November 5, 2023
November 1 – In Transit then Edinburgh, Scotland
I spent the night at my friend’s place in Islington, London. Her flat was lovely and it was great to get to see her, even for such a brief visit.
Around noon I caught a train to Edinburgh, where I check into my Hogwarts themed room at the Castle Rock Hostel before heading off to meet up with a dance friend I met in Stockholm. She had invited me to join the advanced Scottish Country Dance class in Edinburgh. The class was lovely, and after class, many of us went out for drinks and I got to meet some of the people I would meet in Glasgow at the Autumn Gathering.
After drinks with the dance group, I caught a bus to head to a cocktail bar to meet up with the niece of a friend from Berkeley. She and her two friends were leaving Scotland very early the next morning, but we had a lovely time enjoying fancy cocktails at Panda and Sons which is apparently one of the best cocktail bars in the world. While I have to admit that I couldn’t tell the difference between a normal cocktail and my fancy, ‘special methods only used here’ cocktail, it was still a lovely way to end the evening and nice to meet new people.
November 2 – Edinburgh, Scotland
I woke up to rain and decided to seek out indoor activities as much as possible for the day’s adventures. I started by walking to the St. Cecilia’s Hall Museum to check out their instruments. It is a free museum, which I always appreciate, that I had found on a list of things to do in Edinburgh for someone on a budget. There were Harpsichord’s, Virginals, and many more predecessors to the modern day piano. There was also a room with many different instruments from various wind instruments to percussion, to tons of different strings, and a few different types of bag pipes. It was a small, but lovely museum and perfect spending about an hour and a half in on a rainy day.
When I left the music museum, I wandered along the Royal Mile and stepped into the Museum of Edinburgh to avoid the rain. What I had wrongly assumed was just a small, local museum turned out to be a very large collection of fairly random items from the city’s past. I kept thinking I must be nearing the end of the exhibits, but found another room. The building itself was also interesting and lovely. It was a nice way to spend a few more hours on a rainy afternoon.
After that museum, I strolled along Grassmarket, popping into and out of touristy kilt shops. I eventually made my way back to The National Portrait Gallery where I spent only a few minutes before realizing I could go buy dancing shoes (ghillies) if I headed out quickly. At the museum, though, I did get to see the painting that inspired the Scottish Country Dance “The Minister on the Loch” although the title of the piece is a bit different: “Reverend Robert (1755-1808) Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch”.
So, then I rushed off to the dance store and purchased ghillies before heading to the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society headquarters, just to take a peek. I had a brief, but lovely conversation with two women who were working in the office there.
After some dinner, I went back to the hostel to prepare for a pub crawl I had signed up for at the hostel. The pub crawl itself was a bit rushed, overly crowded, and hyped up in a way that I found a bit off putting, but I had a nice time chatting with people and a few of the places we went were really pretty cool. One of the pubs had a ball pit in it which was very strange, slightly gross, and also very cool.
November 3 – In Transit then Glasgow, Scotland
I checked out in the morning, after breakfast at the hostel, but I was still able to explore the hostel, finding interestingly painted hallways, staircases, and some cozy lounges.
Then I caught my train to Glasgow, walked to my new hostel, did laundry at an outdoor laundry machine and met a friend for dinner before the evening dance.
The evening dance was huge and I found myself a bit overwhelmed. At one point I estimated it at 32 4-couple sets, making about 256 dancers, but probably I missed a set or two somewhere. Unfortunately, my shin pain started acting up again, so I was a bit ginger with with dancing, but I got to wear my new shoes, which was exciting as well. It was really nice to see some people I had met in Stockholm again and even a few from the Toronto dance event back in May. It was a nice start to the weekend
November 4 – Glasgow, Scotland
There was a morning dance class, taught by the teacher from Edinburgh who I had met earlier in the week. His style of teaching was wonderful, he nicely balanced technique with manageable dances and interesting comments about the development of certain dances over time. I was able to dance and greatly enjoyed it.
Then there was a “youth services” meet and greet that I went to with a group of friends. It was interesting to have a conversation with official RSCDS people about young adult and youth participation within Scottish Country Dancing. We just chatted about the differences in the groups we each dance with and ways to promote more youth participation in an activity often attended by an older crowd.
After Indian food for lunch, our little group went back to the hall where Annual General Meeting of the RSCDS was taking place. We arrived late, so we went up to the second floor to watch from above. Unfortunately, the room below was sound proofed well enough that we had to make up our own commentary about what was happening. I think we had more fun watching from above, making up our own story about what was happening than we would have had we sat in the meeting itself. The gist of what was happening was the Society was voting on various changes. I found myself distinctly aware of the slow bureaucratic process of how change happens in institutions like this and struggled a bit to not feel disappointed by that.
After the AGM, I went back to my hostel to get ready for the evening ball. Unfortunately, by this point in the weekend, my shins were hurting fairly persistently. So, I didn’t get much of a chance to dance at the ball. It again, was attended by over 250 people, likely more like 300. The six-piece band was incredible though and I often had people to chat with while I sat out and watched.
Post dance, I had a really nice time hanging out with some friends before heading to bed around 2am.
November 5 – Glasgow, Scotland
While there was a morning dance class, I decided my legs needed a rest, so I showed up late to meet up with friends and say my goodbyes. As disappointing as it was to have to miss out on dancing, the fear of doing permanent damage to my legs was a strong motivator to hold off.
Lunch with a bunch of my new friends was nice and after saying more goodbyes, my friend, Sidney, and I rushed to catch a bus to head to a community center to volunteer with a painting project. Sidney has been researching tool libraries and community art projects, so she wanted to make a connection with some of the people in Glasgow and found this event. She invited me along. When we showed up, they were nearly finished, but we were able to help with finishing touches and with cleanup, which made it feel worthwhile.
In the evening, I went to the Ben Nevis Pub to meet some friends and listen to live music. The jam session was really great. When I first arrived, around 9pm, it was packed, but by the time I left, a bit before 11, the number of musicians probably outnumbered those who were there just to listen. At one point I counted 7 fiddles, although they didn’t all play the whole time. The energy was electric though and was a really nice way to end my first stay in Glasgow.
