Cats and dogs

I have never been an early riser but since couple of weeks it is more disastrous than ever - I cannot roll out of bed earlier than 1.30 pm!
However, no wonder if the weather is like that - howling wind and neverstopping rain which just swiches from subtle drizzle to splatting glassfulls of water on your face from the weirdest of angles. One cannot even hold the umbralla up properly as wind changes its direction 100 times per minute and breakes the construction almost immediately.
British have this funny description for such a rainy day - that it is raining cats and dogs (something along the lines of Polish rzuca zabami, or French il pleut comme vache qui pisse hihi) so I am just sitting down to preparing a new illustration for my portfolio inspired by the weather forecast!

I love you and yes, you can have that in writing

I had to start my day earlier than my usual midday as our tutor took us for a morning walk around couple of Edinburgh galleries.
I really like the way David treats his students as he does not have that aloof way of being, is full of fatherly and genuinely caring about your work attitude and sense of humor.However at the same time one feels that it is necessary to work really hard as you would not like to dissapoint such a kind person. Still, when I have learned that such a photography course in US is approx 40 000$ I Iam thinking if I am indeed working hard enough...
The first show we saw was also one that appealed to me the most as I am not into minimal art (as it has this aloof feeling I was talking about earlier. It reminds me of that primary school experience, when a group of girls knows a secret you are not allowed to know so that they sit an whisper to each other while you desperately try to look completely untinterested, though your insides are simply screaming: what is it?!) were works of Simon Scott.
It was a combination of good images (shot with a leafback digital Hasselblad so imagine the quality) reasonably priced (400 pounds for a framed print of size B2) and executed from a collection of objects gathered by the author. Each object was signed, or rather carved into in most of the cases with a personal, witty, well thought of comment.
My favourites were: placed on 7 early 20th century modelgrinders entitled "The Daily Grind": "Chop chop busy busy work work bang bang" and repeat it please 3 times. "Love is indeed a many splendoured thing. But when it goes wrong it is death by a thousand cuts" on american food graters circa 1925. There was also a play on Osama Bin Laden's name "Oban.Ladies.Man" witha comment:"Now you see him, now you don't. Tends to take himself a little bit too seriously".
The whole thing reminded me strongly of dada experiments and especially of Marcel Duchamp who as David put it once, launched the whole modern art singlehandedly.
There will be no image with this post (I hate people taking pictures of my works hanging on display, though who knows - it might be just a good advertising. The author of works launched the biggest Edinburgh advertising agencies btw.) but have a look here.

P.S. Just so you know - Picasso's etchings from a Minotaure series are 20 000 pounds at the moment.

Weather forecast predicts snow this winter!

A history of a checked fabric

A Scottish saying goes that a man in kilt equals a man and a half.

So what would you say about that image I spotted today when just stepping out of a post office?

The belted plaid had many advantages in the Highland climate and terrain. It allowed freedom of movement, it was warm, the upper half could provide a voluminous cloak against the weather, it dried out quickly and with much less discomfort than trousers and if required it could, by the mere undoing of the belt, provide a very adequate overnight blanketing. The tightly woven wool proved almost completely waterproof, something the lose woven wool of today - is not. When complete freedom of action was required in battle it was easily discarded, and one famous Highland clan battle, that between the Frasers the MacDonalds and Camerons in 1544, is known as Blar-na-Leine, which can be translated as 'Field of the Shirts'. (information in italics via: http://www3.nbnet.nb.ca/legends/kilt.htm) So I guess they must have left their dangly bits on a full display to deterriorate a morale of their opponents...

As a kilt has no pockets a Scotsman keeps his mobile phone in a thing called sporran - a leather purse hanging from the waist.

A sgian-dubh, (or small dagger) (pronounced "skian du"- info from Simon) however, is carried in the right hand stocking on all occasions (so beware during an usually legless Scottish wedding when you are amongst the guests and all of a sudden the bride and a photographer are nowhere to be seen during the same time) The kilt is male attire and should never be worn by the ladies, except Highland dancer lassies.

If you ask me if Scotsmen wear any lingerie underneath their skirts ups kilts, they DO NOT - however this information comes courtesy of a secondary source - once Simon's friend, a beautiful lawyer Marina, plucked up some courage and asked this question to a stranger in a shop and he showed her the answer...

P.S. Legless means something that happens to one's head (just like in the illustration) when too much alcohol is consummed. Wearing a kilt is not obligatory.

New Year's resolutions

How many of you actually know that Simon plays clarinet at a professional level (he did gigs with professional orchestras)? Well, he does not play it now as he just brought it from his parents and sat down to a thorough cleaning of the instrument.

I just hope that resuming playing it is his New Year's resolution - I have heard him once, playing a bit from one of Mozart's concertos (using Liska's clarinet as his old one cracked dangerously while playing in cold weather) and it was an almost sexual experience. I hope he will sit down to it as it might not only be an alternative career but also a big turn on!

Up the hill

Since seeing Ann's pictures I was keen on talking a walk on top of the Artur's Seat. So we went equipped with a flask of rum-tea and cheese sarnies. Also several thousand Edinburghers had apparently the same idea to spend a free afternoon.
However some, unlike us (surprise, surprise!), went without flask or/and sarnies so when we had our little pique-nique on top we heard some pityfull "Oh, I wish we have thought about some hot tea!" as it was another freezing day. My tiny John Lewis' flask paid for itself a thousand times over.

No more fireworks!

We did a toast with our posh champagne (after which Simon immediately got a serious allergic reaction), rushed downstairs to see the fireworks but they were finished before we managed to get to the corner of the street - lots of people were hoping it was just a break and that the team was just loading another lot up there, in the castle but no - 2 minutes and that was it.

Happy New Year!