It's Just Not the Same

Yesterday we moved the staff back to the Glasgow branch, so it was busy-busy-busy the whole day. Yay. I was directing the flow of personnel, answering random questions, answering the phone, answering email-- all simultaneously. [I just knew I'd be sleeping well last night; and I did. For a whole 9 hours.] At one point I was trying to install a corkboard and couldn't find the tools, but then remembered I carry a little swiss army knife in my bag. Few twists of the handy dandy screwdriver attachment and I had myself an installed board.

I felt like McGuyver.

After work I was listening to an audiobook on my mp3 player while I cooked dinner. I ran the headphone cords down through my shirt and clipped the player to my waist, in the hopes of avoiding the usual 'catch the cord on the handles and RIP the buds from my ears' scenario. It was my favorite narrator (I lurvs me some Dick. Hill that is.) and I was totally engrossed in the thrilling conclusion about fighting the huge snakes and creepy crawlies when I bent down and the cord brushed against my skin on the inside of my shirt and I about had a fucking heart attack. Whahhaha.

After dinner I tried to get online only to come to the horrible realization that my laptop has died. Dead I tell ya. One of the geeks at work said if I bring it in next week he'll take a look at it and let me know if it can be fixed. Oi.

Speaking of geeks-- did you see the article on msnbc Geeks get violent in Silicon Valley? All article content aside, you have got to see the picture they use:

THIS is from the movie Fight Club:


Just not the same, is it?

Technical Difficulties

I stayed up way too late last night, and therefore slept in way too late today. Being as I had the day off from work, I was kind of bummed that I didn't accomplish a lot-- unless you count lounging around as an activity, in which case I mastered the hell out of that.

I totally screwed up thinking that today's date was the 28th, but its really the 29th, which means that I utterly forgot my sister's birthday because it was actually YESTERDAY. Oi, the guilt. In my defense I did mail her a birthday card (two weeks ago), but I don't know if it arrived. I can't quite gauge the postal system. Sometimes things take 3 days, sometimes 12, so I sent her card early with the hope that it'd get there on time. It's still early morning in Seattle, so I can't call Sally and grovel. Sigh.
___________________________________________

Saturday, after many false starts brought about by my office and PetraC's car troubles, we finally managed to make our way to the Cathcart Cemetery. I would love to link you here, except I cannot find a damn thing about that cemetery online. I normally have some mad internet researching skillz, but have hit a road block. Its possible that this cemetery is part of the Southern Necropolis, but I can't tell. I did locate some phone numbers that I'll call tomorrow and see if I can dig up some information about the graveyard (heh, dig up/graveyard).

Anyhoo, I gotta tell you that this place was AWESOME. You've seen the shots I've taken of the Glasgow Necropolis? Well, the Necropolis is on a hill that overlooks the city, and there is some natural decay and vegetation but it is pretty much a wide open area. Cathcart Cemetery? Totally different.

It was late afternoon, and the skies had just finished dumping another water load. Petra parked the car on the street, and we walked down a tree lined lane to the main gate entryway:



To the right was a very green hill leading up to some stones, but this trip I found myself veering off to the left. So far, it gave the appearance of a typical cemetery. And then I see this:




Was I really going to enter a dark forest full of graves?

Hell YES.

The main pathways are maintained, but the site itself has been left to nature and the overgrowth is unbelievable. At one point I had to climb through some underbrush and over some collapsed stones, and despite the pain (the lower back. again) and my fear of snakes I gleefully made my way snapping photos the whole way.



There were headstones and memorials of all shapes, sizes, styles and ages. I thought this one was quite sweet in its simplicity:


The wind was picking up and blowing the clouds away, so as we made our way back to a main pathway we were treated to a bit of blue sky and sunshine.



I wished I could have stayed longer, but from the first glimpse I knew I'd be back (and bringing my sisters) and so with this final shot I called it a day.


[click on photos to see larger view; click on flickr badge to view entire set]

Mastication Rut

Man, I slept something like 10 hours last night. And I feel like I could lay back down for another ten. I hope this doesn't mean I'm getting sick. I just think my body is tired of hurting (usual back crap) and is tired of shivering in this cold (maybe those two items are related?). From September to the beginning of May, the office building heat was on. No temperature regulation, just full-ON. This meant that I had to wear many layers, the least of which was a short-sleeved t-shirt so I could sit next to the open window in my office and stay reasonably cool.

In the winter.

In the UK.

Now that we've had summer-like weather, the PTB turned the heat OFF and I had to switch my outfits around so I could be wearing long-sleeves in the office while I sat by the open window trying to let warmer air IN. This last week, as the temperature outside took a nosedive from 70F to 50F, I was so cold that I had to pretty much hump the space heater I installed under my desk in an attempt to ward of hypothermia.

This morning I decided I wasn't gonna take that anymore and dragged out my winter fleece top. Its soft, and warm, and I gleefully looked forward to a day of comfort. You already know where this is heading, right? Yup, when I got to work I discovered that the PTB have turned the heating back ON...
___________________________________________________

Just in today:
The Breastfeeding etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 states that it is a prosecutorial offense to deliberately stop, or try to prevent, someone from breastfeeding (or bottle feeding) in public.

I think its sad that they had to pass a law to force assholes to behave, but am glad that they have. Now, hopefully, women will feel a bit safer feeding their children.

And for you pervs out there, the law considers a 'child' to be under two years old.
___________________________________________________

Here's another pic from the photography trip the Dad and MaryAnn took to Italy:

[NOT my photo, please respect all copyrights, etc]

___________________________________________________

Do you have a favorite meal? That you cook every week? I have basically four meals that I cook every week, three of which I do only because I don't think it would be healthy to exist on spaghetti alone (although I have done it before). I'm in a mastication rut.

1) I can't eat seafood
2) I don't eat beans -except for green
3) I need to freeze meals

Please email me any ideas, or feel free to post a recipe or suggestion in the comment section. I thank you, my tummy thanks you, and my taste buds thank you.

Cow Parade

Things I See:

Saturday I went to the West End (Glasgow), and had to cross over using a different bridge. From the outside, this very long enclosed bridge looks like a giant hamster trail: Once through the bridge, I just started wandering and passed through an aging neighborhood:

Next, I veered towards Kelvingrove Park:

Halfway through I noticed movement in the trees and saw a gang of pigeons bogarting the bird feeders. This guy was too big to fit, so he had to hover to get to the seeds:

Today I had to travel to the Edinburgh office to deliver, erm, documents to the boss. I was more than happy to do this because it meant 1) an extra half hour sleep, and 2) I'd have a chance to photograph the Cow Parade!
[more photos accessed through my flickr badge]

And, of course, what would a trip to Edinburgh be without taking (more) pictures of the Walter Scott Monument?

Mezzo-Soprano

Last night I was stopped at the crosswalk waiting for the road to clear when I was shat upon by a bird that, if I had to hazard a guess, had eaten asparagus/chili nachos for lunch. Thankfully it was raining (read umbrella), so the dive-bomb pretty much just hit my shoulder and ran down the side of my raincoat. Sexay, no?

Gav grabbed some paper napkins from the nearest fast food joint and we managed to tidy me up a bit before getting to the hall. I dashed to the loo to wash the coat off, but because they only have "earth-friendly" air dryers I had to settle for boiling my hands and waiting to disinfect the coat when I got home.

Despite being subjected to the most literal interpretation of my life my spirits couldn't be dampened for I had tickets to see Cecilia Bartoli perform Opera Proibita- Rome at the Turn of the 18th Century with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

The venue was nice, although a bit too warm, and our "nose-bleed" tickets turned out to be pretty great seats. Cecilia looked and sounded beautiful. She does amazing things with her voice, and there is this one indescribable note that brings me near to weeping every time. I don't have the music knowledge to give a proper critique; but my personal opinion is that she's fantastic and definitely worth seeing.

Pete and Repeat

Tuesday morning my cell-phone rang, and it was Sally's goddaughter calling from a phone-box on Buchanan street. She(and her boyfriend) had just flown in from Seattle and they had no clue where they were. I had her name the surrounding businesses and told her to stay put, I was on my way.

Five minutes later I was hugging this kid, torn between the warring images of her now (age 21), and that of her at age 2 when she lay on the floor and screamed "why" for six hours. Yes, they DO grow up. And now she was here with her boyfriend, needing a place to shower and nap. I took them back to my flat, rattled off a bunch of instructions that their jetlagged brains promptly forgot, and then dashed back to the office.

We met up with Gavin after work and went to the Bastille Taverne for dinner. Not too impressed with the food (mine anyway), but the atmosphere was great. I liked the feel of this place and will definitely go back for a better look around.

We went back to the flat for drinks and conversation and then forced ourselves to bed, because us girls were going to the Necropolis for sunrise and that 4am wake-up call was fast approaching. We didn't get a pretty sunrise, but it was quiet and thrilling and I think she had as much fun as I did. I can't believe how much that place has changed in just one month.

The trees are in full bloom, the grass had just been freshly cut, wild flowers popping up everywhere, and that headless statue I snapped last month has since been knocked over and broken apart. One picture I shot in black and white eerily reminds me of a crime scene photo. Well, I guess in a way it IS a crime scene.

Each time I go to the Necropolis I enter by a different route and see more than I had the time before. I still travel over familiar territory, but by letting myself see it through the eyes of the person with me I get a fresh take on things. I took her down to see my favorite tomb and got a mild shock. I have tons of pictures of this because it's gothic, and rusted metal, and just the coolest looking thing. Yet every time I come here the light is so different, and I try to capture what my eyes see.
I have been so preoccupied with photographing it, though, that I had failed to notice that the family buried there has my last name. Very cool. Weird, and maybe a bit spooky, but still cool.

Here are a couple more photos that I liked (the rest are accessed with the flickr badge).


a tomb door

a gargoyle on the Glasgow Cathedral

Smoked Sardines

I was going to write about my weekend, but I didn't do a whole lot so there ain't much to write about. So I thought I'd write about my day today, but it was basically a repeat of this weekend. Care to read about the banality of my existence?

Let's see-- Friday I stayed home from work and... didn't do a damn thing, at least nothing that I can remember. I did manage to shower and roll my hair with curlers and then attempt a nap, but the curlers pressing into my scalp triggered childhood traumas of similar events and the nap was not so restful. As for the end result of the hair, it looked mahvahlous. That is, of course, until I exited my flat and stepped onto the set of Twister. Excellent. At least it was good for a laugh when I saw the look that flickered across Gavin's face as he caught sight of me.

We went to brel for drinks. Well, one drink led to two and so on. I text another friend to meet up with us and soon we were grabbing munchies and beer and heading back to the house. One flatmate down for the count, the friend and I stayed up chatting until after the sun came up. I learned some startling and some not so startling things about my friend that night. Its a wonder I was able to sleep at all.

Lil'P and I entertained the idea of going to Edinburgh on Sunday; the "cow parade" is going on, and I thought it would make for some great pictures. I'm pretty skint right now, though, so instead I spent both Saturday and Sunday putzing around the house, surfing the web, and cooking up my meals for the week.

Today I awoke to a cold and rainy morning, which strangely put me in a good mood. Maybe its because I got to wear my hiking boots? Work was super busy, spent number crunching til my eyes crossed and before I knew it, it was time to head home. The subway was particularly crowded tonight, so when the neds next to me lit up inside the car we all noticed. It was funny how NO ONE said a damn thing to them, but instead just kind of moved in a little closer.

Oh, did I forget to mention that they were smoking pot?

Under the Tuscan Sun

MaryAnn (finally) emailed some of her Italy shots, and I just had to share a couple of my favorites. Click the pics to see them full-sized.
[These are her photos and all copyright stuff belongs to her, yada yada]

This is Florence:

This was taken from the balcony of their room:

What I like about this statue is the detail work. See how his fingers are pressing into her 'flesh'? Its so friggin' realistic...


April showers bring May flowers:

And finally:

Stirling (Scotland)

Friday my workmate invited me out for a drink after work. I should know by now that we are utterly incapable of having just one drink together. No "woo"s though, due partly to the fact that they don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo here and partly to the fact that I was already tipsy and on my way home before nine o'clock.
________________________________________________

Saturday Gav and I went to Stirling-- a town about an hour and a half from Glasgow (via train). It was another sunny day with a promise of 64F weather. And yes, that IS warm. We exited the train station and stood about while deciding which way to go. There are two main attractions in Stirling but they are on opposite sides of the town . Since I had never been there, I voted to start at the site Gavin had not seen before. So we headed off to the right where we walked across the Old Bridge and up to the Wallace Monument.

The trail up from the Abbey Craig is paved, but steep, and I was huffing by the time I got to the top.
Part way up I glimpsed this through the trees:

Ta da! This thing is cool:

The view of the town was spectacular, and across the way we could see Stirling Castle. The weather then started to turn a bit ugly, so we headed back into town to grab some lunch and wait out the rain. I had a wonderful bacon cheeseburger with thick fries and a special coke, and was so stuffed I was definitely ready for more walking.

The sun came out again as we walked up the hill to the Church of the Holy Rude (not to be confused with the Holyrood of Edinburgh).

The graveyard has a peak that overlooks the town and the Castle, where you can relax on the bench(s) and enjoy the 360 view.

To get to the Castle we walked down through the cemetery and up a staircase. From there we could look across the 'valley' to the Wallace Monument.
We finished the day with a coffee from the Bean Scene (cute, similar to the other ones) and a fabulous Indian dinner before catching the train back to Glasgow.

Long day.

Lovely day.

Recommended day.

Come on Barbie Lets Go Party

MaryAnn made it home from Italy, but she hasn't downloaded any pictures for me yet. I guess sleeping off the jet lag, eating a full meal, and going to her job were of higher priority. What?
______________________________________________________________

Lil'P phoned from South Africa today. One week away and already her voice has changed. Apparently when you mix a south african accent (which sounds similar to australian) with a native german but living in the UK for 17 years accent-- what you get is a rather american sounding accent. I didn't know who she was when she called. Seriously. It took four statements about how beautiful it was there for me to figure it out. Very weird.
______________________________________________________________

Yesterday was hot. Not whiny hot, just fidget in my chair because I'm slightly uncomfortable kind of hot. Which means that it was 70F. I am not prepared for this heatwave. Once I got back to the flat and undressed to a more comfortable state, I opened the windows and reclined on the sofa to allow the breeze to, uh, breeze over me. About an hour later the skies had darkened considerably (even though sunset isn't until after 9) and I knew we were about to have a storm. And what a storm it was! So much lightening. And thunder. Micki (the cat) was so startled by some thunder that he flew off the table and I don't think his feet hit the floor until he was in the hallway. Quite entertaining, actually. I wanted desperately to capture the storm with my camera, but knew from experience that I lacked the requisite camera + skills to achieve the desired results. Instead I curled up in the window seat and enjoyed the show.
______________________________________________________________

I just realized that today is Cinco (cinqo?) de Mayo and the only wild plans I made were to do laundry and pack my bag for my daytrip to Stirling tomorrow. And I feel a wee bit annoyed at myself that I find my original plans preferable to a night out on the town. Dear gawd when did I become such a dud? I can't quite pinpoint exactly where in my lifetime that I found going to a bar, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, yelling WOO over and over, and groping with strangers to be a turn off.

I would rather host a small dinner party where there'd be good music (just loud enough in the background to aid with the ambiance, but low enough to allow for comfortable conversation), great food, and copious amounts of alcohol (usually red wine). Oh, and I wouldn't be opposed to the groping thing, either. So I guess it boils down to crowds, bars and screaming WOOs that I don't like.

Maybe I'm not that much of a fogey...

Gertie was in the House

Sorry Jules, by the time I received your triple dog dare on Friday it was too late to flash the fella.

So I did it this morning.

I don't appear to have made any impact on the construction workers, but the secretary in the next building now looks to be a bit perplexed.
______________________________________

I was up and out of the house early on Saturday, ready to feed the cats and head to Edinburgh. I fed & watered the 'boys', sifted the litterbox, washed my hands, forgot to grab the documents I needed, got to the bank (it was closed), went back for the documents, took the underground to city centre, went to the Post Office (line too long) and immediately left, went to another bank and deposited my bagged coin (they bag it here instead of roll it), and made it to the train station with 15 minutes to spare.

I was standing outside smoking when this guy wanders over and, ignoring the bright white headphones protruding from my ears, starts talking to me. I pull out one ear, ask him 'what' and he repeats his request for a cigarette. I show him mine and say, "this is the only one I have". At this point they usually mumble something and quickly move on.

Not this guy.

He plants himself in front of me and tells me that he wants me to give him the half-smoked fag. The one that I was still smoking. Audacious motherfucker.


Anyway, the train was full but I managed to squeeze myself into a seat by the window. Woot! A pretty day, beautiful scenery, moving vehicle.... snnzzzzzz. I'm so bad about that. If I'm not driving and the journey is longer than 20 minutes, I totally doze off.

As I exit the train station, I am struck by the difference that 6 weeks can make. Back then the ground was covered with snow. Today the gardens are covered with hundreds of half-dressed people reclining on the grass, soaking up the sunshine.

Its 54F.

Myself in a short-sleeved shirt, I begin my climb towards the Royal Mile. I'm in a familiar area, so I'm trying to branch out and take pictures of the unusual instead of all the things I've seen before. I was hanging over a railing taking a picture of a door with graffiti when I heard sirens and drum. Lots of drums. Yay, that means there's a parade. Or a political demonstration. Either way there will be flags and waving, so I am pleased.

I got in front of the police escort, or as I like to refer to them "The Four Horsemen". The horses were neighing [sp?] and prancing, but every single time I would click the shutter, all four would stand completely still.

Following the horses were the drummers and May Day sign holders, and a bunch of people who I think were just walking along and decided to join the parade. My favorite was this old guy leading the marchers, just behind the horses. Sadly, we lost him to the next corner pub.

I stood on the corner and waited out the parade before dashing across the street to the Elephant House Cafe.

Cute place! They do indeed have a lot of elephants in there, but its not smothering in the least. Also, the food is good and affordable. It gets quite crowded, but I still managed to snag a table near the window with a view of the Castle. I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures with so many people around, but I did sneak one of the massive carved-wood elephant chair that was at the table next to me.
My non-date was great too. We chatted for an hour, and then walked down to Princes Street. I pointed out my favorite "building", telling him that I have tons of photos of this but still didn't know what it was. Being an Edinburgh native, he was quick to explain that it is the Sir Walter Scott Monument, and that for £3 you can climb to the top of it.

Next time.