Happy Monday – Greyfriars Bobby

I’ve been a bit of a misery around the house being between jobs… hence my Moanday Mornings.

Let’s flip it then and start the week with a Happy Monday.

I spent a morning last week pulling nails out of wooden boards… well, if it was good enough for Jesus.

I was down at the Mens Shed.

Now normally I’m pedantic about these things. And in the old Moanday Morning column I’d be giving out about apostrophes.

But the guys down at the Shed (heck, it still irks me) were so friendly and accepting that I didn’t even mention it.

And besides they’re doing more with their hands than I am, or have been, with a pen between my digits, or on a laptop.

Building Bugs’ Runs for the kids and various other wonders of carpentry.

I also got to meet a fellow Scot… Oscar, a West Highland Terrier.

Now Westies are among my favourite dogs.

And my favourite dog of all time, Greyfriars Bobby.

Who every night laid on his master’s grave. Never put off by the caretaker who tried to chase him away.

He was befriended by the proprietors of the local eating houses and the schoolkids.

And eventually he was given the Freedom of Edinburgh after a campaign led by the townsfolk.

Bobby’s grave is besides that of his master in Greyfriars Kirk, while there is a statue outside the gates of him.

It is the greatest statue in the world, BAR NONE!

And all the better for the fact that his nose is shinier than the rest of his body from everyone kissing it.

Visit Greyfriars Kirk when you’re in Edinburgh. And their website. I’ll get back to telling you more about it too. http://www.greyfriarskirk.com.

Now my new wee pal at the Greystones Men’s Shed… my first job is to put in an apostrophe is called Oscar, no doubt named after Oscar Wilde.

His grave too, in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and it too is well worth a visit with pink kiss marks on the glass in front.

Who else is there?

Edith Piaf’s grave is also there. As is Frederick Chopin and many other famous people.

It’s more of a small town than a graveyard with proper streets.

Of course, that’s just an excuse for jobsworths to do their thing which is to ring the bell and tell you to get out…

Which they did when I visited with la famille a couple of years ago.

Visit http://www.pere-lachaise.com/en/

And Kavanagh too

Now I’m on a roll with the graves let me introduce you to a couple of others I’ve met on my travels.

Paddy Kavanagh in Co. Monaghan where a family row erupted over it. Read my review of the Monaghan heartland. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/monaghans-country-roads/

And Buffalo Bill

I visited Buffalo Bill’s graveyard in Colorado last year… or did I?

The good folk of Wyoming believe he resides for eternity there and it is only a vagrant here.

Unless he’s exhumed we’ll never know and then there will be a conspiracy theory after that. Here’s my review of all things Wild West. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/go-west-denver-buffalo-bill/

Now I dare say I’ll get back round to talking about graves I’ve visited… it’s a bit of an interest I’ve inherited from my Dad.

Which reminds me I must pay him a visit up in Donegal.

And Uncle Willie

While here’s another story of how I found my Great Uncle, and was the first from my family to do so, in Flanders. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/firstworldwar-in-flanders-fields/.