Tag: edinburgh

Weekly Photo Challenge: (Love)

Heart of Midlothian

On the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, lies the Heart of Midlothian.

From Wikipedia:-

Visitors to Edinburgh will often notice people spitting on the Heart. A tolbooth (prison) stood on the site, where executions used to take place. The heart marks its doorway: the point of public execution. Some people spit on the Heart. Although it now said to be done for good luck, it was originally done as a sign of disdain for the former prison. The spot lay directly outside the prison entrance, so the custom may have been begun by debtors on their release.

Fare Thee Well, Edinburgh

Just before we left Scotland, I purchased an old Olympus OM-2N, keen to see if I would enjoy the simplicity of a film camera once again. As soon as I unpacked it, and held it, I knew it would be a joy to use. It felt solid, despite its small size, and loading in a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 and winding the film on brought back some wonderful memories. Click, click, click.

What better way to try it out than in my final days in Scotland. We’d sold the car, so I was back to taking the train in, and walking through the city to the Mayfield area, where I worked. Past the familiar sights, sounds and smells that have accompanied me every working day for the previous six years.

I had no time to get the film developed before I left. That small plastic canister has travelled with us to Canada and on to Australia, nestling in my luggage. I had no idea if the camera was still functional, or if the film would survive, until I finally found a shop in a local mall that could process and scan in an hour.

It was all worth it, if only for the sense of anticipation that digital photography denies.

Of all the cities I have visited, Edinburgh is the one that calls me back.

Fare thee well my own true love
And farewell for a while.
I’m going away, but I’ll be back
If I go ten thousand miles.
Ten thousand miles, my own true love,
Ten thousand miles or more,
And the rocks may melt and the seas may burn,
If I should not return.
Oh don’t you see that lonesome dove,
Sitting on an ivy tree,
She’s weeping for her own true love
Just as I shall weep for mine.
Oh come back my own true love
And stay a while with me
For if I had a friend all on this earth,
You’ve been a friend to me.
And fare thee well my own true love
And farewell for a while.
I’m going away, but I’ll be back
If I go ten thousand miles.

My Head Is Spinning

The sound of laughter and pop music from the 1980s.
The smell of Aberdeen Angus burgers mixed with sweet, chocolate-filled crêpes.
A sip of Glühwein and children spinning in giant, neon-lit tea cups.
The Fair is a heady mix that saturates the senses.

Sign of the Times


It’s a sign of the times that the most glamorous part of Edinburgh’s main shopping street in the lead up to Christmas is the new Primark cut-price clothing shop.

It’s as if all the other shops have just given up.