Bidh mi 'gad fhaicinn Edinburgh

A French woman, a Scots man, an Irish man, and an English woman sat in the kitchen...

Sounds like the set-up for a joke.

Our friend Ruairí arrived from Dublin in the wee hours, by which time Martine had taught me the basics of Bridge, just for fun. Not an easy game to play with two people. I had to take the place of my imaginary partner, so spent most of the game playing with myself (err...). Not bad, but I think I prefer Tarot.

At 6am, I was woken on the sofa when Ruairí came in to watch the Ireland v. Wales rugby match. The last time we watched this was at the Deputy Ambassador's house in Kigali back in March 2009. At the time, around twenty Irish people had descended on her house after celebrating the first official St. Patrick's Day celebration in the country the night before. It was a mega atmosphere.

I was the only Wales supporter, having lived in Cardiff for three years beforehand.

A night never forgotten, as Ireland won 17-15. The first Irish grand-slam in sixty-one years! But, as a friend back in Wales said: "Seven world championships, women's championship, Deaf world rugby championship...guess we can give away one to someone else this year."

The atmosphere this time wasn't quite so great. We couldn't figure out how to turn the telly on. So, after clawing out from under the duvet like one of the living dead, I eventually flopped back down to sleep whilst Ruairí went to watch it on his iPad in the kitchen. Apparently, Wales won. Off to google the England score in a minute.

Today my wonderful time in Edinburgh draws to a close. Later, I drive for Glasgow. Off to see another really good friend of mine, Tas. She is an absolutely amazing artist.

Black and white butterfly design.

I'm hoping to get some of her work on my website at some point. Or you can contact her through Facebook. Just staying one night before heading back down South, but can't wait to see her.

Edinburgh Part IV

Smoked salmon and cream cheese for breakfast. Could anything be finer?

Went to The Cameo on Wednesday with my friend Laetitia. Like The Film House, it's one of Edinburgh's quirkier entertainment venues. The main screen is a converted theatre surrounded by a proscenium arch. Huge place, and very atmospheric.

We went to see Melancholia. Despite its 7.7 IMDB rating, I'm afraid I'm more inclined to go with the harsher critics on this one. Really wasn't that enamoured. The choice of using the Blair Witch wobblecam method of shooting led to several people leaving in the first few minutes, I suspect to be sick. I'm usually okay with it, but I did find myself staring at the ceiling until my stomach settled down. This was a shame, as there was some beautiful imagery, and a starlit cast (Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland and John Hurt to name but a few) - to lose viewers for the sake of motion sickness seems a waste.

Here's a fairly balanced review. It is highly reminiscent of The Tree of Life, and I suspect that we'll see a lot more like this as an impressionist cinematic phase emerges. My main reading of Melancholia was that you're more likely to be mentally well adjusted to the total inhalation of the world if you're clinically depressed to begin with. Normally well-adjusted people will probably fly off their hinges.

Whether that concept really required two and a half hours to explore is open to debate. As the review says:

The problem with Melancholia is that each of these characters is so entrenched in their particular outlook that it becomes difficult to relate to any of them...

And, for that reason, it does become a bit of a challenge to care. I'm all for experimental and alternative cinema. However, directors themselves must be aware that, if you're going down that route, you're after a niche market. On this occasion, it wasn't a niche that I fitted into.

Still, there's nothing like surviving a questionable movie to bond you over a drink in the pub afterwards. It did provide a few giggles.

Tonight, our friend Ruairí is arriving from Dublin. Haven't seen him since the start of the year, so very excited. The picture above is from January when he last visited. We had a fondue party and learned to make the perfect Irish coffee. Much fun had by all:

Fondue for all!

And other nommy stuff.

My chocolate box hat.
All the rage after a few Irish coffees.

After dinner entertainment.
The tale of one rabbit's fight to overcome alcoholism.

'VSO RVs Rock'
Indeed they do, Laetitia. Thank you.

January view from the kitchen.

I leave you with pictures of Rosslyn Chappel, which features heavily in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. It's very near Edinburgh. Sadly you're not supposed to take photos inside, but there are around 110 Green Men in there, and it is extremely beautiful. If you get the chance, it's worth a visit. 

Edinburgh Part III

Well, so much for the heatwave! Gales are howling between the houses once again, reclaiming Edinburgh's title of 'The Windy City' (and no, that has nothing to do with our curry at In Delhi).

Actually, the wind, rain, oceans and mountains are all part of our ever changing landscape (tenuous link coming up) as I discovered when I visited Our Dynamic Earth experience on Monday.

There aren't that many decent trailers for it, but this gives an idea:

It's well worth a visit. It's set out like a time machine, and you travel back through history in a capsule until you're surrounded by stars - very pretty. It opens out on the Big Bang. You go through a succession of temperature controlled rooms, like the volcano experience where the ground actually shakes. It's extremely well thought out. Might be a bit scary for very young children, but it's hugely interactive.

Then you progress through the stages of evolution and climate development, including a real iceberg, to see a show in their Dome at the end. The Dome was great. A film about astronauts and space travel projected across the ceiling.

Spent most of yesterday concentrating on the second edit of my second novel, Georg[i]e, which should be out later this year. My friend's home is a beautiful place to sit and write. Very unusual in that she inherited chandeliers with it:

Artistic

Dramatic

She also has a wonderful eye for interior deco.

Believe it or not, the black and white swirly picture in the centre is from Rwanda, and traditionally made from cow dung!

I do love being here. There's always something pleasing to look at. 

Going to try and get a little more editing done, then off to the movies tonight. First time I've ever taken advantage of 'Orange Wednesday'. If you're on the Orange phone network and call 241 (as in two-for-one), you get a text that allows you two cinema tickets for the price of one. Quite nifty.

Edinburgh Part II

Yesterday we went to see the David Mach Precious Light exhibition at the City Art Centre.

Edinburgh's City Art Centre

Earlier in the year, Gallery Pangolin held an exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral, which was amazing. One of the first things you saw on entering the cathedral was a giant sculpture of a man on a crucifix with pins coming out of him. I didn't realise at the time, but that was a David Mach.

He is absolutely outstanding. He has done a modern-day retelling of the bible in collage. It's hard to explain, but if you get the chance - go. It's truly spectacular and thought-provoking. If you Google Image 'David Mach', you get a sense of the sort of things he does.

Another thing he's become renowned for is making sculptured heads out of matchsticks, then setting fire to them.

 

We followed up the exhibition with a lovely meal at In Delhi, which is a gorgeous little place that does the best mango lassi in the world.

Mango lassi at In Delhi

Inside In Delhi (click to enlarge)

We've also been doing some cooking ourselves. During our Tarot marathon, we made pasta with nibbles from Westmorland Farm Shop which is on the M6 as you come through Cumbria. It's a great place and I stopped off on my way up.

Nibbles

Busy in the kitchen.

Continuing the fun and frolics in Edinburgh. Further updates soon.

This post also goes out to our good friends Jo & Pierre, who last week welcomed their daughter, Zuba, into the world. Her name is Kinyarwanda for 'sun'. We're sure she's going to be a little ray of light.

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:

Fun Weekend

Had quite a fun-packed weekend. It was Gloucester Pride on Saturday. We gathered at Shire Hall to listen to speeches, then marched through town to the park where there was live music and stalls.

Apparently the longest rainbow
flag in Europe!

Then on Sunday I headed to Crickley Hill in Gloucestershire with the local Pagan moot to celebrate Solstice.

View from Crickley Hill

Meanwhile, Dad and his partner were over on Swansea Gower participating in a world record breaking skinny dip:

Very proud of them - and well done Marie Curie! :)

Haven't seen much of summer this year. Been overcast with regular downpours here for weeks. Facebook update doing the rounds:

INSTALLING SUMMER.. ███████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE
Installation failed. Please try again. 404 error: Season not found.

Hope it's sunnier where you are :op

Sulis Minerva

Sulis Minerva

Just got back from an absolutely amazing day at the Thermae Spa at Bath with my friend Cathryn.

After my last post I detoured around Lewisham to see my friend Cassie, then Peckham to pick up Cathryn and drive back to Gloucester. A couple of years ago when Cathryn and I were still living in Africa, my dad's partner sent me a spa voucher for my birthday. It had to be used by the end of this month. As Cathryn is on half-term (she's a teacher) we booked ourselves in.

What an amazing experience! I was a little nervous as I was always the kid climbing trees rather than the one playing with make-up. I wasn't too sure that I'd fit in at a spa - but it was lush.

We got the package with complimentary towels, robes and slippers. Lots of lounging in the thermal waters of the rooftop pool, looking out across the city's spires, and soaking in the larger downstairs Minerva Pool.

Rooftop Pool, Bath Thermae Spa

The natural thermal springs were first discovered by Prince Bladud around 863BC, who was cured from his skin disease after bathing in the waters. The waters were then enjoyed by the Celts, Romans, Saxons and Georgians and are the constant thread throughout the history of Bath.

The water fell as rain around 10,000 years ago and then sank to a depth of about 2km. Here it is heated by high temperature rocks before rising back up through one of the three hot springs in the centre of the City, the Cross Spring, Hetling or King’s Spring, which supplies the Roman Baths.

The thermal waters contain over 42 different minerals, the most concentrated being sulphate, calcium & chloride. Over 1 million litres of this mineral-rich water flow from the springs each day.

The thermal water in all four baths at Thermae is the optimum bathing temperature of approximately 33.5°C (92°F). - Spa Website

The baths at Bath have a very long history around the goddess of the waters, Sulis (a local Celtic deity), who the Romans called Sulis Minerva, after the Roman equivalent of Athena.

It was a glorious sunny day and the water was nice and warm. We also partook of the Kraxen Stove, which is a really strange sauna experience where you sit in an alcove which is padded with chamomile hay. They place a sheet over you so that only your head is sticking out, then boil you in the bag like a cup of herbal tea! It was actually really nice. The smell was amazing and because your head is out you can withstand the heat much longer.

After more lounging and a two-course meal, we ended with an aromatherapy hot oil massage. I was in heaven. They have little rest rooms after the treatment where you lie back, listen to soothing music and help yourself to herbal tea. I almost fell asleep.

It's just a wonderful experience and if you've never been to a spa before (like me) the staff are really helpful and talk you through everything.

They also have the most amazing sauna level with round perspex rooms lit in different colours, each with a different aromatic oil: Lavender, Mint & Eucalyptus, Mint, and Apple. In the middle of these bubble rooms is a huge circular cascade of water to shower under between heat sessions. Beautifully designed.

You have to pre-book treatments, but you can use the spa for two hours at £25, four hours at £35, and get a day-pass for £55. Well worth it.