foom!

Last night I sat on a hill in the rain and watched firworks that I couldn't see. Sounds dreadful doesn't it? It really really wasn't - I had the best time!

The end of the Edinburgh Festival(s) is marked every year by the Bank of Scotland with a huge fireworks display centered around Princes Street Gardens and the Castle, but visible to a greater or lesser degree from pretty much anywhere in the city. I reckon that after Hogmanay and the Tattoo, 'The Fireworks' are probably Edinburgh's third largest annual event.

When I lived in Orchard Brae we used to forget that they were on until the display actually started, at which point the three of us would cluster 'round Lara's bedroom window and watch them over the roofs of nearby buildings - If I mention that we lived on the ground floor, those of you who've never seen it will get an idea how all-pervasive the display usually is.

This year for the first time I'd actually arranged to go somewhere and watch the fireworks with a bunch of my friends - the best way of doing this is supposed to be to get tickets and go to the live concert in the Gardens to which the display is set, failing that you can get tickets to go and stand on Princes Street itself. Neither of these options appealed so instead we all met with blankets and assorted picnic-ish things on Calton Hill and, along with several thousand other cheapskates people, watched the display from there.

Edinburgh's an odd place to hold any outdoor event: it rains here. A lot. Being near the sea it's often pretty foggy too... however sitting on a hill with thousands of people in the rain watching fireworks vanish into the clouds for 45 minutes is (strangely) a lot of fun. My friend Liz took some photographs as well as doing a good job of describing the atmosphere and the display, you can find her post here.