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Tuesday, 2 January 2007 - Winter Wonderland continues!

Christmas and New Year's may be over but all the action in town is still going strong! As well as the Winter Wonderland on Princes Street, there are more rides and whatnot going on just up the hill. The first thing I saw when I turned up tonight for a gander was this big thing spinning around bloody fast while swinging over everybody's head - pretty cool but one of those rides where the weak of stomach would bring up their dinner straight afterwards hehe.
There was also this thing swinging people back and forth that was cutting it pretty fine to this building!		This big thing hurled people in huge 360-degree circles, also bloody fast, and also probably one for the weak of stomach (and heart) to avoid ;) There's also a bungee rocket here too, good stuff!
Meanwhile just down the hill, the Winter Wonderland is still attracting hundreds. Good thing we're not in north Scotland right about now though; while Edinburgh's lights flickered a lot during the winds of New Year's Eve, north Scotland's lights went out and haven't come back on since hehe. The wind brought down trees and power lines and so forth, and Scottish Power is having a tough time restoring power up there. This is one climate where you don't want to be without power for any length of time - the high today was 6 degrees (and that's quite good)!

Thursday, 4 January 2007 - Back to work, ugh!

For the next six months at this stage I'm working on a client site in Glasgow (an hour west of Edinburgh by train). So on the occasional days such as today where the weather's nice, I plan on going for long wanders during lunch to have a good look around the place, much like I did in Brisbane. This guy was wowing all the kids today with his bubbles.

Clearly Edinburgh wasn't the only place battered by the New Year's winds. Like Edinburgh, Glasgow's Hogmanay Street Party was also cancelled.		I was told a while ago about a cycle path that runs the full 60 miles (100kms) between Edinburgh and Glasgow; looks like this is the Glasgow end. Just gotta get me a bike again now, and it'll be back to the 100km slogs! :)

Friday, 5 January 2007 - Leather

Leather by me.

Saturday, 6 January 2007 - Linlithgow!

At about midday today I was bored. Since I'm working in Glasgow I have a monthly train ticket which allows me unlimited travel for the month between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The train can take one of two routes between the two cities, and stops at several towns along the way. So, I thought, I might go wander around one each weekend (weather permitting) to keep me amused until I get a bike when the weather warms up - brilliant! Anyway, first town: Linlithgow, a town of around 13,000 about 20 miles west of Edinburgh. The shot on the left was taken near the train station looking over the town with St Michael's Church and Linlithgow Palace in the background (below).
The first thing I came across was St Michael's Church and Linlithgow Palace (now in ruins). You could walk around the palace for £4.50 which I wasn't interested in doing, but the chick who sells the tickets had her head buried in the newspaper, so I just walked on in like I own the joint hahaha. It wasn't terribly interesting though.
The palace overlooks Linlithgow Loch, which is home to more bird life than any other lake I've ever seen - there were hundreds, if not thousands of them!		And they certainly felt they ruled the place too. They ran/flew after these cyclists...
Cornered these people in their car...		And ripped this bench out of the ground ;)
This one had a go at that one...		...and then attacked me and my camera hahaha!
After running away I found a couple of bars, including The Black Bitch...		...and this one which appears to have been attack by Harry Potter geeks.
Off the main road I found the locals getting rowdy over a soccer match (the fella pointed out face-planted right after I took this shot - the crowd loved it), and at full time they all hit the social club next door hehe. I walked around a bit more but couldn't find much else of interest. So that was Linlithgow. I'll try for somewhere else next week.

Sunday, 14 January 2007

No exploring this week thanks to the weather, so instead I played chef for some mates. Lately I've had a real fetish for home-made pizza! I buy the bases and just throw on whatever comes to mind, bang 'em in the oven for 15 minutes and voila! I put together a couple of beauties last night: BBQ Chicken and Bacon: BBQ sauce, mozzarella, chook, bacon, onion, capsicum, grated cheddar, and more BBQ sauce. Num-nums! Cranberry Chicken and Brie: Cranberry sauce (and lots of it!), mozzarella, chook, and brie. Pretty simple but pretty good!

Tuesday, 16 January 2007 - Glas-Vegas!

Sunny day today, so I asked a mate at work (who lives here) if there's anything around town he recommends I go see, or anywhere he recommends I avoid for that matter. He said, "Yeah don't go east, and don't go west. Actually don't go north either." "Oh right, so I can go south then?" "Yeah, but not too far, like don't cross the river." Hahaha, ok. So I headed south (towards the river), and I can't say I was impressed at all. Glasgow hasn't made much of an impression on me from what I've seen of it so far while I've been working here. It's just a big ugly concrete jungle. The night life is apparently awesome though (especially if you want to get stabbed), but the day life is pretty bleugh!

And why should we not cross the river? Because it looks about as dodgy as the river itself! So yeah, Glasgow. The city's ugly...		The people are ugly...

Chewing gum all over the place...		And no respect for their heroes hehe!

After feeling pretty uninspired I suddenly got pretty excited. Off in the distance a heap of smoke was billowing out of something. "Sweet as!" I thought, "Fire!"		But no it was just Glasgow doing its bit for global warming. That isn't steam by the way.		Behind me, way off in the distance, was more of the same.

The cycle path that eventually leads right through to Edinburgh lead me to the 136-acre Glasgow Green - the oldest park in Glasgow dating back to the 15th century (when it was basically just a swamp - go play in the park kids). The shot in the middle is Nelson Monument. It was erected in 1806 - the year after an Admiral Horatio Nelson was killed in battle. I'm not sure what was so special about him but he's apparently famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars (I assume he kicked a lot arse).				This big thing is the Doulton Fountain - the largest remaining terracotta fountain remaining in the world. It's been standing here dribbling water since 1890.

Right in front of the Doulton Fountain is the People's Palace and the Winter Gardens with a cool little cafe in the glasshouse out back. "The People's Palace is Glasgow's social history museum and a chance to see the story of the people and city of Glasgow from 1750 to the present". Pfft, no thanks - I've seen enough ;)

Across the road is this thing that looks like a cross between a brewery, and a palace. It was built in 1889 and is apparently modelled on the Doge's Palace in Venice, It was originally a carpet factory and is now a business centre.		Yup, just another day in Glaswegian paradise. I've liked Edinburgh from the start, but Glasgow has made me appreciate it even more. Edinburgh really is a beautiful city from what I've seen of it so far, and admittedly that's not much but that'll change from about April when I buy another bike. Can't wait!		YEAH, GLASGOW!

Wednesday, 17 January 2007 - Two years, and counting!
Exactly two years ago today I left the comforts of home-sweet-home (Christchurch, New Zealand) for the great unknown to explore the world. First stop: Brisbane, Australia. The plan at that stage was to set up camp in Brisbane for a year or so before relocating again to the United Kingdom. 19 months I eventually did just that :) The rough plan from here is to remain in the UK for the bulk of the five years that my ancestry visa allows me (Edinburgh for now and probably London later), working and saving my £££. Having said that, after those five years, there are options available that will make me eligible for a British passport if I stay here for a little longer. I'll keep thinking about that - five years is a long way away. Regardless of when I leave the UK, I'm considering relocating to Canada for a couple of years. From there I can travel the Americas before probably heading back home (whether that be New Zealand or Australia). Plans change though, so really anything could happen, and that's all part of the fun :)

Two years ago, at least according to my mates back in Australia, this is how I spoke hahaha. Pricks! I don't agree with "Sex - one less than seven" - to me it's the Aussies that sound as though they're saying "sex" instead of "six". Now my accent is apparently a mix of both Kiwi and Aussie according to everyone I've spoken to over here, or maybe they just can't tell the difference. If I start to pick up the Scottish accent too, well I'm going to start sounding pretty messed up!

Wednesday, 17 January 2007 - Anyone need a room?
So our new flatmate hasn't lasted long. She's moving out after just a couple months because she can't afford next month's rent, which probably has something to do with the fact she calls up her work claiming to be sick before heading out to parties hehe. At least she told us now rather than next month.

Wednesday, 17 January 2007 - More entertainment on the trains!

While we were on metro trains in Europe, Mo and I came across singers, preachers, accordion players, and probably other random things I can't remember. On the train between Edinburgh and Glasgow before and after work I usually sleep like a log, but tonight I was kept awake by a these two who, along with a couple of others out of shot, were doing a show in Edinburgh somewhere tonight. I guess they figured they'd warm up on the train hehe. Anyway, it was bloody great to listen to! I asked the girl how much the harp is worth. "Umm it'd be about the £2,500 mark". Geez!

Thursday, 18 January 2007 - Show me the white stuff!

The walk home from the train station last night was probably the coldest I've experienced since I arrived in Edinburgh five months ago - it was absolutely biting! After getting a bit of sleety rain on Monday night, I figured it was bound to start snowing any day now. Didn't have to wait too long! The city is quite close to sea level, and it was sort of both raining and snowing when I was walking to the station this morning.
Pretty much the entire distance between Edinburgh and Glasgow was completely white! It's hard taking decent photos in early-morning light while the train is cruising along at 100mph (160km/h), but you get the idea. It snowed for most of the morning in Glasgow before the sun came out in the afternoon. Typically weird and unpredictable weather.

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