ianbee: this is instead of getting a dog

Beautiful hills, a big nibbly thing and a boat

I drove back to Leeds from Edinburgh today. The hills were so beautiful in the evening light.

Earlier in the week I stopped off at Moffat and tried to use the loo. The public toilets had a sign on them that said "Mon to Fri, opening times 9:00am to 3:57pm"

For fans of my Edinburgh flat, there was a big nibbly machine nibbling away at the brewery. That's a good job. Right up there alongside snowplow driver.

There was also a building taking shape by the canal. It looks remarkably like a big canal boat, on dry land.

 

 

Hidden Door (3)

The five stages allowed for an intense concert experience. They were arranged around the outside of the room so a band on one stage would finish and the next could kick off with barely a crotchet's rest. There was no time to catch breath, all the audience had to do was rotate on their heels through 72 degrees at the end of each set.

Sounds good? Then imagine, once the novelty of that trick wears off, that five bands take to the stages simultaneously having learnt each other's songs. The resulting set spins the audience into delirious confusion as, after a gentle start, choruses are harmonised from every corner or the room and a guitar solo rises from behind and slightly to the left. 

Whilst that wonderful concept remained fresh with the music still ringing in our ears, the following evening saw multiple bands perform a join composition which pounded the unsuspecting audience from all sides. A miracle of synchronised guitar tuning and complex sound engineering produced a gig that managed to be all about emotion and the collective power of sound.

You've read this far, why not watch a video? You deserve it.

 

Wish you'd been there? Why not taste a sample of the event through the Hidden Door iphone app. This cunning tool will play a dynamically changing location-aware music mix as you travel towards the venue. Which has unfortunately gone into administration. But the app still works.

Hidden Door (2)

The main hall was home to five stages, each the creation of a different group of artists and musicians. One stage was a simple white box, to be covered in projections and visual detritus. Another bought the outdoors inside with a dirt floor, picket fence and blue sky. The centre stage was a tiered construction that rose grandly up into the spacious roof. As the bands played below, artists scurried about above our heads painting amongst the music.

(left - tramp blues band on the white stage, right - indoor lawn complete with cake stall)

In my role as general helpful person, my finest hour was when I was called upon at a moment's notice to ascend into the upper levels of the stage with a screwdriver to remove a giant letter 'C' which had been catching on the costume of a ninja bellydancer. Whilst RBRBR played the tunes below, I crouched focused and undistracted amongst the smoke, the lights and the bellies. I was equal to the task and the entertainment continued.

Hidden Door (1)

Let me tell you about Hidden Door. It was a while ago now (October). I wrote about it in my head, as is often the way, but I realise that is a poor substitute for sharing.

Hidden Door was an Edinburgh weekend of home-grown music and art, assembled by a hard working and passionate group of highly talented optimists. I'd been disappointed not to be able to make the first event, back in January last year, so the autumn sequel had been on my radar for a while.

I turned up early to find a building full of people all looking for somewhere to charge their powertools. It was an old stone church- once used as an exam hall by Edinburgh University. In a former life, a young engineer/nurse sat one of his finals under its roof, little realising that one day in the future he would return and would be pointed towards a stone pillar and asked to build a platform for a video projector, given only a sketch, some scrap wood and a drill with an empty battery to help him in his task.

I think I did alright. It certainly lasted the whole weekend, and didn't fall on anyone's head.

Lets talk about the weather

This was the first week that the Edinburgh summer weather was better than the Sydney winter weather. When I say better, I mean warmer. Doesn't look like I'm missing a great summer. I like these little weather windows on the Mac, although I'm very careful since I got caught out a few years ago.

This is where I'll be next week ... any guesses? I am giddy with excitement, despite the inclement weather, and have been packing for at least a fortnight in anticipation. Each time I need clean socks or my phone charger I have to open the suitcase and hunt around.

PS Kate and Dan, you are obviously exempt from guessing.

One of the best weekends ever

I've just had a great weekend. It's not often I get a proper end-of-working-week weekend, the sort that starts on friday and continues right through to sunday. I was determinded to enjoy it, and planned it down to the hour.

Saturday was another day on the slopes at Glenshee. I drove up with two of my neighbours and we tackled the pistes together, relishing the blue skies and the best snow conditions in years. The tricky run down the side of Glas Maol was open, and I did it twice at the end of the day, experiencing the exposure through every bone and imagining what it would feel like to outrun an avalanche. Returning to the ski center I was thrilled to discover that you could buy Vin Chaud in the cafe. I'm off to Italy in a couple of weeks, but I don't know why I need bother ...

This morning I tried to go to my usual church, but due to the 'week of Christian unity' there was a church-swap that had evaded my attention and we were meeting alongside a nearby congregation in their building. Which turned out to be a lot warmer and I didn't need my extra jumper. Plus we were starting half-an-hour later so I avoided the Minister's suggestion to come inside early to pray and ran away to Beanscene. In the service I got to sit behind a hilarious snotty-nosed two-year-old who had a big yellow spotty hanky she shared with her dad.

I went for lunch afterwards with an old housemate - our first proper reunion in five years. The restaurant ran out of knives.

Then I went shopping and brought some icebreaker gloves. (The only icebreaker clothing I can afford!)

This evening I watched an Icelandic film called Nói albínói. Strange, beautiful, funny and sad. And recommended. I cycled home the long way round.

What a great weekend.

Icebreaker

Sarah liked my cold picture (she would do - she lives in Thailand) so here's another one - taken on the canal at Polworth, a few minutes from my flat.

Reindeer Guantanamo

I went with Nic to see the 'Christmas Market' today. There was a sort of Reindeer Guantanamo Bay in Princess Street Gardens as part of the celebrations. The animals were confined to restrictive accommodation whilst exposed to bright psychedelic lights and loud music. I suppose the upside is that Edinburgh is warmer than Lapland, even when it's minus four degrees outside. Apparently Santa visits three times a day to muck then out. Back at Nic's flat, she showed me the Christmas card I'd sent her: "Can you read the signature?" she asked me, "I can't work out who it's from ..."

Today was very cold

Autumn Colours

The weather last week was glorious. I used my days off to visit Henry and Vanda in their castle in East Lothian, as well as stomping around the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh dodging 4x4 push chairs. Of course, after the rain the leaves have all turned to mush. It was nice while it lasted. The gates to the gardens are amazing (bottom right photo).