Wednesday, June 03, 2020

Loosening lockdown walk - week 11 - Wednesday


It's been one of those rather frustrating days of waiting for people, who said they'd do something, to actually do it. So far, one has, two haven't. These are all people to whom we're proposing to give lots of money for various services, so it's somewhat trying... however, if (for example) a plumber can't be bothered to produce an estimate, then I tend to think one reminder is enough. On the other hand, that means finding a different plumber.

Still, we took another walk to Saughton Park. It's much cooler today, so I envisaged wandering around and examining things in more details than we did yesterday in the heat. However, it started to rain a little bit on the way there, and though it more or less stopped, we didn't linger too long. It's very much allium season there (as well as lupin and iris season). Then it rained a bit on the way back too.


I don't know what this plant is called, but it's pretty. Could it be a perennial geranium, now I look at the leaves? Possibly not.


This chap is modelled on someone whose name I forget, but anyway, he's supposed to symbolise peace. Now wouldn't that be a good idea?



Anyway, it was all very pretty, though it's normally cared for partly by volunteers, who haven't been allowed in, so it's a bit weedy.

Saughton Park - can you imagine how that's pronounced? It's got a "ch" in the middle, like "loch" pronounced by a Scot, or "Bach". Saw-ch-tn.

I was interested that various commenters were familiar with "thrawn". I don't think most English people would know it. How about this, then? - it's a fine one - fushionless, sometimes spelt fusionless. It's pronounced like cushionless but the sh is like "je" in French. Foo-je-n-less. Like so many Scots words, there's no exact English equivalent, but it means something like feeble, with no initiative, apathetic. See the plumber, above.

3 comments:

  1. I knew fashionless, too....I've read a lot of Scottish novels so some of this may come from them...I wonder if that flower is something like a rose or a rose relative. The buds make me think that....Good luck with the plumber. Are you familiar with the new product called "shark bite"? It makes diy repairs much easier. My oldest daughter just fixed a pipe broken in three places at our summer cottage. (She is a very hands on mechanical engineer.)

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    1. Thanks so much - it's for getting a new bathroom suite in our London daughter's Edinburgh flat. But I'll investigate Shark Bite.

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  2. Those flowers are beautiful, although I have no idea what they are! You are the one I go to for plant identification. I had grand plans of remodeling and fixing so much around my house when I retired, but it is extremely difficult to find reliable people to do said repairs and improvements. :( I did not know fusionless. In spite of my Scottish grandfather and reading of all the Ian Rankin Rebus mysteries.

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