A Grand Day Out

On Sunday Fred and I went for a good old roam around Arthur's Seat (central Edinburgh's main hill) with the year's first picnic (courtesy of Marks and Sparks) followed by a look at the Ansel Adams exhibition that's on at the moment. It was a fantastic combination, though I hadn't particularly planned it to be such.

Adams's amazing photos of the staggering landscapes of the American West had me rethinking the hike we'd just been on. Arthur's Seat isn't Monument Valley, but it's a big enough bit of volcanic pluggery that it has an awesome physical presence. Being outdoors is an important part of the physicality of a man. Rocks have a masculine energy. Strangely, it was the pictures of the outdoors rather than the walk itself that really brought this home to me. I mean, I've had those thoughts before; but it was a wonderful feeling to be reminded of them in such a way.

There again, maybe it was the other way round. Maybe the best way to look at pictures that have so vast a scope is to spend a couple of hours hiking around a big rock first.

Frankly, I don't care. It was a bloody good day out, with manliness and fatherhood content to boot.