A friendly reminder of past projects still undone came my way this morning from Scotland:
Free Entry – Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle, St Andrews Cathedral and St Andrews Castle will all be free on St Andrews Day (Thursday 30th November). St Andrew is the patron sint of Scotland. This year is extra special as it is ten years since the Stone of Destiny was returned to Scotland. It now lives in Edinburgh Castle.The Stone of Destiny is where all Scottish kings placed their feet during their coronation. It was originally in Scone and was stolen by Edward 1 in 1293 and taken to England, where it stayed for seven centuries. Almost all English and later British monarchs have parked their backsides firmly over this stone during their coronation, including our present queen in 1953. So go and see Scotland’s most famous lump of rock!
All sites are open from 9-30am – 4-30pm.
Why is this of interest to a guy who only recently got further international than Toronto? Two reasons: Lineage, and Literature.
Before becoming a Makice, I was an Isbister. As such, I inherited a long legacy of northern Scotland, including a Loch, Town and Bay up in the Orkney Islands. My dream trip — currently being carried out vicariously by Kynthia — has me living the life of a Highlander for a few months, walking into pubs where every third person shares my birth name, and finding some lost birthright (I imagine pots of Viking gold, or magic powers) someplace in the ancient ruins of Isbister. I identify with the Scots, even if I am some dozen generations from being one.
In 1996, back when I was almost as poor as we are now, I took about 5 weeks off from intense freelance web design to write. The whole freelance gig was a response to not getting gainful employment elsewhere (ahem, Tellabs) and feeling like I could do all right just doing my thing. But the real reason I wanted to do the solo shop was the dream of working four days and writing for three. Never turned out to be the case, though, and I had to coast off a reasonably sized client check to be able to make an attempt at writing a screenplay. The subject? A news blurb about England finally returning the Stone of Destiny (also known as the Stone of Scone) 707 years after they first took it in conquest. Included in the news item I read was a reference to four Scottish nationalists who heisted the Stone during academic holiday in 1950.
Having already some interest in student thefts of iconic objects, I read a first-hand account written by one of the mastermind’s behind the student caper, Ian Hamilton. It was published less than two years after the 1950 incident and is ripe with both dated chauvinism and grad student pomposity. However, it details every step of the planning and the many obstacles in their path to glory. I jotted down notes as I read, eventually eschewing paper for BBEdit on the Mac. About 2/3 of the way through the first pass — during which I was also renaming characters, copying key dialogue, and writing some notes for a screenplay — I lost a bunch of text when the file got so large my Mac couldn’t open it. I corrected that problem and religiously saved my work frequently and in several places. When I bumped into a memory problem again, corrupting my main file, I calmly went to my backup on a Syquest drive. Those who are familiar with removable media from the past decade may have heard of the click of death. I did that day (and would later again with my Iomega Jazz Drive). It not only cost me my archives, but it also ruined me on writing for many years.
And so, my idea for a screenplay on the Stone of Destiny caper has sat dormant for a decade. Until Kynthia’s trip and my vicarious living. It is difficult to find time to sit down and do something that has absolutely no relevance to the task at hand — earning a Ph.D. and resuming some income-generating career. I did another read of the Hamilton book, though, and informally interviewed some foreigners while being one myself on my trip to WikiSym 2006 (the verdict: Scots know about it; no one else does). I’ve got Final Draft these days and some fifty copies of any writing work I’ve done, saved on CDs or hard drives. Maybe there’s some time this winter, ten years after I started, to get a draft written.
I’m not sure if this will make Planet Info, since I don’t pester that aggregate site with everything we write. But in case Kynthia pokes her browser this way, thanks.
For some other reading on the subject, try:
- Brigadoonery — “What often happens when people who were not born in Scotland pretend to be Scottish anyway.” These Canadians have a piece on whether the Stone a fake?
- Answers.com — An encyclopedia scraper with info and links to more info.
- Scottish Historical Review — Nick Aitchison reviews a 2003 book, The Stone of Destiny: Artefact and Icon.