the "young kipper" joke..damn, I just got it and put on my yarmulke out of respect! Let's get "Other" into the fray..it'll go to 600!

It is not about Turkey, Other does not care. And Andrea is working on her art, she is above such pettifoggery.

Hey Tower, you know you liked my young kipper joke.>>

i bet they were rolling in the aisles in Whitby!

where are you off to next, Adu?

Have they been warned?

I will be in Whitby all week at the Brilliant!Club.

We are in Edinburgh until Monday and then to Dublin for four days before heading home.

Today we went to Edinburgh Castle, which highlights the military history of the Scots by themslves and with the English. There was not one tourist group that they had not killed at one time or another.

We got this medal for killing the Germans, and the one for the French, and the Japanese, and that one the Americans.

It was a perfect day. It was in the 40's, windy, with unrelenting rain. We would have gone to the National Museum of Scotland but it was closed due to a wildcat strike.

It was a perfect day. It was in the 40's, windy, with unrelenting rain. We would have gone to the National Museum of Scotland but it was closed due to a wildcat strike.>>

lucky you. sounds like a typical summer's day in Scotland.

Being doubly cursed, i.e., both American and not Jewish, I confess to not getting the "young kipper" joke, either. Care to explain?

Yom Kippur, nuke.

it took me a while too!

Oooooooo--K.

Exactly Ann. Yom Kippor is the day of atonement, when Jews fast and spend the entire day in temple. It is one of the most impotant religious days of the year.

Has Dublin been alerted about your arrival next week?

Has Dublin been alerted about your arrival next week?

No, I did not tell my American friend about it who is a member of every Irish Catholic organization ever created and those about to be created and gets stopped by English immigration as the palest terrorist on their list. Besides I am on the No Drinking List.

Not a wildcat strike - a worker's action. Even made the national news in the U.S.

I'm surprised at your comment on Robin Hood's Bay - did you park up, admire the view and then take the very steep walk down to the sea? All those little ginnels, snickets and winding lanes to explore? And the old houses clinging to the ravine as it leads down to the beach slipway? The small museum with its history of smuggling and shipwrecks?
RHB is normally considered one of the most picturesque and interesting places to visit on the North Yorkshire coast!
Rock Candy is known here just as 'rock' or a 'stick of rock' and you can get it at any seaside resort with the name running through it. It's not famous in Whitby any more than any other resort, however fudge is and there are some very good fudge shops in the town.
Whitby jet is famous too.
http://www.yorkshirecoastfossils.co....itby%20jet.htm

Meant to add - I really like the odd buildings dotted around the Castle Howard estate, and many have great architectural value.
The Pyramid is a Nicholas Hawksmoor building. Another 'folly' DOES have a use as it's the family Mausoleum (a Vanburgh and Hawksmoor design). It is still used as the family burial place.

I'm surprised at your comment on Robin Hood's Bay - did you park up, admire the view and then take the very steep walk down to the sea.

Yes, that is exactly what we did. Maybe we were a little tired by then. We did walk through some of the ginnels as well. There were some spectacular panoramas.

The mausoleum was a bit of intrusion on the countryside. It could be seen as some beacon from many different angles.

some of these follies, but not all, were used as "make work" during recessions. A sort of QE de nos jours.

Yes, we have a 'Druid's Temple' in the Dales close to where I live, built 200 years ago like a mini Stonehenge. Made as you say to generate work for the local population during a recession.
However, the Castle Howard ones are statement pieces of their times - built with no expensive spared and designed by THE leading architects of the day.
And as for being an intrusion on the countryside - they were placed on hills exactly so they could be seen by locals and visitors as a 'look at us, we've arrived and we're not going anywhere' message. No point in placing them where they wouldn't be seen!

However, the Castle Howard ones are statement pieces of their times - built with no expensive spared and designed by THE leading architects of the day.

That is called excess and is the stuff of revolutuons. Of course, only THE leading architect will do, as if there is such a thing. Didn't THE leading architect totally raze the previous structure and build the present one north and south so, that little sunlight would permeate the rooms?

I seem to recall they razed an entire village (Henderskelfe??)when they built the house, as the village spoilt the view!

Yes, I'm also a little surprised you didn't like Robin Hood's Bay. Did you skip Flamborough Head?

Weather does sound typical for Edinburgh. That castle would look menacing and dour in brilliant sunlight. Just looked at a friend's photos of a recent trip to Edinburgh and there were more than 50 shades of grey (no nothing to do with that book but he did get engaged).