Quiz night at Sam's

Many UK pubs have Quiz Night--usually on Tuesday or Wednesday when things are otherwise slow in the beer business. Many Wisconsin in Scotland students and faculty participate in quiz night at Sam's, the pub nearest the castle. Our teams of six, mixed students and faculty, usually get slaughtered by the University of Edinburgh medical students' team. Our weakness is UK sporting events, along with Brit TV shows. The Quizmaster at Sam's is very nice to the Yank visitors, and throws in questions about the CIA, the oldest university in the US, and the 17th president of the US. But we still struggle--who knows who won the Grand National in 1973? Sometimes a Wisconsin team will try to get a local ringer on the team in order to compensate for this weakness. Buying beer is a cheap price for arcane knowledge.

The winners of Quiz Night receive T-shirts, shirts usually having nothing to do with Sam's, Soctland, or Quiz Night. Rather, I suspect they fell off a truck somewhere and Sam (or his personal representative) scooped them up.

Quiz Night is a nice little business. Organizations sell questions and answers to pubs and fund-raising groups for a sum. People hire out as Quizmasters. The Quizmaster at Sam's is an English lad from Newcastle, who drives to Dalkeith twice a week to conduct Quiz Night and other events. And now that Scotland has banned smoking in all enclosed places, Quiz Night doesn't mean that you immediately need to send all your clothes to the cleaners after once again failing to know the 1983 World Cup winner's manager's name.

Unitarians in Edinburgh

A Sunday trip to St. Mark's, home of the Edinburgh Unitarians. A small group, maybe 35-40, in a little church (actually named a chapel when constructed, according to the stone sign) off the main tourist drag in Edinburgh. It's one of four Unitarian churches in Scotland, although there may be fellowships that don't get listed. The minister is English, has been in place for 31 years, and will probably be awarded a plaque on retirement--several others hang in the sanctuary memorializing ministers past with tenures of 35 years, 51 years, etc. I suspect once they find someone who is willing to come, they keep him, no matter his nationality.

The church was designed by David Bryce, a local boy. This puts it on an architecture tour, but the inside is prettier than the outside. Check it out.

The sermon was about Elizabeth Blackwell, pioneering woman physician, and apparently a closet Unitarian. A welcoming group at coffee hour. No children in sight, and a pretty old congregation. Is this last is true in any Socttish church, regardless of denomination?