Tag: scotland

The Fife Cantilever

‘The Fife cantilever’, c 1880s.

Photograph of the construction of the Forth Railway Bridge in Scotland. Undoubtedly Britain’s most famous railway landmark, The Forth Bridge was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in March 1890 following eight years of building, and completed the east coast railway route between London and Aberdeen. It spans the Firth of Forth, joining the city of Edinburgh and Fife in Scotland. The bridge was designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, and built by engineer Sir William Arrol. It contains almost 54,000 tons of steel and when completed, the 1.5 mile long bridge was the biggest in the world. It is the world’s oldest cantilever railway bridge and remains in use to this day.

[Image from Feral Irishman‘s awesome rotating banner. Description from here.]

Saturday Matinee – The Great McGonigal, Super Chikan & The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

The Great McGonigal, aka W.C. Fields, knew his cigar boxes.

Guy’s playing a Diddley Bow. Pure awesome, and here’s his website.

And since the sentient voters of Scotland wisely chose to postpone secession from Great Britain for now, here’s this:  my favorite Scottish band ever:

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band was oddly under appreciated in the US (except for a cult following in Cleveland) but was popular in the proto-punk theater-rock scene in Great Britain. Vambo Rools.

Have a great weekend, folks, and be back here tomorrow for more inanity.

Blackening the Bride

This is one way to blacken a bride. Atypical Events collected some odd wedding customs from around the world, and describes “blackening the bride” as:

“In the Scottish pre-wedding tradition of “Blackening the Bride,” The bride is taken by surprise and covered with foul substances, such as eggs, various sauces, feathers, and well you name it…

“The bride to be, officially blackened, is then paraded around town, and of course a few pubs, for all to see.”

I like the picture better without the description.