Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
Edinburgh is not only enough to confuse your average humanoid. It drives the GPS crazy. Why?
Because the city exists on two levels, one of which is about fifty feet (fifteen metres) above the other. It’s bizarre. We’d be driving along the street, following the directions from Google Earth on my iPhone, and it would tell us to turn right on some street. We’d look around … no such street visible. Then we come to a bridge, look over the edge, and there’s the street we’re supposed to turn left on, but it’s way, way down below us. How can that be, we’re on the ground level up here, and there’s a whole ‘nother world of shops and people far down underneath. Bizarre.
We started off our trip by visiting the Botanical Gardens, which were wonderful. Of course, the first sight that greeted us was a windmill, a Darrieus rotor. In this case, it could more accurately have been called a Darrieus stator, because despite rather high winds, it didn’t move during our whole time there. Shocking, I know.
The Botanical Gardens are quite lovely, a serene corner of a bustling city. In one section, I was surprised to see that there was a full-on meteorological station, which was not all that badly situated:
The placard in front said that it had been in operation since 1794 … note to self, check the records, should be interesting. Unfortunately, the plaque also said:
Previously located in the Demonstration Garden, in spring 2011 the weather station was removed to this more prominent location as the Met Office automated many of their recording devices to provide real-time readouts.
Since I doubt greatly whether they continued the old station to give an overlap so the two records could be combined, that means that the record effectively ends in 2011.
The Botanical Gardens has an exquisite old greenhouse, a lovely work of art…
And a butt-ugly new greenhouse.
Sigh …
Refreshed by the greenery, we parked downtown and started to walk. First we went on a most bizarre but quite lovely walkway over a street:
Note the rain on the roof … liquid sunshine. Then up past the St. Giles Cathedral and on to the National Museum of Scotland. Why? Well, it’s a museum of science … and it’s free. However, it’s also very, very strange. The selection and the location of the objects inside is quite bizarre. They will have say a space suit next to a suit of armor, and that’s just for starters. My daughter’s final conclusion as to the reason behind the strange exhibits and combinations was “Because Scotland” … which as it turned out seems to apply to lots of things in Edinburgh.
They did have a fantastic early steam engine, and the main exhibit hall was a light, airy work of joy:
To my eye, one of the loveliest works of Scottish engineering in the Museum, curiously, wasn’t an exhibit at all. It was the radiators that you can see at the lower left above which heated the building. Here’s a closeup:
Now that’s a pretty awesome way to heat a building.
In the evening, we had the great pleasure of meeting up with Lord Christopher Moncton, living proof that the species Homo eccentricus britannis is not threatened with extinction. We met in a pub that looks like this:
Gotta say … not many pubs look like that where I live … from there we went out to a restaurant. And there I learned that when the flow of the River Christopher is in full spate, all one can do is stand on the bank and marvel at the unending rush of ideas, humor, obscure references, side-splitting stories, explanations of history, and most interesting science, all delivered in his most impish manner which is totally irresistible. My great thanks to him for a most enjoyable evening.
We stayed quite near the St. Giles Cathedral, and the next day I was awakened to a very strange chorus. It went “BONG … ribbit … BONG … ribbit … BONG …” During the night the rain had come on in full force, and a most determined frog, who sounded like he was about six inches from my ear, had obviously set his mind that he was not going to be outcroaked by some giant bell.
We had lunch with another most interesting gentleman, Andrew Montford, the “Bishop” of the climate blog “Bishop Hill“. Like the other well-known climate bloggers that it’s been my pleasure to meet, he is self-employed, and a great conversationalist. We covered the gamut of topics over a fine meal, and sadly bid him goodbye. He also has my appreciation and thanks.
On the walk back to our flat, we passed the memorial to Sir Walter Scott. It is an arabesque fantasy in stone, looking like the fairy-tale castles in my childhood books where princesses awaited their knight in shining armor.
It has all the required accessories and accoutrements, flying buttresses, towers, statues hundreds of feet up in the air, even a gargoyle on each of the four corners. What’s not to like?
We saw the Edinburgh Castle, and Mary Queens close (which was not sealed up on account of the plague as I’d heard, but was built over to provide government offices). And then, sadly and far too soon, it was time to leave. Every place I’ve gone on this trip I end up saying, “But, but, do we have to leave already?” However, we did have to leave, so we rolled out down the A1, enjoying the lovely scenery and dodging windmills … but that’s a story for another day.
Regards to all,
w.
I enjoy your pen pictures Willis, I wonder if you notice a major difference that I see when in your country. In North America for some reason, most power lines and cables are above ground, here they are buried. I’m not sure whether that makes our lines more efficient or not, but it certainly makes places like Edinburgh look much more beautiful than with wires criss crossing every narrow street. Hope you have chance to visit the Scotch whisky society on Queen street.
Mmmmm Scotch!
Thank you Willis for this wonderful travelogue. You have certainly found your true vocation.
I was in Edinburgh in May and after your report, I cannot wait to get back there. I wonder how many fellow Americans and others you are encouraging to swell their carbon footprints and to tour dear Old Blighty.
Just to correct you on one point. The walkway as you described it was not bizarre. They have to build them all that way in Scotland so that the men can still stagger home at night after they have had a wee dram or two.
Monckton and Montford in Edinburgh! Hoot, Mon²! I’m green…er…aquamarine with envy.
Hmmm… Space suit=suit of armor for the conquest of space? Might not be so far off after all?
Gareth, North America has never been under real threat of aerial bombardment, and having power lines on the poles is cheaper, more efficient, and easier to maintain compared to underground cables. I believe power transmission in Europe was driven underground by the WW2 hostilities. Pre-war photographs show a lot of aerial power lines. Residential telephone wires are still on the poles in most places.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66328408@N00/2086366442
On the other hand, one can’t help but notice an inordinate scale of digging taking place in the UK.
An excellent series of stories, Willis. I too shall morn the end of it. You’ve visited many areas of mutual interest I would like to experience first hand.
Homo eccentricus britannis.
Generic name always capitalized in Linnaean system. Britannis with two “n”s rather than “t”s. Please excuse the pedanticism, but in reference to a classical scholar such as His Lordship, the offense may be excused.
Glad you liked it here – sorry about the winds, if you had come a day earlier it was glorious sunshine.
Edinburgh is a very nice city, unfortunately run by a rather useless city council.
Liquid sunshine, good one. Beware of flying rats and know that scotch is liquid bread.
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And for those on the west side of the pond who may be wondering, just remember “Scots is wha’ ye are, and Scotch is wha’ ye drinks.”
Willis, what was the pub? To my shame I don’t recognise it!
You are probably right about the war forcing cables underground. However above ground cables are unsightly and more prone to snagging in trees and the poles as well as being vulnerable to vehicle impact and vandalism. Being more exposed the cables are more likely to get damaged generally.
Living in a rural area my parents still have phone and power delivered by overhead cable. Since 2006 they have twice had the phone cables repaired due to snagging in trees and once had the power cable replaced altogether following storm damage. They also have very low ADSL signal on clear nights night (1.5 Mb/s) when RF interference is high, despite a daytime rate of 3 Mb/s.
In the same period I have not had a single problem with either my power cabling or phone, both of which are delivered in underground ducts. Note the cables are not “buried” as such, just routed through an underground pipe. Some has been replaced in our street with the implementation of optional FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) which replaces the copper cable for all except the last few yards. The job was accomplished in a day as the cable was simply pulled through the pipe between “manholes” (inspection chambers). No more difficult (and possibly easier than) replacing an overhead cable. No digging involved. My ADSL does not vary between night and day (not gone for the fibre option yet – rather expensive, if tempting).
Those marvelous old structures for living botanical specimens do justice to the name “conservatory.” The practical modern ones deserve the pedestrian “greenhouse” label.
Willis:
Thankyou for another wonderful account from your travels.
I wonder if there was an explanatory sign by the space suit and the adjacent suite of armor. In the 1960s NASA had engineers designing the suites to be worn on the Moon. They visited the Royal Armories (then in the Tower of London and now in Leeds) to examine joints of armor at knees and elbows with a view to copying them.
I commend the Royal Armories Museum at Leeds during your journey South: its contents and live action displays are awesome.
Richard
Gene, A lot of the U.S. infrastructure has to do with costs. If a bad storm knocks all the power lines down, this is considered an “act of nature” for which the power companies are not responsible and therefore don’t have to factor in the costs (it’s always allowed to simply pass these costs on to the consumer). Underground piping has a big upfront cost and higher maintenance costs when maintenance is needed (must be budgeted). When power companies do a cost/benefit analysis, it therefore always comes out better to put everything above ground. The total cost/benefit doesn’t necessarily come out this way, but the companies quite naturally look at their own situation, not society’s situation.
As an example, my family was in Florida for Hurricane Charlie. The resorts along the beach had been required by government to put their power lines underground. Everybody else had theirs above ground. When Charlie came through, none of the beach resorts lost power. Everybody else had power out for a week. We had a small kitchen with our unit and were scheduled in for the week after the storm. So we unofficially hosted families from across the road, let them come in and cook their food before it spoiled, and helped out whatever other ways we could. We met a lot of nice people and had a bunch of great conversations. The point is that much of the indirect costs of the storm and much of the repair costs for the power infrastructure could have been avoided if the power lines had been underground for everybody. But these costs are not included when decided what way to design the grid, so the answer is what it is.
If you’re heading south soon, try to be a little bit north of Nottingham sometime next weekend (21, 22) for some more thoroughly gorgeous vintage tech. Papplewick Pumping Station will be “steaming up”, and you’ll get the raw pleasure of seeing a big, beautiful late Watt triple-expansion engine at work, in as beautiful an engine house as ever there was anywhere. Highly recommended. NB, no credit card facility – need cash.
Also, if you then proceed though Nottingham afterwards, you can visit “The Old Trip to Jerusalem”, billed as “the oldest pub in the country” and certainly among the oldest. It’s cut into the Castle rock, so quite easy to find. Warning: if you drink inside, you may get bits of Castle rock falling into your beer – or so the legend has it. 😉
A colleague formerly worked for HP at South Queensferry, near Edinburgh.
He entertained a visitor from California who was puzzled about the arrangement of the city and who therefore asked why they had built the castle so near to the train station.
Don’t forget to eat a Scotch pie, Willis!
Willis: As I cruised the articles with my morning cup of coffee to see which I would read first, you won out by a landslide. Thanks for another interesting view of England/Scotland/Wales.
As a Scot I am always proud when someone visits my country. You have to resist saying, “you have to go there and there,and…”
Fantastic. The global community of climate skeptics. The only other such community that I am involved in is that of the Deadheads – Grateful Dead fans, their music and live performance having obsessed me since I was 15. It’s good to find your tribes. Lord Monckton, having received and imbibed a real, old-fashioned Classical education will I am sure have been hugely good company. Mildly envious 🙂
Great post Willis, I’ve only ever been to Scotland twice, and never to Edinburgh. My father-in-law, and meek and mild old school Labour party man (when he left Cowley Motor Works in Oxford at retirement age, he was the longest holder of a union card there), couldn’t stand the Scots. In the navy during WWII, Arctic convoy and all over the place, he said that it was always Scotsmen that started pub brawls.
I couldn’t possibly comment {~>>
Willis,
If you’re headed down the A1, and interested in how coal is extracted in the UK, without a pickaxe as my grandfather did it, then head for Cramlington and http://www.northumberlandia.com . There is a sculpture there that weighs 1.5 million tonnes.
Enjoy.
Willis, you’ve discovered the naughty secret of GPS mapping software. When the error in the fix is large the software puts you on the nearest road – not necessarily the correct one. You could blame the poor GPS receiver in your iPhone. 🙂
Or to Rothbury, and http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cragside/ , the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectric. This is one that the National Trust do open to all.