A busy week in Edinburgh
I won’t be writing much this week. Summer’s cultural season is at full tilt (despite the inclement weather), so I’ll mostly be on the road. In case you’d like to get on board with some of Edinburgh’s exciting offering, here’s a selection of activities to try: <br> Leith Festival This gem runs all week, with … Continue reading
Scotland’s National Portrait Gallery, reimagined
I once briefly mentioned the deliciously anticipated reopening of the National Portrait Gallery, part of the National Galleries of Scotland. It’s been open six months and every time I’ve been in, the physical changes reinforce a new, surprising space in which a National institution supports a public engagement with art. The traditional tenements of … Continue reading
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012
Edinburgh has many festivals of all shapes and sizes. After a rocky few years the Edinburgh International Film Festival is often the one with the most gossip and speculation attached, but it’s also easily one of the most glamorous. This year a new structure and a new director seem to be taking it back to … Continue reading
National Library of Scotland’s Conservation Workshop
I spent this afternoon in the bowels of the National Library of Scotland. While deliciously labyrinthine, I was glad to have a guide. I think I was nine floors below street level before I saw a window. In among the nation’s treasured King James Bible and the First Folio of Shakespeare, I was observing in … Continue reading
The Pentlands
Edinburgh is nestled among the hills, a little oasis on the waterfront. Each peak and each range have their own character – from the imposing volcanic mass of Arthur’s Seat to the sweetly suburban greenery on Blackford Hill. Now we have Ollie, I am spending a good deal more time out south, in the Pentland … Continue reading
Hello, Monday
It’s a dreary Monday morning. It hasn’t rained for one day out of the last, I don’t know, fifteen? I’ve lost count. A blustery haar is rolling across the city and I am loath to separate myself from my pjs. Haar: an excellent word. Imagine outside looks deeply foggy. Imagine that fog is actually lowlevel … Continue reading
Scottish Ballet: A Streetcar Named Desire
Given the choice, dance isn’t top of my theatre-going agenda. I find traditional ballet is usually stuffy, keeping me at arm’s length, while the often abstract nature of modern dance asks me to take large leaps, and I’m not always willing or able to oblige on a tired Tuesday evening. But the burgeoning movement of … Continue reading
The Ultimate American
Any college student’s semester-abroad blog will acquaint you with the funny words, confusing idioms and quaintness that surrounds much of British culture. Ooh – wellies! Hehe – lorry! Oh the biscuit-cookie confusion, and chip-crisp conundrum. How delightful. I make light, but there are subtle linguistic differences I still haven’t fathomed after eight years. The culture … Continue reading
Roger M Jones Fellowship
Did I ever tell you the story of how I moved to Edinburgh? The short version goes something like this: Once upon a time, Sara was a college student in the grips of terrible ennui. Her chosen major was not shaping up as she expected. Life ahead seemed terrifyingly uncertain. Her freetime was consumed with … Continue reading
Monachyle Mhor
My birthday and Bean’s sit in very close proximity. So over the years we have developed birthday traditions which have merged our individual days into more of a week-long celebration. Since neither of is in need of any more stuff, probably ever, we usually go away on a little mini-break. Once, we went to Hadrian’s … Continue reading
Que Sera Sara? 