Edinburgh Part I

Prophecies of 2012 may indeed be true.

Look well, dear readers, for this is a sight you are unlikely to see again in your lifetime.

It's the sun.

In Edinburgh.

I kid you not. When I drove up here last Wednesday, it was 22°c and not a cloud in the sky! Certainly thwarted the Cloud Appreciation Society's anti 'blue-sky thinking' campaign. A mockery, indeed. By Friday it hit 24°c. Unheard of!

My friend and I avoided its searing rays by hiding away in The Film House. We watching a very strange Spanish film starring Antonio Banderas, called The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito). Even though you know that he is Spanish, it's still strange to see him acting in Spanish. But the film was very good - an entertaining couple of hours.

I always have a lovely time here. Other discoveries include:

Buckyballs. The most infuriatingly addictive invention. Tiny, magnetic ball bearings that you fiddle with until your fingers get sore. Above are two of my attempts. We stick them to the metal chandelier when we're done, then take it in turns trying new patterns. We've just about cracked 'the cube', which involves making six rings of twelve balls each, then aligning them perfectly and squeezing. It's probably the simplest trick, but we're working up to this:

Also had a lot of fun learning to play Tarot. I always associated this with reading the future, but it's actually a card game played in France. It's a bit like Whist, with a lot of rules. The deck is lovely:

French Tarot Deck

There are four court cards: King, Queen, Cavalier and Valet. Then twenty-one trump cards (top right), two of which, along with 'L'Excuse', are special cards called 'bout' (boo) or 'oudler' (oodler). Then the standard suits in order. We've had a lot of fun playing this with our friend Laetitia.

Finally, I've been introduced to the joy that is crème de marrons (chestnut puree). It's served in tiny glasses, topped with cream, as a really sweet dessert. Or, as I like to call it - breakfast.

Chestnut Puree

Nom nom nom...

I leave you with a video from YouTube, which made us chuckle: