Drunk Irish? You're kidding!

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I thought I would like to visit Dublin, Ireland, sometime but since being in Scotland I've gotten a firsthand experience of the Irish who visit in droves every weekend -- and, man, am I glad for it; the weekend visits, that is. It's saved me a bundle of money, effort, and nerves if I'd otherwise made the mistake of travelling there!

Generalization, my ass: the Irish very much live up to the stereotype of being drunk, loud, crass, drunk, rude, prone to fights, and drunk! I can't stand when they come to town. The hostel is always less peaceful and the community kitchen, chaotic. Don't even get me started on the bathrooms in the wake of these visitors!

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Marriage of Figaro (Edinburgh)

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I entered a caption writing contest and duly won a pair of tickets to The Marriage of Figaro being performed at The Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Sweet!


Just the reason I needed to wear my new vintage formal dress shirt.


The production is modernized and extremely Scottish -- meaning I didn't catch the bulk of the dialogue - ha! - but the funny bits were just too funny to be lost in translation. The only parts done in Italian were scene transitions sung by Figaro, himself. And, man, the scene changes were fun and interesting to watch. I'm always impressed by set design and literal set changes, whether the stage, per se, revolves or backdrops switch from, say, a winter forest to an underwater world. In the case of Figaro, set against the current banking situation and the pending marriage of Figaro to, both, his lady love and of his company to a much larger and established institution, the scenes changed from one to about four different executive offices plus an outdoor park -- complete with grass, evergreen trees and bushes -- and confetti fireworks!

I've never cottoned to people just singing everything

I must confess: I like going to the opera much more than I like actually sitting through it...in no small part because one, I don't understand the Romantic languages in which most operas are sung and two, I've never cottoned to people just singing everything. With this production, however, eschewing song for contemporary  dialogue (and dialect) I liked it all the more for it.


www.lyceum.org.uk

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A warm week in Scotland

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Last week in Edinburgh the weather was consistently sunny and warm. It wasn't all that hot but white people were sunning all over the place so damn giddy were they to have Mother Nature's heat.


Exactly one week later and outside is cold, windy, and wet. No more flip-flops and bare chests! Now it's mini hail storms and angry gusts that blow open the windows. Oh well. It WAS appreciated while it lasted. 


Here are snapshots the famous castle I took with my new camcorder. I wake up to the view of it every morning from the window beside my bed. It's impressive to behold and very expansive...unfortunately I've still not taken the castle tour:

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