On Monday, by rail, I travelled through to Edinburgh to meet a new friend. The sun was shining, the journey was restful and it was lovely to arrive back in Edinburgh where in 1967 I was born.
Whenever I am back in the ‘old toun’ of Edinburgh I like to visit Robert Fergusson [I mean the bronze statue of him at the gateway to Canongate kirk].
On the train I had been reading the Glasgow Herald: this was on the front page:
Over the years I have made a number of short films aboot Robert Fergusson:
Upon yer whunstane hairts [made in 2010]:
Worry undone [made in a time before I understood aspect-ratios]:
Crichton’s Close [originally made in 2009]:
Monday 14th October 2024:
250 years may have passed since Robert Fergusson died, yet his speeshal ability to observe the warld roond aboot him continues to deeply affect:
It was a braw day to be back in Edinburgh’s auld toon and to have the company of a new friend. Together we visited the garden that ‘replaced’ Dunbar’s close. Robert Fergusson’s statue is so close that it could be a gateway pier to this gairden:
The Scotsman, June 1832:
The Scotsman, May 2000:
Dr Seamus Filor, the designer of the garden for Dunbar’s close, was my tutor when I studied Landscape Architecture with the University of Edinburgh. His garden is beautiful:
Three decades have passed since I was awarded the Scottish Chapter Prize for the best university graduate in Landscape Architecture.
Back to today, 14th October 2024: with my new friend, we stopped to read the ‘poetry wall’ outside the Scottish Parliament:
