Archive for Six Years Ago Today
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 seventh and final post.
2/5/2001
Hmph. Still no job but I’m having fun all the same.
Amy’s birthday was fun. I got her a few books she was interested in and took her to dinner at DeNiro’s Italian Restaurant just down the street from my flat.
My flatmate Neil’s father died two weeks ago… Neil’s sister Jennie came back here from Australia for a week for the funeral. Sad. Neil’s kept to himself about the whole thing so I haven’t pressed him to talk about it.
Aussie Andy and Luci seemed to have paired off, although Luci would deny anything’s going on. A buddy of Andy’s, Mike, moved in not too long after Amy and Luci. They’re both musicians and they were nice enough to make a CD of some of their songs for me. The first song on the CD is yours truly doing “Being Old Sucks”, recorded in their room.
We (Amy, Luci and I) went back to the museum last Tuesday since it’s free after 4:30 and checked out all the Scottish History exhibits.
We also went to a ceilidh a couple of weeks ago for some traditional Scottish dancing. Fun. Since it was also Burns’ Night we also got to see the Address to the Haggis, preceded by a piper playing and leading the dish into the hall.
It snowed really hard all day yesterday so Amy, Luci, Mike, Andy, Andrew (another Aussie here for a while) and I went to the Meadows, a large flat park area near us, and played in the snow. Something like five inches of perfectly packable, throwable snow. We had a blast.
I’m going to check out this sandwich shop called Archie’s tomorrow about a job. I already put in an application at a place called Semi-Chem (a kind of drugstore) but I’m not sure if I’m going to take it, esp. if I get hired at Archie’s. Keeping me fingers crossed…
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.
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 fifth post.
1/7/2001
Well, I found a place to live. It’s a flat (w/ my own room) on Clerk Street, a popular thoroughfare for college students and the like. My room looks right across the street to the Odeon Theatre and its purplish neon lights.
There’s a pub, dry cleaners, internet cafe’, restaurants, supermarket and more all within walking distance. The guy who lives here now, Neil, is a pretty cool guy (apparently likes his hashish) and the place is certainly no worse than Parthenon (It was actually tons better than Parthenon - DAve). It’s got mucho charm and frankly I’m just glad I have my own room.
We’re still here at Baronscourt; Jim and Margaret have let us stay a couple extra days. I’m going to move in tomorrow and spend the day shopping for some room acoutrements. Now at least I can be jobless with a place to live.
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 fourth post.
1/3/2001
Baronscourt
We went to Edinburgh Castle and I got to see some things I didn’t see when Charles and I went there back in ‘97. Today we went to BUNAC orientation and got a couple leads on some jobs… the hunt begins tomorrow.
I think we’re all looking to live on the south side of town, near the University of Edinburgh campus. Amy feels a little under the weather, hope it’s nothing too serious. We might end up staying here at Baronscourt for a couple extra days, not sure yet.
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 third post.
1/1/2001
Holy cow. What a crazy last 24 hours. Loony. Insane. Nutty, even. We got into Edinburgh (after meeting A & L at the airport) the night of the 30th and were picked up at the train station by Jim, co-proprietor of the Baronscourt Guest House. We’ve got a great place - den with kitchenette and TV and a bedroom with a full bath.
Anyway, we left for Hogmany at about 7 or so last night and on the bus downtown (or to the “centre” as they say) Luci had to apparently pee reeeeally bad so the first thing we did was find a pay toilet and she proceeded to leave her camera bag in the pay toilet as it began its self-cleaning process. Apparently these toilets wash the interior out with hoses after each use and also wash things off the floor through a panel. So when the door opens back up for me to go in, the camera bag, with Luci’s $400.00 camera, cash, and credit cards… GONE.
We hadn’t even gotten inside the festival area by this point. We find a phone and call the TOILET EMERGENCY CENTER. They tell her they’ll try to recover it and have it at the police station the next morning. So we walk around the area, gawking at the beautiful Edinburgh castle lit by spotlights and torches on the hill above us, amazing. Checked out Moby on the big video screens - he was playing at the castle. (Talk about a small world - DAve).
It snowed pretty heavily for a time but then changed to rain, so we queued up at this pub and after waiting about 45 minutes or an eternity or so we got inside. After about half an hour of playing wallflowers, a guy from Newcastle came up and started talking to Luci and eventually bought us all drinks. Johnny was his name - he went to the U. of Newcastle and was at Hogmany with some of his rugby buddies (cool guys). We joined them outside for the big countdown and when it was all said and done, the Edinburgh sky lit up from the glare of golden fireworks and Luci had found someone to kiss (and kiss, and kiss) for New Year’s. Johnny gave her his number in Newcastle and asked her to call him… apparently he was quite taken.
After leaving Hogmany we trekked to the bus stop and were fortunate to be at the stop with an elderly couple that was at the one we headed downtown from. So we had no real difficulty getting back to Baronscourt.
One problem, though: the one set of keys we had with us were in Luci’s bag. Thankfully, Jim and his wife Margaret were still up so they let us in. Their daughter and her husband and another couple were there and they kept feeding us alcohol. So all ended up well…
Not quite. Our room door was locked with the same keys that the toilet at and the only spare was inside the room. So in the early morning hours of the new millenium our host Jim had to take the hinges off the door so we could get in. I was embarrassed by the whole thing.
I woke up at 3 PM to find that Luci had already gone to the police station (by Jim, nonetheless) and gotten everything back. We took it easy all day today and plan on hitting the Royal Mile tomorrow for a last chance to be real tourists.
Ciao.
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 second post.
12/29/2000
11:10 AM GMT
Victoria Station, London
I didn’t sleep at all last night, which I guess is a good thing. I should be plenty tired to go to sleep at the “proper” hour tonight. Got here via train from Gatwick a couple of hours ago. Wandered around aimlessly and somehow ran into Buckingham Palace while the Carollton High School Band was there. Small world, I guess.
I’m back in the station now, having coffee and trying to decide how far I should venture out to find a place to eat. Shakespeare’s, the place Chuk and I ate at way back in ‘97 is right across the street. This is definitely a pricey town, save the large coffee which was only 50p. I think the Pantry’s coffee is better though. I need to find a phone quick, now that I think about it. Need to call Amy and let her know our meet-up plans. Wait… it’s only 5 AM there right now. I wonder what time they’re leaving Savannah. Might look for a CD store nearby and pick up OK Computer since Earl ate my copy.
More later.
God, I miss the snacks…
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.
12/28/2000
6:00 PM
Hunters Moon Inn, West Sussex, England
I have to admit I was shocked at the quality of Delta Business Class seating… personal TV’s and all the legroom anyone would want. My flight went well and the Hunters Moon Inn folks were nice enough to pick me up from Gatwick. After enjoying a cup of coffee and watching half of “Dawson’s Creek” on one of the 4 TV channels here, I made the mistake of falling asleep for 5 hours so I think my sleep patterns are going to be all screwed up. I’m at the pub/restaurant here at the B & B now and I’ve already been criticized for ordering a Caffrey’s - apparently the bartender thinks it’s “shite”.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow but if it’s not too expensive I’ll take a cab into downtown London and proceed to get lost. We’ll see. Amy and Luci get in on the 30th and it’s off to Edinburgh!
Tally-ho for now…
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