Today was a designated shopping day,  looking for interesting shiny things as well as tacky souvenirs for all you folks brainwashed by capitalism to expect more from out travels than the experience of reading our journals. Fortunately, another thing Scotland does well is its ability to stick some tartan or a St Andrew’s Cross on almost anythingand flog it off […]

Woke up stiff and sore, joints aching, as if we’d spent the night before partying in slippery mud and rain. Funny that. We gave the hotel breakfast a miss, as it wasn’t very good, and wandered over the road to the COnan Doyle for a full breakfast. Haggis, bacon, black pudding, all the usual suspects except the potato scone that […]

Spent the last morning of 2011 wandering around Edinburgh with L, checking out the Old Town and Royal Mile. Wandered up to the castle, and as always stunned by the view. The Scots certainly knew where to build castles: find the biggest piece of fuck-off rock, completely inaccessible from 3 sides with a fair incline on the fourth, and stick […]

The last day off 2011 is upon us. As I write, it has just ticked over into 2012 in Perth (Australia, not Perth in Scotland). Kind of a weird feeling, as the only other time I’ve been out of WA at New Year’s was in Melbourne, where we were 3 hours ahead. So being behind seems weird. I’m not unhappy […]