After a marathon 7.5-hour installation, we have a new boiler and heat in all radiators, including the one that was broken when we moved in. We also have a fine layer of dust on all dishes near the sink due to the repairmen drilling the wall to fit the new ventilator, but all in all, I'll make that trade. Especially because, impelled by some inner knowledge I could not articulate, I covered the cranberry scones, thereby saving tomorrow's breakfast.
Now taking bets on what apartment fixture breaks next!
Justin's computer: 2-1
Kitchen table: 3-1
Nana's patience with horrible clomping children upstairs (the Demon Spawn) - 5-1
Something we never saw coming: 6-1
14 April 2010
12 April 2010
A Walk Down the Water of Leith
The Water of Leith is a small river that runs from the Pentland Hills through north-central Edinburgh to Leith, where it flows into the Firth of Forth. A public foot-and-cycle path, the Water of Leith Walkway, follows the river from Balerno on the southern outskirts of town all the way to the old Leith waterfront.
Last week, I took a long stroll along the lower stretch of the Water of Leith. I started at the Dene, a deep ravine on the northwestern edge of New Town. The Dene is home to Dean Village, a tiny medieval town built astride a weir (or dam) that used to power the city's grist mills.
Just downriver from Dean Village is the Dean Bridge. Designed by Thomas Telford and built in 1833, the bridge soars over 100 feet above the floor of the ravine.
After the Dean Bridge, the path passes a Victorian mineral spring, St. Bernard's Well.
As you can see from the photos, the vegetation in the ravine is very dense, especially for April. This is a common phenomenon here in Scotland, which I mentioned in a previous post: you add a tiny bit of elevation or exposure to the wind, and the land is barren, but it doesn't take much shelter to get you a borderline jungle.
The river exits the Dene at Stockbridge, a posh neighborhood just north of New Town . . .
. . . then past the Stockbridge Colonies, a collection of parallel row homes originally built as cheap housing for workers.
Now, the Colonies rank among the city's most coveted real estate, and are especially popular with arty types. They're famous for their odd second-story front doors.
After Stockbridge, the river skirts Inverleith just south of the Royal Botanic Gardens and passes into Canonmills, Stockbridge's slightly less posh little cousin.
Below Canonmills the river widens noticeably and the older architecture flanking its upper stretches is replaced by new construction.
On the approach to Leith, the river even passes through an industrial estate (not pictured) and by another old weir.
After that patch, though, the Water of Leith Walkway ends with a final pleasant sight: the old harbor in Leith, pictured below.
I'll end here: Leith deserves its own post, and a more thorough exploration than I was able to give it after such a long walk. Also, if I could do it again, I would probably have ended my walk at Canonmills or shortly thereafter--there wasn't much to see on the last stretch, and there are buses that run directly from the city center to Leith.
11 April 2010
Spring is Here!
(The question is, how long will it stay?)
I know that we here at the Educated Burgher have often made light of Scotland's mercurial weather. Mother Nature's whimsy can have an upside, though: the last two days have been unseasonably warm, up to about 60 degrees Farhenheit. After the winter we've just had, that feels like t-shirt weather!
The daffodils are out on the Meadows, too. I assume this means that, while the warm weather won't stay for long (seriously, I think it was warmer today than it ever was last August), Spring has finally sprung.
I know that we here at the Educated Burgher have often made light of Scotland's mercurial weather. Mother Nature's whimsy can have an upside, though: the last two days have been unseasonably warm, up to about 60 degrees Farhenheit. After the winter we've just had, that feels like t-shirt weather!
The daffodils are out on the Meadows, too. I assume this means that, while the warm weather won't stay for long (seriously, I think it was warmer today than it ever was last August), Spring has finally sprung.
08 April 2010
Bye, bye British Internet
Sorry to be a bit of a downer today, but when you're a book history dweeb living in the UK, and Parliament drastically changes the course of media history in one fell swoop, it's hard not to pipe up.
The skinny: in the rushed run-up to a general election, the UK Parliament just passed the "Digital Economy Bill," an absolute goat-rope bit of legislation that essentially gives copyright owners the power to ban households from the internet with little or no burden of proof. Currently, copyright owners can already blackmail consumers with spurious lawsuits and indiscriminate takedown notices. Now, they can ramp their blackmail up with the threat of revoking your citizenship in the digital world.
Chalk this up as reason #2 why I'm glad I'm leaving in August.
(Reason #1 = more and better jobs elsewhere.)
What's even more disappointing is that the EU Parliament recently stepped back from similar regulations, and over the last few weeks it looked like the UK's Digital Economy Bill might go down in flames.
In other news, this does mean that the US gets to give up the title of "Most Draconian Copyright Regime" for at least a little while, until our Congrescritters catch up with their brethren from across the pond.
You can read more on BoingBoing and the Telegraph.
The skinny: in the rushed run-up to a general election, the UK Parliament just passed the "Digital Economy Bill," an absolute goat-rope bit of legislation that essentially gives copyright owners the power to ban households from the internet with little or no burden of proof. Currently, copyright owners can already blackmail consumers with spurious lawsuits and indiscriminate takedown notices. Now, they can ramp their blackmail up with the threat of revoking your citizenship in the digital world.
Chalk this up as reason #2 why I'm glad I'm leaving in August.
(Reason #1 = more and better jobs elsewhere.)
What's even more disappointing is that the EU Parliament recently stepped back from similar regulations, and over the last few weeks it looked like the UK's Digital Economy Bill might go down in flames.
In other news, this does mean that the US gets to give up the title of "Most Draconian Copyright Regime" for at least a little while, until our Congrescritters catch up with their brethren from across the pond.
You can read more on BoingBoing and the Telegraph.
06 April 2010
Ghost Town
This is an image-heavy post, so if you're subscribing via e-mail, make sure your program is showing pictures.
As you go around Edinburgh, the old architecture isn't the only thing that can tie you to the city's history. We also see a lot of what I think of as "ghost signs" - not actual hauntings, although Edinburgh is reputed to have a few of those, but rather shadows and remnants of paint that suggest to you some of the men and women who have passed through these spaces before.
In Ye Olden Tymes, just as today, you advertised your business by decorating your storefront. Why haven't they been painted over? I'm not sure. If the buildings are listed, which so many are, it may be that nobody's allowed to touch them. It might just be that nobody bothers. Most of the surviving images are either significantly above eye level or on the underside of arches, places we don't use for much these days.
This one's from the Royal Mile: William Geddes, Bookbinder
Particularly fitting, as it's in the doorway now leading to the Writer's Museum.
From North Bridge, a set of old shop signs in what's now an apartment building doorway:
The signs are the same on both side of the arch. With a close-up from the right side to fill in some gaps, we can identify one former tenant as C. Wright, Straw and Felt Hatter.
Just around the corner from my flat, on West Preston Street: a very well-preserved paint sign on the site of an old tailor's shop:
On Nicholson Square, near my favorite Indian restaurant (Kebab Mahal - voted first place in Scotland's curry awards for 2009!) This sign has clearly been painted over more than once, but as best I can make out, it says
"Baskets, Foreign Baskets, Rugs, Mats
Fancy Leather and Wood Walking Sticks
Hardware and Woodenware"
Not sure what this one says. As I recall, it was around the corner from Black Medicine Coffee Co. I'll look if I'm in the area again.
Across the street from the photo above: "Stalls to let. Apply 50 South Bridge."
On Greenmarket: the 19th century version of the Au Bon Pain window, showing off your presence in some exotic locales.
Finally, some more recent former tenants: The Friendship Centre, off Nicholas Square - presumably religious, I'm not sure.
... and the University of Edinburgh Bookstore. This site still is the University's bookstore, but it's a Blackwell's now. If you click through to the zoomed version, you can just make out "University College General Bookstore."
Surely something that would be a bonanza to scholars of advertising, as it's not something I've ever seen studied. Or perhaps for font geeks like me (down with Papyrus!).
So if you're in Edinburgh, try looking up! There are lots more cool images like this that were too faint or too large to photograph, but are still easily read as you stroll by.
As you go around Edinburgh, the old architecture isn't the only thing that can tie you to the city's history. We also see a lot of what I think of as "ghost signs" - not actual hauntings, although Edinburgh is reputed to have a few of those, but rather shadows and remnants of paint that suggest to you some of the men and women who have passed through these spaces before.
In Ye Olden Tymes, just as today, you advertised your business by decorating your storefront. Why haven't they been painted over? I'm not sure. If the buildings are listed, which so many are, it may be that nobody's allowed to touch them. It might just be that nobody bothers. Most of the surviving images are either significantly above eye level or on the underside of arches, places we don't use for much these days.
This one's from the Royal Mile: William Geddes, Bookbinder
Particularly fitting, as it's in the doorway now leading to the Writer's Museum.
From North Bridge, a set of old shop signs in what's now an apartment building doorway:
The signs are the same on both side of the arch. With a close-up from the right side to fill in some gaps, we can identify one former tenant as C. Wright, Straw and Felt Hatter.
Just around the corner from my flat, on West Preston Street: a very well-preserved paint sign on the site of an old tailor's shop:
On Nicholson Square, near my favorite Indian restaurant (Kebab Mahal - voted first place in Scotland's curry awards for 2009!) This sign has clearly been painted over more than once, but as best I can make out, it says"Baskets, Foreign Baskets, Rugs, Mats
Fancy Leather and Wood Walking Sticks
Hardware and Woodenware"
Not sure what this one says. As I recall, it was around the corner from Black Medicine Coffee Co. I'll look if I'm in the area again.
Across the street from the photo above: "Stalls to let. Apply 50 South Bridge."
On Greenmarket: the 19th century version of the Au Bon Pain window, showing off your presence in some exotic locales.
Finally, some more recent former tenants: The Friendship Centre, off Nicholas Square - presumably religious, I'm not sure.
... and the University of Edinburgh Bookstore. This site still is the University's bookstore, but it's a Blackwell's now. If you click through to the zoomed version, you can just make out "University College General Bookstore."
Surely something that would be a bonanza to scholars of advertising, as it's not something I've ever seen studied. Or perhaps for font geeks like me (down with Papyrus!).So if you're in Edinburgh, try looking up! There are lots more cool images like this that were too faint or too large to photograph, but are still easily read as you stroll by.
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