“History of Sock” – W.N. Herbert

Sock is sold at
M & S slave block attached
at ankle to Siamese Sibling.
Owner frees Sock
with tender snip
of plastic connective tissue.

Sock is an inveterate something
without a bra, or
Sock is not an invertebrate, but
Sock is no sad sack, rather
full of shapeless hopes.
Sock regards Foot
as a parasite.

Sock is navy blue with
lycra and cotton content to
easily grasp Owner’s
concept of war against taste.
Sock empathises with Owner’s
restraint of irrational opinion;
Sock is a logical being.

Sock does not speak to
Sibling, whether
in drawer, basket or
resolving bin of deluge.
Sibling, on the other foot, regales
Sock with unlikely tales
of their common goal and bogcotton origins.
Sibling has
creative limpings.

Sock disdains creativity, sport
and sneakers, releasing heady
pungencies as defence.
Sock disdains lawn-treading
and weeding duties:
Sock is not a piece
of garden hosiery.

Sock is lost in soiled condition,
somewhere between Saturday
laundrette and
rented flat.

Dog in Voltairean mode
pisses on Sock.

Sock regards overnight stars
as possible subspecies of the cufflink.
Sock remembers being pulled on
to Owner’s hand
to be rolled over Sibling
in neat bundle. And
vice versa.

Further Dog in dog mode
sniffs and then pisses on Sock.

Owner having retraced sockless steps
locates Sock. Owner is appalled at
Sock’s apparent incontinence.
Sock is reunited with Sibling
to whom Sock does not speak:
Sibling limp-ankled poet, whereas
Sock has now seen Life.

Ninja @ Edinburgh

Hi there!

So much to blog about yet so little time! And, admittedly, I have not really felt like it. Recently, I’ve been inspired to write, though. Unluckily for you this fever is linked to my essay on ultimate attainment of late L2 speech production, rather than to my blogging activity. Nevertheless, I will make an attempt to catch up -- at least a bit. I apologise in advance for the poor writing style.

As I promised you before, this update will include a short overview of Ninja’s stay here (it would be impossible to try to limit that experience to mere words). In any case, Ninja was extraordinarily lucky as she arrived during the Student Festival Week, which is the students’ response to the fact that the two biggest happenings in Scotland (i.e. Hogmanay and The Fringe) fall outside university semesters.

She arrived in the evening; it is quite a walk from Waverley Station (where the bus from the airport arrives) to where I live, and that is why on our way we stopped to have dinner. The food we were served was quite interesting: it looked very good and appetising yet had no taste whatsoever (except for the oily taste of… oil). After dinner we dropped Ninja’s luggage in my room and together with Chiara we went for a pint at the Library Bar. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that evening, but rest assured, before you have finished reading this entry you will have seen enough (if not too many) pictures.

The next day, the weather was very fine, and the first thing we did was start climbing Arthur’s Seat.


Notice the rainbow in the top-left corner!


View on Edinburgh (rainbow included)


View on Edinburgh (Ninja included!)


View on Edinburgh (loch included)


View from the top -- I just love taking pictures from there!


Luckily I wasn’t the only one:


The picture below shows where I live, approximately (arrow on the left); and the right arrow points at the main library.


The place I am standing at is the actual top -- the other pictures are taken from a ‘near-top’ next to it; arguably, the near-top is the real top, though. I must admit I am not entirely sure which one is real; just to make sure, we’ve been on both.


The two of us sitting next to the ‘near-top’:


Magnificent view:


On our way back, we decided to take another route, which was a bit more challenging. The following picture is taken half-way; you can see we had come down a pretty steep path:


Naturally, the die-hards who have been on Arthur’s Seat will move on to St. Anthony’s Chapel -- as promised before (see entry on Jan 19), a bit more information this time. Prior to the 16th century, Holyrood Park was held by the Abbeys of Holyrood and Kelso. St. Anthony’s Chapel stands in the part which probably belonged to Kelso Abbey. The origin and history of the chapel are obscure, but it was certainly built no later than the early 15th century, as in 1426 it is recorded that the Pope gave money for its repair. The chapel may have been linked to the Preceptory of St. Anthony, a skin hospice, which was based in Leith around this time. The last chaplain is recorded in 1581. Although in ruinous condition, there is some indication from historical and archaeological research what it must have looked like; 18th century records describe it as being “a beautiful Gothic building, well suited to the rugged sublimity of the rock… at its west end, there was a tower… about forty feet high” (Hugot Arnot, The History of Edinburgh, 1779).


After our healthy exercise we decided to take a well-deserved break at Starbucks.


Since we were near the Scottish Parliament, we dropped in to listen to the MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament) debating about how to teach the subject of Scottish history at secondary schools. I will blog more about the Parliament at a later point in (blog)life.

In the evening, there was a ceilidh (pronounced “cay” “lee” ['kjhe:lji:] >> ok, the lay-out messed up my IPA transcript: it should read 'a palatalised aspirated [k] followed by [e:], then the next syllable starts with a palatalised [l] followed by [i:]; stress falls on the first syllable (hence the aspiration)') organised by the university union; a ceilidh is the traditional Gaelic dance in Scotland, but it is still very popular (at least among students). This night’s theme was “Irate Pirate Ceilidh”, barrels of pirate punch included, and hence Ninja and I dressed up as “Tesco Pirates”:


We thought we had put quite some effort into our costumes, but it turned out that Scots take theme parties very seriously: they had dressed up as if they were extras in Pirates of the Caribbean. They must have loads of clothing stuffed in their closets to make sure they have appropriate attire for every theme, and they have many (thematic) parties here.

The following day, we headed towards Princes Street, crossing the Meadows (park), passing Bobby Greyfriars (statue), and were forced to take a tea break at Elephant House (the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first drafts to the Harry Potter series) due to Edinburgh weather being at its best: it was frigging snowing!

After tea, we had a quick look at the castle but as (i) we had already visited the castle and (ii) the weather was uncompromising, we didn’t enter.



View from Edinburgh Castle; obscured by the snow. You can still recognise Arthur’s Seat, though.


Walking on to Princes Street, we shopped for a bit, and had some fish & chips at a nice place in Rose Street (which runs parallel to Princes Street). In the meantime, a blizzard had developed and we had to walk home through the raging storm. We might have taken a bus, but I didn’t know which one… I must admit that I am clueless as to the public transport network. We might have asked, but, after all, how many people can say they walked through a blizzard and survived?

In the evening, it was time for the German Bierfest (‘beer festival’): “Bodacious Bierhalle”.


After the Bierfest, we headed to the Library Bar (conveniently located in the same building).



On Friday, we started off with a Scottish Breakfast (I must admit it was the vegetarian variant), after which I had to go to class (MCLA) and had an article discussion (Crisma 2007). We had lunch at the main library, after which I had another class (historical phonology). In the afternoon we went to Old College (where the Law Faculty is situated) and visited the beautiful Playfair Library Hall, and up to Calton Hill. After dinner, we went to Peter’s place for a Kitchen Party (if I haven’t explained this before: a Kitchen Party basically entails getting together in somebody’s kitchen and drinking whatever you brought with you), which ended by going to l’Espionage, one of Edinburgh’s many clubs.

Me & Chiara:


Ninja & me:


Ninja, me, & Chiara:


Needless to say, it was a great evening. Without going into details, I will leave you with the information that I met a very nice Irish pilot, but I’ve never seen him since. We had a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, the next day Ninja had to leave. For the last time we walked on Clerk Street/Nicolson Street/South Bridge/North Bridge (the street keeps changing names) towards Waverley Station.


At the airport we had our last tea (Ninja) / coffee (me) together, and said our goodbyes. I was sorry to see her go, but it was a great holiday.

I realise that I am still very much behind, but now I’ve at least finished telling you about January!

Lots of love from Edinburgh!

Cheers,
B


"Where does phonology live? It doesn't live in the sky; it lives in people's heads." - Lecturer at Edinburgh University