Friday, October 29, 2004

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!!!!!!!

Today I am Countess Shanula - Gothic vampiress in training, Tomorrow who knows? Perhaps I will suck my way to the top in siliar fashion to Presiditial Candidate George Dubya!

Anywho, another short blog today - this time completely and utterly because I spent my lunch emailing various warm-blooded peoples.

Right, so this weekend is bound to be full of tricks & treats. Tonight, we are heading to Leith (scary enough in itself) for a Fancy Dress (read - costume) party. I am Vampiress, Keri is Goth Chic and Jen is French Maid/Flasher ... honestly if she bends over even the slightest bit she'll be pulling a Bridget Jones!!

I've been informed that I will recieve training for my new position in v. near future and that I am being put on one of the most complicated type cases (my manager thinks I am capable/quick enough to pick it up..hahahaha) ! ANyway, looking forward to using my brain again - maybe then I will be able to write Witty Blogs again.

Oh - my official start date is November 8th, which, incidentally I am taking off as a holiday.

I am thinking about getting my nose pierced...thinking A LOT.

K - that's gota be the end for now..try to blog again soon with more interesting news....

EAt, eat and eat some more treats!!!


Tuesday, October 26, 2004

K - this is goingot be the shortest post in awhile, namely because I don't have much lunch time left, but also because there is not much of a Weekend Review to post about anyway. It seems, with autumn weather and it darkness settling in, we have become rather predictable and slightly more homebodyish....

Friday night = Farewell to Kathleen - 8 girls, 1 American-style resturant and overpriced Hamburgers (seriousoly $18 for a hamburger & fries people...I don't care what anyone says..I will do conversions if something seems a wee bit overpriced). Anyway, the most eventful part of the night was when I became the target of anpkin throwing.....Kathleen was trying to take an action photo..don't ask.

Saturday -Hallowe'en costume shopping with Jen - turned up empty handed in the costume department,but landed tonnes of free food samples at a really interesting outdoor market wiht many international food booths and yummy hot nuts.


Saturday night we went to a pub called the Hog's Head to meet some other friends...I had to do a double take on this new drinking venue, beacuse, it turns out I had been to the Hog's Head before..in 2003! Fun times, but our gals didn't show up until long after we'd departed for the Walk About. Jen & I have decided it si time we moved on to another place..there seems to be a trend developing here what with Filthy's, the WalkAbout, etc.

Sunday - absolutely nothing - a day full of laziness. The highlight was a walk which found me atteh Botanic Gardens - beautiful depsiet the drizzle.

Yep..short and sweet.gotta get back at it.

Write soon, so I have mail to read when I PAY to check my hotmail account :)

Friday, October 22, 2004

Blimey..I don’t blog for two days and a blood relative queries via email as to why? While I wish I could say it’s because life has been just soooo hectic I couldn’t even find the time to eat, but, alas that is not the case.I have been eating just fine. The reason for lack of blogging is, for the most part, because my mid-week days were rather boring. The other reason is because I am seriously considering going on strike from the blogging thing until I get some decent emails from blog readers…not just replies to my emails, but actual emails initiated by y’all. How else am I to know what is going on with you? In particular, I would love to hear from the following sparse-communicators: Andrew (since I am sure he has lots of news about his new home in Calgary) Becky Coffin, Constable Mintie-Fresh, Schemida (although she did just reply to an email I sent so is in the good books for a few weeks!), Chris my Kitchen B*tch #1, and, well, pretty much everyone else who has access to an email account and time in the day/night (if you are working for the gov’t I KNOW you have time!!!)

Other random thoughts, opinions or news:

6 and ½ weeks until I go home for my 5-week stint. Can’t wait for Christmas in Canada!

Something is kind of fishy at work today. Literally. Our office has a disctintly fishy smell, which all the women have noticed. Some men came down earlier to rectify the smell-problem. I’m pretty sure they thought we were all a bit daft and imagining things b/c they didn’t smell anything (they sprayed something on the carpets anyway). In conclusion I would say women have a better sense of smell, but does this mean that we necessarily have to smell better?

Last night I heard a quote that I just love – very fitting for the moment I am in right now. OK, first off, I must admit that I was watching Princess Diaries and that is where the quote came from (and yes, if you are wondering, the DVD came from good ol Glasgow Pirates). Right, so here is the quote:

The brave may not live forever, but the cautious never live at all.’

In a similar vain, here are some other quotes with a similar message.

There is as much risk in doing nothing as there is in doing something.’
‘The greater the risk, the greater the return.’


K, new subject!

Yes, Mom, payment time does suck, especially when one is repaying Student Loans, yet currently finding her degree of no use whatsoever (except that she’s been able to maintain student status and continues to receive discounts at the movies).

Keri & Jen are going to Disneyland in November. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to indulge in a £200 2-day trip to Paris (see above for main monetary issue). I am slightly jealous, but have decided that, in the new year, I will make the most of my 49 holidays (yep..that’s right, with public holidays, annual entitlement and flex-days, I can take off 49 days!!)

Tonite we are saying our final final goodbyes to Kathleen Duncan, who heads back to Canada after almost 2 years in this fair city. We will miss her!

K..that’s all I can blog now…have fun, stay safe and, if you haven’t done so already, get out there and buy up some yummy Hallowe’en candy. Eat it without any feeling of guilt, because mini-packs don’t contain any calories or fat!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Hey Hey Hey Folks! It snowed last night in Edinburgh. Mind you, it was wet snow and it didn't last long, but I got rather..er..excited by it. Apparently I did not have my snow-fill this year, despite the bloody 4 months of endless white stuff while I was on PEI.

Fast-forwarding from last blog post, where Sahra & I were waiting and waiting and waiting to fly back to Edinburgh to this past weekend, when Sahra returned to Canadia and I decided it was time to be a tourist in Edinburgh.

Jen & I made our way over to the Old Town to visit the Royal Scottish Museum (free!!!), which was pretty good, as museums go. Lots of different themes including the Natural World, Asia..tehy even had room for more relics of the recent past liek a giant cell-phone from teh early 90's and computers from the 80's. Plus one of Elton John's Pink Polyester outfits from 1973. THey ahd some sort of drawing activity going on, where you could take a drawing board, paper and pastels/chalk/crayons and be inspired by the museum's pieces. Jen & I took the materials and were inspired by each other, drawing 'portraits' in rather interesting colours. I use the word portrait loosley - mine turned into an interpretation of what Jen would look like if she were a male. Hers turned into an interpretation of what I would look like if I were an Anime cartoon.

Saturday night we ventured to a new pub - the World's End, where our friend, Shannon is the cook. We were there to say a fond farewell to our Canadian friend, Kathleen..who, incidentally, we already said goodbye to back in August, but who decided to return early from her European travels. She is flying back to Canada next weekend.

Oh, but Sunday was the higlight (and lowpoint) of the weekend. Jen & I decided to head off to Glasgow (my first time there) and visit the markets, which are open on the weekends.

I was envisioning a mini-Camden type Market. Little did I know I would find myself admist 'Pirates of the Bonnie-Land.' I was absolutely blown-away by the massive number of vendors (aka cons), selling pirated DVD's and CD's. Seriously distrubing - where were the police??? I felt guilty just walking amongst the stalls. Oh, in case you're wondering, most of the movies on DVD are STILL playing in theatres (e.g. Shark-Tale), or haven't even come out over here yet. Same deal with the CDs....the latest and greatest.

Anyway, I learned the full significance of 'Caveat Emptor' myself. I purchased two bottles of perfume (CoolWater & Chanel 5) that were boxed and plastic-wrapped, for a mere £10. It was only when we were shopping in real stores that I decided to open my Coolwater and do a test spray. Blech. Not at all like it was meant to smell. I was duped, but hey, in retrospect it serves me right and, like they say, you get what you pay for. Unfortunately, I am still out my favorite perfume, but will manage not to let the smell get to me :)

So..yeah, that was quite the experience. Makes me think twice about the whole piracy thing, cause it seems wrong for these people to be profitting off someone else's talent. Plagiarism is still considered a serious offence by the law and most people, so I wonder why the same ethics don't seem to apply to other forms of media.

The rest of Sunday, we shopped in legitimate stores. We also had nachos at Pizza Hut - they should stick to pizza. We told Keri we met some Kiwi boys (her favorite kind) and went to the WalkAbout in Glasgow..we've yet to tell her that we made that story up. I have no fear that she will discover our fib by reading my blog :)

This is fun, but my lunch is done (note the rhyming)

Monday, October 18, 2004

Warning:
This post may cause confusion, head-scratching, disorientation and, in rare instances, maddness. If you have difficulty processing massive amounts of gibberish and/or understanding disconnected sentences/paragraphs it is strongly advised that you refrain from reading this particular blog entry.


London Adventures Continued

Saturday in London = Shopping Galore, Grand Entertainment and Fabulous Atmosphere.

We decided to hit Camden Town, as the Camden Markets had come highly recommended by bargain-hunter extrordinaires Keri & Jen. What an experience!! The market is massive.... Booths upon booths of people purveying goods - jackets, boots, tops & trousers, crafts, candles, jewellry and, of course, massive amounts of food representing cultures from around the world. I can't really do it justice in words - it was an amazing sight and unique experience. I was relatively good about managing the money though (given that I ahd so very little on me!). My only purchases were a cute T-shirt and a Bag/Purse adorned with the Beatles.

Following on the market, Sahra & I made our way back to Covent Garden, where we enjoyed a few street performance shows and got to see the most tattooed man in the world (he was entirely grey AND wearing a kilt!!!!) Afterwards, we visited the Theatre Museum, which focussed on the history of live theatre in London. It was def. my favorite museum as it was more hands-on and colourful. We watched a theatre make-up demonstration and Sahra volunteered to be a canvas - She looked like one of those pale women from the 18th century by the time the artist was done. Quite teh sight. I wanted to volunteer too, but was certain I wouldn't be able to put on the wig at the end. Sigh - starting to realise just how limiting my hari style can be when it comes to wearing clothes/doing certain things.

You know what? I can't even recall what else we did on Saturday! Packed and ate at the Italian restaurant again??

Right - Sunday, our last day in London. Lots and lots of waiting- not the restaurant kind that could get you monetary returns, but the kind where you sit around and check your watch every five minutes and get really ticked off when you learn your Easyjet flight is late and you will be arriving home too late to catch the AIrlink bus.


Anyway, we spent Sunday morning at Buckingham Palace, waiting to watch the Changing of the Guards. It was worth waiting for - the weather was great and the policemen doing crowdd control were amusing. No sign of the Queen though - because she was in bloody Edinburgh along with Sir Sean Connery ..parading down the street to open the new Scottish Parliament.

Following on that spectacle, we did some last minute shopping for souvenirs then headed to Regents Park to watch a Scrum in the Park - the World Champions of Rugby (the England team :), were practicing in the Park and it turns out that is a big deal. Wish I could say I was enthralled, but such was not the case. RIght...rest of the day was spent waiting. I know Gatwick airport much too intimately now, giventhat I spent 7 hours there last November and another 4 this October.

OK - fast forward to this weekend past!! Blogworthy adventure to post but have just noted that my lunch is over, so will do my best to post this evening or tomorrow.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Gah! Sorry I've been lax with continuation of London Adventures. THursday was just not a good day. If I'd blogged on THursday, it would have been quite unenjoyable a reaad. And Friday I decided to be sociable at lunchtime (for once) and joined a colleague in the restaurant for food and a serious chat about our ambitious entreprenurial plans. I have an idea - humbleness aside, I think it is a great product/service and I think it fills a major gap in the market. Thats all I can say for now, but hopefully it will come to fruition soon enough...

OK ..back to London Adventure - to be honest, it is all blurred together in my head at this point. The only thing I know for sure is that Sahra's feet hurt and we spent a lot of time eating/enjoying the sight of food and catching the Tube to get from one place to another.

Friday, however, was our day of escape from London. We'd booked a day trip on a Luxury Minibus (read - expensive!!). THe tour was called Stones & Bones, and took us through the English countryside SouthWest of London - with stops in Salisbury, Amesbury (for a country pub meal), Stonehenge (the piece de resistance) and Avebury (which,was really much cooler than Stonehenge in my opinion).

Hmmm..what were the highlights of the day? Well, Salisbury is famed for its Cathedral ..apparently size does matter when it comes to religious temples and this one has lots of features that are 'The Biggest'. It also contains one of only 4 remaining original scripts of the Magna Carta. THe Magna what?? I knew I had heard of it..way back in high school..I knew it was important, but heck if I knew exactly what it was. As it turns out it was basically the first Constitution - the first piece of law that gave people certain freedoms such as the right to a fair trial. THe basis for many Consitutions of today and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Pretty neat. Salisbury was the quintessential English town, with its cobblestone streets, tiny shops of all kinds and a lovely river running through it (the Avon). Apparently there are lots of rivers called Avon - it means water.

Stonehenge was, unexpectedly, impressive. Sometimes one can build up their expectations of something like this, only to be let down by the real thing. This was not the case with Stonehenge, at least not for me. I suppose it is just a bunk of stones/rocks...but when you consider they were placed there some 5,000 years ago, adn the circle was perfected over a period exceeding 1,000 years, you really have to wonder what made it so significant and what were these people doing here?? Oh...they also had pictures of Crop Circles that appear nearby on an annual basis - kind of 'freaky'

My favorite stop, however, was a little town called Avebury, which had a stone circle of its own (they are actually quite popular). THe stone circle encompassed the entire town centre, it was much much larger than Stonehenge. Our tourguide let each of us use the dowsing rods he had with him. The Stone Circle was aligned with leylines...as are many of the significant stone circles across Southern England. .

Yep..so the tour was worth it. We got back around 6.00 and headed back to Harrod's as Sahra was dying to have mug of the hot chocolate I had enjoyed the day before (I swear they just melted a chocolate bar and added some cream). Alas, the cafe was closd, so we set our sights on Covent Garden - the theatre district, where there are plenty of tourists, restaurants, cute little shops and street performers. There was a lovely atmosphere in the area, and we enjoyed Cornish Pasties while listening to some guy strumming the guitar & singing Bob Dylan & Marley.

That was Friday....will get back to yas on Sat & Sun soon enough. Am sure this recap of London is getting rather winded..I'm sorry, but there's not a whole lot else to report on at the moment. We haven't been up to enough trouble lately :)

Tomorrow we are heading to Glasgow for some touristy stuff, and cheap shopping at massive carboot sale!!!


Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Shannon has been at work since 8.45. It is now 1.15 p.m. She has just clocked out for lunch.

How many hours has Shannon worked today?

a) 5
b)4.5
c)4
d) None of the above

If you chose anwer B..you are good at math. If you chose answer D, you are realistic.

In total, Shannon has actually worked only 1 hour today. The other 3.5 hours have been spent doing aptitude tests (see example above), interview, training and drinking hot chocolate.

I can't help it..there are just some days when one finds oneself unable to perform in disciplined manner. Albeit, I did have excusable reasons for not working most of the morning, but am now finding it difficult to concentrate on work. Ah well..this afternoon I am training a new temp to takeover my lovely data entry position.

AS fot the interview - it ended up being non-existent. After 1 hours worth of aptitude testing, in which they made sure I could perform basic math problems and spell properly, I was brought into an interview room and left to wait. I willed myself not to start panicking/sweating (they go hand in hand0, only to discover that the interview had been cancelled adn replaced witha casual chat between myself, my manager and an HR person about my work visa and teh need for a clause that would render me terminated in May 2006 if my visa cannot be extended. THe HR person informed me that chances of extending my visa on teh basis of a skill shortage in customer services was fairly low. Hmm..guess I will have to move to Plan B - a marital arrangement. Will take tips from my sister, who fenangled a fiance without going through the whole dating thing...

OK - back to LONDON ADVENTURES. Thursday: We made our way to Buckingham Palacae to watch the Changing of the Guards. The Changing of the Guards was not to occur _ our guide bok was a bit out of date. We spent the rest of the day down along the Thames, checking out Tower Bridge (which everyone thinks is London Bridge..but London Bridge is really quite plain & ugly), visiting the Tower of London (Sahra went in..I was too cheap to pay the £13/$30 admission so I wandered around and spent no money).

We then walked along the Thames to the Millenium BRidge - a pedestrian bridge that wobbled when they first built it. It was a long walk - I discovered that I am either a fast walker or Sahra is a slow walker. Anyways, after much walking & waiting, we finally made our way to a wharf, where we caught a boat headed down the Thames. I love boats, I wish I could be a pirate. Following on teh boat ride, we made our way to Baker Street (which I was later informed, was the home of Sherlock Holmes..no wonder there was so much paraphenilia about him). Anyway, we went there to visit the Beatles store. V cool, but rather expensive.

We decided to make it a quiet evening and visited a lovely Italian restaurant, with lovely Italian waiters. It was as romantic as it could get, given the company :)

K..back to work..must train the new temp to do my old job :):)


Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Right..its time to write.

Well, as I've already recounted, my arrival in London was a wee bit panicked due to absence of sister at Gatwick airport. I still hold that she told me she was arriving at Gatwick, although I should have recalled that Air Canada does not fly into that airport. Anywho, looking back on it, it is quite funny...the funniest thing (to me anyway) is that Sahra had brought over a rather heavy duffel bag of Canadian goodies for me, but had insisted time & time again that she would not be carrying the bag any further than the airport terminal in London. As it turned out she had to lug the bag (without a shoulder strap) up and down a number of staircases on the Tube. Ah well, good weight lifting practice I say (and thank you)!

OK, so Tuesday we decided to start the morning off at some of the FREE museums - I was particularly keen to check out the Natural History & Science museums. Sahra was not, thus our 'visits' were more like 'whirlwind' trips through the hallways of each musuem. It's alright though...I realised early on that my interest in science was as muted as it had been in high school (yes, I am still embarassed that I dropped out of Chemistry). As for teh Natural HIstory museum..it was v. interesting and right up my alley, but the sun was shining, so I didn't mind much that we quickly found our way from the museums to Hyde Park.

Hyde Park is huge. Mammoth. Lovely. The highlight there was at teh Round Pond (such an original name), where there were a load of Swans and Canadian Geese chillaxing on the grass.

After Hyde Park, we decided it was time for a bit of posh shopping, so we jumped the Tube to Harrod's. OMG - where to begin in describing this massive, amazing department store. It is like nothing I had experienced before -the epitome of perfection in every way - this was no Zellers or Eatons..it was in a class of its own. My favorite departments were the Perfume/Make-up section where Jonathan, working at the Versace counter, asked me if I'd like to try some new colours (YES!!) and said he was surprised I didn't get asked for makeovers all the time, what with my unique eyes..oh how I love flattery! Now, I know you're probably saying 'well, he was just trying to sell you something', but he didn't try AT ALL..seriously.. The other highlight was, surprise, surprise, the food hall..which was divided into sections including Cheese, Bakery, Desserts, Sweets..I was in food heaven.

After a 3 hour stint at Harrods (about 2 hours too long for me, but somebody just ahd to viist the Christmas and Stationary sections :), we grabbed a bite to eat at a vegetarian Thai buffet. I know, I know..after Saigon Saigon I was a bit wary, but the whole vegetarian thing gave me some hope.

Yep..so that was Day Two..stay tuned for the rest of the story. I have to go eat now. I am coming down with a cold. THey have hired a new temp to replace me..looks like I am pretty much guaranteed a place on the team (so why, why must I do interview tomorrow?? Woe is me).

Hope all is well - email me if you can - especially Andrew and Becky R :)

Monday, October 11, 2004

Ooooohhhh Free Internet!! Free, free, free. I had completely forgotten that the tourist info centre sometimes offers free Internet, probably as I haven't been here since JUne..having morphed from tourist to visitor to temporary resident over the past five months. Did I mention how much I love Free things??? Free food samples are obviously the best and I have become quite the expert at sourcing them out, bt, hey, free Internet is also nice.

K..enough about free things - let's talk about something that definitely was NOT free- My London Trip. Officially, my holiday is over :( I am back 'home' in Edinburgh, having arrived late, late last night after extended delays and way too much waiting for an airline that calls itself EasyJet. Yeah..easy to predict they will ALWAYS be late. But I'm not bitter about missing my FREE airlink bus home and having to pay cab fare. Nope, not bitter at all,

ANyways, I'd love to tell you all about my Lovely London Adventures..and don't you worry I most certainly will, but now is not the time. Given that I lack the ability to be concise at this whole blog-writing thing, I best pace out the whole London adventure and post it in a mini-series format over the week.. Another thing I love - the whole mini concept - mini cars, mini series, mini candy bars (excessive amounts of these at Hallowe'een. Right, so keep checking back this week - I'll post lots about my time in England over the next week or so...as much as my weary mind can recall.

Oh right- so back to the present. Sahra is staying with us and since today is Thanksgiving in Canada (Happy THanksgiving), we are celebrating by doing what us North Americans seem to do best - eating copious amounts. Due to lack of money to buy a turkey and the dressings, as well as some hesitation at trying sucha cluinary feat as cooking and serving a turkey to persons who actually want to eat, I've opted for a safer route - the French-style Thanksgiving. Thanks (no pun intended) to a well-packed duffel bag brought over from Canada, I am again armed with my crepe pan, thus I will be treating (?) the gals to sweet & savory crepes tonight. Crepes with cheese, ham, mushrooms & onions for the main course, crepes with choice/cobinaiton of nutella, strawberries, whipped cream, bananas, syrup and/or sugar. Yeah, so that's it- just a simple, French dinner. No replacement for turkey, but I try...

K ..so best go see what Sahra is getting up to..knowing her it can't be good ;)

OH - in case anyone is wondering, I have another job interview and aptitude test for the perm position at my workplace. Wednesday is D-Day. Oh, how I hate interviews. Tests are fine. I can do tests. But talking in a clear and coherent manner. Answering specific questions about my capabilities. NOT rambling....How am I going to do it??????

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Um..so yeah..like, dude, I'm in London and it's Totally Awesome!!!!!

OK, I really didn't expect to be blogging from here, but the hostel had to go and give us 15 minutes of free Internet access..so here I am to relay our adventures so far.


If I could turn back time, here is what I would have said to Sahra a WEEK AGO!

'So I'm fliying into Gatwick at 10.00. What time do you fly in?'

'OK..well then if you are there at 6.25 you can just meet me at my arrival gate - flight 704 on EasyJet'

'K..here's the part I should have added:

'And you're absolutely, positively sure that you are flying into Gatwick???????'

'Oh, oh you're not, well that kind of changes plans doesn't it? If you're flying into Hethrow thee is no way we are going to connect at the airport..'


Yes, yes that's right . . . .major miscommunication resulted in Sister & I arriving at different airports. I, uncharacteristically, had not planned a contingency and had no info written down about the hostel or how to get there or even how to contact them..was relying on sister Sahra, who had all that info. UNfortunately she did not have my mobile number.


Yeah..so there was some panic, a few curses and a frantic call to Saviour MacPhail!!! Anyway, we ended up meeting..just a few hours delay. It didn't help that, at the airport, Sahra had left me a message, but a wman by the name Courtney Shannon had come by for a different message and the airport people presumed she was me.


K, so after initial unsought panic, I decided that self-inflicted panic was the order of the day. With this in mind, I insisted that we go up the London Eye..the world's largest observation wheel - read GIANT Ferris Wheel..with pod-like capsules for the 'victims'. Why I chose to pay £11 to get on this very, very high and very, very slow-turning wheel I have no idea. Anyne who knows me, knows tha I freak out at the thought of heights...I've even been known to shed a tear or two on a ski lift. Funnily enough tall buildings don't scare me and flying is fine, but something about big wheels and hanging from wires puts me off. ANyway, I survived and, to be honest, it was definitely worth the money and initial panic for the view..we even had a rainbow

TIme is up..gotta go 'DO LONDON'

Sunday, October 03, 2004

Its Sunday afternoon - gorgeous day out and here I am in EasyNet cafe trying to work out last minute details for....get this.... my LANDING IN LONDON!!

That's right folks, in two mere days/48 hours I will be in LONDON - One of the great cities of this world!!! Best of all, I will be meeting my big sister, Sahra there for a 5-night, 6-day adventure that I suspect will be full of fun & fantastic sights, and, quite possibly, a few moments of panic on The Tube and when we get 'Lost in London' (it is bound to happen..apparently 'sense of direction' does not run in the Courtney blood...Sahra will likely deny this, but it's true)

Anywho...yeah so, right..the Weekend Review:

Well, for once I don't have a long-winded report of what we got up to on this side of the pond. To be honest, it was a pretty tame time by Jen & Shannon standards..not sure what Keri's analysis would be..I think she was asleep more than she was awake this weekend...

Friday Night = Flat warming party at a friend's flat in Leith. This friend's name is Shannon and she is also Canadian (a West-Coaster though). I am feeling less than unique since I arrived in Edinburhg, having met two other Shanadians.... A short drop-in to the Walk-About on our way home..just to be sure it was still in good order. Don't usually go on Friday nights as there is always a band playing, thus the stage is unavailable for dancing and we must mingle with the commoners :) Anyway, glad we went because the band rocked. I may have developed a wee crush on the singer despite, as Jen pointed out 'he probably weighs less than me' It's true..he could probbaly go in the ball room at McDonald's if he wanted..but there's something about a guy with a mic in his hand...

Saturday = shopping at the mall. How North American. But I scored a sweater (aka jumper in the UK) and v. shannon-like shirt

Shoot..think time is running out.

Anyway, hope y'all have a good week while I am IN LONDON. Oh, but I am in work tomorrow and I have my interview for the FT job, so keep your fingers crossed at 11.30 (GMT)