Bannockburn

The Dirleton Historical Re-enactment Society (Junior Division) reliving Bannockburn this afternoon. I'm not entirely convinced about the authenticity of the polystyrene swords, but then I'm not a historian.

Dirleton Castle, quite near us, is a fairly well preserved castle, with beautiful gardens. It has, I'm told, the longest herbaceous border in (?) the world / Europe / Britain / East Lothian. Anyway, it's pretty long and very beautiful. I was intending to post a snap of a flower today - but this shot was a more accurate summing up of the experience. It was a series of talks about Robert the Bruce culminating in getting all the kids up there with fake swords to beat the bejesus out of all the actors. Well, that's how it culminated for us; we had to leave before the grand finale tournament to take Katherine to her final dress rehearsal for her end of year drama show in Edinburgh.

The time in Edinburgh got off to a double bad start when the rain started pouring down just as we got out of the car in the car park Then I spotted cars going in with people taking tickets on their way in... from a machine which we seemed to have missed somehow. Turns out you can't get a ticket without a car (not even if you jump really hard where you imagine the pressure-sensitive strips might be). Happily, the lovely security man said it was no bother at all and he'd lift the barrier for us without a ticket and let us out (free parking in Edinburgh? who'd have thought). I hope some good karma is coming his way for cheering our day!

Anyway, Katherine's show was great fun - with everyone from 5 to 18 taking part in various short plays/skits. Despite a slight wardrobe malfunction (her hareem pants trying to fall down), Katherine did a fine job and looked completely confident and at ease on stage (and I don't think anyone but me spotted her knees shaking with nerves). Miraculously we were allowed to take photos and video - they just asked at the start if anyone objected - so she can even get to watch herself on the telly. In school/Council events photography and filming is just banned with no exceptions, which just makes everyone grumpy and sneaky about taking photos with phones.

So, enough about my day. Mr B's off tomorrow morning to London for a few days and it's also his birthday tomorrow so I'd better give him a reprieve from blip-widow(er)hood.