Quote of the Day

Fugit irreparabile tempus

[Time passes irrevocably]

- Virgil

Quote of the Day

The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.
- George Bernhard Shaw

Quote of the Day

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church.

- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

Nothing is wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure.

-Ross MacDonald

Quote of the Day

In California they don't throw their garbage away - they make it into TV shows.

- Woody Allen

Quote of the Day

It's a scientific fact that if you stay in California you lose one point of your IQ every year.

- Truman Capote

Quote of the Day

If Jesus was a Jew, why did he have a Spanish name?
- Bill Maher

Quote of the Day

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being of His Father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.

- Thomas Jefferson

Quote of the Day

As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.
- Clarence Darrow

Happy Festivus!

Just saying!

Quote of the Day

Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love.

- Butch Hancock

Quote of the Day

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.

- Robert A. Heinlein

Quote of the Day

Start every day with a smile and get it over with.

- W.C. Fields

Sam Houston Museum

My first story from this year's trip to the US is from the Sam Houston museum in Huntsville, Texas. I've posted earlier about the huge statue of him that stands right by the side of the interstate, and how interesting he was as a politician and statseman, but I can confirm that a deeper look makes the man even more colorful.

Houston is indeed one of the greatest statesmen America has ever fostered, and in addition he has that hint of lovable rogue about him that I like in a politician. He left school after just a few months and only worked on the family farm for a short time, before running off at age 16 to join the Cherokees. He stayed with them for around two years and was adopted by a chief and learned the language. He acquired the nickname "The Raven".

Later, he started a school for about half a year - something quite brazen, considering he could barely write and do maths himself. Around 20 he finally joined the army to fight against the British in the War of 1812. In a fit of maternal love his mother is reported to have said that she'd rather see all her sons placed in a grave than have one of them value his life above that of honor. The heart swells at the thought.

During the war he was injured, but made such an impression that he caught the eye of general, later president, Andrew Jackson. The two struck up a friendship that lasted through their lifetimes. Houston had a failed marriage that lasted only three months and then was accused of slander by a Congressman. Houston physically beat the politician (again an endearable trait) and the subsequent trial, in which he was found guilty, provided him with a national audience and ended in his popularity increasing.

Much followed, much, much more than I can reasonably fit in here. He was elected governor of Tennessee, but left office to live with the injuns again. This time he was given the nickname of "the big drunk" by them, on account of his alcohol consumption. In addition he was made a member of the Cherokee nation and also married a native woman.

Finally, Houston ended up in Texas. Here, he fell in love with the land and fought for independence from Mexico. He was elected president of the new, independent Republic, but always favored inclusion in the United States. When that goal was finally obtained some ten years later, he was elected Texas' first Senator, but was recalled when he voted against the Kansas-Nebraska act. Houston was also governor for a while, but was kicked out because he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy.

As a Senator, he bravely stood on principle on numerous occasions and claimed the role of a "national politician", rather than a sectional one, as was so common not just in the south in those days. Indeed, special interests like geography continue to play an oversized part in US (and Norwegian!) politics.

Finally, a little story about his views on slavery. While not a principled opponent of the abominable practice in any way, he treated his slaves much better than most. As with so many other farmers he would sometimes rent out his slaves for other labor when they were not required on the farm, but unlike others he let them keep the proceeds.

It seems that he struck up a genuine friendship with his main slave, Joshua, who he encouraged to learn to read and write (which was banned at the time) and who took his name - not an uncommon thing back then. After the Civil War, when Houston was dead and his wife and children were in economic need, a freed Joshua offered to give them his life savings of 2,000 dollars - quite a huge sum of money at the time. The widow turned down the money, but I find the gesture moving. I don't know about y'all, but I just don't think I would make that kind of offer to people I viewed as my oppressors.

In later years, Joshua became a respected member of the Huntsville community and actually served as an alderman during Reconstruction. American history has quite a few of these little stories, which is one reason why I loooove traveling around, visiting museums and learning about this stuff.

Sadly, I don't have a single photo from Huntsville, as my camera decided to die on me (for now at least), but you can read more about Sam Houston and view pictures and more stories about him on the museum's webpage.

Quote of the Day

The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything -- or nothing.
- Nancy Astor

Quote of the Day

Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.

- Bill Vaughn

New plans for the holiday

Ok, developments, developments. I've just ascertained that my friends in San Diego are more flexible than we'd all previously assumed, so I'm changing my itinerary.

The Texas part remains unchanged. I land in Houston, do a tour of Huntsville - College Station - Dallas - Austin - San Antonio - Houston. I then go on a mad trek to San Diego by way of El Paso.

After two nights in San Diego, Albie and Court go with me to Flagstaff - Grand Canyon - St George - Zion - Bryce Canyon - St George - San Diego.

The last two days will be a mad dash from San Diego back to Houston again, by way of El Paso. I hit Houston sometime in the evening, do New Year's there and then fly back to Norway, an exhausted wreck who'll blanch at the thought of ever touching a steering wheel again.

Quote of the Day

A wise skepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.
- James Russel Lowell

Quote of the Day

All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.

- Ambrose Bierce

Quote of the Day

The laws of God, the laws of Man

He may keep who will, and can;

Not I: let God and Man decree

Laws for themselves and not for me.

-A. E. Houseman

Quote of the Day

A man’s only as old as the woman he feels.
- Groucho Marx

Quote of the Day

A committee is a group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done.

- Fred Allen

Quote of the Day

Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Quote of the Day

Rough work, iconoclasm, but the only way to get at truth.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Quote of the Day

I don’t want to be quoted, and don’t quote me that I don’t want to be quoted.
- Winston Burdett

Quote of the Day

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.
- Katharine Hepburn

Quote of the Day

It is no accident that the symbol of a bishop is a crook, and the sign of an archbishop is a double-cross.

- Gregory Dix

Quote of the Day

He who will not reason, is a bigot;

He who cannot, is a fool;

And he who dares not, is a slave.

- William Drummond

Quote of the Day

All politics are based on the indifference of the majority.

- James Barrett Reston

Quote of the Day

As iron is eaten by rust, so are the envious consumed by envy.

- Antisthenes

Quote of the Day

He who fears he will suffer, already suffers because of his fear.
- Michel De Montaigne

Quote of the Day

The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.

- Pierre Trudeau

Quote of the Day

Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he is buying.
- Fran Lebowitz

Quote of the Day

The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.

- Henry Havelock Ellis

Quote of the Day

Pitt the Younger: I intend to put my own brother up as a candidate against you.

Edmund Blackadder: And which Pitt would this be? Pitt the Toddler? Pitt the Embryo? Pitt the glint in the milkman’s eye?

- Rowan Atkinson in "Black Adder"

Quote of the Day

A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.
- Charles Evans Hughes

Quote of the Day

My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can't decide to ruin our carpet or ruin our lives.

- Rita Rudner

Quote of the Day

He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself.
- Philip Massinger

Quote of the Day

I'm not a speed reader. I'm a speed understander.
- Isaac Asimov

Quote of the Day

Take the saving lie from the average man and you take his happiness away, too.
- Henrik Ibsen

Quote of the Day

In those parts of the world where learning and science have prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in those parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue.

- Ethan Allen

Replanning mah trip to the US

Aight... Imma change mah plans for the trip to Houston this December. I was thinking about heading east, then go back to do some stuff north of town - but instead I'll go up north and then do a trip west to my friends in California. Still some points to be decided but that's the gist of it.

Quote of the Day

A man in the house is worth ten in the street.

- Mae West

Quote of the Day

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.

- Ayn Rand

Quote of the Day

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
-Alexander Hamilton

Quote of the Day

A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.

- Alfred E. Wiggam

Quote of the Day

It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.
- Josiah Charles Stamp

Quote of the Day

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

- Sigmund Freud

Quote of the Day

I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Quote of the Day

Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change.
- Jesse Jackson

Quote of the Day

Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love the truth.
- Joseph Joubert

Quote of the Day

Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

- G. K. Chesterton

Quote of the Day

I have a new philosophy. I’m only going to dread one day at a time.
- Charles Schulz

Quote of the Day

None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.

- Charles Caleb Colton

Quote of the Day

By the work, one knows the worker.
- Jean de la Fontaine

Quote of the Day

The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
- Lily Tomlin

Quote of the Day

The ultimate result of shielding men from the results of folly is to fill the world with fools.

- Herbert Spencer

Quote of the Day

Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

- George Orwell

Quote of the Day

Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

- Cicero

Quote of the Day

I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said to me was 'You'll never find anyone like me again!' I'm thinking, 'I should hope not! If I don't want you, why would I want someone like you?'

- Larry Miller

Quote of the Day

Discretion is the salt, and fancy the sugar of life; the one preserves, the other sweetens it.
- John Bovee

Quote of the Day

Last week, some Jehovah's Witnesses came to my door, and I wouldn't let them leave. They snuck away when I went to get more lemonade.

- Homer Simpson

Quote of the Day

For the happiest life, days should be rigorously planned, nights left open to chance.

- Mignon McLaughlin

Quote of the Day

A friend in power is a friend lost.

- Henry Brooks Adams

Quote of the Day

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

- Bertrand Russell

Quote of the Day

I don’t want any "yes-men" around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.
- Samuel Goldwyn

Quote of the Day

I never said most of the things I said.

- Yogi Berra

Quote of the Day

He who praises everybody, praises nobody.

- Samuel Johnson

Quote of the Day

If God can do anything he can make a stone so heavy that even he can’t lift it. Then there is something God cannot do, he cannot lift the stone. Therefore God does not exist.

- Lucretius, Roman poet

Quote of the Day

I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog that growls every morning, a parrot that swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night.

- Marie Corelli

Quote of the Day

I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's.

- William Blake

Quote of the Day

One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that would tell one anything.
- Oscar Wilde

Quote of the Day

A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.
- John Tudor

Quote of the Day

The value of money is that with it we can tell any man to go to the devil. It is the sixth sense, which enables you to enjoy the other five.
- William Somerset Maugham

Quote of the Day

Tariffs, quotas and other import restrictions protect the business of the rich at the expense of high cost of living for the poor. Their intent is to deprive you of the right to choose, and to force you to buy the high-priced inferior products of politically favored companies.

- Alan Burris

Quote of the Day

It is far better that we admitted a thousand devils to roam at large than that we permitted one such imposter and monster as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible prophets, to come with the pretended word of God and have credit among us.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.
- Jim Larkin

Quote of the Day

The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.

- Henry Havelock Ellis

Quote of the Day

A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.
- Rita Mae Brown

Quote of the Day

Life is of no value but as it brings us gratifications. Among the most valuable of these is rational society. It informs the mind, sweetens the temper, cheers our spirits, and promotes health.

- Thomas Jefferson

Quote of the Day

The whole country is one vast insane asylum and they're letting the worst patients run the place.

- Robert Welch

Quote of the Day

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

- Ambrose Redmoon

Quote of the Day

Redemption: Deliverance of sinners from the penalty of their sins through the murder of their deity against whom they sinned.

- Ambrose Bierce

Quote of the Day

By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.

- Charles Wadsworth

Quote of the Day

The relationship between truth and a newspaper is like the relationship between the color green and the number seven. Occasionally you will see the number seven written in green, but you learn not to expect this.

- Garrison Keillor

Quote of the Day

Men will confess to treason, murder, arson, false teeth, or a wig. How many of them will own up to a lack of humor?

- Frank Colby

Quote of the Day

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

- Jane Austen

Quote of the Day

To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can have.

- T.H. White

Quote of the Day

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.

- Aaron Levenstein

Quote of the Day

On the other hand, the Bible contains much that is relevant today, like Noah taking 40 days to find a place to park.
- Curtis McDougall

Quote of the Day

Life is one foolish thing after another whereas love is two foolish things after each other.

- Oscar Wilde

Quote of the Day

For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble.

- Kurt Hanks

Quote of the Day

Bad taste makes the day go by faster.

- Andy Warhol

Quote of the Day

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting.
- Mary Wortley Montagu

Quote of the Day

During my eighty-seven years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.
- Bernard Baruch

Quote of the Day

Don’t walk ahead of me, I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Just walk beside me, and be my friend.
- Albert Camus

Quote of the Day

The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women’s emancipation.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Quote of the Day

If you don't like the president, it costs you 90 bucks to fly to Washington to picket. If you don't like the governor, it costs you 60 bucks to fly to Albany to picket. If you don't like me, 90 cents.
- Ed Koch, former Mayor of New York

Quote of the Day

Some people take more care to hide their wisdom than their folly.
- Jonathan Swift

Quote of the Day

The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put make up on two faces.
- Maureen Murphy

Lone Star State of Mind

Well, I've gone and done it. I've bought a return ticket to Houston and pleaded with my new bosses to let me off from the absofuckinlutely pointless last Friday before Christmas, when nothing happens anyway, so that I now have a grand total of two weeks to travel as I please. Wheeeeee!

So I went and booked a plane ticket and rented a car at the same time (British Airways & Avis), and it actually turned out cheaper than renting with Hertz, where I am a member. Hrmph. So much for their Golden Super Plus Bonus Platinum Gold Stripes and Epaulettes program or whatever it's called now.

In the US, I've booked sweet, sweet, dirt cheap Motel 6 rooms all the way, so I shall be lulled to sleep each night, knowing that my room was likely made by an underpaid Mexican, probably an illegal at that. I shall drive my rental car on wide Interstates, paved over injun burial places and filled up with gas stolen from defenseless third world countries. I shall stuff face on greasy, unhealthy food filled with fat and carbs, grown in the most resource-wasting manner possible and probably given a trip round the world just to let out some more greenhouse gases. And I shall love every minute of it.

My itinerary:

18.12   Norway - Houston, TX

19.12  Houston. Meeting up with mah local homies, yo.

20.12  Houston - Lafayette, LA. Taking a route down towards the very coastline, south of I-20.

21.12  Lafayette - New Orleans, LA.

22.12  New Orleans - Venice - New Orleans. Going as far as I can go on paved roads down in the delta.

23.12  New Orleans. Exploring more of the architecture and culture of this fine city. Also, Happy Festivus!

24.12  New Orleans - Baton Rouge. Don't laugh, Baton Rouge has some really nice neighborhoods.

25.12  Baton Rouge - Dallas. Might as well use this stupid day for something useful, so I've planned to make the longest trek of the trip by far this day.

26.12  Dallas - Huntsville. Visiting the JFK memorial at the famous Dealy Plazza building, then going to see the Dubbya prez library.

27.12  Huntsville-College Station-Austin. Visting the Sam Houston museum and gravesite in Huntsville, then on to the Bush Sr. prez museum in College Station.

28.12  Austin - San Antonio. Spending most of my time at the LBJ prez museum/library outside Austin.

29.12  San Antonio. Further exploring this very nice city. I understand the lights along the River Walk is a sight to behold this time of year, then also the Alamo and the Governor's Palace and probably the Tower of the Americas too. So much to see and do in this gem of a city.

30.12  San Antonio - Houston. Back to hang with mah crew, yo.

31.12  Houston. Still hanging, yo.

01.01  Houston - Norway

Quote of the Day

Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It doesn't appear to belong to anyone. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.
- Calvin Coolidge

Quote of the Day

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
- Alexis De Tocqueville

Quote of the Day

It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.
- Walter Bagehot

Quote of the Day

The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole carloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity.
- John Adams

Quote of the Day

If I take refuge in ambiguity, I assure you that it's quite conscious.
- Kingman Brewster Jr

Quote of the Day

Ours is a world where people don’t know what they want and are willing to go through hell to get it.
- Don Marquis

Quote of the Day

One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.
- Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

Reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it.
- Jane Wagner

Quote of the Day

A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience.
- Doug Larson

Quote of the Day

In any free society, the conflict between social conformity and individual liberty is permanent.
- Kathleen Norris

Quote of the Day

Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
- John Milton (from "Paradise Lost")

Quote of the Day

A man running for office puts me in mind of a dog that's lost - he smells everybody he meets, and wags himself all over.
- Henry Wheeler Shaw

Quote of the Day

For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.
- Bob Wells

Quote of the Day

Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in the next county. Some find strength in eloquence, some in judgment, some in courage.
- John W. Gardner

Quote of the Day

If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?
- Linda Ellerbee

Quote of the Day

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other.
- Oscar Ameringer

Quote of the Day

Idealism is the noble toga that political gentlemen drape over their will to power.
- Aldous Huxley

Quote of the Day

The story of the redemption will not stand examination. That man should redeem himself from the sin of eating an apple by committing a murder on Jesus Christ, is the strangest system of religion ever set up.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

The great question -- which I have not been able to answer -- is, "What does a woman want?"
- Sigmund Freud

Quote of the Day

Draft beer, not people.
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

Reality continues to ruin my life.
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

My goal is simple. It is the complete understanding of the Universe.
- Stephen Hawking

Quote of the Day

No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.
- Edward R. Murrow

Quote of the Day

War is nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means.
- Karl von Clausewitz

Quote of the Day

I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and by religious men who are certain they represent the Divine will. I hope it will not be irreverent in me to say, that if it be probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me.
- Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the Day

Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
- Herman Wouk

Quote of the Day

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.
- Bertrand Russell

Quote of the Day

I don't kill flies but I like to mess with their minds. I hold them above globes. They freak out and yell, 'Whoa, I'm way too high!'
- Bruce Baum

Quote of the Day

Second thoughts are ever wiser.
- Euripides

Quote of the Day

Never play cards with any man named "Doc". Never eat at any place called "Mom's". And never, never, no matter what else you do in your whole life, sleep with anyone whose troubles are worse than your own.
- Nelson Algren

Quote of the Day

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
- Thomas Jefferson

Quote of the Day

It is long accepted by the missionaries that morality is inversely proportional to the amount of clothing people wore.
- Alex Carey

Quote of the Day

Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God....I could be eating a slow learner.
- Lynda Montgomery

Quote of the Day

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
- Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day

Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.
- Thornton Wilder

Quote of the Day

Few people at the beginning of the ninteenth century needed an adman to tell them what they wanted.
- John Kenneth Galbraith

Wheeeee

Today I weighed in at 105.7 kg. That's the lowest I've been since probably sometime in 2001. The reason is probably that my new schedule at work has me running (well, at least figuratively) all over the school area all day...

Quote of the Day

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
- Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the Day

It is not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end.
- Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

On going to war over religion: "You’re basically killing each other to see who’s got the better imaginary friend."
- Richard Jeni

Quote of the Day

Moral indignation - jealousy with a halo.
- H.G. Wells

Quote of the Day

There are few sorrows, however poignant, in which a good income is of no avail.
- Logan Pearsall Smith

Quote of the Day

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.
- Abraham Maslow

Revenge from October

Some of you may remember my failed visit to Crichton Castle in October last year. Taking the word of a road crew I trotted merrily on my way down to a castle that turned out to be locked up and closed for the winter season. I then walked back, wiping salty tears all the way (or something like that).

Well, Monday I went back there and this time it was OPEN, so BAH, HUMBUG! to y'all. I got to take some photos of its interior (the Italian front of one of the wings is the reason it's even remotely famous) and had and eye to eye meeting with two bewinged creatures.

This wall is the only one of its kind in Scotland, possibly all of northern Europe. It was the front wall of the renaissance wing of the castle, built by the Earl of Bothwell, who'd gotten the idea from time spent in Italy. He had to flee back there eventually, because of money problems and died a pennyless drunkard. Let that be a warning not to meddle with 'em southerners.


The stable with its upper floor for servants.


These two pigeons were looking at me with interest as I rounded a bend in the stairs in one of the towers. I wasn't sure if they had built a nest in the area, so I retreated rather than push past them. Also, I still have a fear of losing my eyeballs in a flurry of feathers, talons and cold, dark rage.


The shitter if I'm any judge.

Quote of the Day

Nothing endures but personal qualities.
- Walt Whitman

Quote of the Day

My last day of freedom... tomorrow I go back to work.

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
- John Milton (from "Paradise Lost")

Quote of the Day

The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.
- George Hegel

Quote of the Day

To YOU I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.
- Woody Allen

Flodden Field 500 years after

The Battle of Flodden Field was one of the worst military and human disasters in Scottish history. Historians disagree (as is their wont) but there's a consensus that somewhere upwards of ten thousands Scots were killed in a brief time. Most of the aristocracy and the upper classes of the nation was wiped out in a couple of hours, along with their king, James IV. His death at 40 left the country, as so many times before, with a regency, as his son, James V was less than two years old. The English lost between 1,500 and 4,000 men.

Flodden Field today. The Scottish held the high ground of the ridge in front, which is to the south. The English had gone around and came against them from the northern, lower ridge whence the photo is taken.


Today the valley is drained and cultivated, but 500 years ago it was overgrown with scrubs and the bottom was boggy marshland. When the Scots discovered that they were cut off from their homeland by the English, they left their advantageous position, and started moving downhill. They won the first skirmish, and emboldened by this they sat off in great numbers. Once in the marshes they began to falter and the discipline needed to use the long spears the French had supplied them with, fell apart. The English could now hack away at will and their (in)famous longbows did the rest of the slaughter.


So this is pretty much where 10-20 thousand soldiers were killed, fighting in knee deep mud, with pikes, spears, arrows and I dare say their bare hands.


Today, there is nothing left of the horrors of five hundred years ago. The battle is a faint memory in a long and bloody history between two neighboring nations and in the words of that old Scottish tune, "the flowers of the forest are all withered away".

Dryburgh Abbey

After Jedburgh I drove up to Dryburgh Abbey, where these pics are from. They were the last pics I took with this camera, on account of forgetting my memory card in the PC again, so I had to resort to the old cam, which I can't read until I get a cable which is conveniently situated back in Norway. So images of the Wallace Statue, the Scott viewpoint and Melrose Abbey will have to wait till next week. Le sigh. They still use the building for weddings; there was one being held there today.

The abbey, which was built in the mid 1100s is chiefly famous as the burial site of two people: The poet and writer Walter Scott and the much maligned and parodied general Douglas Haig of WW1 fame (or infamy).

The lovely abbey ruins.


General Haig's final resting place. The gravestones are held in the same style they used for burying the British troops in WW1; a nice touch methinks.


Sir Walter Scott is in the closest of the two raised graves. "Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife; to all the sensual world proclaim: One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name". True dat.

Jedburgh Abbey

Jedburgh Abbey is one of the most famous religious ruins in Scotland. It covers most of the centre of today's Jedburgh, and was considered one of the finest examples of architecture in Britain when it still stood. Today it's still a handsome heap of stones. The church was in use as a local parish church until 1871.

A mighty building in its prime.


I think this is a cool image.


Roman and gothic architecture mixed.


Impressive architecture; too bad they did it all for sweet, fuckin' nuffin'.


Shitter.

Hermitage Castle

Started this very productive day with a quick drive down to Hermitage Castle, which has been aptly described as embodying the phrase "sod off" in stone. The castle lies in what has also been described as the bloodiest valley in the country, and the area has seen its fair share of murder, robberies, adultery and general, allround mayhem. It was central in the numerous border conflicts between Scotland and England, and the subconflict of cattlestealing that was the Riever wars. Iffin you can't make it here in person, check out the Wikipedia article for a good, murderous read.

The castle, in an uncharacteristic setting of pretty flowers.


I must have posted this picture before; it is the only doorway of the current castle. The whole structure screams "whatever you're selling, we're not buying".


This looks like a shitter, but I can't be sure.


The single lane road in from the A7 is very pretty. This is how I'll always think of the Borders.


Also known as the southern uplands, they're generally softer around the edges than the more famous "Highlands", but I think they're just as purdy in their way.


The sheep here are very jumpy. These four ran like the Devil was on their heels (and well spotted to them!).

Quote of the Day

Nature abhors a vacuum.
- Benedict Spinoza

Blackness Castle

Blackness Castle lies just outside the tiny village of Blackness, and never was a castle more aptly named. The whole place is bleak, windswept and just blaaaah. It was fortified something fierce in the 1500s, and because of its narrow shape it has been called "the ship that never sailed". I spent about ten minutes there before the cold winds got to me and I set off for lovely Selkirk, in the Borders area, where I shall be spending my last weekend as a "free man". On Wednesday, I go back to WORK, for the first time in over two years. Ugh.

It does have a boaty appearance.


Not so much from this angle.


Just downstream is the Firth of Forth.


This lovable little kitty came right over and started rubbing against me in the courtyard. It was last seen following a group of yanks towards the castle.

Linlithgow Palace

Started out this morning at the splendid Linlithgow Palace. It was one of the main castles of the Scottish royals prior to James VI of Scotland becoming James I of England in 1603. He promptly fucked off to London, only to return once in 23 years as king of both countries. The palace burned in 1746 and was never rebuilt but the ruins still stand. The building is huge, and I didn't really have the inclination to see all of it, as ruin fatigue is slowly setting in. Just trust me when I say it's worth a visit, mmmkay?

In the king's reception hall, he had colored glass installed, so that the sunlight seemed to reflect the colors of the rainbow.


James V had this lovely fountain built.


He and his daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, were born at Linlithgow. Mary was born in the nursery on the second level.


Boobies!


The great hall, where the nobles would be seated and the plebs would serve drink and food.


The fireplace in the great hall was the largest in all of Scotland.


Our two young guides; I believe their names were Adam and Katie.


Rats with wings.


Even a king needed a shitter.

Quote of the Day

Experience is the worst teacher; it gives the test before presenting the lesson.
- Vernon Law

Edinburgh

Spent Wednesday and Thursday in the wonderful town of Edinburgh. Apart from Prague, I don't think there's a European city that gives me the same sense of happiness and tranquility as this.

The Fringe festival was on, and so the city centre was teeming with people, from the eccentric to the clinically insane. We didn't see any of the many shows on offer and instead walked around the Castle for a little while and then down to Grassmarket and Holyrood. Wednesday evening we went to see the Military Tattoo, which was awesome, although to be completely honest I'd have hoped for a little less peace and love and a little more war and bang-bang.

Thursday I went to see the new Mary, Queen of Scots exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, while Siri went to shop her greedy little heart out, as is the wont of womenses all over the world. We rounded off our cultural activities by walking around the National Gallery, complaining all the way about the relative lack of Scottish scenery on display. Honestly, when you have real estate like Scotland around you, who the fuck needs to see another Dutch stilleben?

Few cities make me as happy as this. Edinburgh, I heart thee.


The Scott Monument. I still haven't climbed it.


The utter hideousness that is the new Scottish Parliament.


Join the Dark Side. We have cookies!


Some of the sheer insanity that is Edinburgh at fringe time.


At exactly 1PM every day, come hell or high water, this cannon goes off with an almighty boom.


From the exhibit at the Castle, with the Crown Jewels; the infant Mary and her formidable mother, the French noblewoman Mary Guise. She ran Scotland for years, while Mary was off getting a proper Royal education at the French court.


I think I have mentioned before that the ceiling of the Great Hall in Edinburgh Castle (incidentally, the only "original" part still standing) was made from Norwegian timber.


Two old favorites with the tourists - yours truly and Edinburgh Castle.


People taking their places at the Military Tattoo.


The guest of honor that night was some American Lieutenant General. As is custom, he participated in a ceremony in which whisky is drunk and Gaelic is spoken. I think the first is a prerequisite for the second.


A lone piper doing his stuff. It gives me chills just to think about it. I love bagpipes.


From the finale.

Quote of the Day

Siri leaves for Norway today...

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
- Oscar Wilde

Visiting Adam Smith

Siri and I went to visit our philosophical hero Adam Smith today. He's buried in a cemetary quite a bit down the hill on the Royal Mile. His gravesite is in the extreme left hand corner when you're facing the church with the Royal Mile at your back.

Me, the gravesite and an English 20-pound bill. It's ironic that Adam Smith can be found on English banknotes but not Scottish.


Siri in front of Adam Smith's grave.


*sniffle*