Flatmates

As promised to Mum and Dad (several weeks ago), here are some photos of my housemates. These were taken at our apartment warming party, hat themed and lots of fun.

1. I like this one as I'm the only one who looks sober - gol! Helped by the fact I'm hidden by the photographer's sneaky finger. These are my housemates Diana, Marcos, Noni, Agata and I. My other housemate Lawrence arrived at the party later, will post a photo of him real soon. Phil is trying to wangle his way in the shot to pretend he's a flatmate but fails.

2. Nic, Noni, Anna, Phil, Marc, John and Stefan. Stefan is now bkiking his way across Europe - brave boy! John is psyching himself to do the Running of the Bulls in Spain soon. Hope he won't be wearing that hat!

3. The "esky". No room in the fridge for beer? Just hang 'em out the window!

4. Me and Marcos. He always takes a good photo. And has shinier hair than me with more volume. Damn it! Oh well, can't have it all...

5. Random hallway shot.

Lots has been happening but at the same time nothing. Thankyou Melissa for the delightful postcard from Adelaide - what a great idea.

Cool photos thanks to Jas

http://www.bugbitten.com/blogs/Europe/JasL/Lisa_Briony_in_Fulhanm.html

Here is a link (may have to cut and paste the address) with some photos of our stay with Jas and Shoana in London over Easter. It's from Jas' blog (excellent blog, tops photos). Yes, duty free vodka and Sainsbury's own brand Red Bull makes for a sweaty, half opened eyes night out. Someone bug Briony for her photos of this evening, she's got lots more incriminating shots of Shoana on our walk home...she's a devil that one!

If you are reading this Jas you better come and visit us here quicksmart so we can take you on a tour of ol' Edinburgh. We should all dress up like it's your hen's night - Lucas included. Dressing up is a really orignal idea here, no one else does it at all...not. Best of all you can wear your highest heels cos we'll only go across the road. Pubs are all at our doorstep and the yiros place is right underneath so that takes care of any late night food issues. Gol!

More photos coming really soon of our housewarming we had this weekend just gone. Fabulous party...a full report coming at 6 hehe.

I've got a new apartment, baby

I've got a new apartment baby,
And it protects me from the lonely whistling streets,
And I've got a new apartment baby,
The interior colour is red,
And my only friend is my stereo receiver,
Playing my favourite song all night long,
ahh

Anybody remember Custard? They were the first concert I went to all those years ago, at Magill Uni with Pornland and Regurgitator. Jennifer, i believe you were in attendence, as was Julie Brazzatti. Wacko!

So, here are some photos from my new apartment:



This is my building, our bedroom window is fourth from the right, on the top floor above the sandwich bar and BCKM solicitors. How convenient that our neighbours are only there during office hours!




Welcome to the very bland hallway. Our room is first on the right, our toilet and shower first on left (it's too little to get a good photo of!). The hallway with another toilet, shower and bath and Lawrence's room is next on the right. Spanish couple's room is last door on right and Agata's room srtaight ahead. The lounge and the kitchen is second door on left. To the right is also the crusty springy mattress Noni and I had to sleep on for 2 weeks. Ah, new beds. Our room is the next few photos, before I show you those, I've included a rant I wrote to Cara a few weeks ago when we first moved in. I had to delete a few expetives, wish I had some before shots...
"Ugh we spent all last night after work cleaning and scrubbing and disinfecting washing and vaccuuming and mopping and getting our room in tip top shape, still doesn't have our smell yet so still doesn't feel like 'home', won't take long for Briony's farts and my essential oil to perfume the place. It really BLEEPS me the other two rooms that were vacated over the last few days were scrubbed clean and even linen was washed and left clear. The guy (BLEEPING Aussie) in ours just packed his shit and left the place absolutely disgusting I think he was BLEEPED he had to leave (couldn't afford it must drink too much cos this place is BLEEPING sweet, cheaper than a hostel which is what he is going to so the mind boggles). It was disgusting, full of dust and but luckily he is a boy and it was nice to find lots of spare change around on the floor under the couch etc so that bought me a few beers when we finally finished and all went down to a bar for a few beers to celebrate new housemates at 11pm last night down the street. We disinfected EVERYTHING! At least we can now start to put the finishing touches in our room and make it our own, can see lots of potential even though we missed out on the huge room by half an hour (the spanish couple viewed the place 30mins before us and had the pick of the rooms and seriously, their room is huge like a ballroom seriously why does a couple need all that room when they share a bed! We are so jealous but I'll get over it, ours is still big enough to have 2 double beds (although we onlt have 1 atm), a comfy Ikea couch and wardrobe and drawers (might need more hanging space soon we can just get a roly rack for a fiver at the cheap shop.)"
Hehe, he left his tv so now we've claimed it and our room is complete - enjoy:




My bed is the red messy one, Noni's is the blue/cream on with dirty pyjamas on top. Doesn't take long for us to get comfy - this room was spotless the night before! The lighting makes it look like we're in two seperate rooms but I assure you, we are not.

The next two photos are me sticking my head out the window left, then right up George VI Bridge. On the photo looking to the right has the library building where I am right now, posting on my blog (it's the last building before the building sight at the top of the pic). Wave to me! Looks a little bit grey today but it's been quite nice.





Please enjoy other random photos of the apartment. Boring details but at least it gives you a picture:







And that's me in our messy room. I dyed my hair last night, it needed it so badly. Excuse the makeup running down my face, I've just come home from a full on day from work. I started in a new job at the RCN today and it's much busier than reception. I hate not knowing everything either and so I stressed a bit today but I'm sure it'll get better really quickly, just need a few days to work things out and get my head around procedures etc. The team I work with are great, though...thank goodness. I'll post a bit more about it another time, hopefully later this week. Ciao x

I haven't forgotten you, blog!

Hi everyone

Been awhile since I've posted, someone needs to give me a good kick in the bum with this blog every now and then! All is well and settling down in our new apartment, been there for over a week now - time is going so fast, can you believe it's mid May already? Before I know it summer will be over (hopefully not before it begins) and we'll be braving lots more wind and rain than we are at the moment.

Despite all the talk about the weather, Edinburgh's been quite good to us Aussies. April was incredibly mild and it hardly rained at all. It's been a little bit damp here for the past week though, some days it will get better in the afternoons while other days the sky stays grey all day. On Monday it was quite nice and sunny after a dreary weekend so I went for a big long walk after work but after an hour it started to turn and I got caught in the rain, no biggie though I just put my hood on and kept walking for another half an hour. I walked around the fringe of the city centre, it's the best way to discover which buses go where, find cheaper restaurants, and help me to generally nut out the city. I came across the Royal Commonwealth Pool which is quite rundown, so much so they admit it in their brochures however they are closing it next year to build a new one. Reminded me of the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, think that's looking a little bit worse for wear these days. I used to love going there when I was a kid for some reason even though the diving pool was never open. Not that I would have had the guts to jump off the 10m plank anyway, but it's nice to have the option.

Been going out lots and still meeting new people. I'm trying to save a few pounds and shed a few pounds by laying off the beer but it was a friend's birthday today and we went out last night to celebrate and somehow I helped to devour a bottle of red. Never mind. We went to a really lovely place called Iglu, a tiny bar/lounge/restaurant. So nice! We wanted to treat ourselves and share a cheese platter but the kitchen is so small they had actually run out of cheese! I’m just trying to think back and let you know what else we have done over the past few weeks. I’ve seen a few gigs at this place called Cabaret Voltaire, mostly up and coming bands or singer from the UK but last Monday an Australian brother and sister duo called Angus and Julia Stone played. I think they were in the JJJ Hottest 100 this year, really lovely laidback melodies. Julia is this tiny little thing and looks a lot like my my cousin Ben’s fiancé Nicki (I’ve got no idea how to spell her name, so many different ways hope it’s right). I’d never seen them live before so it also took me awhile to get used to her ‘Joe Cocker’ moves on the stage when she sings. A bit strange at first but by the end it was endearing. Angus is a real cutie, a bit shy but his voice is gold. There was such a serene air in the room when they were playing - I think Edinburgh was charmed that night by those two Aussies.

Speaking of gigs, Cara let me know Josh Pyke is doing another tour of the UK (he was last here when I was in NY or around that time – not long ago) so I will be there with bells on in June when he comes to Glasgow. Hopefully I can recruit a few people to enjoy his tunes as well, really love his stuff. That’s why I’m so annoyed – my mp3 player and noise cancelling headphones were stolen out of my room at the backpackers (Briony and I were sharing a twin room, you’d think we wouldn’t have to lock everything away. They didn’t even have lockers in that room. I’d love to know who it was that took it, it was a crappy, clunky player of no value or use to anyone but me. I hate that my music is gone and also that someone got into our supposedly private room but I’ve filed a police report and will file a claim with travel insurance to hopefully replace the items. Whoever took it I take heart in the fact that karma will come back to bite them on the bum soon enough. Rargh. Interestingly, Briony’s hairbrush has also been taken. What a weird item to steal but it’s nowhere to be found and she never took it out of the room so we can’t come to any other conclusions than that. At least these items are replaceable, and they weren’t our passports. Enough of the venting, what else can I tell you about?

Rang home on Saturday night after going out to watch Eurovision to catch Mum by surprise for Mother’s Day morning in Australia. Sounds like all is well and Mum and Dad are busy planning to travel to Europe later on in the year. I am so excited for them as they have not done an overseas trip before, I know they will love it. And what better excuse to travel and to come and see me? I can’t wait to take them around Edinburgh and do all the touristy things and all the rest of it. A snap decision was made at about 3am Sunday morning that we would go to Glasgow on the train with our housemate Lawrence and his partner Stuart to go shopping. So I got up a did a bit of washing before heading down to the train station and 50 minutes later in the early afternoon we were in Glasgow. It’s apparently a lot like Melbourne, a bit industrial but good live music scene and nightlife in general. And shopping, which is what we went for. I only bought a £7 top to lounge around in but I’ll definitely return when I have some more moolah to spend. Briony found a jacket for £12 which was a complete bargain and is really nice and warm. I’ve been on the lookout for another jacket so hopefully I’ll get a bargain soon too. A lot of the fashion is really ugly here at the moment, all that baggy knitted cardigans which have no shape and pinafore dresses and tops with big buttons. Ugh. I need to find some inspiration soon before my Aussie clothes fall apart!

I purposely haven’t written anything about how life is going in our new apartment because I want to put up some photos. So, next post I will take you on a grand tour of Apartment 2F1, 53 George IV Bridge. X

Beltane Festival and Olivia's here!

Monday night after work we rugged up in several layers and headed over to Calton Hill with a big group of mates and people from our hostel to the Beltane Fire Festival. It’s a pagan festival to welcome in summer and is always celebrated on the 30th of April. I think they normally get 12000 but because it was on a Monday this year there were only around 8000 (only! It felt like more!). There is a big parade/procession around the grounds of Calton Hill which has stunning views over the city and Leith as well. Calton Hill is like a big hilly park with lots of random old monuments and buildings, it’s very beautiful but absolutely freezing (the procession starts around 9pm and finishes at 1, then a party goes until 4am. We only made it to just after midnight, we all had work the next day!). If anyone’s interested in the story of the procession, here you go:
The procession begins on the Acropolis where a neid fire is lit. The sacred flame reveals the May Queen. With the Horned God and her White Woman Warriors she is guided by the Blue Men through the Fire Arch into the underworld, awakening and uniting the elements of Air, Earth, Water and Fire. When the circuit of the hill is almost complete, the court is ambushed by the lustful and chaotic Red Men. But they are repelled by the order and power of the White Women. The celebrations climax when the Horned God touches the May Queen. He is then stripped of his winter coat and reborn as the Green Man, the first new growth of the coming Summer. He is crowned by the May Queen and they light a sacred bonfire to burn the old and bring in the new. The festival ends with the coming together of White and Red in a courtly dance.
In short, it’s just a lot of near naked people covered in red, blue, green or white paint dancing around and playing with fire. Top night! My photos didn’t turn out spectacularly so here’s a link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6610507.stm

And a report on the night that covers the story a lot better than what I did and has the best picture of the night, giant human pyramid (they tried to do it twice but the girl at the top couldn’t stand up fully before falling down. They better get it right next year!):
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=388&id=671832007

In other news, Olivia is here in Edinburgh! She, Steve and Rosemary (Steve’s Mum) are going to a wedding here on Friday. We caught up last night after work and took them out for a ghost tour, a few drinks, laughs and catchups. Livvy has lots of funny stories about her travels around Europe and is such a good storyteller. We’ve still got a few more days with them which is awesome. I’ve picked up an extra day of work on Saturday because I wrongly assumed that the wedding would be on a Saturday but Fridays are very popular to have weddings here as places book out years in advance on Saturdays. Never mind, it’s a public holiday here on Monday so I’ll still get a full weekend. Another update in a few days x.

Edinburgh still, settling in

Hiya (this is what everyone says as hello here, I think it's got charm to it)

Been a busy week doing lots of things and settling down into Edinburgh life. I'll give you an update over what's been happening over the last few days, let's start with Friday...

Friday my contract at the RCN was extended for another two weeks, so I will be there a month, which is nice. Although not in the main drag of town, (kinda in the burbs, like Medindie or St Peters, not a far bus ride but a bit too long for me to walk there every morning. Next week I'll try to plan to bring my sneakers and on a nice day I'll walk back into town after work, which will be nice. Briony finishes at 5 on Fridays, not 7 so we made it just in time for dinner at the mosque. They do cheap curries, a huge plate piled with veggies and rice and naan and a drink for £3.50 or so (great value), but close at 7pm, which means we missed out on it for my "birthday" the other night. Good food, however you only pay for the food not the setting, you eat outside under some sails on tressel tables and plastic chairs and it attracts a lot of pidgeons so you have a slightly disturbing atmosphere of a guy with a bat, shooing away all the pidgeons if they come near you and making funny noises. All part of the fun!

Earlier in the day both Agata and Nic messaged us to say if we wanted to catch up and go out later that night so we met up with them both. Nic hadn't met Agata before so we introduced her and then showed her around our soon to be new flat, had some drinks in Agata's beautiful room on the floor with cushions and didn't realise how much vodka Agata was topping us up with until we got up and went outside. Damn Polish don't realise I have no tolerance for this stuff! Made for a cheap night though as I had no need to buy any more drinks once we left the flat. Went to Oddfellows Bar, had a dance then Nic and I went off to New Town and Briony and Agata went to Whistle Binkies (only they had half price entry cards and I do NOT pay full price to get into places here, it's rubbish!). So we wandered down across the bridge and went onto George St, a lot of places were closed but Nic mentioned this club called Garibaldi's. I was shocked at first that a bar could be called that because for all South Aussies that word has bad connotations (Garibaldi mettwurst outbreak in the 1990s made lots of people sick and 1 little girl died, the meat was contaminated). We lined up and met some people in the line and spent the rest of the night dancing. Good fun, seedy bar. We left a few minutes before they put the ugly lights on and met back up with Agata and Briony and wandered around for a bit before saying our goodbyes for the morning. Good night indeed!

Next morning I got up around 9.30 to go to the library, a bit shaky the next morning and I went to the library in my pyjamas (which are just trackies but I felt like a bum) to do some emails. When I got back I had a shower and felt a lot better, got ready for the day and headed out to just have a wander round, had a few things on my list to do but mostly just wanted to mosey. Noni stayed in bed for most of the day, that girl can sleep!

Came back to the hostel at 6, met back up with Briony and our mate Cheryl wanted to catch up with us, hadn't seen her in a week cos she works nights and we work days. We couldn't face going out on the town again, despite Cheryl's best efforts we had no interest. She came around for tea, which was leftover salads from the catering my work gets in for meetings and conferences almost every day. The other Aussie girl at my work packed it all up for me in tupperware to take home on Friday and it fed all 3 of us, then some. So nice of her to do that, I feel like a scab but it would have only been chucked out otherwise. We shared a bottle of cheap red wine and then at about 9, headed out to the cinemas to catch a film. Everyone's been talking about 'sunshine' but we didn't really know what we wanted to see, we just rocked up at the Odeon on Lothian Road but we'd missed the last session. The girl at the box office was really nice and told us directions to walk to a 12 cinema complex, only a few minutes down the road. A bit more of a wander, seemed like nothing cos we were chatting all the way and we came across this huge, entertainment complex which had a cinema, bingo hall (they love it here!), 10 pin bolwing alley and arcade. I haven't seen anything so suburban in awhile I was really in awe of it! We had made it just in time for the beginning of 'This is England'. Brilliant film, though certainly not a happy film it really was interesting from start finish. It's set in England in 1983, and explores living at that time in England, skinhead and mod culture, the Falklands War and it's effect on the English, nationalism and firendship. Really great movie, probably my favourite so far of 2007. The attention to detail, with costume and sets and location was just amazing, despite never living through it I'm told it was very realistic and I believe it. Especially all my mates, GO AND SEE IT. And let me know what you think...hopefully it will be released there soon.
http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=161023&cntsrc=rss_film+cinema_newreleases

After the film it was really weird to walk back into town feeling a bit heavy from the film, chatting about it all the way again, and then seeing Saturday night shenanigans go on. Totally not in the mood, and I felt like I needed to do a bit of boxing to get the rage out that I felt from the movie. We walked Cheryl home and then Noni and I got Mars Bar Icecreams which are HEAVEN! Better than Crunchie Icecreams, they should get them in Aus! before going back to the hostel.

Sunday was washing day, veging out day, grocery shopping day and sorting a few other loose ends out day. We got it all accomplished by the afternoon so when Caitlin and Mark, who also live in the hostel invited us out for a Sunday session, we couldn't refuse. Went to the Peartree which has a huge beer garden. Braved the elements for an hour or so but then retreated inside to the comfy couches. Was realy chilled out arvo which carried on til the evening. I have a weird Wiskar connection here, Caitlin reminds me of my Auntie Michele something chronic (Hi Michele, know you'll read this...you have a twin and she's right here in Edin!) and Marc reminds me of my cousin Mark, which is just bizarre when you meet someone and can see someone else in them instantly. These guys I think are going to be good mates of ours too, both Aussies (there's a lot here!), both are a little bit older than Nones and I but great fun. We ended up cooking our healthy tea at 10pm, really hit the spot (rice with mushrooms, zucchini, capsicum and eggplant with tomato sauce, was good!) and just vegging (hehe) out on the couch and chatting and watching some tv (a novelty in itself these days, hardly watch any!).

In a few days I'll update you and let you know what we did on Monday night - we went to the Beltane Fire Festival - which probably only Becky reading this knows about. I can't explain it now (and it needs and explanation!) but it defiantely has a place in my blog. Update you soon, hope everyone is well :)