These entries are taken from a journal I planned on keeping throughout my stay in Edinburgh in 2000/2001. Unfortunately I didn’t keep to it as well as I should have, but the few entries I did get down on paper brought back memories. This is the sixth post.

1/20/2001

A heh… well I’ve procrastinated a bit on writing but I’m practically at the same point I was at in my last entry: jobless with a place to live. Let’s see if I can remember some of the details of the last two weeks…

Jim and Margaret at Baronscourt wouldn’t take any payment for the extra couple of days we stayed with them. They were so hospitable and kind the entire time we stayed with them, so we’re going to plan to take them out to dinner some time (Eh, never happened. - DAve).

Amy and Luci came in contact with this guy named Gordon Stewart who rents out approximately 40 flats all over Edinburgh. This guy was a charlatan in every sense of the word. A and L met him one day so he could drive them to a flat and show it but he ended up driving them around on errands and the like before actually getting to the room. As a result they were an hour late meeting me at the BUNAC office.

A and L decided to take one of the rooms he showed them on Home Street, which they’d share with an Italian girl named Anna. All in all there were like 8 people in the flat, all sharing one bathroom and one kitchen.

Anyhow the first night they’re there Gordon brings them alcohol and sat up with them ’til 4 in the morning pouring them drinks. I’d like to think I’m not overprotective of Amy or Luci but things like that make me a bit wary, not to mention that he was overtly affectionate with Luci. This guy looked to be in his late 40’s/early 50’s, wore a sport jacket over a coffee-stained sweatshirt and had teeth of various shades of brown. As they say over here, “dodgy”. Well, as it turns out BUNAC has a post in their office dissuading people from having this guy as their landlord… a piece of info obtained AFTER both A and L had paid him a deposit of 100 pounds or so. He’s under investigation by the “Council” here because what he does (leases flats then subleases to students/travelers) is not completely legal.

Anyhoo, as it turns out A and L found a place just down the street from mine on South Clerk Street! It’s a huge flat with 6 bedroom and 2 bathrooms, and one kitchen. They have a room to themselves which I think is what they wanted most.

The others who live there are cool - Andy’s a musician from Australia who took a fancy to Luci immediately. Carolina is from Spain and is the psuedo-denmother/boss… she collects all the rent payments for the flat owner, etc. There’s Gibby from England, a religion major at his University who was nice enough to play a board game with A and L one night. Lessee… there’s Jota from Spain… and some others.

Amy was dead-on when she said it was a multicultural “Real World” at their place. The main problem they’ve had so far is the heat is OFF from 11 PM - 8 AM and A and L have been so cold that they’ve slept in multiple layers of day clothes, even hats and gloves! I suggested they buy a space heater but Luci might be too cheap for that (I don’t actually think you’re cheap, Luci, and they did get a heater. His name was Glen.).

As for me, these last two weeks I’ve just caught myself up in whatever A and L are doing on any particular day. Having a place to live has made me a bit overcomplacent about finding work. There have been some things of note go on the last two weeks; in no particular order:

• The three of us went to the Cameo theatre and saw “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Cool movie.
• Andy went with us to the Museum of Scotland and we checked out the “Heaven and Hell” exhibit, detailing different cultures’ attitudes and traditions towards death and dying. There’s tons more at the two connected museums (one is strictly Scottish history, etc. and we didn’t even go in there) so we’ll definitely be going back.
• We went to the first BUNAC pub meet at this Irish place called Finnegan’s Wake. A band played Irish tunes as well as popular songs (”With Or Without You”, “Sweet Home Alabama”). I got tired and went home about midnight and found out the next day that A and L stayed out until 4 AM until the dance club they had moved to kicked them out.
• My flatmate Neil’s a good guy - very laid back. His dad’s been in the hospital and though Neil doesn’t know him very well he still checks up on him. Neil also had an iron beam hit the side of his face while on the job, cutting his cheek up pretty good. He’s got a big bandage on his face as of now.
• Amy found two books in the flat they moved out of and gave them to me: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis and Alive by Piers Paul Read. I read TLTWATW over two nights and read all 300 pages of Alive last night from 7:30 to about midnight.

I think that pretty much catches things up to the present… Amy’s birthday is Tuesday so I’ve got to get cracking on some plans for that. Luci took her out last night for a Girl’s Night Out Birthday thing which is why I spent my evening reading an entire 300 page book about Uruguayan plane crash survivors in the Andes eating their dead friends to stay alive.

Got my first roll of film developed a couple of days ago. There’s some good pics of Hogmany, the Castle, tailgating before the Tennessee game (!). Might scan a few and send ‘em out via e-mail.

Oh and Bush, I mean, Dubya, gets inaugurated today. Godspeed Texas Oilman.

Sayonara.