This week Scotland has been enjoying wonderful weather for once and March temperature records have been broken. It got to 73F in some places, I think it was about 69F at the beach in Kirkcaldy when I took these photos.
There were actually people sunbathing in their bikinis but I decided against shocking you. It has to be said that Kirkcaldy central beach definitely isn’t one of the bonniest beaches in Fife and there are much nicer ones just a stone’s throw in each direction along the coast. The nearby small towns of Aberdour and Kinghorn have beautiful sandy beaches too.
As you can see the sand here has teeny wee bits of coal, just like grit mixed in with the sand. A legacy of the coal mining days of the area, of course all the mines were closed down years ago.
The water is beautifully clear though and this photo is actually all water as the tide was coming in. The Firth of Forth is certainly a lot cleaner than it used to be. It’s just at this point that it turns into the North Sea.
Back to the town again and you can see those three blocks of high flats which are so visible from Edinburgh and North Berwick. If you look closely you can see the massive yellow crane which is being used in the construction of the new swimming pool, although why we needed a new one is a mystery to me because the old (1980s) pool seems absolutely fine.
So, that was Kirkcaldy on one of the hottest March days which we have experienced. Why is it that when it’s a hot temperature we always revert to using Imperial measurements? We go back to those 70 Fs and know exactly what it means, hot to us but mild to other people no doubt. Then when it’s cold we are back to using centigrade and moan that it’s -15 C or whatever!
Just worked out your 73deg.F to be about 23deg.C; we in NZ changed to Celsius temps when I was 18 or so and it was the easiest ‘metric’ change we had to adapt to, in my opinion; I can still happily compute money in l.s.d. [changed to decimal when I was 15] and habitually use Imperial weights and measures [changed to metric when I was in my early 20’s], but now have to convert weather temps. to Celsius to comprehend them! Oven temps. in cooking seem to be more meaningful still. Anyway I’m pleased you had such a pleasant Spring day.
(Valerie)
Valerie,
I have no idea when we changed over to Celsius officially but I remember when I was at primary school the teachers knew that we were going metric so didn’t bother to teach us about either system for weights and measures. Our money went decimal in 1970 when I was 11 but our postage stamps have just been increased to 60 pence for first class and I thought “12 shillings for a stamp!”
Bikinis in Scotland in March must be an oxymoron if there ever was.
Beautiful clear sky and water. Thank you for sharing.
And as for metric and imperial. I use a complete mismatch of both. I cannot get my head round gallons of petrol, only litres(let’s not mention the queues). I cook in pounds and ounces, but also in grams. It is miles not kilometres when driving, walking but I swim in kilometres. I measure in metric but then when measuring at work distances, sizes etc or when at my parents it has to be feet and inches. But measuring material for sewing it is inches. Took me a long time to know that 12 inches was a foot. Temperatures is Fareheneit but like you say as soon as it is cold we go to Celsius. I think I need to go and lie down!!
Jo,
I’m much the same as you, it’s a real mix up depending on who I’m speaking to. I always remember that 12 inches/foot is 30 cm as my wooden school ruler had both marked on it! I still find it difficult to ask for a metre of material and not a yard though.
Reminds me of when I was in a shop buying fabric in the days when I useed to dressmake.
“How wide is that material?” I asked,
“36 inches” was the reply.
“OK, I’ll take 3 yards.”
“Oh we don’t deal in yards. We’re metric now!”
I haven’t a clue when it comes to metric!
Evee,
What a scream! I recently found an old sweetie shop and didn’t have a clue what to ask for other than – a quarter of Italian Creams! I’m still none the wiser as she didn’t translate it into grams for me!
I’ve just checked the “Arran Banner” webcams and there appears to be snow still falling in the Ladybank area, Fife, and quite rough seas in Brodick Bay, Arran. Hope you made the most of the balmy weather the other day!
Valerie,
I’ll have to have a look at those webcams. We’ve actually been away down south for the last four days so we missed the snow thankfully but the weather was rotten, very wet and freezing. I just knew the weather would go right downhill as soon as the schools broke up for Easter!
I love coooking and love new recipes, but was nearly broken by attempting to convert one of Gordon Ramsay’s Posh Fish Pie from metric. (Not to mention the fact that the darn thing had so many reductions!!) Wonderful, tasty dish, but doing all that math in my head — Yikes!
Hope the spring snow passed you by.
Pearl,
They used to give us imperial and metric in the recipes which seems to me to be sensible, I don’t know why they stopped it. I don’t think I’ve ever cooked a Ramsay dish and really only like the kind of fish which comes wrapped in batter and not tasting very fishy!!
I think it did snow in Fife but we were in Oxfordshire – where it was wet, windy and freezing – I couldn’t believe how cold it was.