Gargoyle

Hey all,

miserable night last night – got woken up a few times every hour or so until nearly 5AM by a succession of idiots coming into the dorm and slamming the door next to my ear. So more like sleep deprivation torture than actual rest. One more night – I moved beds so I am not right next to the door, so hopefully it won't be as painful as last night.

Wandered around a bit today – went to the Gallery in the middle of town, which was fantastic – and free – was hoping to find William Dyce's version of Paolo and Francesca, but it wasn't there – they had a bunch of other stuff by him, but not that one. Much less crowded and hectic than galleries in Florence – was enjoyable to wander around and look at things without feeling this kind of relentless crown pressure to move on. The ones that got me the most were El Greco's “The Saviour of the World”, Thomas Gainsborough's ghostly “The Honourable Mrs Graham” and this contemporary painting by Ken Currie, “Three Oncologists” - horrific – how I would imagine Nazi doctors experimenting on people would look if caught in the act. There ones cheered me up after "Oncologists" left a bad taste in my head: Joseph Paton's “The Quarrel of Oberon and Titiana”, James Archer's “Summertime, Gloucestershire”, and “St Bride” by John Duncan.

One thing that the Italians do seem to do well is broadband - I went to four different places with free wifi today - none of them actually worked.  And the 3g is too expensive, I think, to bother with, at least at this point.  Wandered up to the castle after getting massively frustrated with that - I didn't go in to it but might do tomorrow, depending on time and money, then checked out a cathedral up there on "the mound" near the castle – they are so much lighter, both in terms of weight and sunlight, than those in Italy.  Then some shopping for work pants and a polar fleece top, which I managed to get out of for a total of 19.98 pounds, so was pretty happy about that - need the work pants because...

Off tomorrow for my new job on a Christmas tree farm, working 7 days per week until I fly back to Paris next month. Not great wages, but there won't be much opportunity to spend any of it, I have a room for 50 pounds a week: basically it means that money will be going in the right direction for the first time in a while and it will be easier to sleep than in fetid crowded dorms.  It is not just the lack of sleep that starts to make me nuts - I start to completely lose my ability to be sociable when I don't get a few hours of privacy a day.  Imagine I will get that on this job: it is out in the sticks somewhere so I'm not sure how often I will be able to get online, if ever, so posts might be a bit sporadic for a while.  I will try from time to time: picture me leaning into driving sleet on the godforsaken Scottish heath, bravely battling my way towards the nearest hotspot...

Photos. 1. About to head up towards the castle. 2. The crown on the top of a cathedral up near the castle. 3. Inside the cathedral. 4. This enormous monument which is really quite fantastic and spooky – it is to the memory of Sir Walter Scott. 5. Here he is, in the middle of the monument, looking avuncular – a lot less threatening and sinister than the monument itself. 6. On the monument: a gargoyle. Back when they used to have fun with guttering.

Cheers, B.