Belt Up!

I got roped into going on one of the most boring school trips ever last week. A visit to the Scottish Parliament building. I was slightly interested in the building itself, but politics is not my area of interest. The building is a mishmash of 'symbolic' features. Sculptures gifted from Norway, granite floors from Aberdeen, concrete ceilings from Dunbar! Everywhere you look here is something tokenistic about some part of Scotland. At times you feel like you are in the fun house at the fair as I am sure some of the floors were uneven, if not them, the walls. Glenys...our guide explained how there was a Dutch influence running through the architecture, stemming from the many years of trade done in Edinburgh with the Dutch in yesteryear. I have my own interpretation of that one! (see pic). It was getting into the place that caused me problems. As expected in this age of terrorist activity, we had to go through a check point and metal detector. Only I had to do it 3 times because the buzzer kept going off every time I went through. Eventually after removing all bits of metal, minus my fillings, I realised my belt was the problem. So in front of a whole class of kids I had to remove it and hope my trousers would hold up. Back home I nipped into Adsa to buy some strong coffee to wake me up after that dull trip, only to discover my credit card no longer worked. It seems the magnetic force field you go through to enter the fun house had wiped it clean. So if you are up in Edinburgh, I think you have to see it for yourself. Like Marmite, you will love or hate it, but make sure you leave your bling behind.