On a drive through South Queensferry I stopped to take some pics of this rather grand cruise liner moored in the estuary. In a slightly surreal moment I was tempted to photograph the bus loads of tourists come to view the bus loads of tourists from the ship who were returning from a day out in Edinburgh. In some weird way it all made sense, or at least I expect it would to an economist, as it all leads to folks buying tat and drinking coffee in wee cafes.
On one drive round the city for a now forgotten reason, I was stopped for a while in the pouring rain by an officious policeperson. I could easily have turned round and gone another way, but I'm nosey, so I waited to see what the fuss was.
It turned out to be some soggy sodjers doing something ceremonial in front of Ms E Windsors hoose. Well, whatever takes yer fancy, who am I to comment?
This is a photo of either Toffee or Fudge, one of two llamas residing in the little farm in Muiravonside Country Park. This is the photogenic one. Alas, the other was quite scruffy so landed on the cutting room floor.There is an impressive collection of pampered animals in this park, so much so that I've found my next reincarnation choice - as a fluffy guinea pig living in style and being admired by appreciative visitors and fed awfully well.
Muiravonside Country Park is located along the Avon Gorge in the Braes above Falkirk. There are (allegedly) otters in the Avon but none came out to play on my visit.
http://www.falkirkonline.net/For%20Visitors/Local%20Attractions/Muiravonside%20Park.aspx
Finally, a view of the gorge at the bottom of the precipitous walk up Dollar Glen in Clackmannanshire. It's worth the slog up this hill, if only to experience the wonderful microclimate and unusual plants clinging to these slopes.
At the top is Castle Campbell which has spectacular views across the river Forth to the dubious industrial architecture of the Grangemouth cooling towers.
3 comments:
Hi Jes,
Good to see you back in the blogosphere.
Nice pic of the huge ship. How different these modern cruise ships are from the liners of my youth. They look like what they are: hotels on water, with all those floors and windows. The old liners had huge black metal sides but much smaller superstructures.
Nice llama - or vicuna or alpaca? - or even a guanaco (the last new to me). Never understood the difference, and looking them up in Wikipedia I realise I don't care, beyond discovering they're all south american camels (crossed with sheep it looks like to me) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelid.
I do mean to visit some country parks, and thanks for Muiravonside as a suggestion. Dollar Glen looks good also.
Toffee and Fudge are great names for Llamas !
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Thanks for the comments!
Jerzz, cruise liners have always been floating hotels. Have you never watched A Night to Remember? Or even the delightful Jeeves and Wooster when they crossed back and forth over the Atlantic?
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