Finally An Update!!!

Hiya!

Apologies for the long silence on my end. Life began to get very…routine, very average, and that doesn’t make for good writing. Well I guess it could have but after working all day and the occasional outing, I was way to tired to do anything but pass out on the couch with one of the few movies we have playing in the background. (Don’t judge me, you’ve all been there).

I finsihed working on the trains around March , went on to do 3 weeks of data entry which didn't work out because we didn't it faster than they anticipated, so I found myself at Scottish & Newcastle, a brewery, but not at the brewery, in the HR department, as a recruitment advisor. It was all very fancy!! And stressful, you see they were going through a 'restructure' and basically temps were taking over the permanant workers jobs while they found new work else where because they were being outsourced. Fun (that's sarcasm for those of you who weren't sure). The job was really good experience and most of the people were really nice but....well I'm sure no job is perfect. In any case I ended up making better money than most temp jobs and was able to save enough to take most of the month of August off to enjoy the city during festival season.

Since I have some extra time I decided it was time for a little update. While still working, I did go a few places and see a few things. For Canada Day weekend, we went to St.Andrew’s, known most famously for their golf courses, or for the university that Prince William went to. It was a very lovely little city, and we stayed at the university, just minutes away from the city centre. The city is right on the water, and if they actually had summer here (allegedly they do, but it’s August and I’m wearing a sweater) it would have been really nice. The weekend was nice, in Scottish terms, which means it only rained 50% of the time and hats and mittens were not needed. The fog made for some cool pictures though.

We also made it back to Stirling, where we saw some of the things we never got a chance to see before. We saw the bridge that William Wallace (aka Mel Gibson in Braveheart) fought one of his greatest battles on. We also went up the Wallace monument which gives an exceptional view of the city. Already situated on a hill above the city, the monument is about 300 stairs to the top where you get a worthwhile view. There were also exhibits on each level to break up the climb up the stairs. Unfortunately on the day that we went it was very very windy (when is it not windy in Scotland though). Needless to say, it was a little scary, and we stayed somewhat near the centre and away from the edges.

Scotland is a great city to be on the Harry Potter bandwagon. When the movie came out, we went to the Imax in Glasgow to city, taking advantage of the day trip to do a little shopping in the city I would personally describe as having the best shopping in Scotland. As an added bonus the cinema is near the harbor, and we took the opportunity to walk along the edge of the water.

The book came out a week later, and we queued up for it at the Waterstones bookstore which is directly across from the Bell Manor hotel, where JK Rowling finished writing the seventh book.

Now that it’s August, the festival has begun in Edinburgh. So far I’ve gone to see 5 shows (it would have been 6 but one of the venues was an absolute dive and we were the only ones there to see it so we bolted, trust me, anyone would have). Of the 5 we have seen, only one was a disappointment (2 if you count the one we bolted on). Not to be biased, but the best 2 that we say just so happened to also be Canadian acts (one of which we didn’t know was Canadian when we got the tickets).

For those of you interested, or who have too much time to know what to do with, here is the link to some of the Fringe stuff. http://www.edfringe.com/

The festival is really cool so far, the streets are packed and full of street performers. Any time of day you can walk down the street and watch a performance. Just the other day I saw an angry man throwing knives! I didn’t stick around for that one…

Well that’s about all for now. I’m looking forward to an exciting next few months. We will be leaving Scotland in September and embarking on our backpacking trip. I’ll try and keep you all updated….