Day 20 (part 2) – Edinburgh
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 a big-ass fortification on top. And then say the equivalent of go ahead, make my day. A for attitude.
The legs got a good workout, wandering up and down the Mile. Popped down to Holyrood to see the Queen, but she was off in Norfolk. Went instead into my favourite stop on the street, Cadenheads, the passionate (half crazed) independent whisky bottlers. This is the place where artificial colouring and chill filtering are rude words, if not deadly sins. It’s a great place to get opinions on whisky, as they have them here. They also have a good stock of interesting drams, generally ones not readily available in Australia, the less popular expressions, often from Cambeltown distillery. Tried a couple of wonderful drams before settling on a Hazelburn that’s had a few years in a Sauternes cask, giving it an interesting sweetness. Almost a dessert whisky. Sufficiently fortified, we popped into a little pub for lunch, where I had a lamb hot pot and half of Belhaven Best. The lamb was cooked well and full of flavour, amusingly served with a side salad of lettuce and tomato, a little bit of incongruity.
Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for Hogmanay night. For dinner we found the Thai restaurant I’d missed last night, I knew it was just around the corner but the corner was even closer than I’d thought. The food was really good, we had prawns, duck, more crunchy vegetables. Had a lovely chat with the couple at the next table, regulars who were happy we were enjoying their favourite place.
Hogmanay was a blast. 80,000 folksw crammed into the party zone, of several streets and at least 6 stages. We wandered through the crowd on Princes St, checking out the stages and food vans (curry and chips, cheese and chips, gravy and chips, chips and chips, were standard fares). I was a little disappointed by the bars, as no glass was permitted so the choice of drinks included fosters beer and bulmers cider, and a couple of wines, in plastic bottles. No whisky. Oh the irony, I managed to find probably the only place on mainland Scotland where I couldn’t buy a whisky on NYE (there are probably a couple of towns in the outer Hebrides in a similar state). Note to all: when they say no glass, they mean it. However 2L plastic bottles of Irn Bru mixed with vodka aren’t glass, neither are metal hip flasks. Pack a hipflask of the water of life and it’s all good. Now you know.
On the other hand, the garden stage area worked best for either the fully sober of the really steaming. With foot traffic turning the grass to mud, your best bet was to find solid ground and dig in. A large slippery patch opened up right in front of us, so we spent part of the night reaching out and holding onto folks attempting to traverse. Some of the more intoxicated went down quicker and more often than a temperamental Iberian football player, but to their credit kept getting up and ploughing ahead, Chumbawumba style.
Primal Scream were awesome, even with their set split for the Bells. The Bells being Scottish for midnight — and with all the fireworks there was no way we were ever going to hear any bells. It was an awesome display, big, loud and close. What could be better than standing in the shadow of a serious piece of fuck-off rock, watching rockets being launched from castle battlements, exploding right above. We also had a big sing to Auld Lang Syne.
Goodbye 2011.
The Primals cranked it up again, finishing off the rest of Screamadelica, Bobby Gillespie being full of beans and colourful expressions. The rain held off until about 12.30, much to the relief of all. The crowd started thinning with the rain, but we held on until the end, when “Rocks” rocked us all. We then scrambled up the hill, avoiding falling over in spite of the mud and some poorly anchored barriers.
So with music in our hearts, explosions ringing in our ears, and freezing rain in our faces, we welcomed the new year.