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SCOTLAND | |
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"Why does
it always rain on me?" is the rather blunt lyric which turned Fran Healy and
his band Travis into Grammy winning, multi-million record selling superstars,
yet I found myself cursing those very same words to a rather different tune
only a couple of hours after arriving in Fran's homeland. It's late Friday,
August 18th and I'm standing outside Waverley Station, Edinburgh. My body aches
and I'm dying for some sleep. After having sat through the nine hour red eye
KLM flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam, a ten hour stopover in the Dutch
capital awaited. After a little rendezvous to some of Amsterdam's notorious
coffee bars, I then returned to Schipol Airport for my flight to Edinburgh. The
annual month long fringe festival of arts was reaching its peak and it seemed
like virtually everyone in the whole world had had the same idea as me in
coming to Edinburgh. No one had rooms available, my legs could walk no more, my
brain was no longer able to think straight and my hands hurt so much from the
two suitcases I had been hauling that it felt like my fingers were tied to a
charging herd of elephants. With no luck booking rooms with the Thomas Cook or
tourist info desk at Turnhouse Airport, it was now looking highly likely that I
would have to flee to Glasgow for the weekend as hostels, hotels and
guesthouses in Edinburgh were booked inside and out. Just as it seemed like
nothing else could possibly go wrong, I was treated to one of Scotland's most
renowned characteristics..... rain....... lots of rain! Left; an officer and a gentleman? Pop quiz; which one's the Scottish guard and which one's the American tourist? |
| Having just spent
four weeks in the sweltering heat of Abu Dhabi, the torrential Scottish rain
was something of a shock to the system. I immediately went for cover in the
tourist information office at Waverley Station. They somehow managed to conjure
up a room at the Pollock Halls Residence of the University of Edinburgh for 30
pounds (about $50) a night. This was a little more than I wanted to pay for a
dormitory room but when considering the circumstances, I wasn't about to let it
slip away so I took the room for the three nights. The first item on my agenda was to give my long term friend Kyle Smith. Kyle and I had grown up together in Oman where we became close friends before forming our own band Voodoo Hedgehog. Kyle had gone off to his native Australia a year before I had left for California. He was living in Edinburgh temporarily with his girlfriend Megan, his sister Becky and a couple of other friends from Australia. Hey Kyle! Stop blocking my picture of the Edinbugh football stadium! Just kidding mate! Look at that happy couple....and then there's Kyle on the right. |
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Even though there was really nothing to be nervous about, there's always that intimate fear going through the back of your spine when you meet up with someone you haven't seen for a long time. There's always this chance that they may have turned into a psycho path, a heroin junky, a cross dressing whore or some sort of amphibious galactic extraterrestrial alien...... okay well I'm going a little overboard there, but you get what I mean! Then there's the other side of the spectrum; there's always that type of reunion where you're long time - no see buddy comes up to and starts to gloat, ".....well I just finished my doctrine in medicine and I've just opened up my own hotel in Las Vegas and just got done shooting my seventh film in Tahiti...." And all you've got to say for yourself is, "erm, well I still go to San Francisco State, I work at a bank.... erm, I ride my bike.... I've got my own webpage!" Fortunately, this was not the case. Despite obtaining a degree in history and having lived in both Australia and Scotland over the last couple of years; so little had changed between the two of us and we took off from where we had left off in Oman.
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Every August
Edinburgh pays homage to the famous Fringe Festival. This is the largest
celebration of the arts in the world as actors, comedians, theater groups,
musicians, poets, artists, and playwrights come to display their talents from
all across the globe. There are dozens of shows going on at various places
throughout the whole day. When Samuel Johnson claimed, "If you're bored of
London, you're bored of life," he had obviously not yet made the pilgrimage to
the Fringe Festival as Edinburgh in August makes London seem like a ghost town.
Acts vary from the Simpson's live cast to Shakespearean re-enactments to penis
puppeteers to lounge jazz to rock concerts to surreal art exhibitions. It is an
aficionado's fantasy. If you do decide to visit Edinburgh during this period,
make sure to book early. As I found out the hard way, places fill up quickly
and if one does not come prepared , it's going to be a bit of a dogfight trying
to find a place to stay. As you can see, Kyle hasn't changed that much..... except for the musical tastes......he never told us he could play drums. Q) Why don't they wear short skirts in Scotland? A) Their balls might show |
| Even if one
doesn't make it to Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival, there is still plenty
of things to see and do that make the Scottish capital a place packed with
world heritage. Located right on the Firth of Forth River, it is surrounded by
volcanic mountains and peaks and hosts an arsenal of superb architecture and
historically significant buildings. The highlights are the castle and Arthur's
Seat. Edinburgh became the capital of Scotland in the eleventh century. Despite merging with the United Kingdom in 1707, it has remained the centre for government administration (now the Scottish Office), the separate legal system and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The city can be split into two; the Old Town and the New Town which are divided by the Princes Street Gardens. The New Town was built late in the 18th century. Edinburgh Castle is one of the most impressive of all British castles and it is where the majestic Scottish military Tattoo takes place during the festival. The castle switched hands between the Scots and English many times and housed many famous royals such as Mary Queen of Scots, King William and Queen Mary. In it for the money or for the music?...... the Voodoo Hedgehog reunion tour gets underway by Nelson Monument. |
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