Fun in Fife

We drove down to Anstruther, a fishing village, to have Britain's best fish and chips, and then to Pittenweem and Crail, also fishing villages. Lots of harbours and lobster traps, and very nice sunny weather.

Yesterday we went to Inchcolm Abbey, which is on an island in the Firth of Forth. More exciting than the abbey are the nesting seagulls, which dive bomb you to protect their chicks. One actually came so close it touched Alan's head. I had never been very fond of birds, but it was amazing. We got within feet of one chick that just stood there looking at us. Almost got pooed on, but were ok. And I got to see two puffins, at a distance. They have stopped nesting now, so they aren't as common. And they are VERY small birds-somehow the pictures on the postcards had me thinking they were fairly large birds, but nope. I suspect my picture of them in the water will be pretty unexciting.

Off to T in the Park on the weekend and Shetland on Monday.


And Alan graduated from the University of Edinburgh!

The Hebrides

I am just back from my 6 day tour of the Hebrides, and I am certainly tired...

The trip started off well, and the people were really nice and quite a nice mix of nationalities. We had an Australian couple, two Polish guys, a Swiss girl, a girl from South Korea, two Edinburgh uni graduates from England and northern Ireland, a South African, an American, a Mexican, another Canadian, and myself. The war came up many times, and I felt bad for the American girl- I was surprised that she hadn't realized that it would be a topic of conversation, but I think she felt a bit outnumbered.

On the first day we drove up to Skye, so I had seen most of the scenery many times, though we did stop at Bannockburn where I have not been, however it is very unexciting.

On Skye we went on a tiny fishing boat to see the seals, saw tons including pups, which was cool. We also ate freshly caught scallops (raw and cooked, hard to say which is nicer). We went on a very long, tiring walk in the Quirang (spelling there is definitely wrong) and the sun shone... Should have some lovely pictures. We also went walking along a coral beach, did some paddling but it was very cold.

Then we took the ferry to Harris and it was lovely. The land itself isn't especially beautiful, most of it being rocky interspersed with green and peat. The houses on the island are now mostly ugly council houses too. However, the beaches and water make up for it completely. Totally beautiful. Bit windy, granted. We saw an iron age house, a broch, blackhouses (they were used up until the 1970s, I hadn't realized that, and were actually quite comfy looking-one is now a youth hostel!), the Stromness standing stones, and Callum, who hand weaves Harris tweed in the tiniest cottage workshop imaginable. I even got to try the loom. We all bought tweed scarves (how posh I will look this coming winter!) from him and it was possibly the highlight of the trip for me.

Lewis was fun as well, though the most notable thing was the incident at our hostel. There was a group of Glaswegians staying upstairs for a wedding, about 10 of them in the family. They got annoyed that we were being loud, and one of them went mad. The 19 year old boy went completely insane and threatened to kill us all, tried to attack our tour guide, and got kicked out of the hostel. The police even came. However, our group had been drinking, and we actually found it all quite entertaining, in a dramatic sort of way. I must say, after hearing about the crazy stuff that goes on in Glasgow on a Friday night at the pub, I wasn't too surprised by the whole thing. And in pure touristy mode, Trent got a picture!!!

We took the ferry again, out to Ullapool, and drove down to Drumnadrochit (near Loch Ness), did some hiking, played Frisbee in the sun. Drank a bit more that night-we didn't get to bed until 4.30am that night and consequently the last day on the bus driving back towards Edinburgh we were all quite subdued. The Australian couple had a huge argument, which was odd as they kept arguing in front of us making the rest of us rather uncomfortable. However, it was a fun evening and I highly recommend rum with vanilla coke (I assume we get that in Canada???).

Aultguish Fiasco

Basically, the guy double booked two clubs. When the other club arrived, the landlord argued with them, tried to refuse to give their deposit back, and ended up being accused of assault.

then we had run ins with him over the dog (it was supposed to be dog friendly) and then the evening after we climbed the Munro we were accused of being too noisy (and really, we weren't being), kicked out of the pub, they stopped serving us alcohol (no one was that drunk at all), and everyone had a row generally. I have never before been kicked out of an establishment, and when it happens I am with Alan's parents and a group of their friends!

now the guy has sent a letter to the Mountaineering Council of Scotland claiming that we caused damage to the bunkhouse (total lie) and were irresponsibly getting drunk on the hill and putting the lives of volunteer rescue services at risk. He actually likened us to drunk drivers in his letter! Which is funny, cause only a small amount of alcohol was consumed at the top of the hill, we had been at another pub before returning to the Aultguish, and obviously there were enough sober people to drive who hadn't had anything. In fact, I had all of one drink and a sip of whisky in the entire evening. So I got kicked out of a pub sober!!!

The council has sent a letter to the 8 Mile High Club saying that they need to answer these charges, because the landlord claims we put the name of the council in disrepute. His words, I kid you not.

Alan managed to track down the other club that had a problem with him on the internet, so they have been contacted and are going to get involved. And a teacher at the school alan's dad works at apparently had a separate run in with the guy.

Apparently, they want me to make a statement about all this as well, since I was there. Such fun.

The soap opera continues...

Fort William and Mallaig, or adventures of the unemployed (as Alan calls me)

We are back in Edinburgh again, and hence meant to be packing up the flat-it's being shown twice next week, once at 10 am which is annoying, cause it means that we have to be up and the flat cleaned by then. Most places in Edinburgh go at the first showing, so it's weird that they have three planned.

It was raining in fort William, surprise, surprise. Does it ever not rain there??? Every time I go, I wonder to myself at how small and touristy the town is. But the train ride to Mallaig is beautiful, even on a foggy, rainy day. We saw the Glenfinnian Viaduct, which is the bridge in the Harry Potter films. And we saw the stream train, though it's too expensive and touristy to travel on. The blue rinse brigade was out in force, along with a man in ledderhosen, when we watched the train board.

Mallaig was wonderful, not especially picturesque, but fun. We saw a seal in the harbor, and tons of fishing boats, so the fishing industry is not doing well, obviously. We wandered the docks, went to the heritage exhibit, saw the sea, ate great seafood and then hopped back on the train to Edinburgh.

My attempts to read War and Peace are going slowly, but it's a fantastic book. Now I just need to get through the next 900 pages-no doubt staying four days in Burntisland in a couple of weeks will help ;)

Stalled Walk

Ok, all, this is a hard to write, however, I must admit we aren't going to walk the entire west highland way. We have done half of it, and frankly, yesterday afternoon it stopped being any fun.

The first day was brilliant, we saw a deer, fox, rabbits, tons of birds, and the walking went well. Sadly, it was all downhill after that (and not the terrain, but my mood!). The second day started off well, for those of you who know the route, Conic Hill was wonderful and the weather has been nice throughout. However, once we got down off the hill and had lunch, the walk started getting tough. The entire bit alongside Loch Lomond is tough-all up and down, so it takes forever to make any distance at all. It took us until 8 pm to finish the day's hike and we had started at 9 am. The days were too long, and with my anemia, I was worried at how late I was eating-I started feeling really drained at about 6 pm each night, and then it wasn't any fun at all. My feet have stood up well, considering, though Alan's were really hurting after that second day.

So after another long slog yesterday, we decided that it wasn't worth continuing and not enjoying ourselves. I suspect we could have made it to the end if we had gone on, but... We seem to be among a very small minority carrying a large path. Should have had the bags taken to our stops for us and just carried a day pack.


Anyway, today was wonderful, having made the decision to stop and slow down, we did a pleasant 8 miles through Glen Falloch and it was beautiful. Sunny (I even have a burn on my neck!!!) and the scenery was great and there was plenty of time to stop and sit at the side of the river and just enjoy the outdoors. We will have to try to finish off the last half at some point-everyone says the second half is the most
beautiful.

so, we are taking the train up to fort William tomorrow and then we are going up to Mallaig, as the West Highland Railway line is meant to be one of the best train journeys in the world.

Climbing a Munro and getting chucked out of a pub

I have climbed my first munro! Yay! The Munro, which is just north of Achnasheen, is called Fionn Bhienn (pronounced Fee-on Ben). Alan's father was doing his last (there are 284 of them in Scotland) and so Alan and I were invited to climb it along with him and the 8 mile high mountaineering club. On a sorry note, all the middle aged men beat me to the top. As did an 84 year old!!! As I said to Alan though, if you take an anemic hillwalking, you just can't expect speed ;) at the top of the hill, we all drank whisky and Cava to celebrate.

However, the real excitement of the trip turned out to be at the aultguish inn-the landlord is a complete nutter! The night we arrived, alan's parents fell out with him within minutes about having the dog along with us (apparently, in spite of his inn being very dog friendly as per the website, it is actually only dog friendly in two of the many rooms). Then, while we're eating dinner, the guy asks me if we're the rannoch mountaineering club... Well, no. It turns out he double booked the entire place. Then, when one of the ranoch guys arrives, and is looking around the car park, the guy decides he's too close to the private area. The landlord accuses the poor guy of trespassing, the guy says he's got a booking, the landlord tells him to piss off, and the guys says well give me back my deposit. Next thing you know, the landlord is pushing the guy, who ends up calling the police threatening to charge the landlord with assault!!!

The next night, after the hillwalking, we're in the pub having dinner/drinks and get told we are being too loud-before 9 pm! Then one guy who is singing away gets told he's cut off, and if the rest of us want to continue to drink we have to move to the function room. Which we start to do, when alan's mum has an argument with the guy and we all get thrown out of the pub! So, the party had to continue in the rooms of the bunkhouse, but apparently this club comes well prepared, as they had a ton of booze.

So, that was my weekend, eventful to say the least. As Alan pointed out, it made for good entertainment, and there weren't any TV's, so maybe that was a good thing...

Now I am starting to pack up the flat (though I haven't done too much) and writing my anthro essay (I've taken the books out of the library anyway). And we leave Friday morning on our big hike :)

WooHoo!

Well, I'm finally finished work!!! And though it hasn't sunk in yet that this isn't just a long weekend or a couple of days off and that I am NEVER going back, it is nice to have some time to hang out.

Monday evening I went to see a reading by Margaret Atwood-read her new book! It sounds wonderful and I had no idea how funny she was going to be.

The next day I headed into Glasgow for some fun... First the train station in Edinburgh was closed because of a security alert (the queen was in the city...) and so I took the bus and then on my way home, the bus had made it maybe ten minutes away from Buchanan bus station and my bus driver jumped out of the bus, leaving us blocking all traffic, to attack a ten year old boy who had been throwing stones at passing traffic. It took at least 2.5 hours to get home-this always happens to me-trains are rerouted around chemical explosions, too much water on the track (between Oxford and Coventry, you'd think they would be used to lots of rain in England), etc. I am starting to think there is some sort of evil curse... However, during my day in Glasgow, I saw Yann Martell. Anyone else seeing the Canadian pattern here?

Yesterday I went and volunteered to stuff envelopes for the Fringe Festival, boring but then I did used to work at the mandate centre ;) and then in the evening...I SAW ANI DIFRANCO!!! It was the most amazing concert ever! Now all I have to do is make it to see Radiohead and all will be good.

We leave next Friday to walk the West Highland Way. Between now and then I need to clean up the flat, start to pack and write an essay on aggressive gift giving for my anthro class. Lot's to do, so of course today I am doing none of it and am going to the Chinese buffet down the road with Jenni and Alan instead!!

I am not covered against SARS, which is great since it doesn't seem to be going away in Toronto... Damn.

Oh, and I am about to clean an oven for the first time ever-I have lived independently for 6 years, and only now does it become an issue!

"And oh what a waste of thumbs opposable, to make machines that are disposable..." ani difranco

Easter

Basically, I have nine weekends left in Edinburgh before we're off to do the West Highland Way and after that there will only be the odd couple of days of frantic packing up of the flat before I hit the open road... Or the open train track anyway! I am working tons of overtime to save up for all the hilarity planned, which I have to fit in around my rather demanding gym schedule. Having decided to walk from Glasgow to Fort William over eight days, it has occurred to me that I had better be in slightly better shape-funny how six months to train myself up for it has turned into two. So I'm at the gym every other day, doing overtime most other days, and frantically visiting all the tourist sites in Edinburgh on the weekends because, of course, I haven't bothered to do anything tourist in the last two years and now am trying to cram everything in. I am attempting to visit every pub in my lonely planet ;)



However, over the past weekend, I had my last two days paid holiday so Alan and I headed north. We drove up through Inverness into Wester Ross (west coast highlands) and stayed overnight at the emptiest youth hostel-only five couples in a rather huge place. The next day we went walking to Coire Mhic Fhearchair (it took the entire five hours of the walk to pronounce that). It was a dull day, but decent enough until we started walking back towards the car when it rained, and then hailed, we saw some deer, it hailed again. Typical, cause the entire rest of the weekend it was sunny.



We drove up to Ullapool, a port town which is the gateway to the Outer Hebrides. Then next day we went to stay in a haunted castle which has become a hostel and visited a nearby church at Croik, which had graffiti on the church windows from 1845 by people being cleared from the land to make way for sheep. We also saw a Pictish stone. It was a lot of driving on one track roads through very uninhabited areas. There would be all these names on the road atlas and we'd drive through them to find that the village consisted of three houses and a barn.



On a different note, lent is about to end!!! As the result of a dare by an Irish Catholic at work, who claimed that non-religious people have no willpower, I gave up chocolate for the forty days of lent and it's finally up on Saturday. Just in time for my birthday, when I fully expect Alan to present me with the most chocolaty cake possible.

Vowels

"Whr hv ll th vwls gn,/ Lng tm pssng?/ Whr hv ll th vwls gn,/ Lng tm g?"

Peace March in Glasgow

We were interviewed by BBC Radio and the picture of us was on the BBC Website.

Rome & Other Adventures

So, I skipped Paestum, because the day I wanted to go there was a train strike. I was worried about meeting up with Alan, as it was a sketchy meeting to begin with, and I had lost all of his contact numbers. I spent a day getting to Rome, had time to pop into the Capitaline Museums, and then went to meet him. But he didn't arrive.

The next day I was really worried. I did do some touristy stuff during the day (Colliseum) and went back at the same time we were supposed to meet the day before and ta-da! he was there. Seems he had gotten the days mixed up - which caused my near heart attack!

We had fun in Rome together. Ate a lot of really good food.

Then we did a bus tour in London and headed back to Edinburgh. The train was delayed several hours as the result of someone committing suicide by jumping in front of a train.

A room with a view

I am at a cafe in Pompeii with not much time. The keyboard is really annoying, you really have to hit the keys so if this message ends up being a bunch of nonsense, you'll have to bear with me. This computer keeps talking to me in Italian-very odd.

Well, I am having a wonderful time, it is very hot and sunny though my first day in Milan it was miserable-tons of rain and I wandered about lost looking for my hostel. I had a bit of a time getting to Milan. I thought I was flying there directly, but ended up in Bergamo instead-I will have to pay more attention when flying cheap airlines. In Milan I really only went to see Da Vinci's last supper and then went to Venice to escape the rain where I had to get a hotel room as the hostel was full by 10 am. It was two minutes walk from the grand canal, not particularly nice or anything, but I loved Venice, especially the islands around it. The gellatto is very, very good. I got very lost at one point trying to find a church, but even that was fun.

I headed down to Florence, where I learned to walk across the street in front of cars, since there aren't any lights. It was a bit of a shock after Venice, so after seeing David at the Academia I escaped to Cortona. I ended up meeting one of the uni of Georgia students (they have a summer programme in art) and so stayed a couple of days to hang out eating and drinking late into the night. I bumped into Jenny's friend Gwenyth-small world. When I went back to Florence, I fell for a scam-quite literally actually. One man knocked me over on the steps of the train station, while the other helped me up while pickpocketing my money belt-but all he got was a credit card and my passport. Not much of a big deal, and I got the opportunity to have a cultural exchange at the police station, where an officer didn't even see me at all, they just stamped my handwritten report.

I went to the Uffizi-wow!!! However, as wonderful as it is, I must admit to an exhaustion with gold medieval art. They are all just in about four different poses and I must say that it gets a bit much eventually. I also went to the Bargello, which I loved.

I came down to Naples, though I am staying in a hostel at Pompeii. I saw the excavations there yesterday and then went into Naples to see the museum, including the erotic secret room, for which you must book a special tour. Pan certainly does some interesting things with those goats! However, it was half closed, so I missed the Egyptian stuff entirely. It was a long day, and while walking back to the hostel (a half hour walk) I was stalked by a middle aged Italian man on a moped who kept offering me a ride. Up until Naples, I hadn't really encountered the dodgy male Italian phenomenon, but here they are. This city is full of them!

Today I went to Herculaneum, which was spectacular. Possibly better than Pompeii itself, since I didn't get so tired! However, I could not drag myself to yet another touristy thingy, so today I am going to just read in the hostel courtyard, instead of madly wandering about. This is the first day I have stopped being touristy at 4, and it's a nice feeling. Tomorrow I think I am going to take the train down to Paestum and then I have to catch an evening train to Rome, to meet Alan at "the store that sells only water"-we'll have to hope that works out, cause I lost my little notebook with addresses, phone numbers (including his mobile number) when my passport got stolen. So, if you haven't received a postcard yet, you'll have to wait until I get back to Scotland.

Plans for Italy

I am in London until Sunday, then I fly to Milan on the 15th. I will be in Venice the evening of the 16th and then in Florence by the evening of the 18th, on the 23 I will be in Pompeii. On the 26th I will be in Rome, the hostel is booked until the morning of the 2nd (Alan joins me in Rome). Then we fly back to London the afternoon of the 2nd and spend the night in London, leaving the next day for Edinburgh, getting back at about midnight.

Spring Update

My birthday shoes are very cool-they have a bit of yellow that I didn't like at first but am now quite fond of. We went out for Thai for my birthday and Alan had an extremely hot curry-nice, though.

I am trying to figure out flights to Italy-I need to fly one airline to London and then another to Rome, and change airports in London. I may see what it costs to fly a normal airline, instead of the cheap ones, because it may just be easier all round and a friend tells me that it isn't too bad, plus you fly into the major airports instead of little ones far outside the city.

Alan and I are trying to renew our lease here until next June. Hopefully it will get renewed, as we both will be in Italy (not booked yet, obviously) the day the present lease ends.

He is studying for exams, and still has a year to go. He finishes mid next week and then we are off to a wedding the first weekend in June. I still need to buy something to wear!

We had a good time on our weekend in the Scottish borders. Lots of abbeys, etc.

Happy New Year

We were at a friend's house on new year's eve and tried to walk down to see the fireworks at the street party-instead we heard them and saw some smoke. Obviously, we need to leave earlier next year!

My cold is finally gone, though I still seem to blow my nose constantly. We are moving buildings one week late for work, so it's another two weeks before it all starts. I got the position I wanted, working with a new computer programme. Hopefully it will be interesting. I bought two pairs of grey trousers and a couple of shirts, so I'm ready enough for the new dress code. I am starting a six month contract with the bank in February.


A snowy Arthur's Seat.

Helen & Harry

We saw the Harry Potter film finally, and bumped into Helen who was in Edinburgh to celebrate her birthday, at the Italian restaurant right under our flat.

Christmas plans are going well here, some of us are group buying tonight since it's the late night at the shops. We have the advent calendar up on the back of the couch but that's it for our decorations. I have been sent some Christmas cards,
including ones from Nana and Aunt Joan. Mine have all finally been mailed out, even the ones to people in Britain.

Andrea moves into her flat tomorrow, so we get our living room back.

I've already spent all my Christmas money on courses next term, one is on Troy and the other on the beginnings of farming in the middle east.

Advent Calendar Arrived

I got the advent calendar in the mail but haven't put it up on the wall yet!

I'm going to use my Christmas money to pay for my courses next term since I had better sign up for them soon-my last class is tonight and then I just have the two essays to write by February.

I hope Daniel enjoyed his birthday.

I have to send my Christmas cards off by this Friday and haven't done any yet.

Christmas package sent!

Alan started his Christmas holidays job today and I had a half day off to go get my national insurance number.

More importantly, I've finally sent out the family Christmas package-it's in two parts, one is a box and the other a bubble envelope. One of Bradley and Alannah's gifts is particularly cute.

Andrea is over here and has been staying with us for the past week-she is off travelling for a bit but then will be back with us till her lease starts on the 14th.

Autumn musings

My university courses are really good. My friend Louise is taking the one on Pompeii with me. I'm definitely going to take more in January.

We are moving buildings at work and the dept is going to be reorganized. There are permanent positions going, I might apply since the main boss suggested I do, but I think that with such a short term visa it's not too likely I'd get it.

I've just been reading the Harry potter books and am looking forward to the movie. They are amazing-much better than I expected.

The weather is getting pretty bad now. Damn Scottish autumns.

Weekends and new classes

We've had a good weekend here-out for dinner for alan's friend's birthday on Friday when I managed successfully to eat my whole meal with chopsticks, a flatwarming on Saturday with tons of old friends, a day of reading the papers and watching four hours of wildlife programmes on BBC1 Sunday and then out to see American Pie 2 on Monday evening.

I have signed myself up for two evening classes in archaeology through the Uni of Edinburgh-they are not quite uni level courses but were fairly cheap. One is on Pompeii and the other on hunter gatherers after the ice age. I'm not sure how much work they entail, but if all goes well I may take four more over the next two terms to get the certificate for doing six. I figured if nothing else, I will get to learn about various periods/locations in archaeology which may help me decide what I want to study.

Alan is doing well, the district nurse came on the weekend to change his dressing. It's going to be another three weeks till it's healed though. Not much of a Thanksgiving here this year, since I spent it in the hospital with him!


Statue in George Square Gardens, Edinburgh University