I Missed Last Week

but did anyone notice?

This week’s Top 20 most liked images on Edinburgh O’Clock bluesky account - 24 images every day - a fantastic random selection curated by an algorithm, then liked by followers on this bluesky account.

Watch out for the next eclipse on Saturday when the moon will take a sizeable bite from the sun - at its maximum bite at 11.06am over Edinburgh. If you’re in eastern US or even better, Canada, you will get a much bigger chunk missing or even a crescent sun at sunrise. Jealous me.

Singing us through this week’s countdown is Bonnie Tyler who does eclipses better than anyone.

No.20 is a beautifully woodsmokey canal at Harrison Park in Autumn. It was a dreich* day with relentless rain so the challange was to capture the mood as if watching the scene from a warm cosy sheltered spot, with the sweet smell of hot chocolate underwrapped in the slight muskiness of decaying leaves.

No.19 is a kestrel hunting for supper in Holyrood Park.

No.18 is Wee Jamie cycling for his supper in Holyrood Park. You’re not allowed to cycle off the road or cycling tracks here, so Jamie carried his bike all the way up and all the way back to the chippy.

No.17 is the southern Pentland Hills ridge at sunrise - I was on the dark side so each of the peaks caught the growing dawn light with their eastern cheeks.

No.16 is a crescent moon behind the Scott Monument and Edinburgh Castle.

No.15 is back to the Pentlands on a snowy day when I got these walkers on the summit of West Kip, Edinburgh’s slightly smaller version of Mount Fuji.

No.14 shows the City Observatory sitting on the summit of Calton Hill.

No.13 is one of my favourite full moon shots. You’ll have seen plenty of my moon images where I try and get as much detail on the moon as possible. On the way down Arthur’s Seat after sunset one evening I got this one by lying deep in the grass on a steep slope and shooting directly at the full moon through the grassy fronds. Somehow people seem to know that the light source is the moon. Please do tell me if you think I’m talking mince.

No.12 is back to Dreichsville on the Royal Mile when the pavements are great for reflections.

No.11 pulls about 12 miles back for a city view that crunches it together with the mountains 60 miles away.

No.10 is a shot in the dark that is no longer possible. I was walking through the forest below Cockleroy Hill in West Lothian, and was mesmerised by the play of my circular headtorch beam in the trees. The trees have since been chopped but I must repeat the idea next time I’m in some woods in the dark. This was a long exposure on a tripod and my mind was ticking away while I waited for several shots - you can’t help wondering if there is someone, or some thing, just outside of the beam of the torch. Then when you get home you see a faint shadowy thingy figure standing looking at the camera…with glowing eyes maybe.

No.9 is a classic Calton Hill view of the city with the gorgeous delicate embellishment of the crescent moon.

No.8 for long distance view of the spires and sticky up bits of the Old Town with Ben Ledi behind the Forth bridges.

No.7 takes us over to Charlotte Square in Edinburgh’s New Town and the full moon. Check out the Ukrainian flag which was hoist above St John’s kirk at the foot of Lothian Rd.

No.6 looks over the smallest harbour in the UK at Seacliff in East Lothian. Many of you will recognise the Bass Rock sitting offshore which marks the end of the Forth Estuary and the beginning of the North Sea. Makes no difference, it’s all freezing.

No.5 in a weird coincidence is this view of the Bass Rock and Berwick Law from way back in Edinburgh with another of the city’s castles - Craigmillar.

No.4 features this rainbow fart from the arse of the elephant that is Arthur’s Seat.

No.3 is an image that always makes me think of Chris Rea’s “Driving Home For Christmas” because I took it the week before the big day and off to the left of this image, taken in The Moorfoot Hills was a wee road that I featured in some of my other compositions that night.

No.2 is a Wizard of Oz feels view of Edinburgh from a West Lothian hill.

No.1 is great wee spot that I sometimes stop at when I pass, but got really lucky this night. I did some wider shots, one of which featured in an earlier Top 20 but this one is much more zoomed in and misses out the wind turbines and ethylene cracking plant that are just over to the left of Loch Gelly, Lochgelly’s loch in Fife.

That’s yer lot. Don’t forget to follow the Edinburgh O’Clock account if you’re on Bluesky, and help choose which images will feature in the weekly Top 20 over here.
Have a great week, and maybe see you out there.
TD

*dreich: dreary, gloomy, cold, overcast, rainy, etc (Scots)
(the first recorded use of the word "dreich" was in 1420, when it originally meant "enduring" or "slow, tedious".)