Picto Diary - 22 September 2019 - Elizabeth II

Above: Glenshee Ski Area. Aberdeenshire, Scotland southern Highlands. 22 September 2019.

Out and about in Scotland.

Glenshee Ski Centre, Aberdeenshire, is the largest ski resort in Scotland. With 22 lifts, 36 runs and limited snowmaking capabilities, it is Britain's largest snow sports resort.

The main ski center buildings, as noted in the image, are at an elevation of 650 meters.

The resort covers 790 hectares and has 40 km of pisted runs graded as 8 Greens, 13 Blues, 13 Reds (Reds??!!) and 2 Blacks. There are three chairlifts, three T-bar lifts, and the remaining sixteen lifts are button lifts, mostly of the Poma type.

Note the motorcycles parked at the lodge. This road, A93, from Dundee, to the south, and reaching to Balmoral in the north, seems to be a motorcycle touring favorite. We saw many motorcycles, going both ways, while managing this route.
This route brought together two of my extracurricular loves... skiing and motorcycling. I've been on a motorcycle trip through Britain. I wonder how many Americans have actually gone on a ski trip to Scotland?

Above: Hoops, Bronx Girl and TIMDT with driver/guide Grant. 22 September 2019.

Out and about in Scotland.

Like most Scots, Grant voted "Remain." Grant thinks Britain will successfully leave EU but no matter... Scotland's gonna declare its independence from heinous England anyway. But wait! Scotland will not join EU! They'll remain independent, just like England.! Or, so says Grant.

Bishop says, Remainers' prediction of England's demise are smoking too much dope. Y2K like hysteria. England will rebound stronger than ever as a free, independent nation when Brussels shackles are undone.

Grant says, only a matter of time before NHS goes private. Not enough doctors. Doctor pay insufficient. Waits are too long for elective procedures. Triage system for scarce/expensive pharmaceuticals chooses who dies and who lives. NHS for a time was a good system, says Grant. But, now it is maxed out.

Above: Queen Elizabeth and William. Balmoral Castle. Balmoral Scotland. 22 September 2019.

Out and about in Scotland.

Queen Elizabeth II and William returning from church services at nearby Crathie Kirk.

Bishop legs reflected in Rolls Royce front door as proof of image legitimacy!

Great historical figure! "Ruling" in UK since Eisenhower, 1952. The Queen reflects and amplifies continuity of freedom and stability into Britain, and even more broadly into anyplace in the world where individual freedom is revered. Today's Hong Kong protests exemplify this freedom yearning ethic anchored in British tradition as effectively symbolized by the Queen.

Of interest while we are here are the machinations associated with Britain's planned exit from the European Union (EU), currently scheduled for 31 October 2019. Recently, the Queen agreed to "prorogate" (suspend) Parliament, following a request by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who wanted to forestall legislators' interference into the process of negotiating Britain's exit from the EU The decision to leave the EU was made by democratic vote in a national referendum in 2016. Notwithstanding, Parliament is divided in its sense of how the exit should take place including on whether Parliament should have a roll in negotiating the exit in the first place. "Leavers" are suspicious that Labour politicians (Remainers), and even middle of the road Tories, will throw spanners into the Brexit works so as to stall, and eventually stymie, the exit altogether. In any case, knowing of the Queen's historic role in Britain's "Brexit" decision made our sighting of her today just a bit more exciting than it otherwise might have been.

Today's serendipitous sighting of the Queen, engineered on the fly by capable driver/guide Grant, reminds of my similar drive by sightings of luminaries, including Nasser and Khrushchev (Cairo, 1964) and Charles DeGualle (Paris, 1965). I met then VP George Bush at a cocktail party (Manila, 1983). Finally, John S. Reed, dinner, Tokyo Japan. 1984. — with Margaret Taylor at Balmoral Castle & Estate.

Above: Falconing at Glamis Castle. Glamis, Scotland. 22 September 2019.

Having seen Queen Elizabeth II only a few minutes before, visiting a Scottish castle tied to her heritage seemed propicious.

Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public.

Glamis Castle has been the home of the Lyon family since the 14th century, though the present building dates largely from the 17th century. Glamis was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, wife of King George VI. Their second daughter, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was born there.

Scottish castle: check. (Yawn?) This one was pretty good, though, with lots of memorabilia of days gone by, valuable paintings and furniture, and a raft of ghost stories about this secret doorway or the spirits behind that wall... all well explained by an enthusiastic twenty something male docent.

Outside a group was falconing. That is one big bird.

Above: Bronx Girl, TIMDT and Hoops. Victoria and Albert Museum, Dundee Scotland. 22 September 2019.

Out and about in Dundee.

The most important thing to see here was the museum building itself.

V&A Dundee is a design museum in Dundee, Scotland, which opened on 15 September 2018. The V&A Dundee is the first design museum in Scotland and the first Victoria and Albert museum outside London. The V&A Dundee is also the first building in the United Kingdom that has been designed by Kengo Kuma.

Above: Bishop, Bronx Girl and Hoops atop Swilken Bridge. St. Andrews Golf Club, St. Andrews, Scotland. 22 September 2019.

The Swilcan Bridge, or Swilken Bridge, is a famous small stone bridge in St Andrews Links golf course, Scotland. The bridge spans the Swilcan Burn between the first and eighteenth fairways on the Old Course, and has itself become an important cultural icon in the sport of golf.

The bridge itself is extremely small; at its farthest extent it measures about 30 feet long, eight feet wide and six feet tall, in the style of a simple Roman arch. Originally built at least 700 years ago to help shepherds get livestock across, it has the modern photographic advantage of great backdrops on three sides: the course’s grand Royal and Ancient Clubhouse and Hamilton Hall on one, often a packed grandstand of enthusiasts on another, and rolling hills facing toward the North Sea, on the last.

It is customary for champions of golf to publicly show some sort of homage or respect to the structure. A recent display was by Tom Watson in early July 2010 at The Open Championship, when he was photographed kissing the bridge. Also, at the 2005 Open Championship, Jack Nicklaus gave his final farewell to professional golf while standing on the bridge. Other golfers of past and present include: Tom Morris, Sr., Tom Morris, Jr., Sam Snead, Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino, J.H. Taylor, Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Harry Vardon, Henry Cotton, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson and Nick Faldo.

On the second floor of the World Golf Hall of Fame museum in St. Augustine, Florida, there is a life-size stone replica of the Swilcan Bridge, accompanied with a floor-to-ceiling photograph of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse and Hamilton Hall in the background.

None of us pictured here is a golfer, so why are we here? Answer: You don't have to be Catholic to be awed by the Vatican. Alternatively, St. Andrews is to golf what Mecca is to Islam. Pilgrimages are in order.

The Royal and Ancient Clubhouse is discernable, behind the three of us, in the accompanying image.