#100BM Day 77

People who have blocked my (and many others’) way today:

1. A group of Canadian Girl Guides who stood bewildered and bebackpacked, tempting me into ask how the fuck they got to go to Scotland, whereas my guiding experience only took me as far as Woodlawn, ON, about a 50 minute drive from my house. And also how guiding hadn’t taught them to be aware/considerate of others.

2. A gaggle of posh ladies who exited Jenners (a fancy department store on Princes Street) and just stopped to chat dn massed on the pavement even though eleven thousand people were trying to get by.

3. A 20-strong collective of German tourists, or anarchists, who decided that standing at the end of a crosswalk, despite having no intention of crossing the road, was an ideal place to congregate with all their luggage.

4. Everyone else.

So I left town for a bit today and did part of the Fife Coastal Walk, starting in North Queensferry, which is lovely for many reasons, including being the home of Iain Banks for many years, and being only 15 minutes by train from central Edinburgh. 

Photos forthcoming, as I am typing this on my phone in Nicholson Square, from Elephants & Bagels.

I used to come here for lunch sometimes, because I missed bagels a great deal and they were hard to find 15 years ago, but had forgotten about it completely.

Except I hadn’t.

This is about a five minute walk from Buccleuch Place, where most of my courses took place.  I passed here a lot. My conscious self had lost it.

However, after I walked into it by accident on Saturday, I realised that I had been dreaming about it for years, but neither in my dreams, nor when I woke up, could I remember where it was.  As someone who prides themselves on a good memory, this was most distressing.

Like in a lot of dreams, the real place is altered (my dream memory of Birmingham is equal parts Miyazaki, Bladerunner,  reality, and miscellaneous). Sometimes the park bit is a triangle, or grassless, and the businesses are always different, but it is seared into my memory in a peculiar way.

I am not sure what it means, of course. I shall ask my therapist should I ever have one.

Five shows tonight and I am already kind of tired. Should be fun or iffy.