I had an interesting couple of hours at the synagogue recently thanks to a visit organised by the Friends of the City Art Gallery. I've always thought it a fine building from outside and it proved to be equally fine inside. We had a talk about the history of Jewish settlement in Edinburgh and the development of their places of worship that culminated in the construction of the synagogue in Newington.
Instrumental in the building of the synagogue in the 1930s was Salis Daiches whose son David, became a much admired literary critic and historian and occupied academic posts here and in the USA. He wrote a beautiful book called Two Worlds about his childhood in Edinburgh. The two worlds of the title are of course the Jewish and Gentile societies of the inter-war years.
I read it years ago but it's most likely out of print nowadays. Libraries have it and second-hand copies can no doubt be found. You can also read it online here. I thoroughly recommend it for anyone who has ever been a child.
Glimpses of old Edinburgh have appeared in my neighbourhood recently when the refurbishment of Vittoria's and of a shop nearby revealed the gold lettered titles of the shops that occupied their premises in earlier years. Stationery and Fancy Goods Warehouse was one I particularly liked and I was intrigued by the partial title Portmanteau......, the rest being illegible. Another was Cabinetmaker &. And what I wonder.
Illegible I would have thought to most spectators and TV viewers was the advert for sports betting that appeared intermittently on the electronic boards around the pitch in Arbroath when they played Raith Rovers there a few weeks ago. It was written in Katakana, one of the two phonetic scripts used in Japanese. The cameras didn't ever focus on it long enough to let me write it down accurately but this is roughly what it looked like スポーツ・ベティング.
Maybe there's a large appetite for Scottish football in Japan but if there is I'd have thought it would have been for those teams in the Premiership like Celtic and Hearts that have Japanese players in their squads rather than for a tussle between the top and bottom teams from the Championship.
That's why I, who don't have much interest in football, was watching. My hometown team were in an excellent position to return to the Premiership at the end of the season after 27 years absence and a game against bottom of the league Arbroath would surely not impede their progress. When they went two nil up a win seemed assured but plucky little Arbroath, as we surely must style them, didn't roll over and came out 3-2 winners.
My lounge and hall have moved up to the top league after repainting and recarpeting. What an effort it was to get stuff moved out and back again. I'm taking the opportunity to get rid of books and other things though. I agonised for a while over a carpet choice and although I was very happy with my choice in the showroom my heart did a bit of a double take when they came to install it. Now furniture etc is back in place I'm much happier with it.
The logic seemed to me to have the painting done before the carpeting but handling the carpet produced quite a lot of scuffs on the walls. The fitters treated the worst of them with pads called wonder wipes that just made them worse and I've ended up painting over them. The end result is not wonderful.
On a cheerier note I've enjoyed a lot of music in the last few weeks. Good jazz from the SNJO and the TSYJO, an entertaining combination of the Big Noise from Wester Hailes with the SNJO and a couple of excellent concerts from the SCO. They played Beethoven's 7th Symphony at one. That's surely amongst the brightest and most joyful music he ever wrote.
Another of their concerts with Pekka Kuusisto was magnificent. It brought five stars from the Guardian and I wouldn't disagree in any way.
I've seen more from the Japanese film festival that is showing films throughout the UK, from Kirkwall to Exeter.
Hoarder on the Border (断捨離パラダイス) This was a mildly amusing story of a guy who's not making it as a pianist and gets a job with a company that clears out rubbish strewn houses.
Sabakan ( サバカン) A really lovely film about two ten year old boys who become unlikely friends and their activities together during one summer. It's framed by one of them as an adult remembering the past.
Ice Cream Fever (アイスクリムフィーバー) Like Winny, for some unaccountable reason this was shown in a small square aspect ratio on the Cameo's already small third screen. That's a shame given that the colour and costume and set design are strong points of the film. The story or stories are about the relationships between the characters. A niece and her aunt; a former designer working in an ice-cream shop and a customer. I enjoyed the film's style and mildly enjoyed the narrative.
Finally here's an ad for the play I'm rehearsing now. My parts are very small so stay awake and alert if you come or you'll miss me.
