It's a small world

Ha ha, the Glaswegian who punched the fireball terrorist at the airport just walked in to the pub. Never stand between a Scot and his holiday!

Edinburgh.....finally

Well, after arriving in Scotland about 15 months ago we finally made the trip 2 1/2 hours East to Edinburgh.

Even so this trip wasn't undertaken through any particular touristic zeal but because Eva's cousin Michael was up North from London for a few days R&R between jobs.

We caught up with Michael on Wednesday night after not having seen him since Christmas '03 and it was really, really good to see him.

We have both been catching up on each others movements based on 2nd and 3rd hand news for the last few years so all the details and bits and pieces were great to hear. Michael was only up for the night so after dinner and coffee the following day he was away but we are now pretty convinced that we are going to visit him in London sometime soon. Can you believe that despite both of us having our cameras on us the whole time we forgot to get any photos together?!?

As for Edinburgh itself we had a bit of a wander through both the Old and New Towns which were very appealing, overlooked by the castle of course. Despite having seen loads of programs on Edinburgh we weren't really prepared for how looming the castle really is. Thursday was a day of gale force winds so perhaps not the best time to be looking around but we've decided to knuckle down to another trip over soon to have a proper look about and see the inside of the castle.

Eva has just discovered she has a second cousin is in Ed at the moment so we could make it a bit of a reunion city....

Photo: Posing in front of the Castle on a rather windy day (Adam has since had a haircut)

Saturday Night

Saturday night was all happy and sad. On one hand we were celebrating Matt's 30th birthday (whether he wanted us to or not) complete with the band singing Happy Birthday and a bottle of Cava being cracked at 12 'o' clock.

On the other hand it was Robyn's leaving drinks which was a bit of a bummer. Robyn moved here with her friend Matt (different Matt to the afore mentioned) a couple of weeks before we first started and they were our neighbours so we all sort of settled in together.

Robyn's Matt then went back to Oz and Robyn flew the coop of the staff quarters moving in with a local buddy and well and truly placing herself in Inveraray itself not just in the George culture. This included striking up a relationship with a local fellow so now her visa has expired it's all quite upsetting. She is going back home in the hope of being able to come back on some sort of student or skilled migrant visa but it's all up in the air. Working here we get exposed to so many people who's path in life is determined by the ability to get (or not get) visas. Pretty glad we came over hitched already :)

Photos: Matt and his wife Jill, Robyn was the happy-snapper of the night

A white Inveraray

After about a week of Britain-wide blizzard warnings that always seem to leave Inveraray with nothing more than rain (of course) we finally got some snow. In fact, we got the best snow we have seen in two winters here and from the sounds of it the best snow for quite some time.

It fell overnight and into the early morning (we are working on George time, early morning=9:30) and the day turned out to be overcast but lovely.

We went for a walk down to the front and Eva continued along to the castle almost slipping several times. The young ones of the town had already been out making snowmen and Eva caught Skye and Mark (our new Aussie neighbours) doing the same near the castle.

Even the roadworkers who have been busy tearing the main street apart for a few weeks got into the spirit of things building a snowman out the front of the hotel which they named Big D- they found a walking stick and all!

The snow didn't last for long with rain washing it all away before long but the town was transformed for a day and it was simply beautiful.

Photos: Mark and Skye building a snowman, Big D directing traffic, The view from front street, A bunch of snowmen