Ticket to best show in town

At the base of Salisbury Crag lies Holyrood Park, Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament building which is, for lack of a better word, unique. It was designed by a Spanish firm and you can feel an odd sense of the Mediterranean in it’s result.  So I decided to see the inside.

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The inside is just as striking. 

I had no idea I would be able to score a ticket for the show.  What show you ask? Why nothing less than First Minister Questions. It turns out that it happens at noon on Thursdays. We’ve all seen the MP’s in Westminster hooting down or cheering as MP’s spoke and it seems no different in Holyrood.  First Minister Nicola Sturgeon  (SNP) and all the Members sit facing the Presiding Officer, currently Ken Macintosh.  It begins so very politely with the leader of the second largest party Ruth Davidson, Conservative Party asking what the the FM will be doing that day and she replies something like, the people’s business.  Then it falls apart so to speak.  The questions and answers are addressed to the Presiding Officer  not facing each other and the FM responds accordingly.  I was a bit surprised at first that the questions and therefore the answers are pre-prepared but then again they would often be far to complicated to reply to off the top of the head but it doesn’t slow down the desk thumping, derisive or supportive cheers and laughter and might not actually result in anything substantive but it is good theater.  You could feel the “love” shared equally between Nicola, Ruth and the Labour Party Leader Kezia Dugdale. Although the lad next to me was from New Zealand so not just Scots were in attendance, I wouldn’t be shocked if I were the only Yank in the house.

After that I headed up the Royal Mile and slipped into a small pub that  seemed to host more locals than tourists.  I met and spent some time with John, Gordon & Alex, the first two retired from the NHS and enjoyed some good craic and beers. After a couple pints there they invited me to join them as they headed out to a new pub.  A nice thing about Scottish pubs is that if you are not sure of a beer, you can ask for a taste before ordering.  We all agreed that plums have no place in beer. Unlike the lads the previous night they seemed much less keen on indie with reasons equally strong.

The venison burger I had at the Christmas display was nice.