What a grey sky day can bring

“ASS…HOLE!” mouthed the woman on her bicycle as the gear junkie who had just cut her off pedalled away. Unfettered by a safety helmet, her black hair blew in the breeze as she scowled and leaned over the handlebars, holding on with one hand while using the other to rapidly wank off an enormous invisible cock.

As she neared me I laughed and gave her a thumbs up. “Uh-huh, uh-huh!” she bellowed, nodding and raising a middle finger once more to the man who was now far ahead of her. She was obviously pleased to receive such support in her moment of cycling etiquette injustice.
It was the kind of day we often get in Scotland, when the sky looms a lack-lustre grey and scrubs out any hint of contrast. It was my intention to use a long walk to practice being more aware of my surroundings, to try to turn my senses up to 11. The more fully I experience something, the better I will be able to write about it. That is my theory.

Initially I had planned to head to Lauriston Castle, but this was thwarted when I discovered they are not open on Fridays. So I took to the canal instead, turning on the path that follows the Water of Leith all the way to Balerno.

The signs of spring are everywhere now - bursting through the earth like a teenage boy boldly tossing down the text book that had been guarding his indecent erection. Behold! I wield my lust erratically and with great vigour! Mwwwhaaaaaa! (Take that sin-obsessed religious holiday)
At the moment it is the colour green which is once again taking over the country. Even as we descend into night, countless hues of leaf and grass stalk are being born on the jitterbug metabolic highway of photosynthesis.

Scent is the hardest thing to describe. Wafts of peppery sweetness periodically swept over me as I walked, along with the aroma of mud, damp stones, and sometimes horse manure (much of the trail is multi-use. Some cyclists are nasty, but not that nasty). But how to do you describe the smell of new leaf juice, warmed and driven into the air by the heat of the sun? How do you express something that stinks so gloriously of pure, fervent life?

In Balerno I also met these horses, one of which really enjoyed chewing on the fence posts. I think he had a toothache and was trying to self-medicate with splinters.

I also visited the Malleny Gardens, but that will be a post for the new blog, which I’m puttering away on. More tourist fun tomorrow in order to try and get a few posts ready. I shall send invitations round when it is ready for its first visitors.
Once again my holiday plans have changed. The trip to Canada having been pushed back to September, JP and I were thinking about a trip to Italy around my birthday next month. However the weak pound is causing us to resist a trip to the continent (the recent earthquake isn't a big selling point either).

The reading I have done lately for the senses blog has also rejuvenated my excitement to see more of Scotland, and since JP is up for some in-country travelling as well, that is what we are planning. Likely a trip up north. We’ll toss the tent in the car and see what adventures we can find.

Finally - could it be true? Have the Fascination Street clan really sold their house? Here’s hoping the townie dream house presents itself in short order.