EDI Ethos
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There is a sturdy yet delicate essence to Edinburgh. Like much of Western Europe, there is exists the stability of ancient surroundings. One can sit in a cafe that occupies a sidewalk storefront in a building twice as old as America and across the street from a kilt vendor who has been in business for seven generations.
Yet Edi is delicate in the way as a new rose. What makes the town wonderful can also be stripped petal by petal, showing that underneath it all people are but people and across the globe we are more alike than different.
I walked into the Jekyll and Hyde bar last night and inquired about their open mic night, figuring I might abuse the locals with my songs. I was somewhat shocked that the music there was openly friendly to the Texas blues/country fusion I so love. Barring unseen events I may cover a Ray Hubbard tune or two tonight.
Otherwise Edinburgh is unique for a half-million population city in two ways. First, the place is spotless. People take pride in the city because unlike other metropolitan regions the people love their town. This alone makes Edi more livable than most places in the inhabitable world and Canada.
However, I am praying for global warming. Even in late March Edinburgh is slightly colder than a meat locker in Antarctica.
What I have not deciphered is the Edi or Scottish attitude toward life. It is not the glorious eat-it-in-one-bite excessiveness of us Americans, nor is it the dower, fatalistic hell Russians exude. The Scotts seem to be in a mode of endurance punctuated with joy over common occurrences. Several centuries of “occupation” might shape that attitude, one of hope surrounded by hopelessness.
If Parliament is in session tomorrow I may stop in to see if the times are ripe for change. I sense they are and that the current economic downturn might provide the means.
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