinburgh Castle, although we did not pay to go in as it costs a whopping �8.50 to do so. We walked down the Royal Mile, got a very interesting history on St. Gile�s Cathedral from one of the church�s chaplains, and stared at the Scottish Parliament building for a bit. Then we walked down the curvy Cockburn Street, which is the center of Edinburgh youth culture. There are alternative clothing and record shops everywhere, bearing healthy stocks of counterculture wares. Very interesting; it reminded me of Harvard Square.
At Waverley Station, Edinburgh�s main bus and train terminal, we went into a bar called Acanthus and I had a McEwing�s Ale, a local Edinburgh brew.
I wanted to climb the 287 steps of the Scott Momument, which is similar to the Albert Memorial in London, but is much more Gothic in architecture. It is actually a quite austere piece of craftsmanship, so much so that it is a bit intimidating. You wouldn�t want to look at it on acid.
Well, time is fast approaching when we need to head back to the airport, so it�s time for me to run back to the bus stop on Princes Street to meet the ladies who have been doing some shopping.
But it�s been a great weekend, y�ken?
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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