Temp 9c dew point 8c. Fibromyalgia flaring. Don’t know what is worse, the pain like your the side of beef Rocky Balboa tenderized, massive fatigue or copious perspiration for very little activity like simply getting dressed or walking slowly.
Could use a bud.
Days like this the MASH theme plays in my head.
Decided that the best medicine for the fibro flare up was walking (4.7) and beer.
Grassmarket & the Mile.
Brodie’s on the Mile is a tourist bar, but a nice one without too many of us punters today
From there I headed down the steps by the castle on Johnson Terrace to Grassmarket where The White Hart is probably the oldest. The bartender was from Ireland but well versed in his Edinburgh history and happy to share, so 2 halfs.
Last Drop, you’ll ever have then you’re hung
As far north as it is Edinburgh didn’t escape Nazi bombs in WWI.
A look up Grassmarket from the bomb site.
The White Hart barkeep told me I had to visit this next one, if only for the story, so here it is:
In 1723 Maggie found work at an inn in Kelso and subsequently “fell pregnant” after a relationship with the innkeeper’s son. Maggie concealed the fact of her pregnancy and the baby duly arrived, prematurely. It is unclear whether the baby was stillborn or died shortly after birth, and if the latter how it died. Either way, Maggie abandoned the body on the banks of the River Tweed, where it was found. Maggie was arrested and subsequently tried in Edinburgh Some sources say she was charged under the Concealment of Pregnancy Act, but it seems more likely she was tried with causing the death of her child. Based on questionable medical evidence that the child had been born alive, she was convicted and sentenced to death.
Maggie was duly hanged at a public execution in Grassmarket on 2 September 1724. Her execution was followed by a near riot as friends and relatives fought with medical students for possession of her body. The friends and relatives won, and Maggie was placed in a coffin to be transported to Musselburgh for burial. While the party paused en route for refreshment in a roadside pub, the lid of the coffin was seen to move, and Maggie was found to be alive. She was well enough to walk the rest of the way to Musselburgh the next day.
As the sentence of the court has been carried out, Maggie was beyond further prosecution and she lived for another 40 years, known universally as Half-Hangit Maggie. Some say that Maggie survived because she had become a “good friend” of the ropemaker who supplied the hangman: and the early breaking of the rope allowed her survival. Whatever the reason for her survival, her story is remembered in the name of Maggie Dickson’s Pub, which overlooks the scene of her execution in Grassmarket.
I enjoyed that chat with the bartender here too. More political than historical once he noticed approvingly of the YES & American flag pins in my cap.
I don’t know anything about this game but the Portuguese lad sitting next to me was far too excited when his mate dropped it off. The Scottish lads who invented it were soon millionaires.
And this one always is worth a visit
Up the street
And then to finish at The Waverley. Long, multi drink conversations and a couple of drams for photos with the fake Billy C. The real one used to frequent this pub as is shown in the men’s loo.
P
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