Why living in Scotland is healthy

31 Aug 2013

You can do your very own experiment at home to see what it's like and why living in Scotland seems naturally healthier to me than living in most of the places in the US that I have lived. We'll take a simple example of getting some groceries.

Getting there: Go walk a mile in your neighborhood before you get in the car and drive to the store. When you arrive at the store, don't forget a basket so that you carry your groceries around the store.

Shopping: The diet is simple: Eat as much as you want...to carry. When your basket starts to get too heavy to carry around and you are tempted to get a cart - DON'T! It won't fit in your backpack and, more importantly, you probably won't want to carry it a mile home. Make your shopping choices based on recycling options and weight. Salad dressing in glass or plastic? Glass isn't recycled in my neighborhood and it's heavier - plastic it is! Get lots of veggies and fruit because those are healthy. Skip all ice cream because it would melt before you got home. There's no way you're going to be drinking a ton of soda or stocking up on "worthless" processed food - there's simply no room. Essentially, I eat healthier because I don't want to carry anything more than I need.

This is my new workout plan...

Getting home: Put all the food in the backpack and other reusable bags. Carry any additional items by hand or strap them to the outside of your pack. On top of all the food, I'm outfitting a house and trying to carry sheets, a lamp, hamper, drying rack, and any other number of everyday household objects that I can't live without. Thank goodness for a backpack with hooks/straps/buckles to attach everything! So, back to our experiment. After your shopping trip, drive home. However, before you take anything inside, go walk a mile with all of it and then walk up three flights of stairs. THEN you can put everything away. And don't forget - you only bought enough food for about three days, so you have to do this again later this week :)

Another reason is just the walking. How do I get to work? Walk 1.5 miles. How do I get to the store? Walk one mile. How do I get to the movies? Walk 0.8 miles. The answer is pretty much always "Walk." Even when I take the bus to work, I still end up walking more than a mile a day. That may not seem like much, but it adds up and I doubt most people walk that much in regular day in the states unless they intentionally go out walking.

Although all of the above discusses why living here is healthier, I should specify that I am trying really hard to be healthier here. For many other people living or visiting here, all of this healthier lifestyle can be offset by the countless array of fried foods at the numerous chip shops. The fish and chips is world famous, the savory pies are cheap and delicious, and I grudgingly admit that the fried cheeseburger was amazing...

That leads me to the next blog (coming soon, with lots of photos): The interesting flavors of Scottish food

It's Festival Time!

9 August 2013

The population of Edinburgh more than doubles* during the month of August when people from around the globe descend on the city to enjoy the Festival. There are countless performances of music, theatre, comedy, and endless combinations of the three. The street performers are out in droves along the Royal Mile and the energy is evident everywhere!

Royal Mile performers including a guy on a unicycle on a tight rope juggling knives, an escape artist, a banana on the ground, and a dancing group of musicians.

Of course, there are some quirky things about this season. First of all, the streets are crowded with tons of tourists who randomly stop in front of you for a picture or directions, causing numerous pedestrian collisions and leading to an increased walking time around town - they add almost 10 minutes a mile if you are in the busy section of town! This is magnified at street crossings where it looks less like pedestrians in a crosswalk and more like a high-stakes game of frogger. Beware: the buses do not slow down!

Tons of people in the streets enjoying the festival, but
making it hard to walk anywhere!

Venues and open-air bars pop up everywhere. Some venues are clearly marked with signs and others are more permanent fixtures in the city. Just prior to the festival, I thought that the city was starting some massive renovation project when temporary "construction fencing" went up all over town. Turns out they put fliers up on the temporary fencing. And permanent fences. And on street signs/lamp posts. And on some buildings. And they stand on the street and hand out fliers for shows (and sometimes free tickets!). You are spammed with show information at every turn and picking a good show is more about word of mouth than anything else.

Venue signs pop up in unexpected
places where you never would
have expected shows or concerts
to be held.

An example of one of the festival locations that just showed up
on the street across from my building. In previous years, the
parking lot of our building has become an open-air bar.
Fingers crossed for next year!

There's a lot of construction around town. Wait, it's just so
there's more room for festival signs!

Festival signs are EVERYWHERE. Every available space is covered.

Fences in front of historic buildings are not
immune to the power of the festival.

All street signs instantly
became advertising posts.

The shows run from 10am to midnight and the partying and drinking continues until about 5am. The two shows I booked in advance were great: NoFit State and Benny Davis: The Human Jukebox. Benny Davis is a member of the Axis of Awesome (if you haven't heard of them, check out the amazing four chord song). I've also seen a couple of free fringe (free events associated with the Fringe Festival) comedy things and a random show called "Another F$#king Variety Show" - they are averaging about 2/3 material that I liked and about 1/3 material that I wouldn't pay to see. But that's why it's a variety show and I feel like it was good to expand my horizons. I think the comedians will be funnier next year when I have a better idea of the political atmosphere here as well as the geography of the area. The one thing I did learn from the comedians: The orange girls from Essex are essentially the equivalent of the girls in Jersey Shore. 

My first "knight" out at the festival :)

There's a whole month of the festival and the advice I have from the locals is to party it up the first week (all the cheap tickets and slightly less crowded) and then take a break and wait for the reviews. Later in the month, read the reviews and find some good shows and do another round at the festival. Looking forward to the end of the month and taking advantage of living in Edinburgh in August!

They move the audience around so that
you can experience everything -
complete with standing in the gently
falling foam "snow."

NoFit State Cicus Big Top

Benny after the concert!!!

*The population of Edinburgh is typically around 450,000 and swells to more than a million people during the festival!