Edinburgh: The First City of Literature

Haggis

I love haggis. I don't love it because it is gross, or different, or Scottish, I love it because it is delicious. (Delicious when fried as it turns out.)

"Haggis is typically served on Burns Night, January 25, when Scotland celebrates the birth of its greatest poet, Robert Burns, who was born in Ayrshire on that date in 1759. During the celebration, Burns poems are read, and the haggis is addressed by a member of the party, ceremonially, in the form of verses from Burns' poem, 'Address to a Haggis.' A typical meal for Burns Night would include Cock-a-Leekie, Haggis with Tatties-an'-Neeps, Roastit Beef, Tipsy Laird, and Dunlop Cheese."

http://www.smart.net/~tak/haggis.html

Robert Burns

And here is a little bit of what Robert Burns wrote in honour of the hagggis. This is only the first on nine stanzas:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great Chieftan o' the Puddin-race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy of a grace

As lang's my arm.

There are whole programs available for how one should run a Robbie Burns night, and I am sure that someone in Melbourne sells haggis. Part of me is a little bit tempted to try to make it. This year is a very special 250th anniversary of his birth so someone might want to start planning. Every man, woman and child in Edinburgh is ready for it.

City of Literature

When you stack up the writers of Edinburgh as the first City of Literature against the famous writers of Melbourne as the second City of Literature, we look a bit thin on the ground. I will have to offer my services as liaison for the two cities and fly back of forth exchanging ideas. Edinburgh is all Burns, Conan Doyle, Stevenson, Scott, great names huge and lyrical, then there is Ian Rankin who apparently can be spotted in the bars and cafes around. And of course there is the whole Harry Potter Industry, a wired blend of modern merchandising and the magic of the olde world which seems somehow to still exist when you look at Edinburgh Castle.

Is Scotland a country? It depends who you ask.

The only reason I did not get hit when I asked this question in Edinburgh is because I was excused on the basis of my idiot status, otherwise known as 'tourist'. Benny says no, Sandy says they don't have an army, I say they don't compete in the Olympic games in their own name; but just hold on a minute. They do have a parliament sort of, and the got back the 'stone of destiny' which apparently to the Scots means they are a country.