Scotland on the road

I’ve been to some interesting places while I’ve been in Scotland, hiked around Arthur’s seat, been to the national museum, visited the camera obscura, and just a couple hours ago I was at a wiz kalihfa concert. Today I was at St. Giles Cathedral. Though of coarse not the most beautiful church in the entire WORLD it was a beautiful building all the same with just the right ratio of ominous caverness vastness to miniscule minuet inlaid detail to give you that awe inspiring feeling. Funny enough being in that church made me start thinking about death, specifically, people’s attitude towards death. Off the main hall of the church are several little chapels, some were for war memorials, some for councils, and two directly across the hall from each other were two tombs of, and forgive my irreverence, of two guys. One had been executed by the king and the other probably was too but the point being that on each tomb lay their white marble doppelgangers. And standing over one looking down on his pale face it felt as if he was just sleeping. It struck me as funny that so many believe in an immortal soul but we find it comforting to preserve the image of their body as it was when they were alive. Underneath that stone portrait is probably nothing left but a skull. A friend and I were talking about how people freeze themselves and why you would do that. On one hand there is the why not reasoning behind it that since you will already be dead it doesn’t matter that its expensive and perhaps that chance that you may live again is worth it even if you may wake up in a time you don’t belong in or are unwanted. But examining the tombs made me think that the stone carvings were not that different from people freezing themselves. I think the thought of our bodies molding and withering and mildewing and all that other gross stuff it does after we die disturbs us. Now we all aren’t going to freeze ourselves heck some of us might cremate our selves but im sure it’s a concern we all share. And why not be scared of loosing that? We are a very sensual beings where we live through our bodies senses and we benefit from preserving them. In history mummies and monuments have served the same purpose.

Now it is the next day as I head out from Edinburgh to back pack across Scotland. I am right now on the bus for a five hour drive to fort William (a town named after a fort that no longer stands) and at this very moment I am looking out my window on a lake we are passing surrounded by huge majestic hills stirring the low swirling clouds with their  peaks everything is covered in vast fields of grasses and moss and heather and all sorts of grass like plants creating a rich variety. And white and green stones are strewn across the landscape like a heard of moss covered sheep. and in the center of the lake is an island with an over grown ruin of some forgotten stone building that is a common sight here. and now there is a lone tree growing out of a bolder clutching to the stone with its roots. The country side in many ways is a lot like home (Oregon) but it feels, for lack of a less corny term, magical. The views range from charming to truly awesome and is as cool as the ancient architecture of the city of Edinburgh. Okay gotta go there’s a dragon abducting several senior passengers and cackling as he tosses them across the landscape. Later.

Sir Amberfroth out!