Today’s guest picture is another of cyclist Paul’s delightful Lake District studies, a welcome ray of sunshine on a gloomy day here. It shows Stickle Tarn
After breakfast, Mrs Tootlepedal and I combined a little shopping and other business with the important matter of voting in the general election. Only time will tell if our vote counted for anything. The very poor system of first past the post voting we use in the UK elections ensures that the vast majority of votes cast in any general election are quite meaningless. We use a proportional system for our Scottish elections which makes it worthwhile to vote green for example without prejudicing your ability to vote for a major party of government at the same time.
The rain which appears in the picture of a siskin and goldfinch showing interest in something happening on the road beside our house….
…stopped me from going for a walk when the business was finished.
A greenfinch arrived and turned its back on anything untoward on the road while the siskin and goldfinch also lost interest and got back to eating.
A drunk chaffinch turned up.
I always like a bit of geometry so I took the opportunity to picture some parallel lines in the garden…
…and while waiting for the train at Lockerbie Station. It will possibly not surprise you to learn that the train was late, but it least it wasn’t cancelled as two other trains were today.
Punctuality was important because we were due to meet Matilda and her parents at 4.40 precisely to go to the illuminated trail at the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. In the end, the train staggered late into Waverley station, we walked briskly along Princes Street and then had to wait a quarter of an hour for a bus and we arrived at 4.43, hoping that we hadn’t missed our moment.
It turned out that the timings for our visit were quite flexible enough to allow a little lateness and we set off to walk round the gardens and the experience was well worth the inconveniences of the travel.
I took far too many pictures while we went round and I have put two dozen of them in here. If you are just waiting for the flying bird of the day, scroll down now.
We were very lucky with the weather after last week’s cancellation for gales and rain and it was dry, calm and cool for our walk.
Since it is a botanical garden, a good number of trees were illuminated….
..and the designers had made good use of the large pond with a flotilla of little boats…
…which changed colour as time passed.
They were ingeniously made and lit so that their reflection in the water turned them into stars.
We passed a burst of real flames….
…which led to an elegant Christmas tree.
I like monkey puzzle trees so I was pleased to see this one picked out.
The tropical house was a light show in itself.
From it, we followed an illuminated path to the best known part of the display…
At first sight it looks like a golden arch….
…but as you get closer, it reveals itself as a tunnel of light.
Clare, Matilda and Mrs Tootlepedal posed for me at the start of the tunnel…
…and Alistair was a faint figure at the other end.
My favourite view was looking back through the tunnel to the tropical house behind us.
When we emerged from the tunnel, we found ourselves in a field of parcels…
…where we were entertained by a cheerful young man who introduced us to Santa who was hiding in the little house.
It was quite dark between the illuminations and you can just the see the ropes that marked our path in the picture below.
When we got to Inverleith House, at one time the residence of my great-great-grandfather, we found that it was being used as a projection screen…
…to good effect.
There were some artistic effects on the second half of our journey….
…one of which caused me so much excitement that my hand wobbled.
The cold was beginning to seep into us by this time so we didn’t dawdle as we passed lurid Christmas trees…
…and a show of illuminated balls, changing colour to the beat of the background music.
The final touch was another flotilla of the boats on a small pond near the exit.
We thoroughly enjoyed the walk and can recommend it if it reappears next year.
We went back to Claire’s parent’s flat, which is conveniently near the Gardens, and had a nourishing pasta dish for our tea.
While Matilda took her parents home, we left to catch the bus back to the station where a surprise waited for us.
The reason for many of the recent cancellations has been that train drivers have needed to be trained for a new fleet of trains and finally, two years after being first announced, one of this new fleet waited for us on the platform.
Our rapture was modified by the fact that the train gave us a very bumpy ride and it was late in getting to Lockerbie. So some things never change.
As a side element of the new trains, a new timetable is also being introduced, the main feature of which from our point of view, is that the afternoon train which we usually catch will no longer stop at Lockerbie. So much for the march of progress. It will still go through Lockerbie at half past two, it just won’t stop there.
A chaffinch battling through the morning rain is the flying bird of the day.
Sorry about all the pictures but it was out of the ordinary for me.
Its really amazing..Thank you
Especially I liked the tunnel of lights the most..everything is soo nice to eyes !!
Too unhappy to comment.
I share your grief.
We also use the first-past-the-post system, and I completely agree with you about its shortcomings. On a brighter note (no pun intended), your delayed visit to the gardens was worth the wait – lovely scenes. Interesting that your relative lived in Inverleith House – was it a single family home then?
I think so. He rented it for a while.
Matilda must have been thrilled to see all the lights. I was and I’m a little older.
I’m glad you got there to see it. It doesn’t sound like you’ll be taking another train there.
It was nice to see the railroad tracks.
There are alternative railway solutions. We could go to Carlisle and catch the same train from there or catch an earlier train from Lockerbie and have a late lunch in Edinburgh.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful light display.
The lights were a delight especially that tunnel. Glad that Cosmo Innes featured. The train news sounds most annoying, sympathy.
Wonderful pictures of an exciting trail.
Thoroughly worth the inconveniences of the travel. Thanks for sharing.
A pleasure to be there and to share.
The tunnel of light was wonderful! It must have been lovely to walk through it
It was a treat.
Glad you made it to the Botanics light show at last. Sorry about the trains. As a past frequent user of Lockerbie station, I feel your pain. We need more trains in rural areas.
And for the ones that are there to be more reliable.
I’m pleased you got there in time to take those pictures – and I like the movement in the flying bird.
We were relieved too.
🙂
At least in Scotland shines the light. Beautiful show perfectly presented. Thank you. As for the rest of the day – we will wait what there is coming. (nothing good, I fear).
Nothing good indeed. You are a prophet .
Wowsah, what a display! For some reason, I especially liked the flotilla. As for the vote…this morning I heard the results. Sigh. Wonder how this will affect the future of Scotland.
Oddly enough although it might provoke another referendum in time, not being in the EU with England would make for a lot of problems at the border so it might make it harder to get agreement for independence.
Tough situation! Across the pond, with plenty of troubles here, I sympathize!
You don’t have to look far to see worrying politics in action all over the world at the moment.
Discouraging, especially when there is so much work to be done to address the climate crisis.
Follow the money as they say. When political parties are funded by oil and coal companies, it is hard to hope that politicians will suddenly see the light.
You got that right. Same way here. Maybe even more so.
Lovely holiday decorations, the tunnel of lights is enchanting!
That is a good word for it.
Brilliant light show very imaginative…glad I’m not paying the electric bill! What a blow about the train times…write a letter!!?
I would if I thought that it would do any good, A good number of people catch that train when we do so it must bring them business. The ways of train companies are mysterious.
I am glad you were able to see family and see the Botanical Gardens in spite of the train being late. Those are beautiful photos of the illuminated trail.
OMG very stunning photo’s of the birds……The light display wow very stunning!
Such a wonderful light show! It makes up a little for the great disappointment we got on Friday morning. I had no idea I lived in a country so full of idiots. We are also having lots of trouble from new trains at present and as we have sold on many of our old ones we are experiencing lots of cancellations. Ugh!
They just don’t have enough staff to run the old stock while they are training people for the new trains. It is crazy.
I am not sure that anything is going to make up for Friday morning. There are tough times ahead for a lot of people who have done nothing to deserve harsh treatment.
Yes indeed.
I’m glad you got to see the lights. The boats and tunnel of light are especially lovely.
I am with you on your sorrow over the election.