All right, I'm sorry that this has taken so long, it's been a really crazy week, as last weeks tend to be. Anyway, I've added pictures all the way back to October, so make sure you go and look! I'm just going to finish my Edinburgh bit, and then I'll let you know why. Anyway,the tour was creepy and we got to go to Coventer's prison, which is suposedly the home a of a poltergeist. It was eerie, and it's been known to attack people, and I did have a couple of scratches on my stomach afterwards, so who knows? Then I went to "The Elephant House" to get a bite to eat, which is where J.K. Rowling wrote parts of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". It was really cool! So, after my hard day travelling, I went back to my hostel, and did I get any sleep? No, I did not, because everyone in the area made soooooo much noise! It's like torture to be that tired, and not be able to sleep. But even though I didn't get much sleep I was still up early the next morning, as it was my only full day in Edinburgh, and I didn't want to waste it sleeping.
So after a quick breakfast I headed off to Edinburgh castle, the most prominent feature of the town, and the biggest tourist attraction as well. I got the audio tour, as I didn't want to get stuck, and wanted to do it as fast as possible. I really enjoyed it at the castle, simply because I'm a sucker for historical stuff. I got to see the room where Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to James the sixth, and the Scottish Royal Regalia, and the "Stone of Destiny" on which every king and queen has sat for their coronation since Edward the second. Edward the first, the old king in "Braveheart" stole it from the Scots and Queen Elizabeth II gave it back, provided that they still get to use it for coronations. Just before lunch there was a man in the great hall who told the story of "A Christmas Carol" and a bit about Victorian Christmases. Like the fact that it was fashionable to send roasted dormice to your friends in Christmas Cards. But the kept going off before they arrived, and the postmaster had to make it illegal. And it's still illegal to send roasted dormice in the post here, so don't try it! lol
After I finished at the Castle I stopped at a tartan weaving factory, and learned about the spinning and weaving process. Then I went to "The Real Mary King's Close". Mary King's close was a small street in Edniburgh in the 1600's which got entombed beneath the Council chambers. (Not with people inside.) However there is a story that during the plague, the street was bricked up so that everyone inside died. Apparently this is untrue, and I didn't find it all that scary, just kind of interesting. It's one of the most haunted places in Britain, and there is a very famous ghost there of a little girl called Annie. A Japanese psycic saw her about ten years ago and she said she was 10 years old, and was crying because she'd lost her doll and was all alone. The pyscic immeidiatly had someone go out and buy her one, and people still leave her toys.
To round out my day I went to the "Museum of Chldhood" which was full of old toys, and stuff. It was really interesting, and I spent quite a while wandering around looking at it all. I had my dinner in a really nice italian restaurant on the High Street. Then I took another ghost tour! This one was really interesting, as we got to go into the vaults of teh old town, once used as storage for merchants, and the abandoned by authorities for the whole of the 1800's, when all sorts of unsavoury things happened there. Many ghosts. I met some really nice girls from Aberdeen, who were also on the tour, and we all went on the bonus tour, which took us back to a pub, where we got a free drink and some more stories.
I had bought some earplugs during the day, which was a really god thing, as some spanish people were having a really really loud party when I got back to the hostel. Grrr. Anyway, I slept better. I didn't have a lot of time in the morning, but went and had breakfast at a really nice place called "Always Sunday" except it was really Sunday. Haha! Then I went and saw the grave of "GreyFriars Bobby" the little dog who slept on his masters grave for like 10 years after he died. They buried him next to his master, and there is a statue of him up too. Then I went for a wander until it was time to go. I kept seeing all kinds of people in Santa suits and went to the Princes Street gardens where I found out there had been a charity run. They also had reindeer set up which I went to see as well. Then I took the bus home! (It was a tiring weekend!)
Anyway, this week in brief, we went to see "The Phantom of the Opera" movie that's just come out here. It's really good. We've been to a pagan party here, and had rehearsals for the ritual we participated in. We went to a Pantomime on wednesday, which is a very traditional piece of children's musical theatre. It was a lot of fun! You have to boo for the villains, and yell stuff like "It's behind you!" and "Over there" and "Oh no you didn't" and sing along... anyway, I had a really really really good time!
That's enough to bore you all for now, and I hope to see you all really really soon!
December 11, 2004
All right, here we go again, another journal entry by Sarah. But wait, this one is different. Why, you might ask. I'll tell you, (otherwise there would be no point to this rant) it's because I'm in Edinburgh! Yeah for me! I'm a tourist again, and I have many interesting things to write. So let's see, to update since my last entry, Samantha came to visit last week. That was fun, although we didn't do very much. On Sunday, Jeannie, Samantha and I went to the Art Gallery, as there were some new exhibitions since Jeannie and I went a way back when in October. That was fun, and rather interesting, and made us feel all smart and cultural. :) We then had dinner in a pub, but not just any pub, but a really cool one that is decorated like a Vampire's castle and is in an old Church. (I think) It was a good meal. We then, like the grown, mature women that we are, went to see the lastest animated movie in theatres. We saw "The Incredibles" which was a second viewing for me, and it was just as good the second time. It's a really enjoyable film.
Anyway, then this week, I got sick. Not badly, but I didn't feel very well, and I stayed home from work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Which was unfortunate, as I really really really don't want to go back now. I only have five more days, but it feels like five more years. It's not that the people are mean, I just completely do not agree with the way they run their pre-school program, and it's really really hard to not say anything.
But regardless of how much I wanted to or not, I had to go back to work on Thursday, but it's not too hard to get through the day when you know that you have Friday off! So, on Friday morning, I got packed and headed off to the bus station, and came down to Edinburgh. (Pronounced, or so I'm told, Edin-bra. Otherwise you sound like a tourist. I am a tourist, so it doesn't bother me, but it bugs one of the girls I work with. It's fun!) Anyway, having arrived safe and sound, I got a bite to eat, and set off to find my hostel. And I did. I just couldn't figure out how to get there, as Edinburgh is a city on many levels, and I had quite a job to find any streets which coordinated. I did get there in the end, and set off immeidiatly to enjoy the rest of my day.
I arrived at about 4pm, so of course it was pitch black. However, as though to make up for that, Edinburgh has a winter carnival every year just before the holidays. There's a ferris wheel, a market, kiddie rides, bungie jumping, and an outdoor skating rink. Can you guess what I did? Bonus points to anyone who named the Ferris wheel and skating rink. The Ferris wheel was huge, and fun, expect that I got stuck on with 5 preteen children, who enjoyed screaming at the top of their lungs. Sometimes to say hi to people below, othertimes because the were scared. Kids. *sigh*
Skating was much more fun. It cost an arm and a leg, but dammit, I'm on holiday! (Or vacation, for those not up on British terms!) So I rented my skates, and went round the tiny rink trying not to run people over for an hour or so. (It was more fun then it sounds, apparently.) Anyway, having finished that, I wondered around Princes Street for a while, as it is the Edinburgh equivalent of Rodeo Drive, Fifth Avenue, or Oxford Street. ie. all the shops are there, and it's a good wander.
On my way down to the carnival, I had seen some signs for ghost tours, and I took one, called "City of the Dead" and it was a lot of fun! We got to hear some fun stories of witch-burnings and torture, and some really bad poetry, (I look at Edinburgh with your flags unfurled, you are without a doubt the most beautiful city in the world. And that was the best he could do!)
Anyway, I'm just about out of time, so I will have to finish this tomorrow when I get home to Aberdeen. I can tell that you'll all be on the edge of your seats til then!
December 3, 2004
Hello everyone! It's me again... the girl who never mangages to update her journal. Sorry that I'm so crappy at this. OH well. Let's see what's been going on since I last updated.
So we are getting ready for Christmas here and there are all kinds of things that I can't write about because they would ruin surprises. lol Since I last wrote, there hasn't been very much going on. Jeannie and I had a night out, and met some boys. Jeannie didn't like hers very much, but I felt mine was worth a second look, and went out on a date with him. However, we didn't have anything in common, and conversation was too awkward to bother with him any more.
We went to the "The Incredibles" which was really good, and a must see for anyone who's ever read (or written) a fanfic, read comics, or watched Saturday morning cartoons! I laughed a lot. It was fun, and I saw the previews for "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and "Star Wars Part 3", which was even _more_ exciting!
Jeannie and I have seen lots of movies lately, and most of them have been pretty good, except for Spiderman 2, which I found really disappointing. Other than watching movies, and being _glued_ to Coronation Street, because it was very exciting this week, (I'll miss the British soaps) we've just been working. It's very sad. :(
I've been talking with some of the girls at work, and we've been talking about all the Scottish words that I've learned since I've been working there. So here's my list. Some of them are just Scottish, and some are British.
So that's what I hear when I'm at work. So I spend a lot of time going "What???" and getting things repeated!
Not much else going on this minute. Samantha arrives tomorrow, and then I'm going to Edinburgh next weekend, and then I'll be coming home! So I'll hopefully update this soon, as we now have internet at home!!! Yeah!
November 11, 2004
Hello everyone, again. I'm back again, and this time better than ever... well, at the very least sane, which is more than I can say for most of you lot. *g*
So let's see. Jeannie is, as predicted, fine. Still a bit sore, but that's to be expected really! She's still enjoying her work immesnsely, which really makes me jealous. Things are less stressful now at work, as we had a room meeting earlier this week, and we addressed some of the things that were bugging me. Not enough, but enough to get me through until I go home. So I feel a lot better about that!
Other than that... Jeannie and I went to another pagan "moot" (Scottish talk for meeting) on Tuesday, which is always good for an outing. We heard someone talk about Celtic myths, and even learned some stuff. I don't really remember what stuff, but I must have learned something.
Haven't really done too much else at this point, so I will wrap this up, and tell you all to email me, again!
EMAIL ME!
November 7, 2004
Hey all! I'm back again. I can't believe I haven't updated in so long. It's very sad. So, since my last update, Jeannie and I went off to our Halloween party, which was a lot of fun. We couldn't follow everyone out to the clubs that night, but still had a really good time. (We looked pretty good too!) On actual Halloween, we had a respectable 21 trick or treaters (I've been informed that that is really good around here, so we didn't feel neglected )
This week at work has been a bit stressful hoewever, and while I'm not allowed to post details on the internet, I'm now semi-permanently posted in the pre-school room, which I do not enjoy, mostly because it is not set up or run the way I think a pre-school room ought to be. 'nuff said.
Friday was Guy Fawkes Day, or Bonfire Night, which is when the British celebrate Guy Fawes not blowing up a king four hundred years ago. I bought some home fireworks, but first Jeannie and I went to the Beach to see the public fireworks. We took a bus into town, and then were trying to get another bus to the beach, as we didn't know where it was, when I saw one of the girls from work walk by with her boyfriend. We walked with them to the beach which was not far at all. We ended up all going out for coffee afterwards, which was a lot of fun!
Saturday night we set off the at home fireworks, which was exciting, although it felt a bit naughty, as it's illegal at home. We had five rockets, and the sound was sooooo loud! It was a blast!
The only other thing to happen, was that today, on our way into town, Jeannie walked into a lamp post and is now at home with a swollen nose. I think she'll be all right though. lol Anyway, love to all!
October 28, 2004
Hello everyone! I'm trying to do a better job with my journal entries. I don't know how, but I'm going to try. Still no pictures, partly because I don't have too many from Aberdeen, (I'm trying to fix that now) and partly because I'm too lazy to get them up. Sorry.
So, mostly what I've been up to lately is work. And I thought that the clocks went back on Sunday night. So me and Jeannie changed all the clocks, and Jeannie even left me a huge note to remind me. I was very proud of us on Monday morning. We'd gotten every clock. I went out and caught my bus, and thought that the traffic seemed light, but it's like that every now and then, so I didn't think much of it, until I got to work and my boss opened the door. Now I start work at 8:30am. My boss is never their before 9am. It was not good. I as an hour late. The clocks go back this Saturday. Whoops. Luckily, everyone was too busy laughing their rear ends off at me to say much about me turning up an hour late. *sigh* I'll get there one day.
Then on Tuesday night we had two rather exciting things happen. Firstly, we finally have TV!!!!! (Thank you Dr. Jeanie, if you read this) Jeannie's aunt took pity on us and sent her the money for an early Christmas gift. Well Jeannie got the money and bought the set, etc on Friday. She got it home, plugged it in, and lo and behold, our arial doesn't work. It was very disappointing. So we called the Landlady, and she got someone to come and fix it, on Tuesday. So on Tuesday night, we, like most lazy people, were able to relax in front of the television. Yeah!
Also on Tuesday, I got my Disclosure. This is a very important piece of paper here, as without it, I have not been allowed to change diapers, be left alone with kids, and didn't count towards the ratio, unless they were desperate. But now I have it, and am I fully functional member of the team... and stuck doing make up diapers. Oh well, I'll live.
Anyway, tomorrow, Friday, I will have a Halloween party at work, and Jeannie and I are also invited to one hosted by this guy we met at a Pagan Moot (The Scottish term for a meet and greet). I'm kinda looking forward to it, though I'm quite nervous as well, as we won't know too many other people. Should be fun though! And then on Sunday, it's the real thing. So we'll be handy out candy... from the sounds of it, we get a few trick or treaters in our area. Should be fun!
Also, to add to the fun and excitment, I finally get paid tomorrow! Yeah!!!!!! Getting paid montly really really really sucks! But the wait is over, and tomorrow I'll be able to....pay the rent! *sigh* It's not like I'm winning the lottery, although I'm sure it will feel like it.
I think that's about it for now, I'll probably update again on Sunday, and let you all know how the party went! Email me everyone!
October 17, 2004
Ha! I'm getting better at this, it's only been 10 days since my last update. I've been reading all my old entries, and have just now realized that all the ones I've done lately are boring. I apolgize to everyone who has to read them. Anyway, mostly what I've been up to lately is Working. I'm actually feeling competent at my job now, which is a nice feeling. We have lots of new people working there too, so at least I'm not the only one.
We had two new Nursery Assistants start last week, one is named Kelly and the other is a guy named Chris. They are both really nice, but Kelly is really quiet. Chris is really nice, and really good at his job, once you get over the idea of a 6'7" tall, skinny, good looking guy working with infants. (There is obviously a lot of joking that goes on. Including how we are sure that one of the kids will be scared of heights for life cuz Chris stood up with him in his arms straight from the floor. lol)
Yesterday, Jeannie and I went to see a Bollywood movie called Bride and Prejudice. It was _hilarious_. I'd never seen a Bollywood movie before (they are made in India, star indian stars, and are in English) but they are sooooo funny! There is a lot of pointless dance numbers, and singing, and jokes. They are good.
Anyway, while not at work, I've mostly been playing the Sims with Jeannie. This is a computer game where you get to be in charge of people. It's a lot of fun, and rather addictive. We've played it before, but the new twist is, we now have Sims Creator. Which means we can take those digital pictures we keep taking and turn ourselves into Sims. And we did, and it's really really freaky. Fun, but freaky.
For those who don't know yet, I'll be coming home fore good at Christmas. I will be going back to work in the daycare in January. I look forward to seeing you all, and will be looking for a roommate....*sigh* oh well. I'll talk to you soon! EMAIL ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 7, 2004
Hello again! So, I'm not going to waste anymore time apologizing for my few and far between updates... I'm sorry, but I just don't have the internet access to keep it well up to date. *sigh* Oh well.
So in other exciting news, Jeannie and I now have a flat... it's kinda small, but it has two rooms, and it's really pretty and well kept. It even has a yard around it... lovely! To pay for all of this of course, I have a job now. I am a "Nursery Nurse" at Abacus Pre-school Nursery. *waits for everyone to stop laughing* I know it sounds silly but that's what they call a Daycare worker here. I also have to wear a uniform. It's a purple polo shirt,sweatshirt and black pants (trousers). Very cute, but a pain in the butt to keep clean.
I'll be working as a "floater" in the Nursery (daycare) which basically means I'll go between the different rooms and just be with whoever needs me the most. In order to be able to do that, I'll be spending two weeks in each room. I'm starting in the baby room, and am adjusting to that. (I'm also covering for another girl who's on holiday this week) It's been going pretty well. It's always hard to learn a new centres routine, and that's made harder by the fact that the regulations are different here, so I'm not exactly sure what's what sometimes. I'll get there eventually though.
What with all the moving and stuff, Jeannie and I haven't been doing much that's touristy and interesting to write about. We did go to the Art Gallery last week, which was fun and interesting. It has a good variety of both classical and modern art. We enjoyed almost all of it, except a featured collection of metal sculpture. It was boring as anything, and not very artistic. (At least, not to us)
We also went to see "SuperSize Me" which was really good and informative, and very interesting as well. FOr those who don't know, it's a documentary movie about a guy who eats nothing but MacDonald's for a month. Beforehand he's fairly heathy and in good shape, but about half way through his liver starts acting up, and he gains like 25lbs. It's got lots of fun stuff in it too... I would recommend it to anyone!
Well, that's about it for the moment. Hopefully I'll update again soon, but the internet cafe is only open late, (ie, past 6pm) one night a week, and weekends, so that doesn't give me much chance. Thanks to all who have emailed me, Love you and miss you!
September 25, 2004
Well, it's been quite a while since I last updated, and my only excuse is that we've been rather busy. During our last few weeks at work, both Jeannie and I were trying to wrap everything up so that our new staff didn't have too hard a job adujusting to things. Also, we were taking day trips out on all of out days off. I can't think of all the places we went off the top of my head, but we took several bus trips, went to Fort William overnight, and took a bus trip to Lossiemouth and Elgin. It was all great, and then came... "THE WEDDING" (enter scary music) It took a huge lot of time to set up for, but mostly went smoothly. It took up most of our last weekend. The whole wedding party stayed up until 5am drinking themselves silly. The staff, much more sensibly, went to bed. They wanted to try again on the second night, so I volunteered to stay up and Jeannie offered to stay with me. It was fun, and we closed the bar at 1am, cuz they were tired, and so were we. I served breakfast the next morning, and that was it... it was hand in your kilt time. To tell the truth it was kinda fun working there, but I was so done when we left.
So, on Monday, Dennis drove us to the bus station, and we took a bus to Scabster, (time to get out your atlases and maps) and caught the ferry to Stromness, which is in the Orkney Islands. The crossing was a bit rough, and we were both a little green when we arrived. We stayed for 2 nights in Stromness, in a moderetly dingy hostel, and then moved onto Kirkwall, where we stayed at the cutest little B&B ever, called Mrs. Flett's, run by Mrs. Flett, who had the THICKEST orcadian accent ever. She looked after us well though.
While we were in both towns we did a lot of sight seeing. The first day out we went to see Maeshowe tomb, which was broken into by Vikings who left graffiti in runes that say things like "Olaf and Leif bedded Helga here" Which is amusing. We also went to see two nearby stone circles. They weren't that far away, but as we started to walk, the skies opened, and rain started POURING on us. Then it would stop and be windy for a bit, and this continued for the whole walk, including things like hail, and wind so strong we had to stop walking into it, as it was too strong. I was very glad to have just bought a new rain coat.
The funniest part about all these old ruins in Scotland is that they are so common that people don't really think about them... and tend to use the fields they are in for sheep. Yep, sheep. BAA. It's funny, cuz the sheep don't really like the people, and the people don't really like the sheep.
Anyway, there were several other things we wanted to see, but they were all well off the beaten path, and it would have taken ages to get to them all by bus. So, we decided to rent a car. Two problems with renting a car. 1) They drive on the left side of the road here, and 2) it's really really hard and expensive to get automatics, so we ended up with a standard. I have never driven a standard alone before. Jeannie knows nothing about them as her family don't own them.
So, the morning we had a it reserved for we walk in, fill out out paper work and then they bring in the car. It was a purple Renault, for those who would like to know. It was _cute_ . It was _ours_. So I casually on the way out the door mention that "it's been a few years since I drove a standard". Which was good, as we stalled three times before we got out of the garage. *sigh* The day that followed was rather embarrassing. It took me and Jeannie working together to figure out how to drive this thing. We stalled a lot. Including halfway around turns, in parking lots, and many more. We also did a lot of bunny hopping, especially in reverse. It took me 10 minutes to park it the first time. Parking became a lot easier once I figured out how to use the brake. Luckily we were in the Orkney's, which are what they had in mind when they thought up the words, isolated, rural and desolate. So there was almost no traffic on the roads, and often there was no witness to my stalling except the sheep. (There are sheep everywhere)
During the day we had heard about a tomb on South Ronaldsay, another island. The drive there wasn't long, it was all over causeways, and the tomb was aparently worth it. So off we went. Unfortunatly, on the way there I ended up with this guy driving a blue van, towing a trailer behind me. It was not good. He wanted me to go faster. I was too scared to go faster, and didn't really have to. I couldn't pull over, as I was worried that I would stall.He followed me all the way towards Kirkwall, all the way around Kirkwall, and back onto the main road. Luckily he turned off before my next big blunder. I stalled on the top of a hill with three cars behind me. And only through some very fast thinking, and a lot of nosiness as a child did I figure out how to re-start the car on a hill. (Parking brakes are good!)
The rest of the trip was unadventureous. The tomb was cool, and the drive back mostly fine. (Other than stalling the the middle of Kirkwall....:) I like my four way flashers!) The next day, when we returned the car, I did a perfect three point turn, and didn't stall once. So we all learn eventually. *g*
I'd like to take this moment to thank anyone who drives a standard for any info they may have given me. I used it all. I'll also apologize to non-drivers, as this is likely to be boring. Anyway, that's all I have time for now. Talk to you soon!
August 28, 2004
Hello! Well, I got the pictures up and running on my last entry. This past Tuesday Jeannie and I headed off to Fort William for an overnight, and I'll tell you more about that and put up some picutres shortly. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.
August 23, 2004
Hello everyone. I'm beginning to think I'm a terrible person. Why? Because I've just looked at the last date I updated, and it's August the 4th. Oops. Things have been rather busy around here, and I haven't had so much time on the internet as I would have liked.
So the news is finally out, and Jeannie and I have officially given our notice. We are leaving the hotel on September 20th. We are looking for some other pagans to start with, and then hope to see the Orkney's and Edinburgh, before finding some work. Well, that's more important for impoverished me than it is for Jeannie. Jeannie has saved lots of money, so she's doing all right.
So lately, (the past three weeks) me and Jeannie have had the same day off, which is lovely, and we've been getting out and seeing all kinds of interesting things. The first week we went to Cawdor Castle.
It's about an hour drive from the hotel, although we took a bus and that makes it hard to tell. We had a really great day. The Castle is big, and was built in like 1423 or something like that. It's still home, for some of the year, to Lady Cawdor, and it has a really homey feel, not like a musuem. The write ups in the rooms are hilarious, as they were written by one of the family and have quite a sense of humour. One of Jeannie's guide books said that it was worth the trip just for the write ups and I think that it was right.
After our funny tour of the castle, we headed out the huge grounds and gardens, where we kept ourselves busy naming a lot of the herbs that we saw. We wanted to take some with us, but we weren't allowed. So we took lots of pictures instead.
Some of them are rather strange. We also did a nature walk, despite the fact that I was tired, (you thought I was in charge of our plans? Oh no, not at all!) and we did enjoy ourselves. We stopped after that to eat ice cream and feed the hugely fat and lazy ducks on the grounds, while we waited for the bus to come and pick us up.
Paula and Libi, (Liba, Libo? we aren't exactly sure, and she doesn't care, she answers to them all.) borrowed my camera on their day off, as Paula's doesn't work here, for some reason, and Libi doesn't have one. Paula takes really nice pictures, especially of the grounds, which I would forget to do. So it works out nicely for us both. (She's also a better photographer than me!)
Last week Jeannie and I headed off on a train trip to Aberdeen. Why? We weren't sure. But we were tired, and thought that sitting on train was still going somewhere, but less tiring than other trips. So we headed off at the crack of dawn for Inverness Train station, and took a two hour train ride to Aberdeen.
It was fun, although the train was rather cramped. I really missed VIA rail, and all their spacious leg room, I tell you! We arrived in Aberdeen, and I fell in love with the place. It's a really nice looking city. (Well, it looks a lot like Halifax, so maybe that's why...)
We didn't have very long, and mostly just wandered around, but we had a good time, and after we leave here are thinking about maybe going there to live for awhile. First I found this great store called "Past Times" and it sells all this cool stuff. I had to drag myself away, but not before buying a few small thigns. Anyway, then we found this awesome natural foods store, and the man who ran it was nice, so we chatted to him for a while, and then we got lost heading back to the train station, but soon sorted ourselves out. (ie. we asked for directions!)
It was a nice day, and when we got back to Drum, we had to wait a bit for a taxi, and saw the most beautiful rainbow! I also took lots of crazy pictures, but that was just to kill time.
Wow this is long. I'm hoping to put up pictures today, but may not make it til tomorrow. Email me everyone!
August 4, 2004
Hello everyone! The title of this entry is "Sunshine and Bug Bites". Why, you might ask? Because, that's what we've had going on here over the last few days. And lots of drama, but that seems to be par for the course. :)
First off, me and Jeannie, (Jeannie and I) have beaten "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" Yeah for us! So now we've moved on to playing the game over again in french, cuz this is Europe and you can do things like that, and playing Spyro. Which is also fun.
The weather has finally decided to act like it's summer, and most days we've been in the twenty's. Which is nice when you're off work, and want to lie around, and the guests have been having a great time, but it's not so much fun when you are running around the restaurant cleaning up after breakfast, in a WOOL KILT! I like my kilt, it just wasn't designed for summer weather. No surprises then, that this weather is "not normal".
On my day off this week, (Monday), I went into Drum and went on a cruise (tour) of Loch Ness. No monsters, but the people who ran my cruise certainly believed in it. Both of the men were volunteers who turned up in the 60's to help scan Loch Ness with Radar. They haven't left yet. That's dedication. :)
So I booked the cruise from the hotel and took a cab to Drum, (You can walk, but I didn't want to be late.) I was early, so I wandered around the touristy shops, where you can buy anything that's "traditional Scottish" most of which I could get at home. Plus anything with the Loch Ness monster on it. I found the Whiskey flavoured condoms a bit much for me though.
The company I went with, called "Loch Ness Tours" runs a van from the really touristy places down to the docks, so all twelve of us climbed aboard the van, and then the boat.
I really enjoyed it at the castle, simply because I'm a sucker for historical stuff. I got to see the room where Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to James the sixth, and the Scottish Royal Regalia, and the "Stone of Destiny" on which every king and queen has sat for their coronation since Edward the second. Edward the first, the old king in "Braveheart" stole it from the Scots and Queen Elizabeth II gave it back, provided that they still get to use it for coronations. Just before lunch there was a man in the great hall who told the story of "A Christmas Carol" and a bit about Victorian Christmases. Like the fact that it was fashionable to send roasted dormice to your friends in Christmas Cards. But the kept going off before they arrived, and the postmaster had to make it illegal. And it's still illegal to send roasted dormice in the post here, so don't try it! lol 
On Sunday, Jeannie, Samantha and I went to the Art Gallery, as there were some new exhibitions since Jeannie and I went a way back when in October. That was fun, and rather interesting, and made us feel all smart and cultural. :) We then had dinner in a pub, but not just any pub, but a really cool one that is decorated like a Vampire's castle and is in an old Church. (I think) It was a good meal. We then, like the grown, mature women that we are, went to see the lastest animated movie in theatres. We saw "The Incredibles" which was a second viewing for me, and it was just as good the second time. It's a really enjoyable film. ![[City at night]](7FerrisWheel.jpg)
There's a ferris wheel, a market, kiddie rides, bungie jumping, and an outdoor skating rink. Can you guess what I did? Bonus points to anyone who named the Ferris wheel and skating rink. The Ferris wheel was huge, and fun, expect that I got stuck on with 5 preteen children, who enjoyed screaming at the top of their lungs. Sometimes to say hi to people below, othertimes because the were scared. Kids. *sigh* 
(It was more fun then it sounds, apparently.) Anyway, having finished that, I wondered around Princes Street for a while, as it is the Edinburgh equivalent of Rodeo Drive, Fifth Avenue, or Oxford Street. ie. all the shops are there, and it's a good wander. 
We couldn't follow everyone out to the clubs that night, but still had a really good time. (We looked pretty good too!) On actual Halloween, we had a respectable 21 trick or treaters (I've been informed that that is really good around here, so we didn't feel neglected )
And we did, and it's really really freaky. Fun, but freaky. 
It even has a yard around it... lovely! To pay for all of this of course, I have a job now. I am a "Nursery Nurse" at Abacus Pre-school Nursery. *waits for everyone to stop laughing* I know it sounds silly but that's what they call a Daycare worker here. I also have to wear a uniform. 
It's a purple polo shirt,sweatshirt and black pants (trousers). Very cute, but a pain in the butt to keep clean. 
![[Hotel]"](2aug23.jpg)
![[Rainbow]"](6aug23.jpg)
Wow this is long. I'm hoping to put up pictures today, but may not make it til tomorrow. Email me everyone!![[Pond]"](2augt4.jpg)
The weather has finally decided to act like it's summer, and most days we've been in the twenty's. Which is nice when you're off work, and want to lie around, and the guests have been having a great time, but it's not so much fun when you are running around the restaurant cleaning up after breakfast, in a WOOL KILT! I like my kilt, it just wasn't designed for summer weather. No surprises then, that this weather is "not normal". 
The commen