This time we're coming to you from rainy Duns, just an hour outside Edinburgh. Derek and Kathy Huffman have been living here for about three years now, working as teachers in this town of around 2000 people.
We spent the morning in Glasgow killing time before our bus left for Edinburgh. We walked up to the Provands Lordship, the oldest home in Glasgow. By the time we finished looking around, it was starting to rain so we looked for a cafe to sit in while we waited for our bus. In the course of our search, we stumbled across a parade. We watched it for a while trying to figure out what it was for--it consisted mostly of uniformed young and middle-aged men and marching bands, and a stream of people following the parade on either side. Brian soon realized we were watching an Orangemen parade, which, as a nearby security guard explained, is really just "the protestants publicly declaring their hatred for Catholics". Knowing this, the crowds took on a sinister tinge for us. We became attuned to the anger behind the chants and the liquor concealed in Coke bottles, and the potential for violence.
We eventually managed to cross the street (the parade was so long they had to stop it several times to let traffic through), and spent the rest of the morning watching peoples' reactions to a street performer sitting outside the cafe we had our coffee in. We caught the Scottish Citylink to Edinburgh at 1:00pm. It was a great ride, and we're amazed at the quality of public transit here--the extent of it far exceeds what one would see in a Canadian city the size of Glasgow.
In any case, Derek picked us up at the station in Edinburgh and drove us around the city to help us get our bearings. Then we carried on toward Duns, stopping along the way at "one of [Derek's] favourite castles" (it's a list of fifteen, apparently): Dirleston Castle.
He kindly showed us around before taking us back to his house and hooking us up with deep-fried haggis and fish and chips from the 'Chippy' around the corner. When we got home, Kathy had baked Brian a birthday cake, so we followed our deep-fried dinner with a slice of it. Needless to say, it's been a great day.
We spent the morning in Glasgow killing time before our bus left for Edinburgh. We walked up to the Provands Lordship, the oldest home in Glasgow. By the time we finished looking around, it was starting to rain so we looked for a cafe to sit in while we waited for our bus. In the course of our search, we stumbled across a parade. We watched it for a while trying to figure out what it was for--it consisted mostly of uniformed young and middle-aged men and marching bands, and a stream of people following the parade on either side. Brian soon realized we were watching an Orangemen parade, which, as a nearby security guard explained, is really just "the protestants publicly declaring their hatred for Catholics". Knowing this, the crowds took on a sinister tinge for us. We became attuned to the anger behind the chants and the liquor concealed in Coke bottles, and the potential for violence.
We eventually managed to cross the street (the parade was so long they had to stop it several times to let traffic through), and spent the rest of the morning watching peoples' reactions to a street performer sitting outside the cafe we had our coffee in. We caught the Scottish Citylink to Edinburgh at 1:00pm. It was a great ride, and we're amazed at the quality of public transit here--the extent of it far exceeds what one would see in a Canadian city the size of Glasgow.
In any case, Derek picked us up at the station in Edinburgh and drove us around the city to help us get our bearings. Then we carried on toward Duns, stopping along the way at "one of [Derek's] favourite castles" (it's a list of fifteen, apparently): Dirleston Castle.He kindly showed us around before taking us back to his house and hooking us up with deep-fried haggis and fish and chips from the 'Chippy' around the corner. When we got home, Kathy had baked Brian a birthday cake, so we followed our deep-fried dinner with a slice of it. Needless to say, it's been a great day.
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