Despite deadline-induced exhaustion, he
rollerbladed to a cafe at practically no notice whatsoever, equipped
with a handful of questions and a
lovely green ink pen.
Verbal logic somewhat evaded me, so on seizure of afore-mentioned pen I
attempted a written approximation of the
point of it all. Before William could say, "Could you write that
again in capitals.." we sped off to Roslin, having kidnapped our
friend Lizzie Hobbs (wierd eyes, above) from the Edinburgh Printmakers
Workshop.
Robert Adam & Carol Robertson, and menagerie greeted us at their cottage,
from where we took in Roslin Castle, and an Inn where
the great pair stayed and the incredible (so incredible we took no photos
for you) Rosslyn Chapel, a small 15th century church famous for its ornate
idiosyncratic carving which combines Christian & Pagan iconography with
particular significance to the rituals of Freemasonry- it's also the subject
of recent controversy regarding the Knights of the Templar buried there,
and the possiblity of some hidden scrolls brought from the Crusades being
buried there. It is a breathtaking place - it feels charged with something
extremely powerful, and for me it possessed everything that Iona
has lost to the tourist crowds.
Unfortunately our haphazard plans to meet another emailer, Lorna
Banks, failed us - I think we arrived too late at the chapel.
Carol and Lily (a lurcher) also took us to see a
peculiar carved face some distance from the church - She was walking
there with her wee sister, when her sister
(for no apparent reason) felt the desire to scrape off the layer of moss
from a certain corner of the rock,
and found this carved face which closely resembles the ones in the chapel....
A short meander throught the woods,
carpeted with wild garlic and anemones, brought us back to Carol & Robert's,
where we devoured a meal of epic proportions cooked by Carol, who luckily
shares the AHJ food priority. Barely had we necked our icecream with white
chocolate (hope you've eaten already) than Nina's London train beckoned:
Yet again the guests from hell, AHJ bodyswerves the washing up and finds
itself once again on the road - for the last time.
So I'm sitting in my flat here in Edinburgh not quite believing that I'm
going to wake up in my own bed tomorrow, and have to make my own cup of
coffee. It's odd to be alone even now - noone to say "Where did we
put that file, Banffsick.html ?" or "Why on earth is that picture
of Mrs Hart floating around in the 'buttons' folder?" or "What's
wrong with a link to the rabbit pictures from the word 'hair'?"
Of course, Nina & I will be tinkering
with the site for a long while yet, from our respective ends of the country,
but the current content of the site will remain intact.
I feel we've gathered enough material to last us a lifetime - there's so
much more we want to get on the site - sound files, video stuff and some
excerpts from the dozens of interviews we taped, which so far we've been
too darn busy to add.
Somehow I think we've got a big job ahead of us.....