Scotland - June 2008

Photos

Thursday 12 June:

I arrived in Edinburgh on time! I was excited and looking forward to the "Highland Swing" swing dancing weekend (thanks Nicki for the recommendation) and getting to hear lots of Scottish accents. I was also looking forward to collecting my luggage but this didn't eventuate - disaster! - I was one of half-a-dozen or so people whose bags failed to get routed through Oslo airport. The baggage staff assured me that bags generally get delivered a day or so later, and it actually suited me a little bit because my host Anna was out for the day and I didn't want to have to lug a suitcase around.

I headed into the city and was immediately struck by how blackened it looks - perhaps years of polution have soaked into the stonework and given it a distinctive, not particularly attractive, industrial look, but after a couple of days it just seemed natural. My first port of call was Edinburgh Castle, whose namesake is the venue for the rehearsals for my ukulele band in Melbourne. Quite apart from that link, I've also seen the Tattoo on TV a few times and it was good to get there in person and see a place with such an amazing history. I still had some time to kill before Anna could welcome me to her home so once I'd found her apartment buildings and wandered through The Meadows (managing to evade all the golfballs) I retired to a nearby pub - to watch the evening's soccer. I picked up a freshly printed guide to the upcoming Edinburgh Festival and was delighted to find a show called Learn To Play The Ukulele In Under An Hour (How George Formby Saved My Life). Finally I managed to rendezvous with Anna at her spacious apartment, and I could settle in and unpack my meagre possessions.

Friday: No news from the baggage handlers, so I was heading to the weekend festivities without danceable shoes or any changes of clothes. Anna, Katherine, Ben and myself walked up through town (stopping to admire wedding dresses whenever possible, for some reason) to meet the bus that would take us all up to the highlands. There we met a couple of people I knew from Melbourne - Ahn, Ben and Helen; it was great to catch up with them all! (I was slightly disappointed there weren't more Scots on the weekend - virtually everyone was from somewhere else.) As we travelled up to the highlands I found the roadscape somehow very familiar - at first I thought it was perhaps that I was back on the 'correct' side of the road, but then I noticed that the Scottish freeway road signs were the same design as the ones at home - the fonts, colours and so forth (except for distances being in miles).

On the way we visited Glenmorangie Distillery and did the tour (I felt a theme was developing since I had been to Mack Brewery only two days earlier) - we all had the opportunity of inhaling fumes from one of the vats which I think cauterised the entire inside of my skull. I took the opportunity in the gift shop to buy a reserve T-shirt and also a bottle of whisky.

Altogether it was a few hours' journey to Carbisdale Castle (including getting slightly lost), but the trip was worth it as the Castle was awesome - spectacular, cosy and very comfortable. There were about 70 of us on the weekend and we had the entire castle to ourselves. It was great to meet everyone - they had travelled from all over Europe (a few were from further afield originally) and the teachers were top notch. We had an excellent dinner and danced the night away - and although the sun went down eventually it never really got completely dark.

Saturday: Still no word from the baggage handlers, so I adopted defensive tactics including frequent excursions to the brisk air outside to get as cold as I could before getting all hot again from the dancing (I got to hang out with the smokers a fair bit!). If there had have been any clothes shops nearby I would have been there like a shot but the closest town was several miles away and too small to have much in the way of fashion shops. We had dance workshops all day - normally I write down all the moves and techniques we were learning but with the luggage situation, and with all the other excitement of the holiday, I didn't quite get around to it and so probably didn't make the most out of the weekend.

In the late afternoon we staged a 'Swing Highland Games' which was fun, and I also have fond memories of the great statues and paintings which really added to the regal atmosphere of the castle.

We had another big dance on Saturday evening - I had a couple of memorable dances including one with Frida - one of the rockstar swing dancers from the Harlem Hot Shots, and also with Vanessa who figuratively grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and had me dancing some nifty blues. Also I was using Whisky as a deodorant - if I drank enough of it I could forget that my clothes and myself were well overdue for a freshen-up! - and this worked fine until I went to stomp a big 'hit'... and missed the floor. Irn Bru proved very recuperative. I also managed to get a bit of ukulele action happening in the foyer outside the dance which was fun.

Sunday: Still no word from the baggage handlers. Anders generously leant me a shirt. There were a few more workshops, then it was time to start packing into the buses for home. Altogther it was a great weekend with a fun bunch of dancers, excellent teachers, an awesome venue, and great organisers (Christi and Paul); I just felt very self-conscious and scruffy without my luggage for so long, as much as the other dancers said it wasn't a problem.

The atmosphere on bus home was rather sleepy! But needless to say - as soon as we got back to Edinburgh everyone made plans to meet up at the Merlin for more dancing. (It was great to meet Lee and Seema - their enthusiasm was infectious and made up for my sleep deprivation!) I was much more cheerful because word had come through that my baggage had been found and was in Edinburgh. I think the airline must have sent the bag on their next Oslo to Edinburgh flight, which are only bi-weekly; rather than using another airline to get it there a bit quicker. After the Merlin there was another after-party at one of the dancers' houses (to the slight and polite consternation of the neighbours) - I was starting to fade and skipped any further dancing but enjoyed the music that some of our Eastern European colleagues spun up - they coincidently played a few songs that the Melbourne Ukulele Kollective have had in their set list, including a variation of Sao Roma.

Monday: I sat by the doorbell to await the bag - sometime between 9 and 12 - at 11:30 the phone rang to say that the courier was outside but couldn't see the address. I ran outside in my socks and shorts and luckily saw him - he was a block away outside number 24, not 42! I felt I couldn't have looked more scruffy but I didn't care, I had my bag back and I could wash and shave and wear some other clothes.

Suitably refreshed, I went to climb Arthur's Seat which was a fair hike but the views were great; I actually tumbled a couple of times on the descent but no damage done. I did the tour of The Palace of Holyroodhouse (including an exhibition of The Royal Collection) which was quite similar in design to Versailles - it lots of function-specific rooms with not much of a corridor to connect them - instead to go into inner rooms you have to pass through a succession of other rooms on the way. The ruins of the abbey and gardens were very nice and were being prepared for the Queen's garden party. I walked back through town (bought some tartan scarves for my sisters from a souvenir shop whose proprietor was Bosnian or something but wanted to ask me all about Rex Hunt), and then back to Anna's house. We then met up with some of the others for dinner and then back to Anna's house for drinks later... and later... and later..... Ben (Melbournian) challenged me to write a swing song about Microwave Background Radiation (and it couldn't be a love song but I ignored that criterion) which fleshed itself out over the next few days.

Tuesday: I had decided to accidently sleep in but Zsolt and Sasha rang the doorbell and since I only had a few more hours in Scotland I swung into action. Ben (from Holland) joined us headed up to Calton Hill where Kilts Across America were setting off on a fundraising motorcycle ride - in kilts. We then headed towards the Botanic Gardens although Ben and Zsolt weren't that interested and stopped off at a pub instead. Then the heavens opened and I took refuge in a glasshouse (what I did see of the gardens was pretty good but I was mainly trying to keep dry). Time was starting to run short so I went to find the pub with the others but just then a bus came so I sent some apologetic farewell messages to the others and headed back to Anna's to say goodbye (although I could look forward to seeing her in Melbourne in just a couple of weeks!) and collect my much-treasured luggage.

Edinburgh is building their first tram line out towards the airport but that'll still be a couple of years away so I took the bus. I flew with BA via London City Airport to Zurich - these were the only flights of my holiday that were not virtually full. London City Airport was full of business travellers, a welcome relief to all the backpackers and bucks parties, and the planes park at 135° to the terminal so they don't need to be pushed back.

Next: Switzerland