Remember, remember, the fifth of November! My American friends and I observed this day in a tongue-in-cheek way in years past, but I found out tonight that it is srs bsns here. And I kind of found that out by accident.
I spent the afternoon in the library, starting to get things together for one of my term papers, then hung out around Holyrood for a bit. The moon (a day or two past the first quarter) was rising behind Arthur's Seat and shining on the decorative pools in front of Parliament, and it was really pretty. I started to make my way home, then realized it was only 6:30. So on a whim, I decided to climb Calton Hill. I had never been up Calton Hill before, though I've walked past it plenty of times. It's a funny little hill, littered with outlandishly anachronistic monuments, including the National Monument (which thinks it's the Parthenon in Greece), the Dugald Stewart Monument (a Georgian rotunda), and the Governor's House (which looks like a castle tower and does not actually house a governor). There's also a random obelisk and a great wee pillar with a cross on top...basically it's a hill with a severe identity crisis. But anyway, several hundred other people in Edinburgh had the same idea as me, because I was in good company on my climb, and when I got to the top I found out why.
FIREWORKS. EVERYWHERE. There were at least eight displays going on simultaneously, all across the city and across the water in Fife. There were also several people on the hill with sparklers, and a group releasing Chinese lanterns to float out over the city on the breeze. But the real show everyone had come to see was the big fireworks display one of the stadiums was putting on, which was a letdown from where I was standing because there were trees in the way. Oh yes, trees. I think about 70% of the trees that exist in Edinburgh are on Calton Hill. It was also clear enough to see stars, for quite possibly the first time since I moved here. I saw the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, and a planet or two.
Between the stars and the trees, I'd call this evening a success.
Cheers, y'all.
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