Eleventh Hour Save

Good Afternoon My Dears,

This just in...Eleventh hour save appears to keep me in Scotland.   I have gotten a temp to perm job at Cheque Centre, a short term loans company, as an Accounts Payable Assistant.  This job is scheduled to go perm come February and starts on Monday.  That means that I had to change my ticket to come back.  And re-rent my apartment.  And reinstate my cable. And all the stuff I canceled.  I also have to get my kitchen stuff back, or at least some of it, so's I can feed my face.

The reason that the job isn't perm already, is a budget issue and the company is still working out their 2012 salary budget.  So from now till the New Year I am being paid by a temp agency. In January, I go on Cheque Centre's payroll.  Then, if I do not screw it up, I go perm in February.  Now, you may all be thinking, "Screw Up?  You ought to think more of yourself!!"  I do, my dears, I do.  But I also have my track record in Scotland to go by.  And we all know that it has not been of the best.  However,  I will do mine.

For those of you wondering when you will see me, I am either going to come back for good on February 1, if the job doesn't go well, or if it does, I will come for a 10 day holiday.  I am happy, my dears, the thought of leaving Scotland has been heartbreaking.  I get to keep leading my writer's group. Speaking of, the group has published an anthology called A Spoonful of Stories, in which I have a poem.  Edinburgh is a very literary town and it has certainly gotten my creative juices flowing.  I am also planning on doing more dancing.  All of the above, of course is predicated on moving out of Gilmerton and closer into town.

So, in sum, I am happy but very busy.  Also, I do not think my mama is very happy with me but I think I need to start thinking about myself.  And as my mama loves me, eventually, she will come round.

Right, that's all she wrote folks.

Next Up: Work begins and a Christmas coma.

Cheerio for now,

Tina

The Potentially Penultimate Post

Good Evening My Dears,

I am very sorry for the long silence.  There is no defense, I'm afraid.  The Scottish Experiment seems to be coming to a close and there doesn't seem to be any point in writing when I am in the process of distributing the remains of my Scottish existence to various people.  I have coming back to the US on Christmas day. I will arrive about 8:30 in the evening, probably pretty tired.

The weather in Scotland has been all that I imagined lately.  We have had a lot of rain, a bit of snow and two supposed hurricanes.  One of which is howlin' outside my window as I write.  I am not-so-secretly hoping that I will be stranded in Scotland come Christmas, at least for a week.  Also, I hope that the person I stay with in town will be willing to put me up for a bit longer.  Otherwise I may have to depend on the kindness of strangers.

When last I wrote, I had gone to Harrogate and Jasper had visited.  Since then, I have continued helping at Pulp Fiction (read sitting on my butt, browsing the internet.)  I have also started a very quiet revolution.  I managed to take over leadership of the writer's group and move it from a cafe where it was very difficult to hear people read, to the bookshop where it is not.  Incredibly, the group has voted to stay at the bookshop once I leave, and the person who was my biggest nay sayer turned into my biggest supporter.   Ah, THE POWER!!!

As I am still on the dole, I need to go tomorrow and get myself off of it.  No more money for me.  I have also started saying goodbye to all the friends that I have made here.  I am still so conflicted, because I do have a return for the 10th of February.  Also, a friend has made it very clear that she is rather desperate for me to return as she claims that she only makes a friend once every 100 years or so.  I do not believe it as she is a very engaging young lady and a writer of extraordinary talent, in spite of difficulties that would cause me to cower in my bed.  And then there's been the experience of working at Pulp Fiction.  It is a place that made the last two months in Scotland more positive than they otherwise would have been.  The proprietor and staff are amazing people, and mean more to me than I could ever adequately express.

Right Folks that's all she wrote.

Next Up: Homeward Bound

Cheerio for Now,

Tina