Half lives

We looked out of the morning window and realised that after last night's view from the bottom we were inevitably going to climb Arthur's Seat.
We headed up the gentle tarmac path, then the easy earth path, the slightly rocky path, the occasional stone step, the more frequent stone steps, the steeper stone steps, the scramble up rougher rocks, the searching for a foothold and not being sure of it... At least one person in this parish and probably quite a lot more can get to the top and back down in an hour but not us. Once we'd got there and had added a layer of clothing against the wind we stayed for a while to see the views and pick out places we'd seen from ground level.

The descent was not always at all elegant.

Coming back down Secondborn made friends with a crow, gradually winning its trust until it would warily snatch food from her fingers before backing off much, much faster than was well-recordable at 1/600 second. I must find out how to do burst shots not by accident. The best are in extras.

She'd booked us a tour of the Vaults for this afternoon. I didn't even know Edinburgh had vaults and I wasn't expecting to get a great deal out of it but after 75 minutes I had a vastly improved understanding of Edinburgh's history, geography and, strangely, of how to navigate its different levels. Our guide was a very talented storyteller and I was rapt throughout.

After visiting WhiskyFoxtrot's ice cream place we met up again with MrFT for tea and a chat. Blipfolk are just lovely! Someone had put out some bunting for us (extra).

And an evening with the supremely talented Bill Bailey at the Playhouse - a present to me from Secondborn. A splendid way to rest feet.