Yes, Edinburgh really does look like this somedays-- today was one of them (though I didn't take this shot-- it's available as wallpaper and has surely been touched up a bit). It was cold-- roughly 0C, which for Edinburgh is cold indeed, and there was a brief prediction of snow in the forecast. Actually, the prediction for yesterday was cloudy and 80% rain, and it did rain for a few minutes in the morning but then cleared. Weather forecasting isn't so much a science or an art form here, as a sort of well-intentioned fiction that happens because, well, you have to predict the weather, if nothing else to fill website and newspaper space, though I defy you to find the weather section on the Scotsman's Edinburgh Evening news website:
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/
This photo is taken from Calton hill, the site of the (in)famous Edinburgh fake Greco-Roman monuments to something or other that no one seems to remember anymore. I commented to a Dunediner that the Edinburgh Tram was beginning to sound like the Calton Hill monuments, which got me a more sophisticated sizing up than perhaps I'd warranted in the past. Dunediners I know prefer not to discuss the tram system, presumably on the theory that it's officially doomed to failure now, and unfortunately it won't carry even the faux historical cache that Calton Hill does, but will simply sit in the middle of Princes Street until it is either sold for scrap or perhaps pushed into the Firth with the scheme architects securely strapped inside as a lesson to future civic planners.
As for the weather, it is always overhead, except for when it's boldly roaming the streets, a phenomenon we've seen only a few times so far in the form of pelting rain (causing a leak in our main staiwell skylight) and once in a fog so thick we couldn't see to the end of the road, but in the past few weeks the real issue has been our metaphorical presence under it-- first with the kids coughing, then Lynn getting wiped out with a chest cold, and then myself apparently succumbing to the stress of the dissertation defense et al within hours of the viva voce. I arrived back in Edinburgh Tuesday night having lost my voice, but the coughing didn't start until Friday, and yesterday I was, for all intents and purposes, an invalid. I gave in and took medications to improve my sleep last night, slept just under 12 hours, and awoke, if not actually healthier, at least more alive. I feel I'm improving, though I'm a bit short of breath, but I spend the entire day indoors, nearly 4 hours of it in the direct sunlight coming through the massive office/drawing room windows (sitting in front of the iMac studiously banging away on the resubmission of our current manuscript), and I must admit it makes a difference.
Taran had his first official playdate with a school friend at our flat, which generally went quite well, though I think Kenna was vaguely annoyed it wasn't her playdate, in fact. Here's my recipe for last night's concoction that (along with half a diazepam, courtesy of Lynn's flying anxiety supply, and presumably my total body exhaustion) wiped me out for the night:
1 teaspoon pure cocoa
1 tablespoon Ghiardelli pure chocolate hot chocolate mix
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups near-boiling water
2 oz Frangelico
Drink and smile. Brushing teeth afterwards (before) bed strongly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment