One of the most annoying things has been happening lately. As many of you know, I have a broadband account and I have a wireless router so I can share the broadband with my roommate. Well, for the past few weeks, it has kicked me off regularly. It was very annoying. Especially since I was often in the middle of a download. I would have to start all over again. It all seemed to start when my wireless card in my laptop detected that other people in the building also have wireless routers. I thought changing the radio channel for my card or my wireless router would fix it. It did not. So I was at my wits end as to what to do about it. Today, I decided to see if Dell had any new drivers. Since I installed the new drivers, I have not had a problem. Yea!

Otherwise, today was picture taking day. Since I now have a Flickr account, my digital camera has become much more interesting. I finally got some shots of Sandy Bell's. Although, it now has a new sign and paint (it was yellow and blue).

From Sandy Bell's, I went down to the Grassmarket where you can see the castle. I also went to Lady Wynd. Can someone tell me the difference between a wynd, a pend, a close, and a rat infested rank Scottish alleyway? If you can, you win a gold star for the day. Anyway, I took one more shot of the castle before moving on.

I took a picture of St. Giles Cathedral and the Heart of Midlothian, which has many folk traditions surrounding it based on the fact that the Tollbooth was at that spot. You may think that it was merely a tollbooth but it was also the jail. During the reformation, many a "heretic" were tortured and ultimately murdered (as murder is defined today) there. This is also the section of town where the old Parliament of Scotland used to meet.

I, then, went down the Royal Mile until I reached the new Parliament building. I, like many Scots, hate that building. It is £350 million over budget (it costs now £450 million) and over two years late (blamed on terrorist attacks elsewhere on the globe (honestly, do you think terrorists want to attack Scotland?)). It is probably the most ugly new building in the world next to the EMP building in Seattle. I also stopped in at the cemetery to see the graves of Adam Smith, the author of Wealth of Nations who is the darling of the neo-conservative Republican party in America (they often quote him without ever having read his books) and the grave of Robert Ferguson, a famous poet from Scotland. I also took a picture of the Judicial buildings for Scotland.

I then went up to Arthur's Seat to take a look around. After that, I dropped by St. Anthony's Well then climbed the rest of the way to St. Anthony's Chapel. After that, I went back to the Grassmarket to grab some food and took this picture before going home.

As always, there are many more pictures on my Flickr page than I talk about here.

posted by Chris  #7:25 PM | 0 comments |