Today, I’m blogging about Scotland, but first, I just have to let you know, my latest Mookychicks article has gone live! It’s about defending your right not to have children. As a woman who does not want to have children, it’s something I feel very strongly about. My opinion has been challenged many times and while I do not mind explaining my reasons when the question is asked politely (I believe that the world is so grossly overpopulated, the best thing I can do for the earth is to not add more unneeded people to it. If I change my mind and decide to be a mother, I will adopt a child from the hundreds of thousands waiting for parents and it makes me sad and frustrated that so few people do this), I feel that this decision is still something that many people feel is “wrong”. I wanted to write a piece for people who are in the same position and often find themselves defending their choice.
If you would like to read the article, click this sentence! 
So… Scotland!
I did surprisingly few location shoots while in Scotland. (The weather was so unpredictable that I was quite glad about that!) However, Nick Edinburgh booked me on the warmest sunniest day of my tour and we went to Rosslyn Glen.
It was like stepping into a fairyland (albeit a muddy one!) We went for a walk along the castle wall, under the bridge and to a little shelter guarded by one of the oldest and most twisted yew trees I’ve ever seen. I could hear the river and the birds all the while I posed, and though the mud I stood in was freezing, the little dapples of sunlight were lovely and warm.
We even found treasure in one of the little alcoves! I didn’t touch it because… well, you never know, do you…? 
We then moved on toward the riverbank, where I became a sunbathing mermaid. I was posing on a rock which should have been covered in moss and water reeds but instead was growing a carpet of daisies! The water looked beautiful and I saw a kingfisher zooming down the river!
Our shoot had to come to and end as the camera decided to go for a swim (!) but as I went in to retrieve it, we got the memory card out and I have pictures from the shoot! 
Nick had already ordered a replacement so was as cool as a cucumber wearing sunglasses as he watched the camera bounce down the bank.
As we made our way back to the car, we chose a different (and flatter) route. Look what I found!
Bluebells
A badger print!
A fairy door
Beautiful view from the bridge
After I got back to the hostel, I joined Ella Rose and Cathy for the Harry Potter tour. We were given wands and everything! I’ve always been a huge Potter fan- I was given my first book when I was eleven, and though I love the plots and writing, it’s the way JK Rowling hides information about characters in their names that fascinates me.
(Yes, there are the blatantly obvious ones (Lupin!), but I only found out the other day that the word Malkin (as in, Madam Malkin the robemaker) means “something that can change its skin”)
I also love the way that every fan I have talked to feels affinity/empathy for one of the characters. (For me, it’s Sirius).
Tom Riddle’s grave! (the cemetary looked exactly as I imagined it, and was right next to the school that was thought to inspire Hogwarts)
Diagon Alley
Not strictly part of the Harry Potter tour, but check these out. I just found them interesting (and cute).
I took a couple of behind-the-scenes photos from my shoot with John H in Burntisland. (No photoshop has been done here at all). I’ve been very happy recently as I’m closer to my weight (well, size actually) goal than ever.
And here are the pictures from my Most Magical shoot in Rosslyn Glen…
Photographer: Nick Edinburgh
I think I look as if I’m trapped in a spiderweb of trees here!
Going back to sorting out images from my shoots in Berlin now…
ROSWELL xxx
)
