I have to say to begin with that despite initial appearances this is not a grumpy old man piece. At least, it’s not exactly my intention to voice petty gripes just for the sake of voicing them.
I was in the basement of Waterstone’s at the west end of Princes Street. Three young members of staff, one female and two male, were talking loudly. The males were teasing the woman in a deliberately petty, repetitive fashion. I was quite distracted by this incessant stupid chatter, and although I was in a public place and we can’t expect the silence of a library in a high street shop, I was irritated. I think I was justified:
1. Different standards and conventions – loose … read on »
Archive for the ‘places’ category…
The Tyre and The Windblown Trees of Aberlady Bay
Everything was in alignment. The Gods had spoken. I had no choice in the matter: it was Fate.
On Tuesday, I looked at my calendar and saw that there was to be be a full moon on Thursday. I checked the weather and it was predicted to be completely clearing up on Wednesday evening. I checked the sunset time: 8.05pm. The moonrise: 7.05pm. Perfect! I must go to my favourite spot on the coast for photographs after work. I would not have to worry about getting back from the sea to the road – an hour’s walk – before the last light of dusk faded, because I would have the moon to guide me. I walked the route in late twilight … read on »
Architectonics and Geotectonics, Connections and Coincidences, Part 1: Basil Spence
When I rest my skull on my pillow tonight I’m fairly certain that the organ inside it will have been significantly rewired. Whether physically or only metaphorically I’m not sure, but let’s just say that today was one of those days that really alter your brain. As I write, jammed neural trunk roads are being bypassed with brand new motorways. Mountains of cerebral detritus are being tunneled through by drilling machines powered by intuition. Stagnant lagoons of miasmic notions are being bridged by elegant spans of perspicacity.
Last year I wrote about geology and architecture in art, after visiting GoMA. Today I visited the two galleries of modern art in Edinburgh and found lots of stuff on those themes, and I … read on »
Clean Energy 2: The Comeback of Nuclear Power in the UK
“Nuclear power? To most people, it’s witchcraft” (Chris Patten)
To describe nuclear power as clean might seem perverse, given that some of the waste produced is so dangerous that there is no containment material that won’t be destroyed by it, and that it remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years.
But last week the government finally said yes to the construction of up to ten nuclear power stations, at least some of which might be up-and-running by 2020. They’ve put off the decision for a long time. New Labour, motivated for so long by the desire to be liked, refused to face the impending energy crisis. Now that the closure of many of our existing nuclear power stations is fast approaching … read on »
Across The Rumbling Bridge: A Walk at The Hermitage, Dunkeld
I drew this yesterday, from a photograph I took a couple of Sundays ago when we were walking Oscar, our new canine honorary nephew – but more of him later. The picture shows Ossian’s Hall, viewed from one side of the Rumbling Bridge, which spans the River Braan in a woodland estate called the Hermitage, near Dunkeld in Perthshire. Our friend Nicky, Oscar’s owner, was with us, and she had been before. But I’d never heard of it.
The building, a folly built for the Duke of Atholl in the eighteenth century, has a semicircular balcony – unseen in the drawing – which overlooks, and in fact overhangs, an awesome roaring tumult of water.
A great waterfall feeds a stubbornly narrow corridor … read on »
Turbulent Times – Early Winter in Edinburgh
It’s an unsettled time of year. That’s partly to do with the seasons and partly with the gear-up for Christmas. September and October were glorious and fleeting, and I didn’t make much of them: I didn’t go hillwalking in what would have been the best conditions of the year. Anyway, I’ve missed the autumn, properly speaking, but I’ve managed to get out, taking photos, in the damp, dark, edgy early winter.
Crazy windows.
Walking through Princes Street Gardens I was alerted to the presence of a robin by its warbling, which is something like that of a thrush, and a bigger sound than one would credit to such a small bird. I scanned about for it but I didn’t have to: it … read on »
World Class Breakfasts, Trees, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Breakfasts, People, Coffee, Steak, Corn and Breakfasts – but let's not mention the pancakes
It has been many weeks since I returned from Canada, and whilst it was full of some of the most stimulating experiences of my life, I am painfully conscious that I still haven’t blogged about it, and my several hundred photographs languish unseen. It’s perverse.Of course, it’s the very richness of the trip that makes it so overwhelming to think about putting together a blog entry. Not to mention that we moved to a new flat a few weeks ago, and that we have no internet connection. The answer is to fire it all out in isolated little bullets of wonderment and fascination, rather than in one big indiscriminate bombing raid. We were in Canada for over three weeks and … read on »
Hillwalking Crisis and a Walk up Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin
A serious disagreement threatens to bring to an end the very successful hillwalking duo of the Robinson brothers (Stu and me). We’re both passionate, committed people, so it’s no surprise that it happened; and it’s more of a challenge to resolve it than it is to struggle up a steep slope of scree or navigate over boulder fields in thick cloud.
I won’t explore the ins and outs of the argument on this blog, but the whole thing is quite interesting. The crux of it is that Stu is an arrogant, selfish little – no, just kidding. The real crux of it is that my photography can slow us down sometimes, and on two recent walks (not our most recent walk, … read on »
Springtime Walk on the Blackmount
Not for us the richness of the lowland countryside in the throes of the climactic consummation of spring. Upwards!
On a warm and beautiful day such as yesterday, only at the top of a mountain would we get the chance to experience miserable weather, cold winds and physical hardship. Only in the alpine zone would we escape the thick masses of hawthorn blossom, the acrobatics of the newly-arrived swallows, the frolicking lambs, the pervading air of promise, and the excitement of a holiday weekend as a whole people comes out of hibernation.
Tell me again, why do I do this? Let’s see…
Stu, my brother, and I stayed at the Kingshouse Hotel on Friday night and set off at dawn to tackle two … read on »
Ben Vane Winter Walk
I was a bit worried about how I’d manage on the mountain yesterday, considering that:
I’d hardly exercised at all since September (our last mountain walk);
I now had not one but two dodgy knees;
I had a cold;
I was feeling pretty run-down from all the commuting and staying up late;
It was February and I had no ice axe or crampons.
But I needn’t have worried: although it was hard-going (it always is) there was no doubt that I’d make it safely to the top, and there was barely any snow around – I was forgetting about how relatively mild it’s been this winter. In fact it was warm enough to strip down to my shirt, and it was only the cold wind at … read on »
©2010 Alistair Robinson