Much as the city of New York is said to be cast as a fifth character on TV’s ‘Sex in the City’, I believe, with an open mind and rich imagination, any lucky inhabitant of Edinburgh can personify it in their own life. The city is a living, breathing wonder of awe-inspiring beauty. It is like an eye drink, your eyes gulp down its multitude of beautiful vistas leaving you intoxicated and in danger of bumping into something! Edinburgh almost taunts you, challenging you to feel sad while spoiling you once again, as your head turns to witness another spectacular scene. If you are a bit of a daydreamer like myself, and are prone to retreating into your own inner world, this becomes redundant living in Edinburgh.
Coming from Aber
deen, while living there I did basically live in my head to escape the grey and the squawking seagulls. Moving just two hundred miles down the motorway, crossing the firth was like crossing worlds; my life was suddenly flooded with a golden sandstone colour and stunning, ever-changing light! The city is modelled on Rome, built on seven hills and this means it is set apart from other Scottish cities. If a feeling of sadness pervades you on a certain day, it is possible to seek solace in viewing the majestic skyline of spires, Athenian columns and copulas. There aren’t many cities, (make that no cities) where you can wander along ordered Georgian streets, then into a higgelty-piggelty maze of winding, cobbled streets, and then walk only five minutes further into the vicinity of a massive volcano!
You may accuse me of being blinkered or biased; on the contrary, I have experience of other cities. Here is my evaluation: Aberdeen is NOT the ‘Silver City’; it really is the dull ‘Granite City’ or my personal favourite moniker, ‘Aberdoom’. Glasgow’s hidden gems are just too hidden and London is just so bustling you are likely to be ‘bustled’ off your feet by an errant, frantic commuter. Much like Goldilocks last bowl of porridge Edinburgh is ‘just right’.
Lately, I have been guilty of burying my head in the sand, retreating from such realities as heartache and looming important deadlines. Edinburgh has been ‘the sand’ in this analogy and it has been increasing difficult to come back up for air…I think I might be content to simply drown….
Eye drink – nice! And Edinburgh’s varied beauty has indeed been doing a fine job as a character in the films of Fife auteur Richard Jobson.
I have to defend Aberdeen though, the little fishing village on a swollen suburban bed of oil money. The walk from the hilltop transmitter, down streets of sparkling granite, through winding, weedy alleyways, out the the coastline glowered over by towerblocks is a definite favourite!
And did goldilocks really have a ‘bowel of porridge’?? Yikes!
Oops!thanks Dan, ‘bowl’ not ‘bowel’!!yikes indeed.Im an Aberdonian though so allowed to say these things!
Edinburgh truly is a beautiful city. Today, in the rain, it still appears magnificent – and in the snow it’s like walking through the set of a beautifully constructed and timeless film.