From the right corner of my front room

If I can see the third set of hills on the right clearly it will be a good day. But it's cold! It was freezing during the night and a heavy frost is still on the cars. My home is in Edinburgh, Scotland and 10 minutes from Blackford Hill., the one on the left.

The first hill behind the trees is Blackford Hill and on the other side the Royal Observatory, the other one is in Greenwich, London. With the Greenwich Mean Time Line in front of it on a hill. Below the hill to the left is the Hermitage of Braid, a popular wooded area for dog walkers and kids. Below at the front is the Craigmillar Golf Club. During my apprenticeship I worked on assembling the cards for the Star Identification System. To be installed in the Observatory.

In the middle are the Braid Hills with Golf courses on either side. In my youth at 6 to 8 years old we used to go and catch Tadpoles and keep them in a Goldfish Bowl under our parents bed. My mum got a shock one day when a bit of fluth jumped across the floor towards her. After a minute to recover, looked under the bed and found the Goldfish Bowl, a thick ear for me and my brother.

To the right at the back the two hills are part of the Pentland Hills Regional Park. With Scald Law peak at 579 m (1,900 ft). Grew up with my brother and lived about 30 minutes from the bottom of these hills. With friends and dogs after school and at weekends playing in these hills. Either helping farmers out doing odd jobs for an egg each or being chased. In the woods found billy can and boiled the eggs and ate them with wild onion. In a number of the streams coming off the Pentlands we caught Rainbow Trout and took them home to eat.

We had to be careful around cattle with young bullocks and Highland Cattle. Over the years we gathered lots of injured animals, birds (Crows, Ravens, Jackdaws, Sparrows, Finches and Robins), rabbits, hares, foxes, hedgehogs, field mice, stoats and weasels. At Primary School the teacher Mrs Rae asked us to bring a pet to school. I took a Raven and when the Deputy Head Master asked what it was and it pecked him on the nose. Which earned me 6 of the best from his belt. Lots of laughter from the rest of the class.

Saving young cattle and sheep left us covered in mud and water. The dogs joined in and pushed us in and then shook themselves over us. Luckily it rained on the way home and we were clean, but wet.

Since the farmers thought we knew every nook and cranny and wood in the hills. Hey pointed the finger at us. This led us being netted by the police and accused of cattle, sheep, horse and pig stealing of about 200 animals over a weekend. None of us had a driving license. So after a night at the main Police Station on the High Street in town we got let home.

Nearly every hill in Scotland is the result of volcanic activity from centuries past. The other 4 hills around Edinburgh, East and West Craiglockhart, Corstorphine, Arthur Seat and the Crags and Calton Hill. It makes Edinburgh the Athens of the North with its pillars. These hills form the annual 7 Hills Race and the other race the 7 Reservoirs Race on the Pentland Hills.

The pandemic has stopped us from running in the Hills, since we would have 40+ runners and walkers out on runs laid with flour, sawdust or pet bedding and running for 1 to 2 hours depending on the weather. Looking forward to doing it again and enjoying the views over the town and surrounding countryside.