Heavenly Harrogate

Good Evening My Dears,

When last I wrote, I was learning the ins and outs of my new job.  The week passed quickly and while there were mistakes made, there was not anything that could not be reversed, thankfully.  We will see what the next few weeks bring.  A few weeks back, before I got the job, I applied for unemployment and was told at the Job Centre that I would be receiving a Job Seeker's Benefit.  Unfortunately, I received a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions, stating that I would not, in fact, be receiving the benefit.  The reason? "The law does not allow us to pay you." Really?  Nothing more?  Strange as, at the very least,  I would expect they'd tell me that I am not entitled as a non-Brit.  Ah well, it doesn't matter as I am employed.

I was in lovely Harrogate this weekend visiting my friend Nicola and her family.  She has a lovely two year old daughter, Gwen, who is really funny.   I left work at 5 pm and managed to catch a 6 pm train to York, where Nicola was kind enough to pick me up a couple of hours later.  The 40 minute journey from York to Harrogate was 20 minutes longer than was needed to catch up with a friend that I had not seen for 17 years or so, simply because she is from Washington International School (WIS).  WISers have the ability to get right back into the nitty gritty of their friendship even after long absences.  It is what makes us all such a great community.  Anyhoo,  enough WIS love.  I met her husband Ian and the evening passed with much talking as well as the consumption of tea and wine.  The wine did its work rather well and I slept like a baby, until I was woken at 5:30 am by a not-quite baby demanding to be read a book.  The tantrum that ensued was rather epic and very amusing once I was awake.  After a leisurely morning, we wandered over to the Leeds Market.  The market, as you might expect, is like most markets, except cheaper than the super market.  We got 8 peaches (about 3 lbs) for a pound, about $1.60.  Similarly 2 lbs. of cherries were 2 pounds.  In my new spirit of adventure, I am branching out in my cooking as well.  I am going to make Sambar and Idli, which are staples of South Indian cuisine. Sambar is a  tamarind based lentil stew and Idli are a mixture of lentil and rice flour cakes which are steamed and eaten with the stew.  To that end, I also bought tamarind paste and curry leaves.  After lunch, Gwen and Ian went to his parents' house, while Nicola and I wandered over to Harrogate's beautiful city center.  We decided to go to Betty's, a tea room that was founded in 1919.  Tea, Scones, and Art Nouveau, oh my.  There was lots of ironwork and beveled glass all over the place.  Plus, no one actually knows who Betty was.  All of this is leading to a story somewhere down the line, I can feel it.  Heaven, indeed.

Yesterday, we woke up and went to spend the day in York, as I left from there in the afternoon.  York is a gorgeous town as well, though in a different way from Harrogate.  Harrogate is like a Victorian grand dame who has not fallen on hard times.  Genteel and reminiscent of what the Gilded Age must have been in the US.  York is far older.  There has been a city in that spot since the Roman times.  York also has the most extensive intact walls in the UK.  We walked the walls of York, and I have to hand it to Gwen, she is a trooper.  I am sure that at two years old, I complained much more about walking than she did.  We also went through The Shambles, a medieval street where butchers plied their gory trade.  The buidings are mere feet apart (and by mere I mean 3 or 4 feet).  You could sit in your house and gossip with your cross the road neighbour without having to ever leave.   There are no butchers in the Shambles now, just lots of cute shops, and of course, lots of not-as-cute tourists.  We also happened to see Ed Alleyne-Johnson, an electrical violinist who is amazing.  Those of you who are familiar with New Model Army will have heard of him.  He is a very down to earth musician, despite being quite famous.  He eschews big record companies and does much of his performing on the street.  You can check him out on YouTube and buy his music on Itunes or Amazon.  I did.

Right, folks, that's all she wrote.

Next up: I throw myself into writing and prepare for more guests.

Cheerio for Now,

Tina

Working Wonder

Good Evening My Dears,


Once again, I apologise for the long radio silence, but it was my first full week of work and I was being trained.  Consequently, I was coming home rather exhausted.  The weather in Edinburgh has been gorgeous since last Saturday, which is the last time the Scottish were building the ark.  So of course, I have been waking up as soon as it gets light, which means about 4 am.  The gods of world religion are not up when I rise from my bed.


When last I wrote, I was busy playing host to Jasper, who visited from Amsterdam.  He left last Tuesday, and I started work the next day.  It really was a baptism by fire, as there were tasks that needed to get done so it was really hectic.  I left work last Wednesday, rather unsure as to whether I could do this job.  It got a little easier over the next few days, and this week's training was definitely better, but I am a little stressed about next week, when I will be on my own without the ability to ask questions.  All is not lost, however.  Gary, ( my predecessor) has kindly agreed to come in next Friday, both to see how I am getting on and to do some year end accounting as well.  I am sure that I will have a boatload of questions for him by that point.  The job itself is not that difficult, it is just a matter of figuring out where things go and how to code them.  I won't bore you non-Accounting people with the details.  If the accounting people I know want to talk shop, give a shout, it might be a good exercise.  


In addition to my work life being sorted for the moment, my social life seems to be picking up as well.  Currently, my standing engagements are: my writer's group, dancing, and the gym.  Within these groups I am meeting some super cool people that I am sure will become friends.  In particular, this week, I met two women through my writer's group.  Kerry is American and a practitioner of Rolfing, which Wikipedia defines as  a "holistic system of soft tissue manipulation and movement education that organized the whole body in gravity".  Claims include that clients stand straighter, gain height, and move better through the correction of soft tissue fixations or improper tonus.  However, I will have to gain a better perspective when I see Kerry, as we all know that accuracy of the Wikipedia site.  The other interesting person that I met this week is a young woman who is of Uzbek decent born and raised in Saudi Arabia, who is taking a sabbatical from a PhD in nursing.  Of men I do not speak as there are few to speak of, much less write about.  Although one of the waiters at the cafe where the writing group meets is quite nice looking.  To see if I could get to know him a bit better, I went back to the cafe on Wednesday evening with my friend Taci.  Alas, he was not there.  I was not born under a lucky star, more's the pity.


The South Edinburgh suburb where I live is called Gilmerton.  My neighbourhood is a bit shady.  We seem to have a bit of gang activity here in the hood.  I myself have not seen them, though the local chippy on the corner gets a bit dodgy on Friday evenings.  It is not really worrisome for this DC girl, having grown up in the baddest of all the hoods, DC proper.  However, I think even I may be surprised by this gang as they seem to be quite a force to be reckoned with.  You see, they have multiple streets named after them, which leads me to believe that this gang might be quite civically minded.  In fact, I live on a street named for them.  My street, my dears, is called Gilmerton Dykes Road.  There is also Gilmerton Dykes Street, Gilmerton Dykes Crescent, Gilmerton Dykes View, and Gilmerton Dykes Drive.  One has to wonder: are there any lipstick Lesbians in the Gilmerton Dykes or are they all butch? Also, do they have territorial disputes with the other Lesbian gang in the area, the Mordun Dykes?  I'm just sayin'.


Right, my dears, that's all she wrote.


Next Up: I have a wee wander over to Harrogate to check out English hospitality.


Cheerio for now,


Tina

Scottish Shennanigans

Good Evening My Dears,

The weather in Edinburgh has been a joy of late, as summer has shown herself at last.  For you non-UK people following this blog, summer here is about 20-25 degrees Celsius, about 68-77 degrees Fahrenheit.  All the Scottish people look like lobsters, as when the sun comes out they tend to forget about any sort of protection.  I must admit that I am a bit burned myself, though for this fair skinned Greek girl, that is a far cry from lobsterdom, I must say.  I am of the opinion that I look like a very light piece of toast. Happy 4th to the Americans who follow, hope you all are enjoying the three day weekend.

When last I wrote, I had gotten a job at a Construction recruitment company as their book keeper/back office manger.  There will be more about that in a subsequent post, as I do not start until Wednesday.

Last Tuesday, I was invited to my friend Tacy's citizenship celebration.  She is Brazilian, married to Tim, who is English.  The party was very warm and quite fun.  I was excited to meet some really cool people. Oh, and Jasper seemed to have a good time as well, but I was rather ignoring him because I was laughing so hard, at the women's descriptions of men in Brazil.  All's I can say is, Get me to Brazil, pronto.

In the meantime, I did go and un-unemploy myself, and am waiting for the unemployment windfall.  That was on my birthday.  It really wasn't great to have to go to the Job Center on my birthday but it did kill some time rather nicely.  We also discovered a store in Edinburgh called Cabaret,  which was chock a block with old costume jewelry and that greatest of all treasures (at least to me), a whole downstairs full of rare books.

On Friday, we went to dinner for my birthday with  some of the friends that I have made here in Edinburgh.  In attendance were Jasper and I, Sabrina, a recent transplant to Edinburgh from Munich, and my friend Penny, a connection that I made before I left the States.  She is the niece of a friend of my Mom's.  Poor Penny was with me the Wednesday before my birthday at a Swedish coffee shop called Peter's Yard, where I had my mini meltdown.  That, of course, merely means that I got a little teary after the agency phoned telling me that I was not going to be called back for a second interview with the British Investment house.  So Penny is one of the people I need to apologize to for being a bit dark.

Anyhoo,  we met at a lovely restaurant called Sambuca, which is owned by friends of Laura's.  She, unfortunately could not make it, as she was not able to find anyone to babysit.  It was an extraordinary restaurant, the food and service fantastic, and the price reasonable.  I actually received more tea for my birthday from Penny and Sabrina, as well as two tea pots, one black and one white.  I think I may have to take one to work with me.  Tacy and Tim joined us after dinner and we went to a pub called Dagma, at Penny's suggestion.  And no, the pub was not named for either Princess Dagmar of Denmark (there were two).  While there we were fortunate enough to see the Queen, who was attending an event across the road from the pub.  We waved at her as she drove by in a car that was designed to show her off.  Oh, and thanks to the Whiskey Experience, I have developed a taste for Whiskey.  I like whiskies from Speyside, which taste more like vanilla and less peaty than their lowland counterparts.   And for the record, the US can't make whiskey.  Sorry, guys.

Yesterday, Jasper, Sabrina, and I went to Linlithgow, the palace where Mary, Queen of Scots was born. It happened that there was a joust at Linlithgow.  So in addition to wandering the castle, we witnessed a Ren faire type joust but I gotta say, and I think Jasper agrees, that for sheer showmanship, the US does the best jousts.  I did become a member of Historic Scotland, so I can visit 39 historic venues in Scotland free of charge.  Which, I might point out is very Dutch of me.

This evening's highlight was Jasper trying Fried Pizza, which really wasn't worth it.

Right, my dears, that's it for me.

Next Up: Work begins and I officially begin a life in Scotland.

Cheerio for now,

Tina