It didn't take long after my visit for Glasgow to be placed out of bounds to travellers from less Covid afflicted areas but it wasn't me what done it guv.  Fortunately most of the rest of the country remained open and I made my second out of Edinburgh excursion to the place pictured above.  It may look as though I had gone to foreign parts but it is in fact a Japanese style garden not far from Dollar.

Established 100 years ago but having suffered neglect and vandalism since the death of its creator in 1949 it has been being brought back to life over the last few years.  It was established by one of those indomitable Victorian lady travellers, Ella Christie, who visited Japan in 1907.

There's an interesting article under her name on Wikipedia but there is this even more interesting and informative article which contains a lot of extra information including the somewhat dotty behaviour of her father in his later years and how she went to law to have his will overturned to prevent herself from ending up on the streets.

Although general merrymaking has opened up a touch more we are still afflicted by the need to open accounts and QR code ourselves daft to be served as much as a coffee.  One sunny afternoon with friends in the Teviot House garden bar the ordering app was particularly recalcitrant and digitally mangled my two payment cards and my Paypal account till we had to call for help from the staff.  "You can always go up to the bar and order you know" she said.  We didn't but next time we'll forego the electronics.

The net has been a bit kinder.  I saw an excellent production of The Importance of Being Earnest from the USA.  It was a 2011 production directed by the late Brian Bedford who also played Lady Bracknell.  First produced in 1895 the play wears its years lightly and Wilde's wit continues to sparkle. 

Kafka's novel The Trial turned into a play by Steven Berkoff  was I thought terrific.  On a bare stage with the only props being door sized rectangular frames manipulated by a carefully and imaginatively choreographed cast whose control of mime and movement was impressive Josef K lives out the nightmare of his arrest on unknown and unknowable charges.

Here's what the East Productions version that is available from Digital Theatre looked like.

Another great show was Hindu Times, one of the Lyceum's Soundstage productions.  Written in thick Dundonian and played in accents to match it portrayed a roistering Saturday night by the Tay in which Hindu gods fused into local lads about town.  It reinforced the impression of strong writing that Jaimini Jethwa's earlier play, The Last Queen of Scotland at the Fringe in 2017, made on me.

But there was a dud.  I forked out a donation to see a production in English of La Scozzeze by Goldoni mainly because of my as yet unconsummated appearance in The Venetian Twins. (Arkle's production by the way has now been kicked further into the long grass and may emerge in Spring 22.)

La Scozzeze was a student online Zoom production so perhaps I expected too much.  The play seemed pretty boring to start with and the cast and director failed to lift it.  Try as I might I couldn't watch it all.