Nuts.

I never used to like nuts, actually… I still don’t.

I like a nut, not nuts, the cashew nut.

If there was one place in Edinburgh I would recommend when eating out, it would be the nut stand in St. James Shopping Centre. The nut lady (and nut man) serve a variety of colourful nuts, seeds and dried fruits.

Opened in 1861 by St James himself, the Nut Stand prides itself on free samples and exciting versions of the same nut. I counted about 8 different cashew nuts!!

I enjoy the Jamaican Cashew, the Honey Cashew and the Cheese Cashew. The mixture of these three in the same bag ensures my taste-buds are constantly surprised, which results in me being constantly excited.

The nut stand is often busy and usually sells out around 4pm, I recommend visiting early to avoid disappointment and long queues.

Score:  4 out of 5 Woods

According to wikipedia – the cashew nut is not a nut, but a seed… so perhaps I still don’t like nuts.

The Piper of Princes Street

Now an essential part of everyday life, the bagpipe started out as an unpopular instrument in Scotland. Piping was originally an English hobby until around the 1600s when most of the instruments were dismantled and converted into recorders. As an unpopular English instrument, the bagpipe soon became very popular in Scotland.

The pipes are mostly played during weddings and funerals; but can also be heard on the streets of Edinburgh, played buy those who ‘busk-by-bagpipe’.

Playing the bagpipes for money has always been seen to bring bad luck, which is why those who choose to busk-by-bagpipe will always face away from passers-by:

Edinburgh, where the…

… sky is paved with gold.

Cockburn Street, Edinburgh

Previously I have been blogging on mymyspace page, but I wanted to blog elsewhere.

Elsewhere is here, but I don’t really want to blog here either. I want to blog at www.woodpress.wordpress.com. A currently un-used blog – which, with a lick of paint, would make a beautiful home for my words and photos.

So what will my first post be? I decided to go for a Scottish theme to celebrate my new(ish) home.

So without furher ado, a photo, for you:

I knew I had to document this man when Leila and I saw him. Leila said not to in-case I woke him, I had no fears of waking him – I had turned the sounds off on my camera phone.

Although I did not worry about waking the man, I did worry that passers-by would see me taking the photo, which may have seemed a little odd. I decided not to worry, for it was only yesterday that I saw some tourists taking photos of a different kilted man (the only difference being that this one was a bit more sleepy) – I was simply a tourist documenting the Scottish.

I think that the man was sleeping on his bagpipe case, I imagine bagpipes would be a far comfier choice.

Was it wrong not to wake him? We were unsure as to what was right and wrong in this situation, I get very angry when people wake me and don’t know how to handle an angry Scotsman, yet. We decided to look around some shops and check back on him later.
It was shortly after seeing this man that Leila and I knew we made the right choice of city to live in. There are very few cities where you can have a quick nap on some steps without the fear that somebody would look up your kilt.

Later that day we returned to find no man on the steps, we think it was the rain that woke him (or perhaps some louder tourists).

Thanks for reading, come back soon.