Juneteenth!

 

Hurray! Hurray! It's Juneteenth! And what does that mean? Apparently an excuse to post some Scots. Here's these boys, all hail ASH with pipes.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Edinburgh

  

York's great, no doubt about it, but D and I were on a mission to get to the Athens of the North via Vauxhall Tigra. Would the four wheeled runabout make it up the hills of the scenic route? It did, mercifully, and we stopped at Bremenium, a Roman fort north of Hadrian's Wall. Not much remains today but you can see traces of its walls and triple ditch. It once held a significant force of 1000 men.

Then on to Edinburgh to meet an old friend who, among other things, is President of the fabled Ghost Club. He gave us a great tour of the city, New Town, the Royal Mile and much, much more. Excellent, what a great place until... 

You get to the Scottish Parliament building, which is hideous and cost 400M GBP. They say architecture reflects the soul or spirit of the people who build it; northern parliamentarians, take note.

That aside, I was struck by the place, street after street of Georgian houses in New Town and then the old medieval city by the castle. Beautiful now but it must have been a noisome place in the days before plumbing made its way into the tall tenements and courts, gardyloo.

So go to Edinburgh if you can and enjoy the architecture, history, pubs, restaurants, museums and galleries of the city. It was great to be back after nearly 30 years and great to meet up with our ghostly friend, what a good man.

Was haggis involved? Yes. Were there pipers? Everywhere. Did I wear a kilt? No, I did not. Were there ghosts? Possibly at the Arthur Conan Doyle Center. Next stop? Back south to Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Aberystwyth.

Cheers,

LSP

As You Were

People think the West is dead, that'd be an error.

Stand steady,

LSP

Feast of Saint Andrew

It's the Feast of Saint Andrew, almost, so here's some pipes.

Scotland the Brave,

LSP

The Feast of St. Andrew

Listen up, Heathen. Today's the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle who was martyred by the pagan Roman state. Here's his collect, from the 1928 BCP:

ALMIGHTY God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay; Grant unto us all, that we, being called by thy holy Word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Andrew, pray for us.

LSP