Amherst to Edinburgh

Nateene and I returned to Edinburgh last night after spending five days traveling in Shropshire, England. We went down to visit our friend and flatmate, Celia, at her home in Shrewsbury. I had never expected to visit the middle of England before coming here for school, but the Shire is full of beautiful country, good people, and magnificent stained glass. And despite the warnings of the BBC, we even lucked out on the weather!

We left on a train from Edinburgh to Crewe (located in the Northwest of England), and then from took a shorter ride in to Shrewsbury. The weather held all the way down, allowing for great views of wide green spaces, sheep, and the occasional snow-capped hill in the distance.

Due to reflections in the glass, there were also the occasional Lion King moments. Most of the time the reflections were of Nateene and her camera, but we had a few with other passengers or more abstract shapes.

When we got to Shrewsbury, we met Celia at the train station. Her mother, Susie, had made toad-in-the-hole (we’ll post the recipe another time) for dinner. After delicious sausage pastry casserole, we headed into Shrewsbury to the Armory for a drink and a wander. At the Armory, I tried a pint of Shropshire Lad. I initially thought it was Shropshire lag, which I didn’t make much sense (it being an ale and not a lager). Later, Susie informed me that I would probably be killed if I referred to it as Shropshire Lager instead of Shropshire Lag. They’re very big on “real ale” in Shropshire, apparently.

The next day we headed out to see a world heritage site I hadn’t previously heard of, Iron Bridge. It has a very appropriate appellation, as you can see.

That’s Celia, making the face for, “Holy Shit! An Iron Bridge!” Unlike many lesser bridges that are constructed from iron for the mere purpose of transportation, Iron Bridge was the first bridge made from cast iron in the world.

Iron.

Here’s our batch of feet stepping on the very sturdy structure.

The area around Iron Bridge is beautiful. The bridge spans a small portion of Ironbridge Gorge, gouged out long before the industrial revolution courtesy of the River Severn. The river has played a primary role in the history of the region, and was central to why the Roman’s built their fourth-largest city nearby at Wroxeter. According to Susie, “the idea of Wroxeter is more exciting than the place, itself”, but Nateene and I had to get our ruins on. It was a great way to follow up the view, the bridge, and the gargantuan pub lunch that we had in the small town in the gorge.

Here’s a photo of Nateene standing with a bath house wall that’s well on its way towards passing two thousand years in the same spot. The large wall behind her is one of the tallest surviving Roman walls in England.

I decided that some poolside relaxation was in order. Never mind that the Romans themselves probably drained it after a limited period of use. It can be a little chilly for outdoor swimming in Shropshire.

We spent some time with Celia in Shrewbury the next day, and a wonderful dinner that night with some of Susie’s friends. Then, Celia was off to Romania and we were off to check out the glass. Susie had recommended we check out St. Mary’s, no longer in use but still consecrated, and my mom had been enthusiastic about the Shrewsbury abbey. As the town is mostly situated on and around a hill by the river Severn, it was easy to get to both.

St. Mary’s from the entrance. The stained glass is amazing, especially directly in back of the altar.

Shrewsbury Abbey is older than St. Mary’s cathedral by a few hundred years, but has had to endure a lot more.

After that, we had to get on the six hour train ride home. Because we left in the dark, we didn’t take any returning photos of the countryside. The only light we had would have allowed pictures of Wolverhampton… but you don’t want pictures of Wolverhampton. This portrait of us on the train is a much prettier picture.

Ingredients:
Set of sheep’s heart, lungs and liver (cleaned by a butcher)
One beef bung
3 cups finely chopped suet
One cup medium ground oatmeal
Two medium onions, finely chopped
One cup beef stock
One teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
One teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon mace

Method:
Trim off any excess fat and sinew from the sheep’s intestine and, if present, discard the windpipe. Place in a large pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for an hour or possibly longer to ensure that they are all tender. Drain and cool.

Some chefs toast the oatmeal in an oven until it is thoroughly dried out (but not browned or burnt!)

Finely chop the meat and combine in a large bowl with the suet, oatmeal, finely chopped onions, beef stock, salt, pepper, nutmeg and mace. Make sure the ingredients are mixed well. Stuff the meat and spices mixture into the beef bung which should be over half full. Then press out the air and tie the open ends tightly with string. Make sure that you leave room for the mixture to expand or else it may burst while cooking. If it looks as though it may do that, prick with a sharp needle to reduce the pressure.

Place in a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and immediately reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for three hours. Avoid boiling vigorously to avoid bursting the skin.

Serve hot with “champit tatties and bashit neeps” (mashed/creamed potato and turnip/swede). For added flavor, you can add some nutmeg to the potatoes and allspice to the turnip/swede. Some people like to pour a little whiskey over their haggis – Drambuie is even better! Don’t go overboard on this or you’ll make the haggis cold!

-Nateene and Don

rampantscotland.com, crispywaffle.com, sausages.co.uk

Getting the reading here can be a little difficult, as whether to put essays online is at the professor’s discretion. I understand the Art History department, at least in the case of one of Nateene’s professors, runs on a sort of totalitarian communist system. In her case, the professor required that each student sign up for a day to go and scan in the readings for all to enjoy.

Most of my professors are not that together. My philosophy of science professor, Alasdair Richmond, is good enough to have a box of photocopies in the philosophy department so that we don’t have to go to the reserve section of the library to make copies there, but he’s the only one. This weekend, though, I’ve been able to find most of my readings online! And so, if you want to read what I’m reading this weekend, feel free to download some .pdfs.

For Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Science:

Phillip Kitcher, “Genes” on JSTOR

Griffiths, P. and Gray, R.D. “Developmental Systems and Evolutionary Explanation” also on JSTOR

For Advanced Topics in Mind, Language, and Embodied Cognition:

Proust, Joelle, “How Voluntary are Minimal Actions?”

Bayne, T. and Levy, N. “Awareness of Agency: Three Levels of Analysis” 

Wegner, D. and Wheatley, T. “Apparent Mental Causation: Sources of the Experience of the Will” 

Today is going to be fun times. Enjoy!

… we tried it. It was pretty good. We’ll probably have it again.

There may be more on this later.

-Don and Nateene