Museum on the Mound

The green dome you see in the picture is the headquarters (on paper at least) of the Bank of Scotland, or HBoS as it has become. They have turned it into Edinburgh's newest museum, known as the Museum on the Mound. It details the history of the bank and banking in Scotland in general, as well as taking a look at the history of the Old Town of Edinburgh. It's free to enter, as are all the public museums, but I haven't been yet so I can't say if it's worth a look or not.

More Old Town

Pictures of the Old Town always seem to be popular so here's another shot, taken from the top of the Museum of Scotland. The church in the shot, is no longer a church, it's now a cafe and arts centre and also the main ticket office for events in Edinburgh. It's now known as the Hub.

Public Art

Edinburgh does have some rather odd public art installations, including this one of an insect in the palm of a large hand outside St Mary's Cathedral. I get what it's meant to be, just not really why it's there.

Pigeon Art

These pigeons occupy a small piece of Leith Walk by the London Road roundabout and watch the traffic go by day after day, hour after hour. It was reported in the local paper that someone made little coats for the pigeons and dressed them up to protect them from the cold...nice!

Allan Ramsay Statue

This is the statue to the Scots poet Allan Ramsay in West Princes Street Gardens. Ramsay is depicted standing with a book in his left hand and a pencil in his right. He has a plaid over his shoulder and is wearing a silk night-cap rather than a wig. Ramsay (1686 -1758) was an Edinburgh poet and publisher and involved in the early 18th century revival of Scots vernacular poetry. As a poet he is best remembered for his five-part work, 'The Gentle Shepherd'. The castle, as usual, provides a stunning backdrop.

Winter Sun

The low-level of the sun can be pretty dazzling for drivers, but it does make for some interesting silhouette shots. At least the days are getting longer, not that you'd actually notice!

A fitting start to the year

It's 2007 and what a wet and windy start to the new year it has been in these parts. What with the cancellation of the Street Party and the Concert and Ceilidh in the gardens, I'm sure many bemused tourists were wandering around yesterday wondering what there was to do...virtually nothing open and practically no public transport..such is New Year in Scotland! Today, the shops on Princes Street were open but most offices won't start back to work till tomorrow. This year is going to be a big year for Scotland...celebrating (or otherwise) 300 years of Union with England and Scottish elections in May which could spell the end of that Union. On a more global level, I thought this quotation from the paving stones outside the Writers' Museum was apt for the start of the year.

Lang May Yer Lum Reek!

A very Happy New Year to all visitors to Edinburgh Daily Photo. I wonder who will be my first foot on the comments page?? As it's Ne'erday, I should explain a few Scottish New Year traditions. One is first-footing...this is the first person who crosses your doorstep in the New Year. To bring luck, it should be a tall, dark handsome man...this stems from the fear of the blonde Viking raiders all those years ago. Second, when visiting someone's house, you would traditionally bring with you some whisky, shortbread and a lump of coal...this shows that you hope that the household will have enough to drink, to eat and that there will be enough warmth in the coming year. Bliadhana Mhath Ùr! Lang May Yer Lum reek!

Happy Hogmanay!

The more traditional way to bring in the New Year is to attend a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee). This is a night of dancing, drinking and merry-making and practically every small village up and down the country will have a ceilidh...not all as formal as this one though! The origins of the word Hogmanay are lost in the depths of time, and there is no agreement as to what language it comes from, some suggest Norman or Old French, Flemish or Gaelic. No matter! However you plan to see in the New Year, have a graet time...and remember, when you're singing Auld Lang Syne, the most famous song in the world, think of this wee corner of the world and try not to bring in Ne'erday with a hangover!

Hogmanay Events

While the street party is the biggest event, there are plenty of other events going on, many with a more traditional Scottish flavour to them. My criticism of the street party is that there are so many tourists, it has lost all sense of Scottishness. In the 90s, you would get impromptu renditions of Auld Lang Syne and ceilidh dancing on the street...and after midnight all hell would break loose as people try and outdo their friends to the number of people they can kiss. Policemen and women were always very popular at Hogmanay! Anyway, tonight there is the Night Afore International, a sort of ceilidh on George Street, this year with a German theme...fitting as that's where I'm spending New Year!

Torchlight Procession

Tonight is the Torchlight Procession to mark the beginning of the New Year festivities. Fire plays an important part in New Year and winter festivals in this part of the world as we try and light up the darkness and cast out bad spirits. Some well known fire themed New Year festivities can be found in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire with the fireballs and in Comrie, Perthshire with the flambeaux.

Hogmanay Revellers

My friends Alan, Jack and Ben will probably kill me for using this lovely photo of them! The street party has been a fixture on the Edinburgh calendar for a little over 10 years. It grew sporadically in the early to mid nineties and in the early years needed no control over numbers. However, it was a victim of its own success and at New Year 96/97 there were roughly half a million people packed into the streets of the city centre, way too many for these old streets to cope with. It was dangerous and I was scared that year. I ended up having a fairly miserable Hogmanay as I got detached from my friends and there was no way of finding them. After that year, they introduced a free ticketing system, beefed up security and limited numbers of tickets to 100,000. Now there is space to move around and you can enjoy the party in a safe environment.

Mounds of People

The Royal Bank Street Party is the centre point of Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations. Some 100,000 party-goers will brave the cold weather to be out on the streets of the city centre to see in the New Year, and they'll be able to enjoy live music from the Fratellis on the Indie stage as well as others on the folk/hoolie stage and of course, the cheesy pop stage! Big screens will count us in to the New Year and at midnight, fireworks from the castle and the 7 hills of Edinburgh will envelope the city.

Life in the Fast Lane

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and not too many hangovers and sore stomachs are being nursed today! Christmas is over and Edinburgh is about to get very, very busy as tourists from all over the world descend on the city for our annual Hogmanay celebrations. Over the coming days, I'll show photos from Hogmanays past to give you a flavour of how we bring in the New Year.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for the festive season. Nollaig Chridheil!

Farewell Frankurters!

It is the last day of the Christmas Market today, and typically the stalls have been very very busy as Edinburgh's discerning shoppers hope to pick up a little bargain before the German traders pack up and head home to Frankfurt. Only one more sleep till Santa!!

January?? Sales

It's the Saturday before Christmas and the bloody sales have started already! They used to be January sales but have crept steadily earlier and earlier with most shops making people work on Boxing Day to start the sales...but to have the sales start before Christmas Day just smacks of desperation on the part of the retailers!

On holiday!

The first day of the school holidays has seen lovely weather here in Edinburgh. While freezing fog has enveloped the south of England and caused transport chaos, the only difficulties faced by Scots travellers are the fact that flights to Heathrow and some other English airports are cancelled. As for me, I've had a suitably relaxing first day...no more work till January 8th...yay!

Castle

The trees around Princes Street, the Mound and on the Castle Rock all have lights on them which make them look rather nice at this time of year. The lights of the Castle look nice at any time of year, but with it being dark so early, generally black by 4pm, in winter you get to appreciate the illuminated castle for a bit longer. Tomorrow is the shortest day...after that bit by bit the days will get a wee bit longer...and it's end of term at 12 noon! I wouldn't expect a post tomorrow!!

Castle Lit-Up

Apologies for not managing to post yesterday...the busy Christmas season keeps me away from the computer at times! Anyway, here's a zoom shot from the same place as the other day's picture, focusing in on the Castle and its illuminations.