The sun is shining, the sky is a bright blue. And it feels about -5 degrees outside. Uh huh, that proverbial goose is definitely getting fat again as the festive season draws near. But not quite yet, in my books. Today is the 30th November, which means that I am still in Bah-Humbug-Scrooge mode – it is not time for Christmas quite yet. All that will change tomorrow, of course, as the 1st of December is the time for singing Christmas songs, wearing Christmas jumpers (the more horrific the better!) and, of course, having as much mulled wine as I can without falling over.
Someone asked me other day if I was writing a special post to celebrate the fact that today is St Andrews Day, and the short answer is no. I don’t subscribe to hand-on-where-your-heart-is-not patriotism, I prefer the British reserve for such occasions so I will not indulge in public consumption of whisky or Irn Bru (partially because they’re both horrible) nor will I be eating haggis or be wearing tartan. Hopefully we’ll not be treated to too much pro-independence bullsh*t and can all get on with our lives. Perhaps we won’t be so lucky, but at least we have Instagrammers Anonymous!
Ahead of all the Christmas lights being turned on in the centre of Edinburgh, there has been a flurry of pre-Christmas decorating going on. With the wheel up, the tree here from Norway and in place on the Mound, the only real thing left was to string the lights across George Street. I was beginning to wonder if they’d forgotten about them, but in the time between me leaving work on Monday evening and coming in on Tuesday morning, the street was festooned with snowflakes and icicles.
The other addition to our little part of town this week was the annual St Columba’s Hospice Christmas tree In Charlotte Square. The hospice are running the campaign again this year where you can ‘Light a Light’ in honour of someone close to you who is no longer with us; all donations, of course, go to helping the hospice care for those who are soon to join the people who have had lights named after them. If you want to get involved, here is the Light a Light page.
Finally this week, I – for some unknown reason – was exceptionally organised and in town half an hour before I needed to be this morning. Coupled with the crippling temperatures, we had a beautiful fire-y sunrise, which lit up West Register House like, well, a Christmas tree. This definitely put a smile on my face this morning and reminded me just how amazing a city Edinburgh really is.
I have a very busy (and exciting) weekend lined up, which I’ll no doubt share next week. It will also be December, so expect many pictures of lights, trees and the occasional Christmas jumper.
Have a great weekend.
Cr
What do you see when you stare out the window? 
St Andrews Day is a difficult one – I want to do something for it (because I do like a good excuse to celebrate being Scottish and all, and the rugby hasn’t exactly been providing many occasions for that…) but now it’s awkward because so many people misconstrue “yay, St Andrew’s Day, let’s celebrate!” to mean support for independence. It annoys me that patriotism gets interpreted as nationalism. I feel Burn’s Night is way less complicated. Rant over.
In other news, it’s the 1st of December here, so yay! Time to get excited for Christmas! I wonder if they do Christmas shorts here instead of Christmas jumpers. I love the St Columba’s Hospice tree – it’s always so beautiful.
Also, I love that last photo of West Register House – the sunrise must have been stunning.
Yeah, I don’t like the confusion between patriotism and nationalism either. Burns night is another I have an issue with – Burns poetry is just… well a bit crap.
Oh my goodness! I might need to move to NZ if they do Christmas shorts… I’m going to be getting the Christmas jumper and CDs out today. Very excited. I do like the hospice tree. It was pretty impressive, I was going to take a photo of it, but there was lots of trees and buildings in the way.
Ya, Burns poetry is miserable (whisky helps), but at least if you go for the whole haggis and cranachan shebang you don’t get accused of nationalism (well… not yet, anyway).
I don’t know, I’ll keep you updated on the shorts. Yay for Christmas though! Man, so inconsiderate of those trees and buildings, pffft.