Well, I think I've finally recovered from my birthday treats - unfortunately I don't bounce back from a big night as quickly as I used to, so i spent all of yesterday (Friday) relaxing, sleeping and not really doing much at all.  I was totally spoiled for my birthday, and thank you so much for all the good wishes - it was so nice to open LJ and Facebook on Friday morning.  :-)

So, first of all I had a pre-birthday treat on Wednesday night - we went to see Waiting for Godot at Kings Theatre.  I must admit, I didn't know much about the play beforehand.  I knew the name of course, and I knew the very basics of the play, but I was never really that eager to go and see it - until I saw that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan were playing the lead rolls.  We had booked the tickets back in January, so it wasn't a surprise but it was wonderful to sit back and watch (and above all *listen*) to them on stage.  I liked the play itself to a certain extent, but I mostly enjoyed the evening because of the performers.  Let's face it, Patrick Stewart could read out the phone book and I'd be happy listening!

Thursday, the big day, dawned very grey, misty and cold.  Aaah, Edinburgh putting on a show for me, the only thing better would have been if it had snowed.  :-)  I have taken my sister's tradition that the birthday person gets to choose whatever they want for breakfast.  I had thought of poached eggs on toast, but decided to go with simplicity.  Unfortunately Fruit Loops aren't that easily available over here, so I made do with cocoa pops.  It's a treat anyway...  Richard bought me some DVDs, the best one being Twilight on Blu Ray (starting my second childhood!).  Mind you, I had been hinting enough over the last couple of months, the hints consisting of "I really, really, really want Twilight on Blu Ray when it comes out, should I pre-order it or do you think someone will buy it for my birthday?".  I've learned that being subtle just doesn't pay off.  He also got me a game for my DSi, and a DVD we've yet to watch which is all about Australian cinema, mainly movies that didn't really make an impact on the rest of the world but were big in Oz.

When I got to work, my desk had been completely covered in balloons, banners, a big "I Love Whisky" t-shirt, and a nice big picture of Duran Duran taped to my monitor.  Aaah, what a lovely sight to start the day with.  As I started sifting through things on my desk to get to my keyboard (so I could actually do some work), I glanced at an Edinburgh Castle postcard.  When I turned it over, the message read 'Please, please tell us you'll be around on 16 July because you have tickets to see Duran Duran at Edinburgh Castle".  I couldn't believe it - my boss and the other two people in my team had pooled together to buy me two tickets to the Edinburgh concert!  As if that wasn't enough, they also bought me a gorgeous cake from the Sicilian bakery around the corner (the lightest sponge cake I've ever had), and the girls I work with had bought me a bottle of wine and a gift voucher for a facial or massage (or whatever).  The girls took me out for drinks at lunch time, we met up for drinks after work and then Richard and my other cousin Robbie (Richard's brother) took me out to dinner at my favourite restaurant, 'The Tower'.  I had taken the next day off so that I could have a big night and not have to worry about getting up for work the next day - but after everything I'd had to drink, a three course meal, a shared bottle of wine and all finished with a glass of Glen Farclas 25yr old, all I wanted to do was go home, get into my pjs and relax.  Actually, I was quite tipsy (okay, drunk) anyway...  Although that didn't stop me from talking to my sister, Pat, for over an hour when she phoned later on in the night.  Eeek, I hope her phone bill will be okay! 

Finally, yesterday morning I decided to open my last birthday present - Glenn had sent me a care parcel with two big packets of raspberry bullets - my favourite, which are unfortunately not available over here.

So, it was a fabulous birthday and I was completely spoiled.  I know if I'd been in Australia I would have had a big party to celebrate with all my friends, and a I had hoped to win a fortune so that I could fly you all over here to celebrate, but that wasn't to be...  I did think of my Mum a lot during the day, I really wish she could have been here so that I could have shared the day with her.

And now it's all over and done with, and it's back to life as usual.  I'm still not used to that enormous word (even typing it out is difficult - forty!), but I don't feel any different to how I felt four years ago, or even 10 years ago.  I finally understand 'ticking biological clock', but I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to be a Mum, and hope that I have been and will continue to be a good enough Aunty to make up for that.  I adore my nieces and nephews, but am very proud to say that I like them, they've all grown and are growing into very nice, kind and caring people. 

I'm a real sucker for these things!

( My meme ... if you can be bothered. :-) )

Borrowed from  pre_vet_girl    et al.

Four Places I Go Over And Over:
- Facebook
- X-Box (yay Gears of War 2!!)
- Work (:-P)
- Glasgow

Four People Who E-mail Me Regularly:
- Richard
- Glenn
- Pat
- EmpireOnLine.co.uk

Four Favourite Smells:
- Lemon
- Bacon
- Freshly baked bread
- Red Tulip chocolate easter eggs & bunnies

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
- My sister's
- Paris
- Cloister House
- Tuscany

Four TV Shows I Watch:
- Battlestar Galactica
- Dexter
- The Apprentice (UK version, including The Apprentice: You're Fired)
- Saturday Kitchen

Well, Google Maps street view has come to the UK.  Unfortunately it's not perfect - there's no view of Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street, but at least you can see what Princes Street looked like before they closed it off for the tram works. 

Speaking of tram works - I'm so pissed off with what they're doing to my city.  Princes Street is closed off now, waiting for them to start the tram works, but there's been a dispute about the contract for the main track works.  So now we have buses diverted along George Street and blocking it, Princes St is mostly deserted so the retailers are missing out, the view of the Castle from the north side of the street is obscured by temporary fences.  It's disheartening, and I can't see that trams will make that much of a difference to the city once they're in.  But I'm prepared to eat my words if it turns out to be a huge success - I hope I'm wrong.

Anyway, back to Street View - as everyone does, the first thing I looked up was my home and was so pleased to see that you can clearly see the outside of the flat (picture below). 


So this is my home - 6th April will be four years that I've been living here!  It was obviously taken in summer as all the windows, including the huge double door/windows in the lounge, are wide open. We use the curtain rail in the lounge as extra clothes line - if you look really closley you can see R's shirts hanging there. :-)  The last window on the left is my bedroom window which is always open - well, until winter really hits.  This winter it's been closed a lot more than usual, especially when it snowed!

Last weekend was a long weekend to Melrose and the surrounding countryside, collectively 'The Borders'. 

( Melrose - babbling on! )

It's so funny hearing about how hot it is in Melbourne while we're shivering through winter.  We were in Glasgow last Sunday, and got some really serious snow and sleet.  I enjoyed it, probably because I was sitting in a nice warm kitchen with a lovely cup of coffee while watching it fall.  Unfortunately R had gone to the local shops, and arrived back frozen to the core.  Can't imagine why he didn't share my enthusiasm for the snow...

We had snow again on Monday, and again it was wonderful to watch it from a nice warm room.   I'm still getting teased about racing outside into the snow three years ago, I don't think I'll ever live that one down...  But going outside into the slush on Monday wasn't fun, I'm still nervous about falling over on icy footpaths.  I am getting better at coping, and now have two winter coats - my 'Australian winter coat', which is for the milder days, and my 'Edinburgh winter coat' which is a super-thick sheep skin duffel coat that is for warmth rather than looks.  The Edinburgh coat has been out for the past two weeks...

On a different note, for those who watched the pilot episode of 'Being Human' last year, I'm thrilled to say that the series starts here tonight at 9:00, so it should be available soon.  They've only got one of the original actors, but hopefully the writers will be as good.   kattilz , I think you saw it if I remember right, so I'll send you a note to let you know how it was. 

Wow, looking back the last time I posted was in September.  Not too much has happend since then, the major thing being a wonderful trip to Paris in November (five days, four nights). Which rounded the year off beautifully.  Looking back, the highpoints of the year were my trip to Australia to see my gorgeous niece get married (and catch up with friends and family), having Lulu come to visit for a month in September, and the trip to Paris.  The economic downturn this year has meant things at work have been even more hectic, but at least I have a secure job so I have to be thankful for that.


Three of my favourite events - attending my niece's wedding (that's me with my sisters and brother), Lulu staying for a month, and the trip to Paris.

I've been really pleased to hear about friends expanding their families, one of which was a complete and wonderful surprise.  Some friends have gone through hard times too, and I've felt the distance between Scotland and Australia even more at times like that as I can't pop around for a cuppa and to lend my support.  That's the toughest part of finding your home on the other side of the world to your friends and family, I guess.

I have no idea what this year has in store for me.  I am hoping to meet up with bekytg  in Paris to celebrate landmark birthdays.  I'd love to make it to New York but I don't think this will be the year for that - alternatively, I'd love to finally see Barcelona.  With the way the world is, I think the status quo is the way to go for now....

The good thing is, I have started this year with a horrible cold so it can only get better from here. :-)

Well, R has gone off to Florida and left Lulu and I to fend for ourselves.  It's nice having the flat to myself, and Lulu and I have a good understanding - I must come straight home from work, put down fresh food & water, refresh the kitty litter sit down to cuddle a very demanding little cat who wants lots of attention.  Not that I mind, I'm loving it.  Here's another photo of Lulu, you can see how stressed she is - not!  :-)


Her 'real parents' come home later on this month, so she'll be going back to her home.  In the meantime, though, I'm going to keep spoiler her with the good cat food and, of course, little off-cuts of my meals.  :-)

I saw R off on a plane today - he's on his way to Orlando for a 2 week holiday with his brother & sister-in-law.  So I'm home alone with Lulu ... and I have sole control of the remote!  Lulu is happy as long as there's someone to feed her, and a warm body for her to curl up next to (and shed copious amounts of fur on).  I have the DVDs lined up for watching when I feel like it over the next two weeks - Sex & The City, Buffy, Brokeback Mountain, and various 'chick flicks' that don't often get to see the light of the DVD player.  I have so many plans for getting this place ship shape while I'm in charge, R has become resigned to the fact that when he leaves me alone, the flat changes.  Tomorrow, the real work begins!

Well, the last three weeks or so have been pretty busy and full-on. So it's finally a rest weekend, and time to catch up with LJ...

First of all, the Festival. We've seen so much, some brilliant acts, and a couple of average shows. Amongst the best were Tim Minchin (a brilliant Australian comedian who combines stand up with some very funny songs - if you haven't heard of him, check him out on YouTube), Bill Bailey (always good to see) and Otis Lee Crenshaw (a character of Rich Hall's). We also saw Reginald D Hunter (okay, but it was obvious his act was still being developed so I would have preferred to see the 'final draft'), Hal Cruttenden (very funny, we saw both his stand up act and a one-man show he put on of George Orwell's Coming Up for Air). We've also been lucky enough to get tickets to the free BBC radio shows - we saw two sessions of BBC4's Just a Minute, and one of BBC2's Sean Lock & Friends. R had tickets to BBC4's 4 At the Fringe, but I couldn't go along to that as I had a work outing to the Fringe - to see an okay (at best) standup called 1000 Years of German Humour. We had a day off on Friday to do our usual day at the Fringe, and got to see a pretty good mix of shows. We saw the previously mentioned Coming up for Air, following by On The Waterfront (not bad, but I think the movie is better - Marlon Brando is the definitive Terry), then a bit of fun with Learn To Play the Ukulele in Under an Hour. We finished off with Hal Cruttenden's stand up show which was really good. After that it was off to the Dome (the small club lounge to the side - the main Dome restaurant is a tad too expensive) for dinner at 9:30 p.m. By the end of it we were both exhausted, and ready for a rest weekend.

We have a little visitor at the moment - Lulu the cat has come to stay until the end of September. She's absolutely gorgeous, a little old black & white cat (we think she's about 14-15 years old). She was my Aunt's cat (collected from a cat sanctuary in 2002), and when Aunty Betty passed away she went to live with my cousin in Glasgow. So the good thing is she knows R and I really well from our regular weekends in Glasgow, which helped he settle in here. I'm absolutely loving having a cat around again, I knew I missed that but didn't realise just how much until Lulu came to stay. The reason she's coming to stay is that she's too old to go into a cattery, and being an inside cat is fine at her age (she basically eats, sleeps, and comes up to each one of us in turn for a cuddle every now and then). She's comandeered a chair which is her spot now, R put a soft, warm blanket on it for her.

It's funny, it doesn't seem that much when you put it all down in words but it has been a really full on 3 weeks. It's nice to have a bit of a break, we have Monday off (English Bank Holiday - the rest of Scotland doesn't get the day off but we do a the Stock Exchange is closed), so it'll be a nice day to put on some chick-flick DVDs and curl up on the couch with Lulu for a much needed rest day.

Well, it's Festival time here in Edinburgh again.  Which means that for the entire month of August the streets are crowded day and night, there's not a spare hotel or B&B room in the city, and we get a fireworks display each night (twice on Saturdays) as the Tattoo finishes.  This year's Fringe Festival is huge, it's almost bigger than the other events combined.  It's getting more and more difficult to select which shows to see, especially since ticket prices increase each year.

Our Festival started on Friday night, with a midnight show called Best of the Fest.  It's a 'taster' of the Fringe, 5 comedians have 20 minutes each to do a bit of their Festival Show routine and try to convince you to see their show.  It's a great way to start the Festival, especially if you're not sure what shows to go to.  The compare for the night was Hal Cuttenden, one of the funniest comedians I've seen and, from what we saw on Friday night, well worth the ticket.

Last night (Saturday night) we went to see Otis Lee Crenshaw (a character of Rich Hall's) and Reginald D Hunter.  I must admit I really wasn't fussed about seeing Otis Lee Crenshaw - and it ended up being the better of the two shows.  If you get a chance to see Rich Hall (and don't mind swearing), go for it.

I love this time of year in Edinburgh.  The city is absolutely heaving with tourists, there is street theatre up and down the Royal Mile, you can watch the fire works each night at Edinburgh Castle (although if you haven't bought your tickets before March, forget about being able to attend at a reasonable price!).  We're booked for a few more shows, a couple of free shows (BBC 4 radio show tapings of Just A Minute), and then do our usual thing of catching a few shows towards the end of the show (once we've seen more reviews).

Has anyone else seen the BBC 3 pilot episode of Being Human?  We recorded it ages ago (I'm talking about many months) and only got around to watching it tonight ... and absolutely loved it.  The BBC have commissioned a six part series, but apparently there have been scheduling conflicts for the leads doesn't seem to be any further news at this stage.  It's due to show next year, which seems like a long way away until you realise we're in July already!  In any case, if you get a chance to see it, do!  It's about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost who are flatmates, one of those shows that's really funny in parts but has a really great underlying storyline.  Unfortunately  the major story arc had only just started getting going by the end of the pilot, and left me desperate to see the next episode.  Ah well, only a year or so to wait...

Well, I'm just back from seeing Sex and The City - and had a fantastic time.  The only regret is I have is that I went to see it on my own, and it was a movie I wanted to sit down with someone afterwards and discuss every little detail.  So here's just a couple of my thoughts...