Christmas in a Castle

**Disclaimer**
Please note that it took me hours to write this entry because it was 4 days worth of happenings, therefore ignore any errors and gaps in my stories. I couldn't put everything but one day I may tell the full story. Until then this will have to do.


Part One: Intro

Where to begin. First of all I want to note that I hate this blog sometimes. I had a hell of a time logging on. I had wanted to just before I left for the castle but it kept kicking me out. And today it wouldn't let me sign in at first. ARGH. It's been frustrating.

I'll start off with thanks to everyone who sent me Christmas cards. The notes in them meant a lot to me and helped me feel that I wasn't so far away from everyone. (sniff sniff I was truly touched). *Cough* Enough of the mushy stuff...

Part Two: Festivus

Festivus was a better success than I thought. I made a festivus carol. It goes like this...

(To the tune of Oh Christmas Tree)


Oh Festivus, Oh Festivus,
How shiny is your pole this year...
My pole is soo shiny this year,
It brings me joy, it brings me cheer,
Oh Festivus, Oh Festivus,
How shiny is your pole this year.
Oh Jerry, George, Krammer & Elaine,
They don't compare to Franks Festivus fame,
His feats of strength,
I know at length,
The grievances are quite a treat.
Oh Festivus, oh festivus,
How shiny is your pole this year.
Frank throws his son quickly to the ground,
The laughter spreads to everyone around.
Oh Festivus, Oh Festivus,
It's the holiday for the rest of us.

I'll give you a minute to wipe the tears from your eyes. So we didn't really have anything planned for Festivus so we just went out for dinner with some friends, and then went to a Christmas Party at a pub that ended up being a bit of a dud. As we wandered back to New Town to wander the pub scene we decided we wanted to go on the swings at the festival in the garden. It was really cold, but oh so fun!! After we went to a few more pubs we sang the Festivus song and then departed. Overall it was a good night and Festivus can only get better from here.

The night unfortunately could not go on that late because we had to get up early the next morning to catch our bus for the castle. Our friend who was coming to the castle too ended up staying the night at our place to make life easier, and we all ended up sitting up half the night talking.

Part Three: Christmas in the Castle

So we left Edinburgh at the wee hours of the morning on Christmas eve and made our way to Carbisdale castle, just outside of Inverness. Because we were going with a tour group (Haggis) we had planned stops all they way and a tour guide/driver to entertain us all the way up. Our first stop was about 1 1/2 hours into the trip, in the town of Doune to see Doune Castle. Doune castle, for those of you who don't know, is where Monty Pythons Holy Grail was filmed. Great castle, but only a 15 minute stop as the tour intended (that includes the potty break). I've already been to this castle on another tour so I just used the loo, and stood around talking. It was pretty cold and I had intended to stay on the bus but when I came out of the toilet the bus was gone. We all stood there, 28 of us huddled together when the bus finally came back. Did we want the good news or the bad news? she asked us. The good news was there was a great pub in Doune, the bad news was the bus was broken and she had to find a mechanic on Christmas eve or get a new bus for us. So off all 28 of us went wandering into this little down in search of a pub open at 10am. We all filed into the pub out of the cold only for the owner to come up and tell us it was closed until 11. So we all filed back out onto the cold streets of Doune.

About five minutes later we had walked through the town and alas there was no other pub. Being as cold as we were, all 28 of us squished into a little convenience store and bought chocolate bars as slow as we could so we could stay in the warmth. Thankfully when we got back on to the mean streets of Doune it was announced that one of the guys from our bus had explained our predicament to the bar owner and he agreed to open up early for us. Hooray!!!

So at about 10:30 Christmas Eve I dived into my first whisky of the trip. It would become the first of many. About 12:30, and 3 whiskeys later we were on the bus again heading to the castle. We now had a new addition to our group. Craig. One of the guys who works in the office at Haggis. Poor guy had to pack up for Christmas and come rescue us within a hours notice. He was great though. We pretty much sped the rest of the way there, stopping places for only about 5 or ten minutes at a time so we could get to the castle before too late. The fog was really heavy so we couldn't see most of it anyway. For me it was alright because they took the same route that we had taken on another Haggis tour. We saw Hamish the Hairy Coo. He is a big hairy highland cow, as you can see.

My favourite stop, everytime is Glen Coe. This is a 3 huge mountains call the Three sisters. It was so beautiful, and the mist made it even more amazing. The fog had started to lift and the sun was starting to come out.

This day also ended up being the day of odd injuries for me. Now despite having had a few drinks, this honestly had nothing to do with how sober I was. Before I had even had a drink in me, I was talking so feverishly (as you all know how I can get), and I somehow bit right down on my lip. I killed the cells so the flap of skin is dead and in turn it swelled up making it very hard for me to eat. Everytime I eat even still I bite it and boy does it hurt!!! I ate the best soup of my life but didn't enjoy it as much as God intended me to, because it burned my lip. I tell you this because it was the oddest thing I have ever done to myself and I still can't figure out how I actually did it.

Injury #2. On the new bus that we got there was a step down from the seats. We all kept forgetting and taking a tumble, problem was though, there were arm rests, and we kept hitting our legs on them. The first time I slipped it hurt and left a little bruise. The second time I did I ended up limping, and I couldn't sit on that side of my bum all weekend. And the bruise is HUGE and DISGUSTING!!! I write this not because I think you care, but the bruise is so hideous and disgusting I have a need to share it with everyone. I even made Cheryl look at it, well I kind of tricked her into it, she thought I was kidding when I told her to look. Hey she can't say I'm a liar, just a bad friend.

To keep us amused on our long journey Clare bought the bus something to play with. He was a blow up man and someone named him Santos. He was a big part of the weekend, and at one point ended up in the Christmas tree. He was very popular with the ladies and all the girls wanted to dance with him.

Just outside of Inverness Craig pulls our bus over and another bus is waiting there. Our bus is broken again and we need another one. By this time the other buses had gotten there hours before so one of the other Haggis guides drove up to pick us up. Claire and Craig stayed back withe the bus and our luggage, trying to fix the bus.

After a long but eventful journey we made it to the castle. It was a beautiful castle. A right proper castle we all agreed. This castle was built for Lady Sutherland, but was not completed before she died. In 1945 the owners donated the castle to the Youth Hosteling Association so that everyone could stay in a castle. On our first night there we got a Mexican meal, and then a folk band came and played for us. The leader was trying to teach us some Scottish dances but we were all getting a little drunk and he wasn't very happy with us. In fact he sooshed us!! Who sooshes drunk people?!!?? Needless to say I didn't feel very encouraged to dance much.

On the second day, with our bus still not working properly, after a champagne breakfast, our group went for a hike. The frost was thick and almost looked like snow. It was some of the best scenery I have seen thus far and I took a lot of pictures. I don't know what it was, but all of the fresh air must have gotten to me because I did something a little crazy. We stopped at a brook and for some reason I decided (I was perfectly sober mind you) that I wanted to dip my feet in the water. Now by no means was this a mild day, but when I put my hand in the water it felt warm enough so I decided to go for it. And after I pushed the chunk of ice out of my way I stepped in. Haha I know your all thinking, my god she's crazy, but the water was fine at first. I only felt the cold when someone decided to take a picture and then fumbled with a camera for what seemed like ages. Suddenly I started to feel how cold the water was. When I got and tried to put my shoes back on my feet were shaking like crazy. Now I'm starting to think, 'how stupid am I, I can't feel my toes'. I tried to get my socks on and move my feet to warm them up but I was thinking, 'oh god I've given myself frost bite and I'm going to lose a toe now, but I know I'm going to be too embarrassed to say anything so I'll just let it rattle around in my boot til we get back'. Thankfully within 10 minutes my feet were as warm as fresh pie and my feet weren't even wet for the rest of the walk. Fabulous!

The point of the hike was to get to an outlook point where we could see the battlefield where Robert the Bruce (Scotland's Greatest Hero) and his army, defeated the English army. I convinced Craig to tell us the story instead of just reading the plaque they had, and he did a great job of it. He used sticks as swords and acted out the entire thing for us. It was fantastic.

When we got back to the castle we stole another groups bus and headed out to the beach...seriously. The beach was beautiful, cold, but beautiful. The day before Clare had collected a £ from each of us and bought a couple bottles of whisky for us. Now having been in Scotland for about 3 months now I have grown to love Whisky, but I do recognize that it takes time and effort to fall in love with it. Some of the other people on the tour were new to Scotland and didn't have the time or the effort...so they gave their whisky to me. Now when I drink whisky I add some water to it and take my time to savour the flavours that make every whisky so different and so good. On this day I had very little time to savour anything and without thinking drank a half bottle of whisky in about 15 minutes. Hmmm. By the time we had walked back to the bus I realized what I had done and was starting to feel the effects of it.

From what I heard the next day I was very loud on the bus on the way back. When we got back we were running a little late and we all still had to get changed before dinner started. On the way up the stairs to get changed I saw a guy I had noted before was Canadian, so I randomly asked where in Canada he was from. I still cannot believe his answer...DUNNVILLE!!! What are the chances of that, not to mention he went to St. Mike's too!!! He was a 3 years older than me and we tried to figure out who we both knew. We talked, sorry I talked for a a really long time before Cheryl finally dragged me up the stairs to get ready. By this time I was feeling pretty good and my poor friends had to help me get ready for dinner, and even brush my hair for me. We were almost an hour late for dinner.

The table we sat at had a family from Wisconson, and two girls from our bus. For their sake I was trying very hard to sober up, and all I remember is eating lots and lots of bread and drinking lots of water. After dinner I was feeling a lot better and my new Dunnville friend and I sat and talked more about St. Mike's and Dunnville. Ahhh the good old days.

That night they had a band playing and there was a raffle. Cheryl won tickets to go on a tour of Dublin for St. Patty's day!!! It was perfect because we were planning on going on it anyway and were going to buy our tickets when we got back from the Christmas tour. Funny how things like that work out.

Boxing day we all had to be on the bus by 8:15. This was hard for all of us and no one was out for the buses until about 8:30-8:45. You could tell that everyone had had a good night the night before because we all just wanted to sleep on the bus. Luckily Clare wouldn't let us. On the way back we stopped at Loch Ness, and a few other spots. At one point we went for a little hike and saw the most beautiful falls. We also had a pop quiz about the weekend to see if we were listening to Clare, and Cheryl and I were very surprised when we won!!! Unfortunately she only had one t-shirt to give away, but being the generous person she was, Clare gave us the shirt off her back...literally, so we could both have a t-shirt. At one of the stops we got her to sign it and we are going to hang it on one of our walls. We are also going to take it on anyother tours we go on with Haggis and collect their 'autographs'. Because there are two of us we've decided that when we stop living together and she moves back to Canada, we will rotate years with the shirt on display and since this was a Christmas tour we will wrap it up and send it to the other when the year is up. Wrap it in aluminum that is. (Only my immediate family will get that one).

All in all it was a great Christmas and I'll never forget it, but I did miss spending Christmas with my family...

...Just kidding, I've already booked a tour for next Christmas!!

Why I love internet cafes...

After losing my blog entry for the 5th time the other day I finally gave up and left to try another day. (Actually they kicked me out for cursing and throwing the keyboard out the window, but that's a story for another day). Today is 2 days later and I am about to attempt to use the computer again. I will never be able to duplicate the literary genius of those entries that were lost, which is a shame because they were one of the purest forms of greatness known to humankind. Sadly you will have to take my word for it and settle for this mediocre entry.

When I first wrote in my blog the other day I complained about all of the rain, and my God, was there rain!!! It rained for a week, it seems. And never that soft light rain that is dreary but bearable, no no, it rained buckets on our heads. Thankfully there was no flooding in Edinburgh, but there was plenty of flooding in the rest of the UK. I think in some sick twist of fate my blog entries complaining about the rain made its way through the abyss of the web to the powers that be and they got the message. Since that day we have had nothing but sunshine and absolute gorgeous weather (Your welcome UK).

The worst that Cheryl and I experience of the horrible weather was when we went to Glasgow shopping for her birthday. That was the worst day of the rain (well for us at least because we were out in it). The flooding was so bad that some of the trains from Glasgow were cancelled (the following day when I worked to Aberdeen no one could get to Glasgow from the north because of the flooding).

Now to the point. Shopping. Most people who know me know that I shop like a man. I go in to a mall knowing what I am getting, where I am getting it and the only reason for going to more than one store is for price comparisons. In and out, that's how I do it. What most people who know me don't know is that I do not shop this way because I like to, I shop this way because I have to. I like to shop because I need something, rather than shopping because I want something. Once I start shopping because I want something I cannot stop. On Wednesday, in the first store that we entered I found a fabulous striped shirt that I had to have, it was all down hill from there. I regret nothing that I bought. In fact I love it all and still 4 days later I find myself pulling it all out to admire it. Almost every item that I bought were items that I did not even conceive of not getting as soon as I saw them. The only other items that I bought were things that I did need and knew I would not find anywhere else for that price. Like the fantastic £4.99 purse. Love it!

It's my own fault that this happened though. When packing to come here I did not pack any jewelry because I was worried about losing it. This I finally decided after 2 months had to be rectified. I needed to add some colour to my life, and so I did. I bought an equally amazing ring that I do not think I will ever take off, as well as a pair of sunglasses that were made for my face (if they had not been sooo perfect I could not have bought them because I am embarrassed to admit that I already brought with my 2 other pairs of sunglasses). I also got a very bedazzled, girly and very unlike me change purse that I unknowingly have been longing to have. The funny part of this shopping trip is that I set out to buy an outfit to wear to the castle for Christmas dinner, and despite trying on many many many outfits and frustrating the hell out of Cheryl, nothing 'spoke to me', as we like to say. The best part about the shopping trip though was that my parents sent me some money as a Christmas present (despite the fact that I celebrate Festivus, not Christmas, and therefore do not require gifts) so all I have to say is "Thanks Mom and Dad!!!"

By the way so far so good, the computer hasn't crashed yet, although Cheryl's has.

In order to get into the holiday season, coupled with the Festivus decorations, Cheryl and I have both tried our hands at baking. Unfortunately I no longer have the stomach to handle the sweets that I loved so dearly as a child. I made chocolate slice the other day, and I could barely eat it!!! It tasted so good but was sooo sweet. She made these fantastic squares that are like my grandma's peanut butter balls, but with a chocolate coating on top. They are so good, but they make me so sick because I eat too many. I hate getting older. The baking does make our flat smell fantastic though!!

Now on to the most important aspect of my life. Trains. I'm really starting to love trains. By the time I'm ready to leave I'm going to be a trainspotter. Oh yeah we have them. Allegedly some of the staff throw stuff at them as they sit on the platform recording times and other details about the trains. I could never figure out who these people were. They sit in the train station and don't blend in well with others because of their bright orange vests (by bright orange I mean like a safety vest so there really is no missing them). At first I thought they worked there, but couldn't figure out what they did so I asked someone. I cannot repeat the response. They are hated by train staff. Or maybe they are just misunderstood. Ha ha.

I do love the trains though, more for the people though than the trains themselves. The trains make me spill coffee and lurch around the aisle like I've had to much to drink. I'm starting to think there is a hidden camera so that every time a customer asks for a "spot" of milk, the driver lurches forward so that a spot becomes half the cup. I've learned to give out such a warning to these 'spotters'. My favourite is when the sliding doors either open only partially or only half way and as you are pulling your trolley fulling expecting them to open, you smack right into them. I have bruises everywhere. Oh and don't forget the trolleys. Yesterday I had the trolley from hell. The back wheel was broken and I wasn't willing to unlock the break on it to make it roll better because, well lawsuits and all you know how it goes... In any case I had to drag the trolley through 1st class all day long. Combine this with the fact that my book on time yesterday was 5:30 AM, it was a great day. I was unsure of the buses because at that time in the morning they are still night buses and the ones nearest to my flat don't run. So I was out of the house by 4:30, luckily I had a really nice bus driver who, although his route did not require him to go to St. Andrew Sq. he did just to drop me and another couple off. Due to this though I was into work at 4:55am. When I got home at 6pm I somehow managed to eat something and then suddenly the tiredness finally hit my and I went to bed at 7:30. I left everything out everywhere. I woke up this morning, went around the flat and was a little disgusted with the mess I had left. Hopefully that is the last early morning shift I have. Not to mention on a SATURDAY.

My one pet peeve about the job is the difficultly that people have in deciding whether they want coffee or tea. It is not a life or death decision, and I am certainly not quiet in coming so you have time to decide. At the moment my way to deal with a "Yes" response to the question of "Coffee or Tea", is to stand there holding their cup looking at it, and then back at them with a questioning look on my face. If they don't get it right away I say "You want both?" very innocently. I do the same with milk, but say nothing and just hold the milk over the hot drink looking at them and not pouring. Sometimes if they are one their phone I pour in milk and quickly move on.

So funny story. But graphic, involves the loo, viewer discretion is advised. I just took a 'potty break'. (I know I know, you really didn't need to know that, but it's worth that tiny bit of horrifying knowledge). I went to use the toilet in the cafe. A key is required to open the door. If someone leaves the door open you can go in but there may be consequences. And unfortunately for the poor woman who clearly cannot read that well, there were consequences. For both of us. I had the misfortune of opening the door on this woman doing...pardon my language but I cannot think of any other way to put this...the crap of her life!!! Her face was red and she was really working for it. She was concentrating so hard that she didn't notice the door was opening until we were staring at each other. Awkward. I quickly closed the door and took a seat facing away from the door so that I didn't have to make eye contact with her as she came out of the door. Unfortunately she thought it was better to face the problem head on and came out and said to me "It says that when the door closes it's locked", to which I replied "And under that it says to make sure you have the key or people can just walk in". *Shudder* I should seek some kind of compensation for that. I'll have nightmares for weeks.

To Aberdeen and back....

So the last weekend Cheryl and I had a three day weekend so we decided to make the most of it instead of taking overtime for once. We decided to go to Aberdeen because it looks so pretty from the train. Turns out it just looks pretty from the train. Cheryl called it Edinburgh's poor cousin. It was nice mind you, but unfortunately I am worried that nothing is going to compare to Edinburgh. Edinburgh has ruined everything else for me because if it's beauty. Not to mention that most of the castles around Aberdeen are closed for the season. Fortunately though one was still opened. I'm really bad with names and I can't remember which one it was, but it was only about a 45 minute bus ride out of the city. This may seem like a lot but the grounds are amazing and it was worth it. It just so happened that on the day that we came they were having a 1880 Christmas party so everyone there was dressed up, and the house was all decorated for Christmas. The weather was quite mild too so we were able to walk around the grounds and not freeze to death. We got some amazing pictures...before you ask I'm still working on getting them online. I tried willing it but unfortunately it takes a little more fiddling than that.

Since there wasn't much to see or do in Aberdeen we did what humans do best...went shopping. Oh and did I shop! I got the most amazing pair of boots that I have ever even dreamed of having!! They have suede AND fur. They are fabulous! Don't ask how much I paid. To even it out though I bought an amazing sweater for £6.99!! I may wear it for our big Christmas dinner at the castle, but I'm looking for something a little nicer for that. (dare I say...a skirt?...ooo maybe a dress...haha don't get your hopes up. I already have a nice pair of pants to wear and I'm cheap).

As for the hostel we stayed in...we had the craziest roommate. She would come in at 3am turn on the light and go through all of her belongings. Now here comes the strange part...she would then remove tape from around her stomach and reapply some more. She wasn't quiet about it either. She did this both nights we were there. So we made sure to make as much noise as possible, and finally on the second day I jumped out of bed and stormed out of the room. Don't ask me where I was going, I didn't even take my glasses. Oh and she cooked her dinner in the room and it smelt sooo bad. I still cannot believe how inconsiderate she was. It was shocking. Other than that the hostel was pretty anti-social and disappointing. Made me appreciate my bed all the more.

On the day we were leaving they had a tree lighting ceremony and we decided to get in the festive season we would go. It was *cough* nice. Tree was a little bigger than the one my parents will be getting, and they couldn't even be bothered to different coloured lights for it. The choir was from Norway (funnily enough we met them the day before at the castle), and because of sound problems they were less than fantastic.

Despite the sad tree lighting, it got us in the festive spirit so when we got home, we began to work on our decorations. First to go up was our Festivus pole. we made it out of toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. We then used aluminum foil to make it more festivus poleish. It is very shiny and pretty. I hope in the years to come I will be able to have a real pole for festivus, but this will do for now. We put it in our 'shrine' area. We couldn't agree on a festivus sign so we are both making our own interpretations of what it should look like. Can you tell we have a lot of time on our hands. We only got a Christmas tree out of boredom, and we are hoping that the lights coming off of it will make the Festivus pole look even prettier. We hand made all of the decorations for the tree, we haven't had the official lighting yet, as we are still making some ornaments for it. Cheryl has all the Scots convinced that we don't celebrate Christmas in Canada, but instead we all celebrate Festivus. We are planning on having a Festivus celebration with some of our friends...even those who sadly have never heard of Seinfeld. (For them we feel much pity and obligation to invite them in order to enlighten them). The only reason we are celebrating Christmas at all is because we are going to be in a castle(!!!) Otherwise I would have worked (you get awesome overtime if you work catered parties on Christmas). My sister sent me a great shirt for the season though! It says Holiday cheers. I've already worn it too much!!

I do admit though, Cheryl is a little more committed to it than I am...I sent out Christmas cards. (But I booked it off from work, hehe).