Our entire month and more has pretty much revolved around us looking at lots and lots of places to potentially live. We really liked this place below, but felt the roof needed some work, and the heating bills might be a bit high in the winter.... So, I think we'll look for something slightly smaller and more modern.
Can you believe Mars will be 1 in a few days?????? Oh my goodness.... Where did the time go?
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Nothing in this city surprises me anymore
I was walking to the grocery store this evening to pick up some chocolate biscuits (a.k.a. cookies in the US) and other daily sundries. I was just entering the store when I walked past a young woman walking the opposite direction down the pavement. She had a hooded jacket on because it's cold, and she also had two little noses poking out around the area where her ear should have. Yes, the woman had two rats hanging out inside of her jacket, sitting on her shoulder and I assume keeping her neck and ears warm. Perhaps it's a new trend, these self warming scarfs? I'm not sure what she does when they inevitably poop on her shoulder, but I guess she just gets a kick out of the shock value. Anyhow, it was pretty random. But the normal clothes that normal people wear are all wacky looking to a gap girl like me. I guess I'm too used to everyone wearing jeans, khakis, T-shirts and tennis shoes in the states. But these days I rarely bat an eyelash when I see a woman walking down the street in hot pink and black striped tights, ankle boots, and daisy dukes. I think to myself, "she must be cold", but the style combination doesn't phase me anymore. Just more wacky Euro trendy stuff.
No new news on our flat search-we're still searching. The second place we looked at and liked had some issues with the home inspection. In a nutshell, our inspector said the roof was in need of total repair as there were buckets collecting rain in the eves, and the cost estimate would be £50,000. The seller's hired roofer said it was temporary storm leakage and the roof only needed £200 worth or repairs. Granted any repair would be split 8 ways with the other tenants in the building..... But the sellers wouldn't take any money off of our agreed upon price, so we walked. There are other flats that seem like just as good if not better options for us. Now, I just hope the next one we go for won't set us back another £400 for the survey only to have us back out and start anew.... Hmmmmmm...... Oh well, I'm sure we'll find a place to live one of these days! Feel free to house hunt for us on the Edinburgh property website and let us know your favorites. Just keep in mind that £1=$2 (although have you seen the dollar tank today???? Yikes, I'm glad we divested from the US), so we won't be moving into any million pound homes until I win the lotto.
No new news on our flat search-we're still searching. The second place we looked at and liked had some issues with the home inspection. In a nutshell, our inspector said the roof was in need of total repair as there were buckets collecting rain in the eves, and the cost estimate would be £50,000. The seller's hired roofer said it was temporary storm leakage and the roof only needed £200 worth or repairs. Granted any repair would be split 8 ways with the other tenants in the building..... But the sellers wouldn't take any money off of our agreed upon price, so we walked. There are other flats that seem like just as good if not better options for us. Now, I just hope the next one we go for won't set us back another £400 for the survey only to have us back out and start anew.... Hmmmmmm...... Oh well, I'm sure we'll find a place to live one of these days! Feel free to house hunt for us on the Edinburgh property website and let us know your favorites. Just keep in mind that £1=$2 (although have you seen the dollar tank today???? Yikes, I'm glad we divested from the US), so we won't be moving into any million pound homes until I win the lotto.
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Happy Birthday Nana!
Marius is getting so much more fun to play with these days. In the past few weeks, his ability to recognize what we're saying and his playing skills have really taken off. So, Marius has several of these That's not my ..... books with puppies, dinosaurs, or bears. In all of these books, there's a little white mouse on each page, and in addition to reading him the book and letting him feel the fuzzy/scratch/shiney part of the book, I always say "where's the mouse?" and then point to it. Well, now about 20% of the time when I say "where's the mouse?" Marius will point to the mouse! It was absolutely amazing the first time he did it, and at first I thought it was just dumb luck. But after several repeat performances I realized he knew what I was saying, or at least he knew what he should do after I said those familiar sounding words.
He's also started to play with toys. For months when he crawled up to a toy, he would invariably look at it, grab it, put it in his mouth, and then toss it aside and move on to the next item that caught his eye. But now, he can crawl up to his little wooden car, grab it, and move it around on the floor or table. He also likes to take his wooden blocks and bang them together. Sure it's rudamentary playing, but you've got to start somewhere right? It's just so satisfying to get on the floor with him and play with him now. He's finally getting that his toys are not just for putting in his mouth and chewing. In addition to a new car seat, Simon and I are super excited to get Marius some new birthday big boy toys like ones where he has to put different shapes into a container and building blocks. We won't go crazy like some parents, but he should have some things that challenge him a bit more. It's so amazingly rewarding to see his development.
So, it's my mom's birthday today! Happy Birthday Mom. Here's a little song for you!
He's also started to play with toys. For months when he crawled up to a toy, he would invariably look at it, grab it, put it in his mouth, and then toss it aside and move on to the next item that caught his eye. But now, he can crawl up to his little wooden car, grab it, and move it around on the floor or table. He also likes to take his wooden blocks and bang them together. Sure it's rudamentary playing, but you've got to start somewhere right? It's just so satisfying to get on the floor with him and play with him now. He's finally getting that his toys are not just for putting in his mouth and chewing. In addition to a new car seat, Simon and I are super excited to get Marius some new birthday big boy toys like ones where he has to put different shapes into a container and building blocks. We won't go crazy like some parents, but he should have some things that challenge him a bit more. It's so amazingly rewarding to see his development.
So, it's my mom's birthday today! Happy Birthday Mom. Here's a little song for you!
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Back to the routine and getting lost
Well, now that the holidays are over things are getting back to normal around here. Marius and I started up our sing and sign classes and our swimming classes this week. Although we woke up late today and missed our swimming.... Oh well. We had a play date on Monday so we drove out (in the snow!) to go to a kiddie play centre, where Marius and two other babies got to crawl around to their hearts' content while us mummies chatted about summer vacations, mothers and mothers-in-law, and car seats over a lovely cup of tea.
The car ride out to this play centre went very smoothly, but by the time I drove home, it was getting dark (it gets dark here at 3:30) and evening traffic was already starting to pick up. I took one wrong turn, and then managed to get myself completely lost. It's very odd how people here manage directions. In the US we are very much a street sign and block counting country. I guess that's because all of our streets were built after the invention of the car, so they're for the most part very straight and have perfect 90 degree intersections. The US also has street signs with the street name very prominently lit up in the middle of intersections (at least for the major streets). And the name of the street is what one keeps in mind when driving about.
But here, the street name isn't that important. This is because they change every 3 blocks, and you can drive into a neighbourhood that has all the same name street. For example, I got lost in the Stenhouse area, so I turned on Stenhouse Street, Stenhouse Drive, Stenhouse Lane, Stenhouse Garden Street, Stenhouse Terrace, Stenhouse Garden Terrace, Stenhouse Loan, Stenhouse Park, etc.... So, I kept thinking to myself.... "I thought I just was on Stenhouse! Why am I still on it after turning?" That's because ALL of the streets are named Stenhouse. Confusing huh? But the most particularly confusing thing about this area, was when I got to a round-a-bout with 4 streets. This is totally normal, but the thing that threw me off was that all four streets were named "Stenhouse Drive!" So, I kept on trying to turn around, only to find that I was always on Stenhouse Drive. I pulled a Chevy Chase and finally drove all the way around this thing trying to find a different named street to get my bearings. But I was totally shocked to find that they were all the same name and the same street/drive/place label!!! Nuts! I had to just take one of the streets, drive for a long time and then turn and stop to look at a map to figure out which direction I was driving. Eventually we got back home, but what should have been a 30 minute drive turned into an hour long drive.
Another driving difference here is that major intersections are not known as say "the intersection of Morningside Road and Lothian Road." Instead it'll have a junction name that's totally unrelated to either street name. So, you can be driving and wonder if that's Morningside Road up ahead, but there'll be a sign saying "St. John's Junction" instead! That's how they label the freeway (they're called motorways here) exits too. When I went to pick Faith and Ian up from the Airport last month, I knew the street that I needed to take to get on the motorway, and got on it just fine. Then we needed to come back home, and I couldn't figure out where I was because all of the exits had junction names. Who would have thought? Plus, it's not like the maps have these junction names on them, so maps are totally useless in that case. You basically have to get lucky, or overshoot your exit and turn around once you realize that you've gone too far, or get off early and have to navigate your way through lots of confusing surface streets. We ended up doing the later in this case, so they got to see some bits of Edinburgh that they otherwise would not have! Not that the bits we saw were at all interesting.
Oh well, I'm sure Brits complain about Americans with our super long streets. I guess being told that a place is at 1268 Main Street doesn't really help you if you're new to an area and looking at a map, as that could be anywhere along a 2 mile stretch of road in most cities. Whereas if the names changes 5 times, you have a pretty good idea of what stretch of road you need to head towards, assuming you've memorized all of the various names or are looking at a detailed map... But I'm starting to memorize a few of the more prominent streets here, so things are getting easier.
The car ride out to this play centre went very smoothly, but by the time I drove home, it was getting dark (it gets dark here at 3:30) and evening traffic was already starting to pick up. I took one wrong turn, and then managed to get myself completely lost. It's very odd how people here manage directions. In the US we are very much a street sign and block counting country. I guess that's because all of our streets were built after the invention of the car, so they're for the most part very straight and have perfect 90 degree intersections. The US also has street signs with the street name very prominently lit up in the middle of intersections (at least for the major streets). And the name of the street is what one keeps in mind when driving about.
But here, the street name isn't that important. This is because they change every 3 blocks, and you can drive into a neighbourhood that has all the same name street. For example, I got lost in the Stenhouse area, so I turned on Stenhouse Street, Stenhouse Drive, Stenhouse Lane, Stenhouse Garden Street, Stenhouse Terrace, Stenhouse Garden Terrace, Stenhouse Loan, Stenhouse Park, etc.... So, I kept thinking to myself.... "I thought I just was on Stenhouse! Why am I still on it after turning?" That's because ALL of the streets are named Stenhouse. Confusing huh? But the most particularly confusing thing about this area, was when I got to a round-a-bout with 4 streets. This is totally normal, but the thing that threw me off was that all four streets were named "Stenhouse Drive!" So, I kept on trying to turn around, only to find that I was always on Stenhouse Drive. I pulled a Chevy Chase and finally drove all the way around this thing trying to find a different named street to get my bearings. But I was totally shocked to find that they were all the same name and the same street/drive/place label!!! Nuts! I had to just take one of the streets, drive for a long time and then turn and stop to look at a map to figure out which direction I was driving. Eventually we got back home, but what should have been a 30 minute drive turned into an hour long drive.
Another driving difference here is that major intersections are not known as say "the intersection of Morningside Road and Lothian Road." Instead it'll have a junction name that's totally unrelated to either street name. So, you can be driving and wonder if that's Morningside Road up ahead, but there'll be a sign saying "St. John's Junction" instead! That's how they label the freeway (they're called motorways here) exits too. When I went to pick Faith and Ian up from the Airport last month, I knew the street that I needed to take to get on the motorway, and got on it just fine. Then we needed to come back home, and I couldn't figure out where I was because all of the exits had junction names. Who would have thought? Plus, it's not like the maps have these junction names on them, so maps are totally useless in that case. You basically have to get lucky, or overshoot your exit and turn around once you realize that you've gone too far, or get off early and have to navigate your way through lots of confusing surface streets. We ended up doing the later in this case, so they got to see some bits of Edinburgh that they otherwise would not have! Not that the bits we saw were at all interesting.
Oh well, I'm sure Brits complain about Americans with our super long streets. I guess being told that a place is at 1268 Main Street doesn't really help you if you're new to an area and looking at a map, as that could be anywhere along a 2 mile stretch of road in most cities. Whereas if the names changes 5 times, you have a pretty good idea of what stretch of road you need to head towards, assuming you've memorized all of the various names or are looking at a detailed map... But I'm starting to memorize a few of the more prominent streets here, so things are getting easier.
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Hogmanay Days 2 and 3
Hogmanay is coming to a close. It was a nice couple of days for us. We started out with a bang, literally. We were roused from bed by the sounds of fireworks going off on all of the seven hills of Edinburgh. Luckily for us, one of the seven hills, Arthur's Seat, is viewable from our living room. So, we just sat there and enjoyed the light show from the comfort and warmth of our own place. Thank goodness the boy didn't wake up, so we could just relax and take it all in.
Yesterday it was pretty much raining all day, but we ventured out to see Dogmanay. This is where a bunch of Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies pull sleds on the grass. We were expecting a bit more competitive of a race, like the Iditarod. But then again, it is just a dog race in Scotland.... I guess one has to have competitions like this before making the leap to the major leagues. Anyhow, it was fun to watch for a while.
Today we drove out to Stirling Castle for a fun filled historic day. They had lots of people dressed up and reinacting things at the castle. We heard all about tapasteries from the tapestry dude for the king. Aparantly there was a lot of work involved what with transporting, hanging, cleaning, and repairing these things that often traveled around the island with the king. We saw some court jesters on stilts making fools of themselves for the king. Then we saw the king and queen being presented with lots of sweets and seranated by a lovely trio of musicians.
It certainly has been a lovely Hogmanay for us. I hope you enjoy seeing a bit of our holiday.
Yesterday it was pretty much raining all day, but we ventured out to see Dogmanay. This is where a bunch of Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies pull sleds on the grass. We were expecting a bit more competitive of a race, like the Iditarod. But then again, it is just a dog race in Scotland.... I guess one has to have competitions like this before making the leap to the major leagues. Anyhow, it was fun to watch for a while.
Today we drove out to Stirling Castle for a fun filled historic day. They had lots of people dressed up and reinacting things at the castle. We heard all about tapasteries from the tapestry dude for the king. Aparantly there was a lot of work involved what with transporting, hanging, cleaning, and repairing these things that often traveled around the island with the king. We saw some court jesters on stilts making fools of themselves for the king. Then we saw the king and queen being presented with lots of sweets and seranated by a lovely trio of musicians.
It certainly has been a lovely Hogmanay for us. I hope you enjoy seeing a bit of our holiday.
Monday, 31 December 2007
Happy Hogmanay
Well, it's the biggest holiday in Scotland today, and tomorrow and the next day... To start off our first Hogmanay in Scotland, we went to a Ceilidh at the National Museum of Scotland. There were lots of kids, so that made it especially entertaining. Not many people were super proficient, although there was a pair (the guy with the long hair, white T-shirt and kilt) of excellent dancers in the group. We went upstairs to get a better view of the festivities. I loved it, and am hoping to go to a "real" ceilidh soon where I can learn some of the dances.
The last song of the afternoon was Auld Lang Syne. It's a good old traditional Scottish song. The dance is an easy one, so I'll have that dance down pat on my next ceilidh! If you feel like singing along to the little clip below, here are the lyrics:
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
And surely I’ll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine†;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.
The last song of the afternoon was Auld Lang Syne. It's a good old traditional Scottish song. The dance is an easy one, so I'll have that dance down pat on my next ceilidh! If you feel like singing along to the little clip below, here are the lyrics:
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
And surely I’ll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine†;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Hair Today Gone Tomorrow
Well, after 2-3 years of growing my hair out, I finally gave it the old heave ho today. I have a foot + ponytail to give away to Locks of Love. It's my second time donating hair, and I think I may do it again. But we'll see how gray my hair goes in the next few years. My hair stylist was so nice. When I told him it was being donated, he only charged me for a blow dry. So instead of $80, it was only $50 - everything here is twice as expensive as in the states.... I gave him a fat tip, so in the end I didn't get much of a discount.
I had a baby-free morning to go get my hair done and then do some shopping on Princes Street . I finally purchased some jeans that fit me, and I didn't end up spending too much money. I also tried to find some cute hair things since I now need little clippies and headbands. But I didn't find too much that I liked for the price. I found some really nice headbands in Harvey Nichols.... But I refused to pay £40 ($80) for a resin hairband! Gees, I can't believe people actually have that kind of money to blow on a hairband!
Well, my hair cut is the big event of the weekend here. Monday we're going to go to the museum for a Hogmanay family ceilidh. Hogmanay is what people here call New Year's Eve and the next few drunken days. Check out the wikepedia link to find out all about the holiday. If there's one thing the Scotish can do, it's drink, well and burn things, so I guess there's 2 things we can really do! Oh, and a Ceilidh (pronounced Kaye - Lee) is a big dance party, sort of like square dancing except everyone does it and the men wear kilts! I can't wait until Monday!!!! We should have some good pictures/videos of that.
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