This blogger is on strike

 Yes I am on strike in sympathy with UK railway workers who are striking today. Although I support them 100%, the no blog is because I have a stomach bug.(Cue ahhhs …poor baby..).

Belfast: a city divided

 Things went a little bit too well with this travel day today. I’m scared.

Anyway, here we are in Belfast in a working class Protestant area. A little shabby looking but it will do. The air bnb is decent. 

Didn’t see central Belfast except to transfer buses to here. Will our adventures tomorrow.

Before I came here, I knew some of the history of Belfast with the troubles. I remember hearing about all of it when I was a young adult. I knew they had come to a peace. I didn’t realize it is still such a divided city. 

It is segregated on the basis of religion. There are even barriers between neighborhoods called “peace walls”. They were supposed to be taken down but few have been. 

I saw an article in the last couple of weeks of a Catholic  family being forced to move out of a Protestant neighborhood. Maybe there was more to the story.

There has been some trouble with brexit here which Northern Ireland voted against. It’s made crossing to the other Ireland difficult. There had

been free movement before.

There is still lots of bad feelings about those killed during the troubles. Boris Johnson proposed immunity for all involved if they cooperate with investigations. There is rejection of this because it is viewed as injustice and gives cover to police and British troops involved.

Then there is the Northern Ireland protocol post brexit. It aims to insure there isn’t a hard border between the two Irelands. It continues the free trade between Northern Ireland and the EU and assures their inclusion in any UK free trade agreement. The EU is objecting to some of it.

What a mess.

Impressions of Scotland

 So goodbye Edinburgh. Goodbye Scotland. I love Scotland and some day I’ll come back to explore all of its beauty.

Impressions of Edinburgh: Lots of tourists, kind of like London but on a much smaller scale. Such an old city that has preserved its buildings. Very hilly with the castle at the highest point overlooking the city. Very impressive the way it looks up there sitting on an old volcano.

Edinburgh is dark, kind of gloomy. Kind of eeerie. Cloudy. All these characteristics are perfect for the city that it is. It fits it. The building exteriors are rough and dark from the frequent rain. It looks like the medieval city it once was. You expect people from that era to appear in its alleyways. 

The harbor is beautiful, little development there. It’s a ways from the city center. UK cities don’t seem to develop their waterfronts like a lot of places. Maybe it’s the weather. 

I love everything about Edinburgh.

Impressions of Glasgow: Much more diverse. Not so touristy. More like a regular modern city. Much hipper than Edinburgh. Younger. More unique neighborhoods. 

Impressions of Linlithgow: A fantastic place to stay. So convenient to both Edinburgh and Glasgow. It’s a city of 8,00 that has a beautiful lake and historic palace where Mary queen of Scots was born. I absolutely loved the lake. Great sunsets. Nice Main Street with friendly people. I could see staying here again.

George Floyd and Linlithgow, Scotland

I took a long walk today through Linlithgow and beyond. On the way back I sat in a little green space with flowers. A guy named Tom was cleaning it up. He sat and talked to me for a while. 

One of the things he talked to me about was the Black Bitch. It’s a bar Tom likes to go to on Friday for karaoke. The name has a story to go with it. There was a guy way back in in the 1600s who was put on an island in Linlithgow loch and left there to starve for a crime he committed. . He had a black greyhound dog who swam out to take him food every day. When the town found out about it they chained the dog to a pole and later a pub was opened there in honor of the bravery and loyalty of the dog.The townspeople admired the dog and started referring to themselves as black bitches. It’s on the coat of arms of the town. There is a newspaper called the black bitch.

Zoom to 2020- Minneapolis Minnesota - George floyd is killed by police. The news goes around the world and there are protests everywhere including Scotland. Now there is objection to the phrase black bitch. Some people think it is offensive and should be changed. It is being studied by the Scottish historical trust (apparently they make these kind of decisions). 

Tom doesn’t think it should change. What do you think?

Scotland weather and train snafus

 So we did a train snafu yesterday. Wasn’t the railways fault. So….when you go from Edinburgh to Glasgow or vice versa, there are different routes. Linlithgow is between them two. Not every train out of either goes to Linlithgow. So yesterday we got on the wrong train for the first time. We ended up having to go to the station (Haymarket) before Edinburgh. It’s the only place we could transfer to back to Linlithgow.

The thing is the train we originally got on was the long route stopping at lots of small towns. Took 50 minutes to get to Haymarket to transfer. Then it took another 20 minutes to get to Linlithgow. So 70 minutes for what would have been a 30 minute ride. Oh well. Live and learn.

I miss the sun. I think my brain and body know this time of year is when there should be sun. In the UK, particularly Scotland, it’s mostly cloudy. That gets tiring. In Scotland it is mostly in the 60’s.  

The weather goes from partly cloudy to cloudy to rain and back to partly cloudy all in one day. You never really know what tomorrows weather will be because it will most likely change. We are on an island in the ocean after all.

I miss warm weather, sunshine. It’s like fall here. I love everything about Scotland and I will come back here but I do miss the sun.

Edinburgh seven hills of torture

 One thing about Edinburgh is that it is a city of hills. BIG hills. The main tourist street is a hill. It is a LONG hill. The street that goes down to the water is 3.4. miles long. It’s 3.4  miles back up. 

Edinburgh castle is up on on a huge extinct volcano. It is a beautiful scene looking up there. Walking up there is not so fun.

On the first day we went to a jazz fair and walked up near the castle, went up a thousand steps(!) and walked down steps to where the event was.

It makes for beautiful views. You can look down the street and see the harbor in the distance. There are big hills and little hills. There are small steps of stairs and steep long sets of stairs. 

Scots who live here must be in good cardiac shape or they avoid the hills altogether.  Edinburgh is built on seven hills. Not for those with a weak constitution.

Bagpiper hatred in Edinburgh

 I like hearing bagpipes. Who doesn’t like bagpipes? The thing is we don’t here them all the time. When we hear them it is special. 

You cant go far in Edinburgh without hearing someone playing. People play bagpipes like any other musician for money on the street. Some wear the big feather hat that is made of ostrich feathers traditionally. Some wear the day hat made of wool with ribbons on the back and decorative elements on one side.

The wear the highland dress with kilt with a plaid from their particular clan. I read there is a day kilt outfit and a more formal one. 

I have seen a couple of instances of bagpipe hatred- har. One time I’m walking down the street and this guy goes running by yelling at the top of his lungs straight for the bagpiper. I don’t think he physically assaulted him but he stopped him from playing. I saw somebody yell at one of them to “shut the fook up!”

So who knows? They are loud. The songs all sound alike. I don’t know if they are good or bad at it. 

What I really want to know is what is really in the bagpipers purse called a sporran. Purse you say? That ain’t a purse! It’s a purse just like my Hermes bag. (like I really have one of them). I cant believe these big manly Scots wear a purse. Har

Kilts have no pockets for some reason, the sporran is not only cool but practical. Traditionally made of leather and dapped out in trinkets

as much as you want. They were used for pistols, rations. Nowadays who knows? Cellphone, wallets, a container of haggis, breath mints?

I hope no one is offended by my attempt at humor here. I absolutely love Scottish culture. Just please tune down the bagpipes folks…