October so far
Hello thrill seekers.
So October, then. I’ve had a birthday, gained a man shed and generally passed my time agreeably if not rewardingly: hello Local Economic Multipliers, farewell pointless lounging around.
I have a friend who blogs anonymously at Under Slightly New Management , a name which, I have just realised, sounds very like a Ship in one of Iain M Banks’ Culture novels. Said friend blogs frequently, often several times in a day, and has the trick of keeping the posts at a slight tangent to what most of us experience as reality. This is an ability that I admire but do not seek to emulate. Hence the length of time since my last post here.
As so often, as I write, I am reliving something from childhood on the cd – in this case Tangerine Dream’s majestic Phaedra which I first heard at my old friend John Hardy’s house either in 1974 when it was released or shortly thereafter. I had certainly heard it before Rubicon was released in 1975. I had it on cassette for many years (and probably still have somewhere in the attic) until I finally bought the cd.
Phaedra is, to my mind, the last of the really good Tangerine Dream albums. I like Rubicon and Poland but by then they were heavily into sequencers and had lost some of the inventiveness and strangeness which marked their early work (see my Amazon review of Zeit, which I will be listening to shortly, here).
Anyway, enough of that.
Autumn colours along Water of Leith
I had a lovely day yesterday. One thing that I wanted to do more of this year but have failed miserably at is going out for walks. My original intention was to wander off occasionally with a lightweight tent but that hasn’t happened, partly because of the weather and partly because of sloth. Anyway, yesterday I pulled on my boots and took a walk along the Water of Leith Walkway.
I walked the stretch from Roseburn along to Stockbridge and back, pausing for a late lunch in the Stockbridge Tap, including a fine pint of Cairnpapple IPA from Alechemy Brewing in West Lothian. Although I had a warm shirt and waterproof jacket expecting the worst, in fact it was warm(ish) and sunny for most of the afternoon.
It is a while since I took a proper walk along the river and it was lovely, with leaves falling into the swollen waters. There is an AIDS and HIV Remembrance site just next to the entrance to the Gallery of Modern Art about which I knew nothing and it has been nicely, simply done.
I took a load of photos – too many actually – and still have to sort them through but one or two of them are quite nice I think.
Dean Village
The thing that kept going through my mind is that, for all Edinburgh is a major tourist destination, the Water of Leith and the Walkway are pretty close to the centre of the City but remain largely undiscovered. No doubt the guidebooks mention it but it is just far enough from the beaten path to make it quiet.
Part of me thinks this is a good thing – we get to have it for ourselves – but it is a bit of a hidden glory I think.
Anyway, having made the (slight) effort I really must go back, if only to explore again the stretch from Stockbridge to Leith itself. Part of the route, as far as Canonmills, was a lunchtime running route of mine when I worked in Leith and there are bits I wouldn’t mind exploring further – there are all sorts of historical curios scattered along the route as well as, when the river is not high as it is at present, some Anthony Gormley statues set in the River itself..
Speaking of running, my efforts to get back into it came to a (temporary) halt a couple of weeks ago when my knees started to protest. As the point is to get back into shape rather than damge myself I thought discretion the better part of valour.
I’m a bit irritated by this but what can you do? Swimming would be good in winter anyway.
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