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November 5

Hello! It's been aaaaaaaaaaages since I last updated this, not since we first got the flat I guess.... Anyway, things have been great ever since then and everything is going extremely well.

I'm still working at the book shop, but not for long! I was just offered at job at Virgin Megastore, so in a couple weeks I'm going to move there instead of the book shop. The two stores are literally next door to each other, so it won't be a horrendous move. I'm ALSO working at Starbucks, I've been there for a couple weeks now. It's really fun there, all the people are awesome and it's a really nice atmosphere.

About a week ago, we acquired two new flatmates - Leanne's cousin Andrew and his friend Jon, who had been travelling around Greece and Italy. There's going to stay with us at least until January, so that really helps us out with the rent - it's dead cheap now. Life is awesome with those guys around, we're having a ton of fun.

The four of us are like a little family, every night we all sit down to dinner, and then have tea. I must admit that our dinners are quite deluxe, we're eating really healthy. None of that microwave dinner crap.

It's hard to remember what else has been happening around here in the last three weeks. . . I've spent most of the time working, haven't done any travelling. Except a quick trip to Glasgow - just to go to a class for my Starbucks training. I found Glasgow to be kind of a glum city, I wouldn't want to live there. Leanne and I are going back in a while cause we just bought tickets to a Travis concert. I was really close to going to Norway for the weekend a couple weeks ago, as I had 4 days off. But alas, I couldn't find a cheap enough flight.

We've added a few more hangouts to our list of favourites. There's our local pub (5 doors down from our flat) - Scruffy Murphy's - you go in and feel like you're in an episode of Coronation Street or something. And there's Finnegan's at the foot of the castle - a nice pub that has local Scottish music every night. We were there last night dancing a jig to the fiddlers. Then there's this awesome club that we went to last week - Honeycomb. It's nothing like the clubs in Canada... much funkier and more original. Andrew and Jonny just got hired at another club - Noa - which is a block away from our flat... they're gonna be bartenders so hopefully they can get us in for free.

Next week two of Leanne's friends are coming to visit - Dallas and Tiffy. Then shortly after that, Jonny's girlfriend Karen is coming, then a week later it's Andrew's ex-girlfriend Candace, and then in the beginning of December my cousin Wendy will be here. So we're practically running a hostel... haha. If anyone else feels like coming up to chilly Scotland, feel free! We've got plenty of room.

Last weekend we changed some of the living arrangements in the flat. We have one huge bedroom, and one super tiny bedroom (aka the hobbit hole.) Jonny and I switched rooms, so now he's in the hobbit hole. It's not as cold in there now though cause our landlord brought us an electric heater. I'm now living in the huge bedroom with Andrew and Leanne, Andrew and I have bunkbeds and Leanne has a double bed...

Anyway, that's about all I have to say now. I'll report back when I take a wee trip out of the country or something.... I'd love to go to Spain or somewhere else warm.



November 23

Train Travels & Smashing Films

Hey everyone,

Since my BritRail pass is about to expire, I figured I had to get some more use out of it. So a week ago, Leanne and Dallas and Tiffany and I went to St. Andrew's for the day. It's a tiny little seaside town, and also happens to be where Prince William goes to uni. I was making fun of Leanne and them for being obsessed with Willy, but by the end of the day I was getting into the stalk-the-prince game as well. We never saw him of course, or anyone else famous for that matter. But we did have lunch is a splendid little tea room... we felt so sophisticated munching on our teacakes.

Dallas and Tiffany have come and gone now, but it was great to see some friendly faces for a while. Surprisingly our flat didn't seem at all crowded with six of us in it for a couple weeks. Now I can't wait until my cousin Wendy comes to visit, which is only in another couple weeks.

Last Monday, I had another day off, so I went on an adventure by myself (which is often the most enjoyable way to take adventures) to York and Peterborough. I LOVED York and I'm dying to move there now. I might do that, actually, in February or sometime, if I find someone else to live in our flat. We have a lease until April, but I think the landlord said she's ok with us leaving a little earlier. But anyway, York was one of my favourite cities so far, probably second to Edinburgh only. It has tons of character - the main part of the city is ensconsed in these millennium-old walls, and there's all sorts of city gates (they're called bars, the streets are called gates). In the middle of the city there's a bunch of winding wee streets with extremely old buildings. There was also a Starbucks, and I had to pop in of course. I was pleased when they gave me a free coffee after I told them I worked at the one up in Edinburgh. Haha, that evening in Peterborough (which wasn't the most exciting city) I also went to a Starbucks and got another free coffee. And yesterday Tiffany and I went to Durham and Newcastle. We didn't spend all that much time in either city because there wasn't a horrendous amount of things to see, but each had lovely Gothic cathedrals.

Speaking of horrendous things, we got a huge shock yesterday. We got this bill in the post that was addressed to Leanne and I - and stated that we had to pay SEVEN HUNDRED POUNDS worth of council tax for the last two months that we've been here!!! By the end of the day we were shocked and were fully ready to flee the country, but then I took a closer look at the bill and discovered that the 700 was actually for the whole SIX months that we'll be in the flat! So it only works out to be 30 pounds extra per person (for the 4 of us) per month. Furrrrrrthermore, our landlord advised us not to pay it (she's a bit of a dodgy character, that one) since none of her previous tenants have. If you're a student you don't have to pay it, but technically we're termed "professionals" since we're just working here. Anyway, we'll probably end up paying it...... we'll see.

We've found this great cinema that's a ten minute walk from our flat, so we saw a movie last night, as well as a week ago. Last week we say HARRY POTTER, which was ever so exciting. I thought it was exactly like the book, if not better. It's got amazing special effects and it's totally devoid of cheesy lines, which is hard to find in a children's movie. But it's not really a children's movie come to think of it, it's a grand film for all ages.... haha, ok enough about that. Last night we saw Amelie. I don't know if that's playing in Canada, but it's this extremely creative French film (it had subtitles) and I would recommend you all get off your kip and go see it.

I thought that I had a slew of little stories to share, but I can't remember what's happened in the last couple weeks at the moment.... oh well. You'll just have to give me a ring on my mobile if you want to find out!

Anyway, bye bye for now....



Tales from Wales

Last week I had a couple days off, and my BritRail pass was expiring shortly, so I decided it was time to see Wales. I woke up not so early Sunday morning (the night before had been a very late one) and hopped on a train for York, and then another destined for Manchester. Once I reached Manchester I ended up missing my train to Wales, so I decided to stay for dinner. I searched for a very long time for a cheap, decent restaurant, and ended up getting a three course meal and a nice little Chinese restaurant for only £4.95. Mind you, the third course was only tea, but it was still nice all the same. I found the place by asking directions at the Old Monkey, a funny little pub down the street. When I asked for a place to get cheap Chinese food, the barmaid screamed to the people sitting around her "Chinese!" and the rowdy old drunken Scots proceeded to bicker amongst themselves about where the best place for me to go was. They were yelling "don't go there, they were shut down because they had cockroaches!" "don't go there, it's mingin!"

Anyway, after dinner I hopped on a train for Wales, and ended up in the wee town of Comwy, population 3500. It was the nicest little town I've ever seen. There's a huge castle, a river weaving around it, and the whole "downtown core" (haha, if you can call it that) is enclosed by impressive stone walls. When I phoned to book a room in a bed and breakfast, the owner offered to ring me a taxi. I said I'd try and walk, and it ended up being a 3 minute walk down two tiny streets... haha. I stayed at the Swan Cottage, which was built in 1590 and had only three rooms.

After a hearty breakfast the next morning, I explored Comwy, which took about half an hour and included walking on top of the city walls, and visiting the "Smallest House in Britain" (which was about 5 feet wide.) I then took a wee train ride to Betws-y-Coed, with the intention of going horseback riding (or pony trekking, as they call it). The farm wasn't actually in Betws-y-Coed (population 700), it was up in the mountains of Snowdonia National Park near the village of Penmachno. I had to take a taxi there, which was a bit pricy.

The horse riding was great, I was the only one there, so it was just me and the guide. My horse (Erin) had a mind of her own though, she wasn't content with just following behind the other horse (Splash) and the little woman taking us through the hills. When the ride was over, it was starting to get dark. But since the taxi ride to get to the farm had been expensive, I was determined to walk back to Betws-y-Coed. The little woman gave me directions to get back, but I was a little skeptical about actually being able to find my way in the dark. Nevertheless, I set out on my trek.

It was a good thing that the moon was almost full, otherwise I never would have made it down the mountain. Being in the middle of nowhere, there were no street lights (haha, no streets for that matter) just a dirt road and lots of sheep braying in the dark. I seriously felt just like an elf from the Lord of the Rings. Just picture it: here I was, riding a horse through the mountains of Snowdonia with this hobbit-like woman, and then hiking for two hours in the pitch black down through the spooky Gwyndyr Forest and into Fairy Glen.

When I finally made it back to Betws-y-Coed in one piece, I heard a train pulling up into the station. I ran, and arrived at the platform to see the train pulling away and the conductor giving me an evil glare through the window. I looked at the schedule, which was tricky since it was half in Welsh, and figured that the next train wasn't until 8:30 pm (2 and a half hours later.) So I tried to catch a bus. I ended up standing on the side of the road for two hours in the freezing cold and noooo bus came. So I trodded back to the train station, only to hear ANOTHER train leaving. I ran, and found out that that was actually the last train of the night - I had read the sign wrong... Tired, disappointed, and numb from the cold, I gave up and realized I was stuck there for the night. I knocked on the door of a bed and breakfast (Gwyndant House) looking like a stray puppy and asked if there were any vacancies, chattering through my teeth. There was plenty of room (I mean, who in there right mind vacations in a wee town in the middle of Wales in the end of November?) so I got shown a room, and then quickly jumped into bed, coat & toque and all, without any dinner, and went to sleep.

Mind you, while settling into bed, it occured to me that my train pass would not actually be valid for the next day, as it expired. I was faced with the prospect of shelling out at least 50 pounds to get back home, not to mention being extremely late for the 8 am shift I was supposed to be doing at Starbucks that day...

The next morning, I was served another hearty full English breakfast (which included eggs, deep-fried toast, tea, a bowl of cereal, beans, a tomato, sausage, and some other unidentifiable meat.) I was famished after skipping dinner the night before, so I gulped it all down. I had requested breakfast early (at 7 am instead of 8) so I was the only one in the dining room. It's quite amusing being served tea by an aging burly man with tattoos in an apron. When I told him about my plight to try and reach Scotland, he took pity on me and offered to have his son give me a ride part way. I took the ride, and spent half an hour listening to a hilarious bloke with a thick Welsh accent describe his adventures in the plumbing trade, with a "bloody 'ell" thrown into every second sentence.

At the train station where he dropped me off, I asked the man behind the counter how much a ticket to Edinburgh would cost. The man looked at me like I was trying to fly to the moon (the British have a drastically different sense of distance than us Canadians), and then informed me that the whole trip would cost SEVENTY pounds. While trying hard not to fall over in shock, I told him just to give me a ticket to Manchester (18 pounds) and I'd figure out the rest from there. In Manchester, I tried to see if I could save money by taking a bus, but it wasn't possible to make it back to Scotland before 9 pm (and I was supposed to start my training at Virgin at 6:30.)

So then I decided to scam the British rail system (and not for the first time I must admit)... I took a pen and changed the dates on my pass from the 26th to the 27th (since you just write them on there yourself, it's quite easy to do.) But in this case, the 27 that I was left with looked extremely shifty, and I feared that the train conductors wouldn't accept it and would throw me in prison. Nevertheless, I attempted my little naughty act, and sneaked onto the train like a dodgy stow-away. Miraculously, all 4 train conductors that checked my ticket deemed it suitable, and I essentially got a free ride back to Edinburgh and saved myself 50 pounds. The train did end up having a three hour delay, so I barely made it back in time for my training, but I was just happy to make it at all. Needless to say, I'm not eager to travel anywhere in the next few days and will stick to Edinburgh where I don't run the risk of being thrown in jail by the train police or being eaten by any Welsh monsters hiding in the hills of Snowdonia.