Amazing Edinburgh 2

After going to bed with snow outside, I woke up to see this amazing view from my window...

Edinburgh is amazing!

Amazing Edinburgh!

Imagine you had never lived in a place where it snowed...

Imagine that you had never seen the mere action of snow falling and actually accumulating on the ground...

Stop imagining! That was me until today!

Now Imagine that a person like me starts seeing snow falling outside heavily while on a (very interesting by the way) conference on legal theory. I just couldn't take my eyes out off the window, no matter how interesting the conference was...

Now I left the conference and saw the court yard of Old College covered in snow. All but the lawn, for some reason...

Then I head of to a whisky tasting enjoying each moment of walking in the snow. During the whisky tasting, once again I was gazing at the window and once back outside marveled at how everything was covered in snow. And decided to throw some snow bowls at friends who were perfectly accustomed to snow because they hadn't spend their entire lives between a Mediterranean and a Sub-tropical weather.

After another pub, I head off home in my faithful bicycle. I got used to ride in the snow immediately by the way.

On my way home, at almost 2am, I saw this guy juggling with fire in the middle of the snow in the Meadows. I stopped to see for five minutes and then continued slowly, riding my bicycle, on my way home.

What a beatiful evening!

Amazon V Blackwell's

Now I decided to have German lessons, so I had to buy my German course book (Berliner Platz Neu). 

I decided to check the price in Amazon as I always do. However, I also decided to go to Blackwell's. Just to be on the safe side...

I realized that in Blackwell's it was £10.00 cheaper than in Amazon! I then decided to also buy a German-English-German dictionary and both things together were still cheaper... 

What's wrong with Amazon?!

Happy New Year!

It's been quite a while since I last wrote here. I must apologize to my occasional readers for this absence... In fact, this blog is about Scotland and I've been back home for a while, so nothing much to say about Scotland when I'm not there.

Since I last wrote, a new year arrived: I wish you all, in Scotland or elsewhere, a happy new year of 2013!

St. Andrew's day - Edinburgh Castle

 In St. Andrew's day, Edinburgh Castle entry is free!

Around Edinburgh

Scottish cows (but not the famous Heeland Coos) 

Nunraw (Sancta Maria Abbey)

Wine reception

Something I really love about Scotland: all academic events hosted by the different study groups in the University finish in a wine reception!

The main reason why I like it is that if there is an academic event, there should also be a moment to discuss ideas in a more informal setting. These ideas may or may not be related to the topic of the event. Sometimes it may merely be a time to relax and get together. All in all, these wine events make the academic community a real community, not just a theory...

Oh yes, and I also like the wine!

Robbed in Edinburgh!

I've just been robbed in broad day light in Edinburgh! In a hairdresser...
So, story goes like this. I wake up in the morning, my hair is way too long so I decide to cut it. I look for a hairdresser in my area in my snap fax. Now, for those who don't know, snap fax is a discount card for a lot of different shops in Edinburgh. So, snap fax tells me that in a hairdresser very close to my place where I'll have a 50% discount, so I call, I book and I go.
Things started to go wrong as soon as I got in because the person cutting my hair was going to be a woman. Now, I'm not sexist, and believe in equal opportunities for all and all that, but I had never had a woman cutting my hair before. That's ok, I thought, it would be a nice morning adventure.
Second trouble, she insists in shampooing my hair. Now, I had had my hair shampooed this morning by the person who does it better: me. I said it but she insisted and I'm not the kind of person to create problems, right? So my hair got the second shampooing of the morning.
The third and real problem, however, came in the end. I went to pay and she told me it was £15.25. I think to myself "dear mother of God! thank God I have the snap fax!" So, I showed her the snap fax, smile and say: "but I have the snap fax with 50% discount, as I said on the phone..."
- Yes, yes... - the woman tells me - £15,25 is already with the discount!
I had heard this price on the phone but the guy I had talked to had a very strong Scottish accent so I assumed that was the price without the discount! Who on earth is the male idiot who pays £30.5 for a haircut!!! The idiotness of paying this price is that hairdressers start assuming that to cut the hair to a man is the same as to cut to a woman. And, once again, I'm all in favour of equal opportunities and all, but a man cuts the hair to have it shorter whereas a woman cuts it to have it pretty. It's the same reasoning of paying more for a painting than for a fixed pipe.
I'm going to be in a bad mood the rest of the day, being robbed like this in the morning!

The Brits and EU

I really admire the British attitude towards the EU! Now, mind you, that what I admire is not exactly the Euro-scepticism, is more that British think about European problems. And, even better, when trying to come up with answers they regard EU with an extremely pragmatic view: they see the EU as a mean to favour UK and not as an end in itself.
Today Nick Clegg is in the Parliament answering questions posed by some more Euro-sceptic members of the governmental coalition parties. It is true that some of the suggestions of the Euro-sceptics of these Islands are quite absurd. To start with they tend to want all the benefits of a single market without its obligations considering that us, the other Europeans, would be more than willing to concede that. Also, they don't realize that a single market needs single market rules, otherwise in matters of environment, labour or tax, there will be a race to the bottom by the member states to make their products and services competitive.
But if some of the suggestions are absurd, others are quite obvious. Why are EU organs increasing their expenditure when many member states are facing budget cuts? This is a specially relevant question for the Euro-zone, given proposals to give Brussels budget supervisory powers over member states. Are the extremely detailed regulations really necessary to achieve a single market? Is the principle of subsidiarity to be forgotten? This question is an obvious one in a country that prides itself of its Democratic institutions and regards the growing interference of Brussels as weakening the power of Westminster.
To sum this up, the British do what few people in the "Continent" do: they discuss the EU, its objectives, policies, strengths, weaknesses, etc.. As in most discussions, there are a few bad ideas... But at least there are ideas.

Union Canal

When I studied History in high-school, I learned that the construction of canals gave a major boost to the early industrialization of the United Kingdom. This allowed an easier movement of coal and industrial products in Britain. This also allowed for raw materials from the colonies and else where to reach the industries. Until the introduction and expansion of railways, canals were the main way to achieve all this.

When I was cycling around Edinburgh this Saturday, I found one of these historical canals, the Union Canal. I obviously decided to explore it. After all, not only big cathedrals and castles played an important part of British history, right?

But the Union Canal is more than just part of History, it's very much part of the life of the city. I could see lots of people cycling like me along the canal, families going for a stroll, rowing teams (all feminine!) practicing in its waters, etc..

I read that this canal runs for 50kms until Falkirk and started wondering how long would that take in my faithful but old bicycle...