Here are some things about Edinburgh that I’ve noticed after two months of living here. A few photos of Edinburgh taken over the same months follow. Enjoy!
Things about Edinburgh:
- Stairs/ hills are a thing. I climb an average 30 sets of stairs per day.
- “To be fair” is a thing. It’s an opener of a sentence that precedes an opposing sentence from you or another party.
- Vape is a thing. This is a battery-operated cigarette that seems to out do tobacco cigarettes 2-to-1.
- Member based parks are a thing. We’ve spotted a few lush parks we’ve not been able to enter as the gates are physically padlocked closed and CCTV monitors entry/ exit to ensure members only use the park.
- First in best-dressed real estate rental is a thing. If you’re the first tenant to submit your rental application form, you’ve got the property. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best/ worst applicant; you got that form in the fastest. Well done you!
- “In’t it” is a thing. It’s a suffix used to encourage agreement from another party.
- One guy in a group the night after a ‘big one’ wearing female clothing is a thing. It’s standard on Saturday and Sunday morning to see a group of lads all carrying overnight bags with one lad dressed in a bra/ tutu/ long wig/ dress etc. There’s no such thing as an original dare outcome.
- Picnic/ smoke-o/ hanging-out in graveyards is a thing. Whilst we’ve been perusing old headstones we’ve noticed an unusually large number of people hanging-out in the graveyard as if it were any other social location.
- Massive bees are a thing. We opened the flat window and in flew a bee as big as a ceiling down light.
- Four seasons in a day is a thing. It’s so tough to dress for all weather occasions! The most extreme we’ve encountered was leaving for the Botanic Gardens in glorious sunshine and arriving 40-minutes later in rain that turned to sleet.
- ‘Taking a picture’ is a thing. One does not take a photo of something they take a picture.
- Closes are a thing. A narrow street leading off a main street, particularly in Old Town Edinburgh, is commonly called a Close, none of this Alley/ Lane business.
- A washing machine in the kitchen is a thing. It’s just another whitegood plumbed into the kitchen wet area.
- Seagulls not near water are a thing. There’s a seagull perched on the windowsill right now and I’m a 40-minute walk from the beach. I can also hear them intermittently larking/ trilling in a colony.
- Fascinators as part of female formal wear are a thing. We’ve walked past a few weddings and the ladies in attendance all seem to wear fascinators, some to the extreme as if there’s a small planet in orbit of their head. There’s never a racehorse in sight.
- Carpet in the bathroom is a thing. It is warm on your feet, but getting it wet is weird.
- Anti-climb paint is a thing. I can’t work out if this is a jovial deterrent sign, or it’s actually a serious type of paint.
- Dogs in pubs is a thing. It’s perfectly normal for your dog to accompany you into most pubs. We played a pub quiz night in the company of a handsome hound last weekend.
A few photos of Edinburgh:
Old Town Edinburgh.
A particularly skyline dominant aspect of Edinburgh Castle.
Sunset from our old flat window looking back to New Town.
One of the many aspects of Edinburgh Castle.
The Meadows look particularly stunning in Spring.
One of the many aspects of Edinburgh Castle.
A little steep path up to Calton Hill.
A double rainbow over Salisbury Crags as seen through our flat window.
Krystle Aunger 