I don’t really keep up with Hollywood, in fact I wouldn’t even recognise the so-called household names who are involved in the film industry nowadays. I still think of Meryl Streep as a bit of a newcomer. So it was only when I watched the Scottish evening news earlier that I learned about this new Disney animation movie called Brave, set in Scotland apparently.
Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister is jumping on the bandwagon and is over in Hollywood whilest the film is being promoted and is going to be attending Brave’s premier. I suppose if you think that there’s no such thing as bad publicity then you might as well go with it. Apparently they think the film will be great for Scottish tourism. It might turn out to be quite an entertaining watch but if we’re relying on Disney to get tourists to Scotland I can’t help thinking we’re in a really bad way.
Come to Scotland for the scenery, history, geology, archaeology, food (yes) the whisky (if you’re that way inclined), hill-walking, climbing, white water rafting, the Edinburgh Festival (if you must), great museums and art galleries, lochs and castles galore, stately homes and palaces and purer air. Maybe even come for the people, well some of them!
If you want someone else’s opinion on Scotland have a read at Deborah Orr’s article which appeared in Friday’s Guardian. You can read it here where there are links to lovely scenery.
The thing that I love most about summer in Scotland is the light. At the moment it’s 10 o’clock at night and it’s not far off broad daylight outside. I was gardening until just half an hour ago and I still could easily as there are no problems with seeing what I’m doing. It’s a big contrast to living in the south of England where you don’t get the benefit of the light nights. Honestly, you haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the gloaming in some rural setting, you could almost believe in fairies!
Have a look at the lovely Scotland in the Gloaming site. I have to thank Peggy Ann for pointing me in its direction – via the US.
You‘ve sold me on visiting Scotland, Katrina. The light sounds just beautiful.
Debbie,
I’ve now added a link at the bottom of the post, you might like to have a look at some of the lovely photos on Scotland in the Gloaming.
I know very little about this film – like you I saw that Salmond is going to the premier – but it doesn’t look as though it has anything to do with Scotland, other than being set in Scotland and with some Scottish actors doing the voices. Isn’t it a modern fairy tale?
Anyway, I agree with you about the beauties of Scotland and since moving just south of the border I’ve found that Northumberland is beautiful too. And it stays light here to and I love the huge skies.
Margaret,
I haven’t a clue what it’s about really, I suppose it’ll end up being a 21st century version of Brigadoon, as far as Scotland is concerned.
Northumberland is lovely, and nice and handy for Scotland of course, it’s just good not to be so cramped and crowded as it is in the south.
There’ss a TV advert for Scotland just now – showing Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe and the Standing Stones of Brodgar in Orkney, and suggesting that you can see the real locations from the film! Will that work? Ah hae ma doots! I’d like to see the film though!
I love the light nights too. Coming home from choir practice (and a sojurn in the pub afterwards), at midnight I can still see well enough to come down the steps of my close without a torch! And being the night owl I am, sometimes I’m only going to bed at around 2.00am and I can see across the river to the outline of the trees and the distant hills. I’m in the south of the country so it’s even longer light in the north. The Shetlanders call it the Simmer (summer) Dim!
Evee,
When we had German friends staying with us they couldn’t get over the long nights. “Does it ever get dark?” they asked. They decided that there was always some light in the sky here. Jutta suffers from insomnia so she should know! I’m all for being up at 2.00 am in the summer, you have to make the most of it while you can!
Those gloaming pictures are gorgeous! They look unreal.
Brave is all over the place here with lots of people excited about seeing it. Mostly because it’s another big Disney production to brainwash their kids with (I’m not a Disney fan).
I would love to visit Scotland someday – it sounds divine!
Anbolyn,
It’s a lovely site. I like the old Disney things like Snow White but I’m not a fan of things like The Lion King, why do all those Disney songs sound the same? You might be a bit shocked at the temperature here, even in the summer, you would probably find it chilly, even if we were all sweating in 70F !
Us southerners only benefit from light in the evenings to about 945 pm and not very many days, certainly after today (solstice) it will start getting darker.
Oh hum!! I love light evenings, totally forget the time but I also love pitch black nights with no light pollution which we also have “dann souff” !
Jo,
I was just shutting the bedroom blinds and thinking that if Jack didn’t have to get up early in the morning we could go out for a lovely walk, it’s 10.30 and still nice and light. The solstice won’t start to kick in for ages here. We have to wait for winter for the black nights, then sometimes it hardly seems to get light at all during the day, we get light pollution too, being close to Edinburgh. When I lived in Essex they said “darn sarf”!
During the summer here it stays light till about 9:30ish. Like you said it is now as of today on the downward hill though less light each day. Dave loves the long days and I love the early nights. I can’t wait to see Scotland in the Gloaming! Gloaming is such a lovely word. I love how it feels on my tongue.
Peggy Ann,
Gloaming is a nice word, we quite often go ‘roaming in the gloaming!
I find it difficult to sleep as well, even though the sun sets the sky is still pretty light outside (even at midnight).
The night sky in Scotland is even brighter than a light polluted night sky that you see in London and other urban areas, so I wonder how Scottish people manage to sleep during the light nights!?
Robert Linford,
It never gets completely dark in a Scottish summer night. I suppose we get used to it but heavy bedroom curtains help keep the light out. It’s the birds which can be very annoying though as they start singing at about 2 a.m. If they wake me up I can feel quite murderous! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Actually I just thought, is there any particular reason why twilight lasts all night during the summer months in Scotland?
Robert Linford,
In a word latitude, we’re quite far north in Scotland so not that far from the Arctic Circle. Obviously it’s even brighter in the Scandinavian countries – Land of the Midnight Sun – and all that.