Home sweet home

On Saturday we left Edinburgh, after lining up for ages in the Avis rental car place. I amused myself by reading trashy British magazines, although the novelty wasn’t quite there when I didn’t know who they were talking about. People were described as stars and celebrities, without any evidence to support the claim. It took us an hour just to get out of Edinburgh; it started off badly by us taking a left out of the alley where Avis was, rather than right. I couldn’t figure out how we’d gotten that so wrong until yesterday when I was looking at the map again and realised that while I’d thought we were leaving West End Place, we were actually leaving West Park Place – two alleys on the same road but different sides. Amazing how such a small mistake can have an hour’s worth of consequences.

We arrived at Margaret’s just in time to enjoy a wonderful dinner cooked by her son Luke and his wife Nina, visiting from France for the summer holidays with their two boys. Gabriel is the oldest, 7 or 8 years old, and Alex is five. He told me this when I found him playing with Lego and told him that Toby had also played with Lego when he was little. ‘I’m five,’ Alex said, giving me a withering look. But he must have forgiven me because I was lucky enough to get a couple of cuddles. It was nice to be around a happy family on holidays, even though the bilingual children made us feel a bit stupid. They had to be reminded occasionally to speak English to their grandmother and to us, but with their mother it was French all the way. Clever boys.

On a hot Sunday morning we headed off, planning to aim towards Richmond, a town on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, described by Lonely Planet as a hidden gem, one of England’s best kept secrets. It was nice to be a little more relaxed; we stuck to the motorway for a couple of hours and then turned off to drive through the national park. Which looked more like farmland, but it was a very pretty drive through little villages and valleys. We found Richmond and parked the car; the first thing we noticed was a sign above the parking ticket machine warning to not leave valuables in the car, and to lock the doors. Nothing too strange there, except the sign then went on to say to not leave anything on display – even a jacket. Which made us a little nervous. We left the car long enough to visit the tourist office and get the names of some B & Bs in town, and then drove it somewhere else. Richmond may have been old, and pretty enough, but sometime between Lonely Planet visiting and us arriving, the rest of England had caught on, including the hoons and the drunks.

Medieval clock tower in Richmond's market place

So we holed up in our cute B & B, complete with floral curtains, and had a cup of tea and watched TV and played Sudoku. Around dinner time we ventured out; the Thai recommended in the LP was full and we didn’t really relish the thought of wandering round the pubs in this place so we ended up in a decent enough Indian restaurant and then tried to find ice cream. Of course being 9.30 on a Sunday night in a small town there was no ice cream to be had, so home we went. The next morning we had a good breakfast, as you do in these places, and met a bloke who was partway through the Coast to Coast walk, which is apparently very famous. Luckily we’re Australian so we had an excuse for not having heard of it. It takes 14 to 16 days to do, and it was this guy’s fourth time. It’s such a pretty corner of the world so maybe we’ll return sometime and do a walk, maybe not that one but a shorter one. Sounds like a nice way to spend some time, walking all day and then holing up at a B & B at night.

We hit the motorway again and got to Edinburgh around 12. We needed to get a banker’s draft. We didn’t know what that was and kept asking for confirmation that it was a bank cheque, but everyone kept making out like it was just a voucher of cash. Because we thought that meant if it got in the wrong hands all our money would end up funding a hoon’s trip to Richmond, we hadn’t wanted to get it any earlier. So we had to wait nearly half an hour in the bank, because HSBC have this wonderful personal system where you get to talk to someone in their little cubicle. The woman filled out a form for us and then said it would be an hour before the girl who wrote drafts would be finished. Of course by then we’d realised a bank draft is just a cheque and it couldn’t have gotten into the wrong hands. Sigh. We slowly wandered up and down Princes Street waiting; but finally had our draft and went to the real estate agent to sign our lease. He handed us our keys and for the first time ever I got carried over the threshold. It was a struggle, as all our doors automatically close and I was carrying a bunch of stuff myself, but it happened.

The kitchen with no microwave

The apartment itself was a little disappointing. Tenants here are apparently not expected to clean the place that well; the agency gets cleaners in, but it’s certainly not spotless. The best example was the rotting chicken we found in the freezer (which had been turned off); once we got rid of that, the funny smell went away. There was also no microwave, and the coffee table was broken. One of the beds looked like it had been slept in. We threw the sheets in the washing machine and then while we still had the hire car we drove out to the big shopping centre we’d been at the other day. We did a massive grocery shop and also bought a microwave and TV. We bought champagne and some pasta for dinner, but by the time we had set up the house it was after 10 and because I was still fighting the cold I’d picked up from the hoons in Richmond I wasn’t in the mood. Toast and tea it was.

Our bedroom. The doona cover and curtains are actually more yellow than they look here; every morning when I wake up I think to myself 'it's like being in a buttercup'.

The last couple of days have been pretty quiet. I've still been fighting this cold and so spending plenty of time on the couch. Daytime TV here is much better than at home, even with only 5 channels. Today our TV/internet/phone got connected so we now have 100 channels (or something) and proper internet. And a way for telemarketers to call us, hurray. Yesterday we signed up at the big fancy gym, about 10 minutes walk away. It's part of the Virgin empire taking over Britain and has a hairdresser, beauty salon, two class rooms, a spinning room, 25 metre pool, cafe/bar including free internet. It's massive. You could spend all day there which is lucky as the prices are astronomical.

Our lounge room. The coffee table has now been fixed and is upright.

Today I also had my first interview with a job agency. The girl was very nice and seemed to think I was hilarious. We came to the understanding that for a job that only lasted 2 or 3 weeks, something not very interesting that didn't pay very well would be ok, but for anything longer term I'd want to be using my brain and being paid properly. It's a good theory. She recommended I join another agency as well to keep my options open, so I've sent my CV off to one I spoke to yesterday and will also look into the company she mentioned which has the contract with the Scottish Executive. I don't need to go back into the public service or policy work but it would be interesting so I'll look into it. She was particularly impressed that I could use excel (she asked if I could do pivot tables, apparently they are the pinnacle of excel) and said it's difficult to find temps with those skills so she was going to get on the phone to the employers who are often looking for excel people. So no promises yet but I feel okay so far.

Weekend plans include doing something festivaly since we haven't yet, and exploring the neighbourhood further. Yesterday we went for a walk and discovered the Water of Leith walk, a cycle/footpath going by a creek that obviously goes all the way to Leith. It was a little oasis in the middle of the city and deserves further exploration (and photos).

Love to everyone back home. We are very happy in our space and looking forward to welcoming visitors - it's a strange feeling to be in a new house and not have anyone to invite over for dinner. But it's all feeling good right now.