We woke up to Day 2 of the snow:
(Okay, some of us sound a little over-excited about the snow. It’ll pass.)
Yeah, that shopping trip? Simply not going to happen, not with cabs sliding precariously through the ice and people slithering along on inappropriate shoes on sidewalks all over the city. For the most part, the snow is still powdery, and the slush is gray and nasty — largely drivable, if one is careful. Cabbies aren’t always careful — and if we can’t get to where we want to go on foot, we’re just not going. Lots of books to read, lots of work to do, so there’s not much need yet to go out. Fortunately.
Lauriston Castle
We enjoyed our little castle-ing (really, it was more of a stately home, not much of a castle) trip this weekend with so many Malaysian classmates — many of whom had never seen snow. It was a hoot to watch them as they shivered and squealed — and many of the kids got so wet they’re probably home sick right now — but they seemed to have so much fun. One little daredevil was leapfrogging rocks over a frozen pond in the Japanese garden. We were positive THAT wouldn’t end well – but it did.
Japanese Gardens, Lauriston Castle
We did a little hiking through a graveyard — one of the sillier things we’ve done, as it was up steep stairs that aren’t well-maintained, and it was icy in Edinburgh this weekend. We carefully picked our way through the gates, up the hill and onto the grounds of the Old Calton Burial Grounds, gripping railings and walls and handholds. We found the grave of philosopher David Hume, which was a coup for D. with his recent Master’s in Philosophy. We also found a large statue of Abraham Lincoln. And no, he’s not buried there, so we weren’t sure what was up with that, but the plaque (what we could read of it beneath the caked snow) claimed that the memorial was raised in honor of Scottish soldiers fighting in the Civil War… and on the stairs sprawled beneath Lincoln’s upstanding form was the image of a slave. Hm. The Emancipation Monument was erected in 1893. We’ll have to get a different shot of it on a day when we’re not risking life and limb to get closer.
That familiar profile you see on your pennies…
Emancipation Memorial, Calton Hill Burial Grounds
We’ll close our brief picture post with the most gorgeous tree in Edinburgh. Since it wasn’t snowing as heavily in Edinburgh, this tree took the opportunity to continue having autumn. As of this post writing, it’s snowing again, so the trees in Glasgow don’t have this choice, but the colors against the backdrop of that washed-out blue sky were a treat to see, and made our walk through the park even better. It reminds us that no matter how cold it is, or how many carols we hear, it’s still autumn, and we don’t have to rush to the next Big Thing unless we want to!
That Awesome Tree, Princes Street Gardens
“took the opportunity to continue having autumn” sigh. love it.
Yep that’s it! don’t get all upset, if you can’t get there, don’t go there, bundle up and walk (and enjoy the disruption hehe, don’t bother enlighten me as to what happens to traffic and all kinds of serious stuff, I do know and I do care but Peter Pan in Snowland is taking over).
Aargh! Can’t even get my kids to come and look at the snow falling for longer than a minute… let alone have a talk.. humbug little buggers.
All these photos were gorgeous ! 😀
Very beautiful work.
Congratulations on surviving yet another freezing winter.
Dublin is also under snow.
Gorgeous shots–sounds as though our cities are similar with reaction to snow. Still can’t believe the number of people who were driving blithely around…and then sliding into the ditch/telephone pole/other vehicles.
Laughing over the frozen leap frog game.
From a region that gets very little snow, it was nice to travel to where you are through your blog. Hey, are you Canadian?
Um, no, Californian. The vowel drift you hear is three years of Glasgow+California coming together. 😕
That’s amazing. I remember what happened when my Oregonian accent hit Edinburgh, so it makes sense.
But Tanita, I didn’t hear Canadian in yours! You sound normal to me, so I’d think northwestern (states), until you say car!! Boston? The Canadian element I heard in David was the long O vowel. Yeah, I”m a little obsessive about it. I once was right when I asked someone if their PARENTS were from Chicago based on a weird trace of a vowel in their voice.
Because I’m amongst the weegies more than T. is, my accent has drifted farther than hers. I sound like a Canadian to myself, even.
I wonder if I sound like one to a real Canadian. Hmm.
The problem, Jenny, is that my parents are vocal chameleons like that, too. My mother was born a half hour from New Orleans. She can turn that treacle-y accent on and off. My Dad was born in the Florida panhandle — that’s a whole ‘nother sort of nasally accent in and of itself, plus add the “y’all.” I can do “y’all,” talk, too — but only in joking imitation. The problem is, I often jokingly imitate the Glaswegian accent, and bits of it slip in.
And I have no idea what happened with the word “cahr.” I can imitate a Bostonian accent for about a sentence (We went camping and the beeyahs gat into the cah), then it falls apart.
This is why I hate hearing recordings of myself. Plus, my nose was stuffy.
As aways, gorgeous photos and great reading. Good call on staying out of the snow. Glasgow takes a while to catch up with the snow conditions and be ready and it’s scary to be out there. Luckily, Utah is usually ready for the snow as far as driving goes. They really take care of the roads here (I’m not a fan of the snow but it’s nice to know the roads are safe). They also do a good job with the sidewalks and have laws about having them shoveled and clear within a certain time. I remember coming back to Glasgow after the holidays last year and it was snowing. We took a bus home from the airport to save a few pounds–totally wrong move. It took us forever to get home and the kids had had it and so had we!!
They certainly don’t take care of the sidewalks, that’s for sure! Walking through the slush is no joke, I tell you!
If it would only snow here a little more often, I think the city might pull it together. But there’s this pretense of, “Och, it never snows in Glasgow,” and the longer we pretend this whole global-warming-so-it-snows-now thing isn’t happening, the worse the sidewalks and road prep will be.
At least this year we haven’t run out of salt so far. So far…