randomness (2005-01-05 - 2:12 p.m.)

My luck seems to have turned today, in some mysterious way. Or at least, my camera's not broken anymore! I was going to call a repair shop (reluctantly) to find out how much fixing it would set me back, and I tried turning it on to see exactly what the error message said, so I could tell the repair shop - and there wasn't one. I did a bit of a double take and turned it on again - still working perfectly. (Although it does make a rattling noise when shaken, which can't be good). Still, that's at least �50 I don't have to pay to fix the stupid thing! Hooray! Celebrated by finally making an appointment (long overdue) to get my hair cut. My guess is that it will probably be the same amount as or less than I would have spent on the camera, so it'll all come out even AND I'll have a decent haircut (I hope. I've walked past the salon, though, and everyone comes out of there looking quite good. Also it's run by very flamey-looking male stylists who also look good, which seems a good sign.)

Back at the law firm today. Blah. I refuse to put up with months and months more of this. Was going to go to the JobCentre today but the weather has turned horrible - extremely windy and wet. In fact, there are warnings about the wind because it's gusting up to 60 mph, and some lady in Edinburgh has already had a scaffolding fall on her because the wind pushed it over. Definitely did not seem like a good day to go uptown, so I stayed home and cleaned the house (which is almost as virtuous, surely?)

People have been asking me all the hard questions today. Case in point: the lady that rang up asking to speak to someone who wasn't in. I couldn't get his secretary either, and she started shouting at me (literally!): "I MUST SPEAK TO SOMEONE NOW! PUT ME THROUGH TO SOMEONE!" But she didn't have another name to give me... then she came out with, "Put me through to that other lady on the case, you know, the stout one."

Gah.

Luckily, the receptionist upstairs (who I finally phoned in desperation) has worked here longer and had an idea of who the stout lady in the Litigation department might be. Sheesh.

I was out walking in Princes Street Gardens yesterday, where they still have a skating rink and a sort of travelling amusement park set up. (This is where the Edinburgh Wheel is, a giant ferris wheel I went on in December - very cool!) Anyway, I was down by the skating rink to see if there was any chance I'd get to skate on it before it packed up. There were a bunch of little booths selling food and toques and things, and I was impressed to see that one of them, in a what-will-they-think-of-next sort of way, sells haggis pakoras.

I forgot to mention it last post, but I went to the Night Afore celebrations downtown last week (that being the Night Afore Hogmanay, ie Dec. 30). It was a free festival, and I have to say it was a million times better than the actual Hogmanay Street Party (which you have to pay for). The celebrations had a French theme this year, to celebrate the Auld Alliance. It basically turned out to be a sort of giant street-theatre show. And it was amazing.

They had a few sort of little stages set up with various entertaining performances. My favorite was the French guys in lab coats demonstrating their mad inventions - I think I was partially so amused because of the patter, though. It was half in French and half in English, and very funny. There were also giant ten-foot-tall beasties wandering the streets and some sort of show where a performer was attached to a giant balloon made out of paper and sticks, lit from within, and sent high above George Street. Very beautiful and impressive.

They also staged the World's Longest Strip-the-Willow. This is a dance, apparently. I sort of missed the first bit where they showed you the steps because I was there alone and didn't have a partner to dance with... But luckily the next bit was where they put everyone into lines up and down the street, and you just danced with whoever was next in line. Perfect! It was great fun, and very cool watching everyone from 10-year-old kids to 80-year-old men dancing their way down the street. And after the official dance, some guy around my age decided to stage the World's Longest Conga Line as well, so of course I had to join that as well. All in all a much better time than the street party the next night.

In other news, I have learned to make absolutely amazing homemade mushroom soup. See? Crappy kitchen jobs can be quite useful! As it turns out, almost every single dish I can cook begins with "saute garlic, onions and mushrooms in olive oil", and this recipe is no exception. So it fits perfectly into my repertoire. I don't actually have a recipe at all, but I quizzed Martin the cook and managed to re-enact a scaled-down version of his mushroom soup. A definite success.

backwards ~ onwards

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Missed anything?
moved! - 2008-05-12
Sunday = time to ramble on - 2008-05-11
apparently I'm doing monthly updates these days. Sorry. - 2008-05-04
watershed - 2008-04-06
end of trip - 2008-03-31

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