Image for 4-30-11 - Danger of Death!

I love that sign, saw while hiking the Union Canal. It's warning against the overhead power lines. Judging from the barbed wire wrapped around the pole, I guess they've had a few people try and climb it. I think that sign is applicable anytime though. The end can come anytime, so you better get out there and live your life. The samurai would "freshen their minds with death" every morning to remind themselves how short and fragile life is. I do the same.

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Image for 4-29-11 - The Old Castle Town

The castle is the symbol for Edinburgh. I saw this old relief logo on the side of a small utility shed (or was it a public toilet?). I'm a sucker for peeled paint and I like the icon design.

I pulled the photos off the camera last night, all six hundred and fifty-two of them. I know my pal Dave shot about double that. It was a very well documented journey. We saw and did a lot in the twelve days we were on the ground there, the trip featured a little of everything, some hiking, visited new places I had not been to before in Scotland, catching up with old friends, some urban exploring and finally, Dead by Dawn, my favorite horror film festival. It's been six years since I last set foot in Scotland, also for DbD, as my circle of horror film friends refer to it. I was surprised at how little had seemed to change in Edinburgh, a few new shops  here and there, but when the city's essential layout was made in stone hundreds of years ago, there's no easy way to modify that without obliterating part of your history. Tidewater (I refuse to use "Hampton Roads", a rant for another time), seems to revel in destroying any building new or old that stands in the way of "progress", I use the term loosely as it generally means making way for a parking lot, chain drug store or, more likely, luxury condos. I'm sure that if I lived in Edinburgh for a while, something I'd love to do, that I'd see the creepy corporate influence there as well. On this trip, I was blissfully happy to wander The Meadows (a large park in the southern part of the city) or hang out in the Grassmarket ( area with pubs and shops in the shadow of the castle). Oh Edinburgh! I love you!

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Back in Edinburgh

My flight arrived on time. After all the drama yesterday, I'm amazed that I got out at all. Fully expected to be sleeping in Newark airport last night.

My friend Alan Smart picked me up at the airport. I know Alan from my time living in Ireland. We were both kitchen help in an Italina restaurant in a small town in the west of Ireland. A long story for another time.

Edinburgh is strangely quiet today because of holiday for the Royal Wedding. The empty streets fits my mood.

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Enjoying a Guinness in NJ

On the ground in Newark. First pint of the trip. The second pint was bought a a swell Scotish guy named Paul. He and his wife were just returning from their first visit to NYC.

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