Our Tattoo in Edinburgh

Crossing the border -  will we need to take our passports next time - Referendum tomorrow

Flying on a Scottish border gate.

Old Town from the Walter Scott Memorial

A riot of pipes, tartan and whacky comedians handing out fliers for their fringe gigs swirled around us like the Scottish sword dance the weekend we went to Edinburgh. Oh how M reveled in it. Oh how I strived to keep my grin plastered and the shudder, from the bagpipes changing through their register, from rippling across my shoulders. The combination of Festival, hyped up 'nationalism' as the referendum draws nigh and the rare sparkle of sunlight, sprung a party at every corner of this grey stone city.

Five months ago M caught an advertisement for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo on the telly and rushed off to buy tickets for this major element of his "What to do while we're in the UK" list. Just as well too for there were a very limited number of seats left, all for the last night. It was a happy day they arrived in the mail. With this much anticipation, even the fact that the rain clouds came in and drizzled upon us could not dampen the exhilaration of watching live that which had been watched every year since boyhood on TV.

Getting settled in the stands. A security guard at the castle the following day told us that it takes 5-10 weeks to dismantle them.  We sat opposite the Aussie flag.  A Scottish family sat behind us and for some reason M wouldn't let me turn around!

I have always wondered why this coordinated march extravaganza of military bands is called a tattoo. It may sear into one's mind forever as the skin graphic but I thought that was probably too abstract a reason. It turns out that when British mercenaries were helping out the Dutch troops in the 30yr lowland war (c1600), the officers had difficulties recalling the soldiers back to barracks in the evening. As an alarm, the drummers were sent around the town an hour before curfew(2200hrs) to stop the inn keepers serving any more booze. The drumming march was called doe den tap toe - in Dutch. An English translation is turn off the tap. It was abbreviated to taptoe which over time and probably through the slurring of the heavy drinking soldiers, it became known as tattoo. I guess originally the taptoe was dreaded by the military guys rather than the celebration it is today.

Pipers pouring out of the Castle

The Castle was the backdrop for some pretty cool lighting effects, not to mention fireworks in the sky above.
The cannons firing at the end though was the biggest bang of the night.

Loud precision

NZ Scottish dancers

Trinidad and Tobago military Steel Orchestra.  These guys weren't allowed to join in the mass bands but the won the award equivalent to the best personality award in the Miss Universe pageant. They got huge cheers from the rest of the cast. As it was the last night there were lots of people from the show having photos with each other - good friends after performing together twice a night for 8 weeks.

Who said blokes can't multi task? Bungling and drumming - very cool

It was a bit scarey when the Royal Marines came creeping down the aisles and performed a ambush reenactment. One the poor terrorists that were 'killed' had to lie on the cold wet ground for about 5 mins before the play finished.

The Shetland Fiddlers in behind, I think their proper name - Hjaltibonhoga - is better.
There was a proper band under cover with all the electrical instruments and big drum kits to back up the performers. The lead guitarist came out and played Local Hero and the Pipes joined in - tears in the eyes of a die hard Dire Straights fan.  Who said classic rock hits couldn't be improved with the addition of Bagpipes - oh yeah - me.

The view down the Royal Mile from the top stand. This image and the close ups above from http://www.edinburghspotlight.com/2014/07/photos-the-royal-edinburgh-military-tattoo-2014/

Lining up for the gates to open for the second session of the night - in the rain.  The poncho selling guy adjusted his prices up and down according to the weight of the precipitation. R suggested that we all look like teletubbies - I comfort myself thinking that this is only because the woman in red looks uncannily like Po.

A checklist to gauge how grinny you would have been sitting in the rain watching the Edinburgh Tattoo:

• You played in a marching band in your adolescence
• You watch the Edinburgh Tattoo on TV, with excited anticipation, every year
• You have a Scottish ancestor
• You would have loved bagpipes at your wedding but demanded them as part of your funeral service in the marriage contract when your bride used her veto
• You open your windows when a neighbour across the road practices their pipes.
• You attend the annual Clan festival when you can and bribe an offspring with Maccas to go too
• Amazing Grace on Pipes is in your all time greats top ten
• You own several waterproof coats of outdoor expedition quality
• The girl you had a crush on, swished her school kilt during drill, when she had late classes and couldn't get home to change into her Pathfinder uniform in time
• Men in kilts make you feel envious rather than uncomfortable and you think a hairy coin purse is a sporran good idea.

If you can tick off 6 or more of these you would have loved watching the Tattoo with us.

Heading into new town, Sir Walter Scott Memorial back left

We had all of Sunday to explore the city and soak up the atmosphere. We left our apartment after a big breakfast to keep up our energy levels so we could walk around all the stairs and hills, thank goodness for the 'show map' on Booking.com so I can find 3 stars that are within walking distance of what we want to see. We didn't expect to be back until late, again.  

As we walked back into the city center, Willow found tickets to a Cal Wilson gig on her phone. M was keen to stop in a wi-fi hot spot so tickets could be purchased immediately. Ms Wilson is an old fav from Spicks and Specks, comedy festivals and debates in Aus and a Kiwi from ChCh to boot. Her show was about all the different people she could have been if alternative facets of her personality had been stronger. The finale of interacting multiple personalities and ever enlarging mustaches had the cabaret sized audience in tears. Don't you just love it when something wonderful turns up unexpectedly.

Ice cream is always a good idea

The morning before this euphoria, I was in a state of constant anxiety. We passed shop after shop selling bagpipes and kilts. We went into one just past the Scotsman Hotel(which would have been lovely to stay in but at £300 per double per night, without kitchen facilities, it did not fit our budget) that had bargain package deals of kilt, frothy white lace shirts and velvet jackets, very pleased that M wasn't after the evening look. He found a Glengarry bonnet(yes this is the correct term) to add to his hat collection.  He preferred this to the Balmoral bonnet which had a much larger red pompom. I am still reeling(not in the Scottish fashion) with the thought that he sees any pompom on a grown man's hat as an OK idea.  The girls found scarves that will help them cope with the coming winter. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of the Scotch binge that overturned our normal travel spending policy which is collect photos, postcards, memories and the very occasional souvenir.  The genie was out of the bottle and she was wearing tartan!

Everywhere bagpipes - these kids were good.

Walking up the Royal mile towards the Castle was slow going for there were so many distractions. We stopped in at the Fringe festival office to pick up our Cal Wilson tickets. All I had to do was hold the bar code on the screen of my phone up to this little box and it printed out our tickets - no queue, amazing. Willow found a hoodie on offer(that is UK for special) as it was the last weekend of the festival and Petal scabbed the cloth bag. We wandered through some markets and saw clever wood pieces that had been constructed with the sliced rounds of small branches and twigs. I found a whole stall full of Scarf stick pins and have enough now to cause some serious damage - everyone wears shawls and scarves up here, not just humanities teachers and old ladies.

Delirious with delight - looking down the Royal Mile

They even have tartan plastic tablecloths. 

Outside the Obscura - if only M had't looked right.

Buskers advertising their evening shows were so close and had so many flier passers that it felt like walking through a very crowded butterfly house. One Spanish guitar group took my fancy and M laughed to see my only other purchase was not Scottish. We dallied with the idea of visiting the Camera Obscura which is a museumish type of place filled with illusions and a 360 degree view of Edinburgh - much like a Glynn Thomas painting, and a quick History of the city. But M had been distracted by a sign down an ally that lead us back to an enormous Scottish goods warehouse. 

For your special enjoyment R!!

As a compromise on buying the kilt we had a photo in one. The outfits were onesies that tie at the back, a nightmareish combination of onesizefitsall hospital gown and traditional Scottish dress. M really enjoyed the freedom and I fear that if we ever go back I won't be able to stop the kilt purchase. They didn't have any outfits in the Wilson or Hewitt tartan, which are those of M's grandmother and great grandmother. Since the early 1980's anyone can design a tartan and have it registered, as long as it doesn't match any already registered and meets the tartan criteria. Your family - with or without Scottish ties can have one of its own. All registrations are now administered by  http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/history.aspx . 

Further horrors awaited me in what was once the Royal Mile Armouries for up in the corner of a mezzanine floor was a bagpipe shop. No, M did not buy a set of pipes but bought himself a stick of woe - a practice chanter with a tutorial CD.  The only thing missing is the drone of the bag. Lucky Petal was piped awake on her birthday, sometimes tea is chanted up the stairs. Mercifully he hasn't tried a rendition of Scotland the Brave as a little night music!

Left: Hewitt tartan      Center: Wilson Tartan (one of many)     Right: Heather Isle Tartan      Insert: Balmoral bonnet

Up the Sir Walter Scott Monument, biggest in the world to a writer - it was called a giant gothic wedding cake topper by another famous writer.  Sour grapes perhaps? It is £1 to enter and climb up, this is taken on the 2nd level - there is a third.

A mad Scot playing pipes on those bouncy blades with swished his kilt up quite high at every step.  Gives pause for thought when the 'Highlands' are mentioned.  Is there any 1st world capital city that doesn't have a Ferris wheel close to the center?

Who do you think has the funniest face?
It was in the pitch dark and I'm sticking with my story that it was the flash that made me whoop.

Every major city we have been to over here has a Haunted tour or Dungeons that can be visited and every time we have managed to do something else but this day Petal's request was granted. Tas had told Petal that Edinburgh's Dungeon tour was really good and the hour or so kept M away from other loud stores. We bought the tickets which gave us entry to any tour we turned up at from the same place where we paid for our photo and the chanter. I would have much preferred to visit Holyrood Palace or the writer's museum that celebrates the lives and work of Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott. We had wanted to visit John Gray's grave too, not because this policeman was famous for anything but upon his grave is a statue of Bobby, a Skye terrier who worked alongside his master and kept vigil over his grave every day for 14 years until the dog's death united them again. 

The Dungeon tour was grisly and dark. The talented characters that met us in each new scene told their ghoulish tales well. One little girl cried and plead with her parents to be taken out through two of the rooms, their comments of 'don't be silly it isn't real' were hardly comforting when it was historically accurate. The most horrifying of the stories was true. 

The family of Sawney Bean were terribly poor and tried to make the best of their miserable lives by settling in some coastal caves. They interbred until Bean found himself the father, uncle or grandfather of a large motley crew.  To feed all these mouths they fell to kidnap, murder and cannibalism. The husband of one local couple got away and hobbled to the constable who set off with the King's men to rescue his wife. They didn't find much left but did find countless skeletons of previous dinners. The King's men arrested every member of the family. Every male from the youngest child to Bean himself were castrated with the chappie chopper and burnt while the females of the clan screamed unrepentant abuse in their strange gutteral language. Every single female was drowned. Over 40 people from two adults, one can only imagine the genetic damage such incest would create. None of us wanted to stand with our backs to the set or anywhere near where a door may have been secreted! I think both the crime and the punishment are equally awful.

We meet M's favourite comedian - thanks Cal for a great show

After all this darkness it was good to be able to walk down to the Gilded Balloon for Cal Wilson's show.  We were waiting outside when approached by another flier hand, selling off the last 'discounted' tickets of the festival. When we told him we already had tickets he asked who, Petal went  to answer him but in leaning forward and twisting to seek eye contact she lost her balance and did a little jig while keeping her face neutral - forcing this attractive young man NOT to see. However magnetic Petal's glare may be, the young chap's face burst into glee at this ballet of embarrassment. He said "What you have just performed is way funnier than anything I have ever handed fliers out for - Thank you you have made my day." Crushed Petal.

A really yummy middle eastern spread at 'Circus Café Bistro' Behind is a little place called 'Wee Bite'.

How do you get a canal boat up a huge hill without hundreds of locks?  The Fulkirk wheel.

A few months ago, G and M, took off for the weekend to see the Falkirk wheel which isn't too far from Edinburgh. After experiencing this engineering wonder they took off up to Loch Ness to find a B&B for the night. They didn't manage a sighting of what some people think is the last remaining sea dinosaur but it gave them a very long drive back to Cambridge the next day.

From the top

Left: James I of England, IV of Scotland united the two countries
Right: William Wallace guards Edinburgh Castle, he gave his life to keep Scotland independent.

Tomorrow is the big vote - Scotland will decide whether or not to become an independent state. We saw plenty of Yes signs in windows and gardens on our drive through the border counties and around Edinburgh. The No team seems to think that they have the lead still because people will err on the side of saftey. The UK have decreed that teh result is forever, whatever is decided.  This is a bit presumptuous when the history of the relationship between Scotland and England is considered. with all the bloodshed over so many years, Elizabeth I's nomination of her cousin's son James as her heir was considered a stroke of genius. She felt that it made up for chopping Mary Queen of Scots head off after a 19yr period of imprisonment and it made the two countries into one Kingdom. If the Yes vote wins will they eventually need another William Wallace? It really is a triumph of democracy that a separation of states can occur without any bloodshed, although the financial hiccoughs may hurt just as much.

Will the Union Jack be Flying on Friday - September 19 2014?

The EU has said that membership will not be automatic and that they will have to go through the long application process. Imagine having to take your passport to work everyday for those who live close to the border.  The Bank of England has said that they can't use the pound - even though they have their own Scottish version printed and in use already, the Royal Bank of Scotland needed the biggest bailout of any of he UK banks during the GFC. There are big arguments over how much oil is left under the north sea which is the Yes vote teams answer to tricky financial doubts. They will have to create their own armed forces but are keen because they want to run their own education, health and social welfare systems accusing that of the UK's being broken. I haven't paid a cent in medical bills for prescriptions or doctor visits so I don't know how much better they think they can make it. Some English papers pointed out that such a large percentage of Scottish people are on Welfare that a separation would actually improve the UK budget but I'm not sure if that is true.

The Scots are very parochial, their flag their language and accent are strong and proud.  Their visual cliches are actually lived - not just used as tourist gimmicks. As a Cantabrian I remember some talking of cutting the electricity cables under Cook straight where all the south island hydro power was sucked through to the north but even we knew that the best provincial rugby team in the world wasn't enough to create a country. Those cheeky Federation politicians in Australia had NZ signed into the document as a state of Australia until someone stumbled upon it and pointed out their error.  I wonder how we would feel about courting independence if we had a couple of hundred years of being the one country had that idea been agree to. After seeing how both Aus and NZ goods and services cost so much more than here in Europe - and I am told in the US, I fear the disadvantages of a smaller population may wipe the glow off nationalism in time.

Robert Burns

There is a statue of Robert Burns in the centre of Dunedin, the capital of Otago, Sth NZ. His newphew was one of the founding fathers of this city. This isn't any thing original though, so many people felt a kinship to his poetry that the only, non religious, figures with more statues than him around the world are Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus. For a guy who died at 37 having sired many children to various mothers his words and sentiments have had a huge impact. His later poetry became quite political and Abraham Lincoln was said to have been influenced by some to support the anti slavery movement during his Presidency. I have even read a claim that Michael Jackson set a whole lot of Burn's poems to music on a yet to be released Album. He wrote in the Scottish tongue and was as popular with the proletariat as he was with the elite.

Same poem - two languages, original on the right.

Packing up and taking home the Glengarry - with a small pompom!

Robert the Bruce

On our way home we stopped in at the site of another SvE battle, Bannockburn. This time Robert the Bruce lead the Scots at 19yrs of age in victory against the English and retook Stirling Castle. They died young and pushed themselves forward young.  It makes our generation look like wastrels.

 Further down past Glasgow was the main road across the border to England on the western side. A tiny village here is famous in regency romances as the closest spot where you could get married in the old way - hand clasp and promise without a church and government controlled licence and parental interference. The museum at Gretna Green has lots of funny stories about angry fathers and brothers, step children and such trying to stop a ceremony.  The local blacksmiths made a fair bit of extra cash turning one of their rooms into a registry office. The same laws were finally passed in Scotland but now a lucrative trade continues with tourism. Gretna Green is last village of Scotland before the English border.

The Museum at Gretna Green - You can hire the room to get married in still.

Posting a card to Granny with one of her favourite types of hairy cow on it.
Souvenir T-shirts in one of the many tourist shops.

A little bit corny!

Snippets from BBC Live Coverage of the Scotland Referendum http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/events/scotland-decides/live

19.9.14

07:12 Lord Smith appointment

David Cameron says Lord Smith of Kelvin, chairman of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, is to oversee the process of further devolution.

Draft laws on new powers for Scotland will be published by January, he adds.

07:11 Cameron: Devolution pledge

"We have delivered on devolution and we will do so in the next parliament," adds the prime minister.

"We will ensure that those commitments are honoured in full."

 

07:09  Cameron: Referendum was right

"It was right that we respected the SNP's majority in Holyrood and gave the Scottish people the right to have their say," adds the prime minister outside Downing Street.

"There can be no disputes. No re-runs. We have heard the settled will of the Scottish people.  The people of Scotland have spoken and it is a clear result. They have kept our country of four nations together and like millions of other people I am delighted."

06:24 Scotland deserves 'enormous credit'

Mr Salmond added: "I think the process by which we have made our decision as a nation reflects enormous credit upon Scotland. A turnout of 86% is one of the highest of the democratic world, in any election or any referendum in history."

06:21 Salmond 'accepts' electorate's verdict

Mr Salmond said he "accepted the verdict of the people and called on Scotland to accept the democratic verdict of the people of Scotland".

"I call on all of Scotland to follow suit in accepting the democratic will of the people of Scotland," he adds.

0618: Following the result in Fife, the official result is in. Scotland has voted No to independence.

06:02 EDINBURGH RESULT

"No" wins by 194,638 to 123,927

That is 61% "No" to "39%" Yes.

Total votes 318,565 Turnout 84.3%

05:51 Sturgeon concedes defeat

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has conceded that the No side have won the referendum.

05:36 John Curtice

Professor of politics at Strathclyde University

Those areas with more middle-class folk were more likely to vote "No" than those areas with more working class people.

Those areas where there were more people who have come to Scotland after being born in the rest of the UK have a relatively high "No" vote.

Thirdly, those places with a relatively older population are again the places where "No" did well.

04:59 SCOTTISH BORDERS

"No" wins by 55,553 to 27,906.

That's 67% for "No" and 33% for "Yes".

Total votes 83,459. Turnout 87.4%.

04:54 GLASGOW RESULT

"Yes" wins by 194,779 to 169,347.

That's 53.5% for "Yes" and 46.5% for "No".

Total votes 364,664. Turnout 75%.