A little trip up to St. Leonards to one of my most favouritest little streets jogged my memory about one of the most famous houses in Scottish literature; Walter Scott's "Jeanie Deans Cottage." It once stood here. Or did it? Like many things Scott it's a pinch of fact and a heap of poetic licence 🧵▶️

Portrait of a girl, known as "The Little Princess", Paulus Moreelse, c. 1623 (Rijksmuseum)

I'm half-way through Storyville's "Until I Fly" on BBC4 & I cannot recommend it enough: documentary following a 5-year-old Nepalese boy who's just moved to a remote village in India. No voiceover, mostly shot level with the boy's own eyeline - it's literally like walking around with him. Astonishing

By way of bluesky introduction, I might mention that I research architecture and material culture in Scotland, and here are some notes on Lorenzo Pomarelli of Siena, who did a bit of military engineering for Mary of Guise in 1555 on the isle of Inchkeith: vanishedcomforts.org/2018/10/06/i...

A few years ago, I visited the anatomical amphitheater at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. It was built in 1630, and was used for dissecting both animals and humans in earlier centuries. It was not used as an operating theater.

@tealcartoons.bsky.social felt queasy getting this photo of me!