A short film

A short film I took while meeting my friends - congrats to Wojtek (he is the one with a cigarette) about his great new job and thanks to Kasia (a beautiful long haired blonde) for letting us to take pictures of her and her dog during an awful rainy night. See you all very soon!

Back from Krakow

It was absolutely crazy week without a free moment for posting. I was running around in a headless chicken style, trying to meet as many friends as possible, deal with as many important matters as possible (picking up a new driving licence, a roll of prints for my diploma work, having a photoshoot with a friend and her fab new little dog Figa and trying to squeeze some necessary shopping in) during my blitz visit in Krakow.

I had a great time and I hope I will be able to reapeat it as soon as possible (I have been asked this question at least 10.000 times: "So when are you going to come again?". The problem is I HAVE NO IDEA.

All I know I will try not to fly by Ryan Air...

This picture was taken at 5 am when my best friends (in whose appartment I was staying - thank you so much, folks! ) were packing for a work week stay in Wroclaw with their half year old son - Jan on my knees. It was great to meet them even for couple of hours and to stay in their beautiful flat which simply oozes good energy.

So this is how Jan and I look like when woken up at 5 am - I am the one wearing glasses:

Scottish excuses to consume more whisky

Tonight Scotland will be celbrating birthday of its greatest poet Robert Burns with The Burns Supper. It is another excuse to drink more whisky and consume even more haggis imo.

I am keen to inform that there are aloso alternative celebrations starting to appear, this time in the name of Burns' partner Jean Armour - this exceptional lady was in relationship with the poet for many years (when her father heard that she is with child courtesy of the bard, he simply fainted and then refused Jean to marry Burns and the more I read poet's biography the more I can understand Mr Armour unwillingness to become his father-in-law) .

Jean and Robert had nine children together (he had another four by other women so he was not just interested in writing odes to haggis or drinking until collapsing - how very Scottish), the last of whom was born on the day of his funeral in July 1796.

He died due to a heart failure at 37, in debt but she survived him for 38 more years and witnessed his growing fame and fortune as he became a sort of a Princess Di of romantic period in Scotland.

I hope she became very rich, got herself lots of nice shoes and went on some holidays into warmer climates. Leaving all these painfull (or happy - it often depends) memories behind.

Graveyard wandering

On my way back from the School of Informatics (where ECA is supposed to have the final year's exhibition so I went to have a look at the space) in the setting sun I strolled into the Greyfriers yard with its Kirk called a Scottish Westmister as it's graveyard is a place of a final rest to manny imminent figures in the Scottish literature.

Walter Scott's father is buried here and the church (accordingly to Andrew Lownie's Edinburgh's Literary Companion) is the place of the meeting of the teenage writer and a love of his life Williamina Stuart-Belsches. Unfortunately his attentions came to nothing - Lownie writes - and a few years later she married a friend of his called William Forbes. At least she is said to inspire a couple of his literary female characters.

The most interesting to me were aristocratic mausoleums which are now incorporated in walls of the surrounding buildings. One kitchen window was situated exactly between the two tombstones and one could see clearly the tenant preparting a nice warm toast to himself and melancholicaly (and what else?) gazing at the graveyard outside the window:

The graveyard and remains of Franciscan's monastery (as Kirk was the first new church to be built in Edinburgh in 1620 since the Reformation) are now in the very center of the town so it is difficult to imagine them being situated in an array of the suburbian gardens not far from a rustic lane of Cowgate.

The graveyard is also a home to Greyfriars Bobby, a very special Skye terrier. The dog refused to leave his master's graveside until its death 14 years later and became a legend (this story is simmilar to that dog in Krakow which now is commemorated by a big, brass monument so Bobby's small granite tombstone looks rather poor in comparison. However I do not think anybody places fluffy doggies for him like they do here.).

Edinburgh Fashion - part 2

Britian offically entered so dreadded recession today, however it is not the reason of today's post. There is another thing that baffles me here all the time - it is an image of bare feet being the best winter accesory to the fashionable women here. The temperature hovers just above zero, I am wearing socks made of the thickest wool that Gap could provide and a woolly hat is permanently on my head and my neck is wrapped in a thick woolly scarf but here - nooooooooooooo. Bare feet. What is more - bare legs! A girl waiting at a bus stop wearing just a t-shirt (and some gloves, mmmmmmmm warmth!)

Simon and I we were sharing a joke back in Krakow: how to spot a Brit in Krakow during winter? It will be the only person in the whole space of the Main Market Square going through the snow storm in a t-shirt.

Bare feet in the image courtesy of my ECA's colleague. When I asked her: WHY??!! She simply answered that otherwise her feet would not fit into her shoes. Maybe the reality is less complicated than one thinks.

Stand up

A thing I really love about Britain are their stand up comedians.

We have heard in Poland about Shazia Mirza thanks to an article in WO (whose performance I have missed during last Edinburgh Festival, helas! the show was completely sold out) but my favourite (and relatively unknown in Poland though you might have spotted him in Ocean's Twelve where he wears definitevely less make up) is Eddie Izzard.

I saw him very first time on tv when in a rerun of his 1999 show "Dress to kill" where he speaks NON STOP for 1,5 hours and it is a brilliant, ultimately hilarious monologue not just a verbal diarrohea. He is simply the best at being two people at the same time having a dialogue with each other. What is his Scottish connection? He is simply the best at doing Sean Connery's voice!

My favourite clip from this show is here.

Change of forecast - it is possible!

At least weather here can change at 180 degrees withing an half an hour so maybethere is some hope.

For last couple of days I was going there and back between our flat and Simon's parents house, in Haddington helping my (almost, let's not be too pernickety) parents -in-law after their disatrous month of various illnesses. Simon's mum was suddenly taken into a hospital last week and after her return home is still very weak and on painkillers so I packed my bag and went to play Mary Poppins for couple of days (Simon being on photographic comission in Ukraine for next couple of days). Luckily kids did not require any magic tricks and were surprisingly keen on peeling the potatoes, scraping carrots and unstocking the dishwasher.

I just know why I have been avoiding cooking potatoes (or tatties as they ar known in Scotland) - one never knows how long they are going to take so one ends up with a family salivating at the table, clutching tightly to their knives and forks while you pray in front of the cooker so that the pot stuffed with potatoes would finally BOIL. Then the chicken shrinks surprisingly to supertiny pieces though you were sure you have overestimated the amount so that you could have it ready for another dish for tomorrow's dinner...