Just a few notes: Over here, they say everyone “gets on,” which means gets along happily with each other. And they pronounce the words that have an “own” sound such as town, and house, and cow, as “oon.” So let’s just say you were trying to say “townhouse cow,” for some unknown reason. Perhaps you wanted to know if the flat you wanted to rent would allow a townhouse cow. If you were Scottish, you would say it like “toon hoose coo.” It takes turning on my Scottish ears to tune into the subtle differences, but once I do, it’s easy.
Oh, and I still haven’t mastered the use of a Scottish washer/dryer combination. Or maybe it’s that I’ve learned how to use them in a whole new way. There just doesn’t seem to be any logic to it. There are about 50 bajillion options for washing and then you throw in whether you want to automatically dry them, too! Not to mention that you choose the actual temperature in degrees Celsius. Well, somehow my brain finds it all too baffling. I put my clothes in and choose, and invariably I will be wrong. Either they decide to dry when I don’t want them to or they won’t when I do. When we were here in 2009, I managed to totally freeze up the darn thing so that it wouldn’t do anything, not even let me open the door to get my clothes out and wash them by hand. Just yesterday, I put the clothes in and chose no dry and cold temp (which is the lowest setting & I chose it because I don’t have to do the math otherwise required) and gentle cycle. What did it do? It sat there and heated up my clothes for 30 minutes. Just heated them up. No spinning, no washing. When I checked on them, they were perfectly dry but nice and toasty warm. So no more washing for me. I will call in the expert—Ray—who seems to be able to speak the language of the Scottish washer/dryers. He can’t understand what any real Scottish person says to him, but the mechanical Scottish things, he’s got it handled. I can’t wait to get home to be able to use machines that do “American speak.”
In my research, I found that there were several Charles Scotts living in Edinburgh in the 1800s. One had a livery stable at 83 Rose St., and one (Charles Balfour Scott) was a writer who lived at 95 George Street. There was also an Archibald Scott who was an architect and lived at 5 Broughton Place.
I also found a Miss Susan Scott that lived at 5 Buccleuch Place who died in 1869 and a Susan Scott that lived at 25 Panmure Place and died in 1892. Both of these are in the University area, so maybe they were students.
Okay, a bit of research done--The Edinburgh Ladies' Educational Association (ELEA), campaigned for higher education for women from 1867 until 1892 when Scottish universities started to admit female students. For nearly a quarter of a century it arranged its own classes for women with lecturers from Edinburgh University, and it was connected with a wider campaign across the United Kingdom to open universities to women students. So maybe these women were part of the group of first women to get a University education. Or maybe they were living in the University area for another reason. They could’ve been housemaids, who knows.
There was even a Susan Scott (1794-1871 ) who married William Mein and had 6 children and lived in coldstream where we visited the other day. I suppose Susan was a common name back then.
We walked over to 25 Panmure Place and found that it was right behind the Best Western where we stayed on our run from Skye during the horrid weather that December. That’s the Best Western that had been a Maternity Hospital at one time. We passed by the entrance to Heriot’s School on our way. A flat on the third floor of this property at 25 Panmure Place is for sale right now. The price for it when it was sold in 2004 was £191,000. The ad for the property states that it is a 2 bedroom/1 bath apartment with a sitting room, kitchen/dining room, and a box room, fireplace and skylight, and has been well-maintained. It has a communal garden and would be great for students or professionals. It seems that there are 9 flats at this property.
In checking prices for properties, I found that the value of the property we are staying at right now is £282,800. The property at 25 Panmure is valued at £195,584.
I still am unable to determine what happened to the Buffet King at 6A Nicolson which was owned by J. K. Rowling’s brother-in-law and where she wrote part of Harry Potter at a corner table. It seems to have just disappeared. ***Just found out it has been permanently closed and a Spoon Café Bistro has taken its place. It is just above the place where I bought the scarves & Black Medicine Coffee Company.
We also walked over to St. Cuthbert and St. John’s Kirkyards. Best view ever of the castle high on the hill from St. Cuthbert’s. Somewhere in here near the western wall is a gravestone that mentions the name of Jekyll, the 3 week old son of Janet MacKinnon Campbell, who died. Nearby is a Thomas Scott who died in 1883. We also found a Robert Black. To be honest, I was tired of looking at gravestones and didn’t even try to find Jekyll. I did see the 1827 stone watch tower here where a guard would watch out for and deter graverobbers.
I also found out that in the ruins of Holyrood Abbey (known as the Chapel Royal), there was found one large coffin with the bones from many dead bodies displaced in the mob riots during the Reformation. One of these bodies was that of a “Magdalen from France.” Has anyone ever wondered if could be Mary Magdalene?
Saw Sir Walter again today as we passed by Princes Street Gardens. There was also a lovely little temporary café set up in the park called Scott’s in the Park, selling ice cream and treats.
I returned to the site of Fleshmarket Close and Market Street to retake pictures of the Close leading up to the Halfway House pub. My other pictures hadn’t included the arch and the plaque with the name of the close on it. Hopefully these will more accurately match the painting I want.
Sitting here in the apartment just now, and someone starts playing the bagpipe very near. How lovely! Only in Scotland. I think the bagpipe player is practicing for he starts and stops often, but he is very good. Much better than the two dueling bagpipe players we heard while crossing the Royal Mile today.
Pictures from top: Entrance Gate to Heriot’s School—inspiration for Hogwarts; 25 Panmure Place, home of Susan Scott who died in 1892; Watchtower in St. Cuthbert’s Kirkyard; Edinburgh Castle sitting high above St. Cuthbert’s Kirkyard; Sir Walter Scott looking down at me.
