Hey Hey! OK, so its my last Monday in Scotland. And I am not workign. Happy happy joy joy! I am, howver, considering my finacnes (or lack thereof) for the first time i..er..a wee while. IT not encouraging. Sigh. No the plus side is the exchange rate and opportunity to get my taxes back. We won't talk of the negatives.

IRonically or maybe just plain stupidly, I planned to stay in Edinburgh until Sept 11 so I could make more money working. And thens eomwhere along the line I decided I should finish on 2 Septemebr. And then i decided I wanted to stay at my flat until the weekend - three days into September. I didn't realise my landlord would charge £60 for three nights. Sigh. So, as noted above, the irony of my foolproof plan to make moer money by staying longer has backfired and I am quite suer by week's end I will haev spent more than the difference of a flight on Sept 2nd. But then agani, I wouldn't get to see Rae & Chris & Wendy and that, well folks, that is pricelss. You can't put a pricetag on friendship and so I am very very very happy to be here for the week! I am also eternally grateful to Ailbhe & her flatmates for letting me stay with them!

So, this si teh last weekend review I wil be writing from Scotland. I will have to break tradition and be concise as I am at the library and trying to do other rather important things like book my bus to the airport on Sunday. So here it goes:

Friday night - Leaving do/last drinks with workmates. Started at the Ritz where many coworkers joined. Even Mark & his wife, Mrs Mark, joined despite Mark being on holiday. Gonzo joined us too- I let him have a few sips of my wine even though I think he may be underage. The rst of the muppets stayed at work to guard fellow colleagues' workstations. Mrs Piggy really wanted to come out, but we all know she has a drinking problem so we chained her to the desk to be sure she didn't get away. Anywho, most everyone left to go home to their respective partners (sigh) or beds, or both (double sigh) after the Ritz. It was just me, Michelle & Helene, but that's OK - they are my fav workmates (plus Derek & Mark of course!) More wine was drunk adn then Brandon joined. Eventually the workmates left so Brnadon & I joined Ailbhe and her former workmates for more drinks. IT was a godo night until I had to go home ot my empty flat. Last night in the flat and I was all by myself. Obviously I HAD to play teh Scissor Sisters one last time on my stereo!

Saturday = Pakcing & Moving my crap to Ailbhe's. I thought I had packed most everything on Thursday night. OH how wrong I was. Bloody hell, the amount of stuff accumulated over one year..not all of it mine mind you, but I had to get rid of it all. It was devastating to say goodbye to so many clothes and jackets. Luckily, Grand & Brnadon provided some muscle to assist in moving the dresser & boxspring out. OH, who am I kidding? they didn't assist - they did it all! And ethn some old lady started eyklling at us for leaving the furniture by teh rubbish bin and threatened to call the Council. Brandon & Grand just stood there silent and possibly a bit fearful. I *May* have did a bit of talk back - nothing rude but reallyit wasn't her business and my landlord had instructed me to do it this way in any case. Gads. i hate when peopel start yelling about things just for the sake of it. I vow never to be that kind of old woman (or young woman for that matter).

Ailbhe helped me move the rest of her stuff after I made my way to her place with my 30 pound backpack, 15 pounds laptop case and other bags strung haplesslly aroud my neck. I was quite the sight I am sure and I had to walk a ten-minute janut from teh bus stop to her place, but it toko me twenty mins at least!

Finding a cab that will take a mattress was an ordeal in itself. Whenw efinally did get one, I didn't realise we would be folidng teh mattress in half. Who would have thunk it? Folding the ol mattress -tricks of the trade I guess.

Sideote- jsut realised I am not being concise, so will do so fomr here on in

Satuday Night - spent in, too tired and feeling rather sick so to ebd by midnight.

Sunday - late start to the day. Pam (of Dublin days) came down to meet up with Ailbhe & I . She is the link and only way that I everwould haev met Ailbhe. We all went to an Asian festival & had Chicken tandoori. Went home, freshened up then went ot pRinces Street to watch the Fsetival fireworks - was fabulous (note - was going to make a big anaolgy about how fireworks are like going ot live in a new country, but it is rather lame & I haven't really got the time!) . Few drinsk afterwards, then turned in for the night.

Which brings us to today. I have lots of plans so I must depart now. Adios - will write again sometime soon