Icarus @ 59 # 358

Apologies about the shadow in the corner of this picture, which I don't have time to clip right now, but then it is a little appropriate because there is a shadow that hangs over the location. Newtongrange, once the location of not one but two collieries which are now the bedrock of The Scottish Coal Mining Museum. There is no industry anymore, at least not much to write about and as my old friend Alex Sharp told me, its now a dormitory town. And this is what has become of one of the pit wheels. For those who don't know, these things used to turn four times a day, after the pit hooter sounded. The day shift, men down the pit first thing in the morning, bringing back the night shift on the returning journey, and so on all day, back shift down day, shift up, night shift down, back shift up (although if the hooter sounded at the wrong time and there was an extra journey the whole village would know there was possibly an accident. Those were the worst days and the wives would stand around waiting to find out if it was their man (men). If anyone has read The Odour of Chrysanthemums by D. H. Lawrence, you might get some idea. But in those days, Newtongrange (Nitten as it was named locally) was buzzing with life, Newtongrange Star, the football club, the Miner's Welfare Club, The British Legion, Nitten Institute, The Bottom Shop and of course The Dean (the only village owned pub in Scotland), the Gala Day in Nitten Park. This isn't nostalgia, it was a different life and I don't really miss it, but it was the life I grew up with and made me as I am now, which is ever grateful. But we played music just like in this clip - Happy Saturday:

Icarus @ 59 # 357

The small man down in the bottom right hand corner of this picture is my Dad and I wish he had flown back to Gatwick with me for a few days - though I can't see that ever happening again. He is happy in his own space, in his own village (where he seems to know absolutely everyone) and even his own kitchen, but that's as it should be and I know how it feels, being back in my own space is good (and I have come back with many plans - even though I only had five hours in bed last night). We had a couple of good walks though and some laughs over the funny stories he has carried through the years. I thought I had heard them all but not so, though the dyslexic cat turned out to be an anorexic dog, and more precisely a miniature Rottweiler (you had to be there and it was funny all the same). The morning is dark and cold here, not even the birds are up and dawn feels a long way off, but that will change by the time I am showered and dressed. Happy Friday, I won't be getting much of a break this weekend but who needs one? I think I will let this music run through breakfast, just let it roll on, its been a short night and it will be a long day, but that's ok - and that could be a line in a song, surely:

Icarus @ 59 # 356

What time is it? This is the High Street in Edinburgh, a city that combines the old and the new with ease and today I am going to see the Lord Provost turn on Leith's Christmas Lights before I fly home - at least that's the plan. But yesterday I had plans that went awry, and due to an instruction to 'turn here' we ended up heading over the Forth Road Bridge and exiting in the Kingdom of Fife, ochone, hoots and help mah boab! But all came well, though not as successfully as we had hoped. We went to see the Kelpies in the dark, new pictures to follow, to see them lit up. We saw them but the lights were broken so after a slow walk along the canal tow path we headed back to the car. Oh well, another time, perhaps. But I did take a great picture of my Dad next to one of the Kelpies, just to give their size some perspective, so as soon as I get access to a computer I will load it up. But what a day, up at five, flying by eight, breakfast with Gordon, a good laugh with Debs and Robert about a 'dyslexic cat' and then a couple of hours with Alex Sharp and Davie Jack in the Justinlees, which is where we would meet forty years ago, just to round the day off. All good, this song takes me right back to those days in the seventies and it is also what I am doing, having a weekend away, oh yay...

Icarus @ 59 # 355

Its five in the morning, dark and cold, but the citron grey tea is slipping down a treat and soon, after a short drive, I will be hanging around Gatwick Airport until my flight to Edinburgh is called - can you see me smiling? I love airports and flying and arriving, all of it, and I am so looking forward to being in another city but with friends and family. I'm not a huge collector of friends and the ones I have in Scotland I have had for over forty years, which in real time is a long time. Though I have accumulated another couple along the way - and family too of course, I am an uncle many times over and a great uncle (oh sigh - yes my four sisters, who are all younger than me, are grannies).  But after landing I will be having breakfast with Rocky (Councillor Gordon Munro) before heading down to see my dad and that's a great thought for the day. This is a song about a Rochdale girl - I have never been to Rochdale but I like this song:

Icarus @ 59 # 354

This is what the Victorian train station at the bottom of my street looks like in the 21C. I love walking at night - and its like a new hobby for me. You see the world in a different way, the light is different, the sounds the whole feel of the city - and the wildlife, it always surprises me how many foxes I see (there isn't one in this picture - more's the pity) but they have really adapted to urban life in the same way as the seagulls (who rarely seem to venture down to the beach these days). But its a week for cities, Brighton, Lewes (not technically a city) Winchester then Edinburgh and I can't wait to travel there tomorrow. But I was thinking earlier how much I miss London and I am definitely going there over the Christmas break. Its not everyone's idea of a good trip but I love the buzz; the galleries and the theatres but also the river and the bridges, Putney, Chelsea, Battersea, Westminster... a stroll along the South Bank, the Tate Modern. But then its cities, I love them and New York best of all. I will definitely be going back there after this blog comes to a close - and here is a New York song.

Icarus @ 59 # 353

Brighton Pavilion at this time of the year is a magical confection of colour and ice. I took a walk down on Friday night just to catch a glimpse and its like Disney dropped in right out of context, just for the fun of it. Maybe one day, when Abbi isn't playing tennis anymore and can take the kind of risk that comes with ice-skating we could go down and put it through its paces. In fact I might go anyway. Of course we have ice skated before, when she was little - and if I am honest, I was ok, and I did enjoy it a great deal. Though I have a different plan for this coming Christmas day - Dan has given it over to Crisis at Christmas and we will be working but I have bought a collective Christmas present (yes already) which we can take down to the beach... have I got you intrigued? It will have to be better than the four ukeleles I bought last year (I thought they would have gone down better). But this is a great distance from the Black Friday/Cyber Monday idea of what this time of year has become. Me, I love it, the lights, the sparkle, the music, the build up. Its because it was my Mother's favourite time of the year. Sixty years ago she was in the last days of her pregnancy with me and all through my childhood we would dress the tree and switch the lights on, on my birthday - and what a special birthday treat it was. Even when I stopped living with her she would call me and sing happy birthday down the phone, then we would talk about the tree coming down from the attic and the lights going on. I have her singing one 'happy birthday' on my answer machine because that year I was in the USA. I still can't bring myself to erase it (or her mobile number on my phone - sigh) - pinch and a punch for the first of the month (no returns). There is only one ice skating song worth posting here: