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Monday, September 13, 2004
The Scottish Parliament
At the weekend we made an attempt to go and visit the new Scottish Parliament. Seemed like a good thing to do on a day when the weather was a bit foul.
First thing to note was that there was an hour delay to get over the Forth Road bridge! Crazy, so we diverted via Stirling. On getting to Edinburgh we parked up in Our Dynamic Earth (a fantastic, if costly visitor attraction) and wandered round to the Parliament building.
My goodness it is an ugly building. The architect must have been on acid when he came up with this idea, and Dewar must have seen the wrong plans to approve something like this. For something that cost 430 million trillion squillion pounds, a touch of class might be in order. As it is, the back is surrounded by something akin to the Berlin wall and the entire building already looks like it has come under heavy mortar fire with patches of different colours and scraps of wood and steel stuck all over the outside. I was trying to imagine what it will look like after the concrete has weathered for 30 years and it made me shudder. It's only going to get worse.
So eventually we found the front door in this "people's parliament", and looked forward to seeing inside. Except we couldn't see inside. Closed. At 3.20pm, the doors were locked and no-one was getting in. let me say that again. 3.20 in the afternoon and we couldn't so much as poke our noses in the building. Eh? I guess that's open access government for you. Spend your taxes then don't let you see what they've done with them.
Bugger them then. We got back in the car and drove over to Ratho Quarry, where the new climbing and adventure centre is. Now that's an impressive building. And it was open. If you're ever looking for somewhere to visit near Edinburgh, Ratho must be on your list. Even if you're not a climber, it is still impressive, and it helped us get over our annoyance at the parliament. You win some, you lose some.
3.20pm. Honestly...
First thing to note was that there was an hour delay to get over the Forth Road bridge! Crazy, so we diverted via Stirling. On getting to Edinburgh we parked up in Our Dynamic Earth (a fantastic, if costly visitor attraction) and wandered round to the Parliament building.
My goodness it is an ugly building. The architect must have been on acid when he came up with this idea, and Dewar must have seen the wrong plans to approve something like this. For something that cost 430 million trillion squillion pounds, a touch of class might be in order. As it is, the back is surrounded by something akin to the Berlin wall and the entire building already looks like it has come under heavy mortar fire with patches of different colours and scraps of wood and steel stuck all over the outside. I was trying to imagine what it will look like after the concrete has weathered for 30 years and it made me shudder. It's only going to get worse.
So eventually we found the front door in this "people's parliament", and looked forward to seeing inside. Except we couldn't see inside. Closed. At 3.20pm, the doors were locked and no-one was getting in. let me say that again. 3.20 in the afternoon and we couldn't so much as poke our noses in the building. Eh? I guess that's open access government for you. Spend your taxes then don't let you see what they've done with them.
Bugger them then. We got back in the car and drove over to Ratho Quarry, where the new climbing and adventure centre is. Now that's an impressive building. And it was open. If you're ever looking for somewhere to visit near Edinburgh, Ratho must be on your list. Even if you're not a climber, it is still impressive, and it helped us get over our annoyance at the parliament. You win some, you lose some.
3.20pm. Honestly...
This blog is a guide to our holidays in Scotland website and also contains info for visitors to Scotland including Scottish hotels, holiday accommodation, things to do and places to go in Scotland.
Previous Posts
- Getting down and dirty
- Where have Yew been?
- Scottish Blogs & Kite Flying
- Glenmorangie, for sale
- Bridge rumblings
- Funny old world
- Summer's back
- Where has the summer gone?
- Glencoe Ski Centre re-opens
- Die little Midge!
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