impulsereader | If you live around here, you need lots of panache.

Though it was Easter Sunday, the internet assured me the Stockbridge Farmers’ Market was taking place as scheduled, so – after making the belated realization that there was no bus until Noon-ish – I walked into Stockbridge.

On the way I encountered some picturesque sorts of things.

Is this meant to be a Beatle?

I wandered the small but lively market for a bit. I really wanted to buy some fish, but carrying it around all day obviously wasn’t a viable option and I didn’t want to have to stop back home to drop it off either.

I did get to chatting with one of the vendors who had only touristy suggestions for the rest of my stay. When pushed, he admitted Scottish culture boiled down to getting pissed in the pub each evening. Since that’s the one thing I ended up not doing on this trip – apparently I’ve missed the point. :-)

Anyway, he also briefly tried to sell me on the locals’ idea of messing with the tourists, that a ‘haggis’ is some sort of animal with two legs shorter than the others that perpetually rolls down hillsides. I’m hoping no one actually ends up believing this, but his dead-on impression of an american responding, “Oh my god, really?” leads me to think at least some do. I know perfectly well what haggis is, though, and he seemed vaguely offended when I proceeded to lump it in as a sort of sausage. It is, I insisted. After all, it’s all the bits people don’t want to think about chopped up and shoved into a sack of something we really don’t want to think about, rounded out with a cheap filler of grain or bread; spiced, and boiled. See? Sausage. Every culture on earth has put their own spin on it. He sold a good pesto, though, nice and garlicky.

Being Easter, most of the shops in Stockbridge were closed, though I did pick up two more books in one which wasn’t.

Finding this interesting...threat?...along the way.

I then spontaneously made my way through Inverleith Park...

...where I discovered truly stunning views of the city...

...another kitty...

...and into the Royal Botanical Garden. Entrance to the Gardens is free – but they want £1 for a map of the grounds. I was terribly confused by this as I didn’t realize it until I hit the gift shop at the very end of my visit. This led to much random wandering on my part. If you don’t want the map, there’s fairly good signage throughout, but the grounds are large and the paths very winding so if you want to see everything I would advise a map. I was actually quite disturbed by this charging for a map because it makes me think they’re in a bit of financial trouble. They also suffered a significant loss of trees in a recent storm, so I made sure to spend some money in the shop on my way out and I ate in their café before I left as well. I don’t mind donating outright, but somehow it feels more useful to give the people working there something to do while you give them money.

So because of the nature of the time I was visiting –early Spring directly after a string of unseasonably warm days – everything was budding. It was a really lovely day, not too much rain but a bit of a hood-inducing sprinkle now and then.