Newhaven Lighthouse

The lighthouse in Newhaven Harbour with storm clouds gathering behind it; I barely made it back inside before the heavens opened....

Deep Fried Mars Bar

Yep that's right, this post is about the well-known Scottish delicacy called the deep-fried Mars Bar. This horrendously unhealthy (but surprisingly tasty) item is said to have been invented in the famous Haven Chip Bar in Stonehaven in 1995, but can now be found throughout Scotland. The Mars bar is dipped in batter used for fried fish, sausages etc and fried in chip fat. To make sure the chocolate doesn't melt, it is usually chilled beforehand.

Connaisseurs will recognise the location of this poster as Cafe Piccante on Broughton Street.

East Claremont Street

Neo-classical stateliness that is East Claremont Street, here on a map.

Airbus A380 visits Edinburgh

At 1.30pm this afternoon, the world's largest commercial airliner, the Airbus A380, performed an 'approach and go' manoeuvre at Edinburgh airport. (Just as well - had it landed, it wouldn't have been able to leave again because the runway would have been too short!)

Anyway, thousands of people watched this magnificent plane fly directly over the airport first before turning over the bridges, doing a big loop and finally a fly-through just above the runway. I took this photo at the plane's lowest point, as it (noisily!) pulled its nose up and rose again to disappear into the clouds. We must have had the best, exclusive view - from the roof of the airport!

The real castle!

And here's a picture of the 'real' castle, high on the rock in the background. In the front left is the Fruitmarket Gallery, next to Waverley Station (right). The blue bus is the Airport Bus 100, waiting at its stop on Waverley bridge. Above it you see the National Gallery on the Mound. The blue domed building at the top of the Mound is the Bank of Scotland HQ. This well-known view can of course be seen from North Bridge.