A job, a visit to Queensferry and some yummy Italian

The stars came through for me this week...on Wednesday afternoon I got a call from an agency I'd tried to register with. I'd sent them my CV and spoken to them on the phone and had heard nothing further so had decided not to worry about them anymore. They invited me to come and interview for a 6 month receptionist position the next morning, so along I went. First I had to do an assessment, which I didn't think much of. But it turned out to be data entry and then a 'literacy and numeracy' test which got you to do things like put surnames in alphabetical order, put sentences into correct grammar, and what was 5 x 7 x 9. Part of me was offended that an EL 1 with a double degree was being asked to do such menial tasks and scared that it meant the job they wanted me for was suitable for monkeys; the other part of me was alarmed that I'd forgotten my time tables and long multiplication. Luckily it appears the test is just a standard thing and wasn't to do with the job I was there to talk about. The girl who interviewed me was gorgeous and wearing even more gorgeous shoes. That wasn't intimidating at all. We bonded over shoes and the fact that she'd been to Australia on a working holiday visa a few years ago. After a while she told me the job was actually for their office - I'd be the one putting people through the assessments! That answered a few questions for me, like the location, the company (I'd just watched Legally Blonde 2 and didn't want to end up working for a cosmetics testing laboratory or anything), and the dress code (I was really hoping to avoid buying a suit). I spoke to the deputy manager as well who gave me some more details on the position and told me they were a pretty social bunch, except herself who was never invited because she'd turned down too many invitations in the past. That was good to hear as I still don't know anyone in Edinburgh except Toby and I was hoping to work with some people who were happy to get together outside of work hours occasionally. The girl who interviewed me told me that the night before she and the payroll girl had gone out for 'one drink' that turned into a big night and it was lucky my interview was at 10am and not 9, because that wouldn't have been pretty. I will be sharing an office with the payroll girl - the rest of the team are two floors up in the offices - so that will be interesting.

All up the interview went for 2 hours, although the time went really fast. They told me they would confirm with the manager when she got back to the office in the afternoon, but otherwise they'd see me on Tuesday. I knew I had to cancel my job with the other agency ASAP, but wanted to wait until it was all confirmed. Unfortunately just as I got home, my phone rang and it was the woman from the other agency checking up on me for next week. I told her that I'd been offered another position with an immediate start, and I was very sorry to let her down but I'd accepted it. I can still hear her now, saying "Oh Dot please don't." I felt terrible and it really made it difficult to be too excited about the job, but I'm doing better now. As clever Leonie said, she probably thought evil thoughts about me for 5 minutes and then got on with things. Toby even offered to go and do the job for me but strangely enough she didn't take me up on that offer. So I guess that's one agency who won't want to hire me again, but I've got a job for 6 months so I'm really happy about that.

We'd booked dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant so decided to treat it as a celebration for my new job. The people who run the restaurant have opened a new one on the other side of town and I'd read a review in the paper that said their regulars from this one were following them to the new one to try their new menu, so figured they must be pretty good. It was a very authentic restaurant, with staff who even spoke Italian to each other. The food was great, the best meal we've had since we got here. We decided to just get a bunch of starters rather than the usual plates of pasta, so we tried their bruschetta, a plate of ricotta ravioli in butter, sage and nutmeg sauce (something I have tried to make myself, always unsuccessfully), a bowl of fresh seafood cooked in white wine, garlic and chilli, and a lump of provolone cheese baked in the oven in a tomato and oregano sauce. We would have enjoyed the cheese a lot more if either of us liked smoked cheese enough. It was a really good meal even though they forgot to bring us our wine. So one restaurant down, hundreds to go.

This morning I had an appointment to get my National Insurance number. I'm still not sure what it is; you need it for work but it's not a TFN. It has something to do with the welfare system and making contributions to your benefits. Nothing makes you feel like you live somewhere like dealing with the bureaucracy. In this case it was with Jobcentre; from what I can gather it's like our Job Network, only not outsourced. Luckily it was a very quick and painfree experience; I had to provide proof of address and proof that I was looking for work (luckily an email from one of the temp agencies was enough) as well as my passport. The lady filled in a form for me and said I shouldn't have any problems getting a number. She said Pertemps were a good company with a good reputation and that it was lucky I had a job. Apparently employers are really keen right now but everyone's busy with festival time and when that's over they all go off to the Greek Islands. They have high numbers of Eastern Europeans looking for work but a lot of them don't have the English skills required. There was a lady next to me who had her son translating for her; I felt a sense of guilty relief that I was educated and spoke English and hadn't gone to Italy like we originally planned.

A more travel-related story is our little trip to Queensferry the other day, a seaside village about 10 minutes away by train. It was such a beautiful day we decided it was time for a trip to the seaside, which we hadn't done before. It was a gorgeous little town, full of terraced houses along the harbour. We wandered along the high street up to the Forth Bridge which is a feat of Scottish engineering (apparently) although it's very expensive to maintain and Toby thinks it's the most inefficient bridge design he's ever seen (did you know Toby's an engineer? No, me neither). Near the bridge was the famous Hawes Inn, an old pub where Robert Louis Stevenson wrote part of Kidnapped, and where all the bridge builders used to drink - there were signs saying that the death toll of 57 men from working on the bridge would probably have been lower if not for the Hawes Inn whisky. We sat outside and had a beer and a bowl of chips - the bar girl told Toby she thought it was really cool we were having beer and chips. That still confuses me. What else would you have with beer on a sunny day, overlooking the harbour? Anyway it was a pleasant excursion and now that I've got a job I'm looking forward to planning some more.

The Forth Bridge. Underneath is an island with the ruins of Inchcolm Abbey, founded by Augustinian priors in 1183.

Cute Queensferry terrace house

Outside the Hawes Inn.

Mini update

There isn't much to update from last time, so I'll just share some photos and make sure everyone knows we're still alive. Still unemployed, in my case. But you'll be glad to know that yesterday's horoscopes promised that although the beginning of my week would be a bit ordinary, by the end my career will be dazzling. So that's something to look forward to.

Ricky Gervais' attempt at irony via billboard; he makes funny TV but I think he's pissing a lot of people off.

All dressed up for our visit to Club Noir, the world's biggest burlesque club.

I bought the dress in Armstrong's, a 2nd hand clothes "emporium" (think that translates as "shop that's bigger than normal") which has been in Edinburgh since 1840. It was an amazing shop. The dress cost 12 pounds because of "wear and tear", i.e. some sequins had fallen off and there were some loose threads, but it was so sparkly you couldn't really tell. I got a couple of compliments and felt pretty glam. Toby looked very spunky in his suit which he wore with braces (also from Armstrong's). The hat ended up staying home. It was a great show and a good night, although as usual it was ruined by my new shoes which started to hurt my feet, and a lack of taxis which meant we had to walk (very slowly) 3/4 of the way home before we found a free one. We shouldn't have worried too much about the dress code; most of the girls looked amazing, in evening wear, vintage party dresses or corset/tutu/fishnet stocking ensembles but there were some blokes who just shouldn't have been allowed in at all. Toby was definitely the best looking guy there, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his girlfriend.

Water of Leith, looking swollen and fast after Saturday's non-stop rain (yes I wore my new silver stilettos out in the rain).

Sunday was basically a write-off after our big night but we did manage to get out in the afternoon to further explore the Water of Leith walkway near our house.

Some rapids near the path's turn-off to the national gallery of art; yes we can walk to that from our house, via this walkway. Pretty cool. Next to this spot was a memorial to victims of AIDS; there was a park bench and some plaques with poetry. It was a peaceful, kind of sad place.

Toby's attempt at arty photography along a mossy wall.

Singalongs, a trip to Glasgow and a job (finally)

Another update for all you loyal (if silent) readers out there. It's been a good few days here in Edinburgh. We've had more festival fun after our slightly distrastrous first attempt. On Sunday afternoon we went to Fringe Sunday, a free day of performances and delicious things at the Meadows, a big stretch of green next to the city. We saw some bands, some performance poetry, and some hairy hippies banging drums and doing some kind of 'dance' a bit reminiscent of Twister. It's a great atmosphere in this city right now, it's amazing that with so many people from so many different places all squashed into the same area it still has a nice vibe about it. For people who have been to Oktoberfest in Canberra, imagine that multiplied by 1000 and then take away the aggressive alcoholic haze that hangs over everyone. That's the basic feeling.

The Priscilla bus that we see around town occasionally (it's not actually for Priscilla, in fact I'm not sure what it's for. But cool, huh?).

On Monday we decided to have another shot at seeing a comedy show. We didn't want Toby to pass out and inconvenience everyone again (just kidding, he didn't do that at all) so wanted a decent venue with seats near the door. We found a bar about 10 minutes walk from our house which is part of the free fringe and sat there drinking for a while wondering if there would ever be a show on. Finally I asked one of the bar girls who told me there was one starting downstairs in 5 minutes. Oh, there's a downstairs. That explains why we saw no signs of festivities going on. So down we headed and took seats right by the entryway, wondering what we were about to see. It turned out be a sing a long about the joy of sex, complete with lyric sheets, a la Nana's 80th birthday mass in Ballina (for all those of you who were there). It was a couple, both comedians, the bloke had a guitar, and they'd penned a whole bunch of songs about sex, like Welcome to Brazilia (waxing) and Waiting Room Blues (about sex-related injuries). They had another comedian join them for the threesome song (as you do) and then she had 5 minutes to give us a preview for her own show, which is called How to Get Almost Anyone to Want to Sleep With You. She was pretty funny and I'm sure her show would be good, but it costs 9 pounds which is a bit much especially considering there's already one person who wants to sleep with me (sorry parents) and that's enough to handle.

The show was really entertaining and although it was a small audience it felt nice and friendly, but not THAT kind of friendly. Toby didn't need to pass out once. Afterwards of course we were asked to contribute some money and because we'd enjoyed it we gave them 10 pounds. So I'm liking this free festival business, you show up and then afterwards you get to decide how much it was worth to you.

Yesterday we decided to get out of Edinburgh and took the train to Glasgow. It's a very easy 45 minute trip (well it would be if we hadn't gotten on the wrong train to start with), even though it's considered 'west coast' (Edinburgh is the 'east coast'). Glasgow has a very different feel to Edinburgh, a bit tougher and much, much trendier. The shops were great and we spent a bit of time wandering around since I've barely seen a brightly coloured stiletto the whole time we've been here. We visited the Gallery of Modern Art which has a current programme looking at sectarianism, a bit of an eye-opener considering I thought the Protestant/Catholic thing was well and truly over in Scotland (it's not). We also went up to Glasgow Cathedral, the only Cathedral to survive the Reformation. It was very impressive.

Glasgow Cathedral

Me in front of the Glasgow city council building and the gigantic pillar of John Knox (the Catholic priest who decided Protestantism was better and is therefore a rather important historical figure as far as Scotland's concerned)

Our train ticket meant we could either get the 4.30 train or one after 6pm; even though we'd planned to stay for dinner we were pretty tired by then so we got the earlier train and came home. We will definitely return to Glasgow, especially if I need to buy new shoes (which I do, of course).

This morning I had another interview with another job agency, and the best thing to come out of that was a job. It doesn't start until the 29th and it only goes for a week, but it's better than nothing. She put me through a typing test and a word test and her books seem a bit busier than the other agency's so I'm hopeful. Hurray.

Some personal shout-outs, first to my dad who's having a birthday today (yes I remembered, all the way from here), and second to uncle Ross and his lovely wife Hettie who are expecting another baby. Hurray for dozens of cousins. Another baby we're going to miss. Life goes on, after all.

First show experience

So off we go to our first comedy show, started off the night in a court yard, moved into a nice little wine bar, and had a lovely glass of wine. We then went to the show and it was very funny, but very hot in the venue. Got even hotter with time, the comedian started talking about his colonoscopy (for some reason some random medical procedures talk I don’t cope well with, add heat to the mix I’m going to get light headed). Up I get in the middle of the show to get some air and water, get heckled on the way and almost pass out in the toilet; a smart person would have stayed out. I go back in get heckled again, realise I’m not going to make it try to leave collapse twice, interrupted the show, a few people came out with me because of the heat, the reviewer of the show left when I left (I’m feeling terrible by this stage) and lie down in the foyer and eventually walk to the train home. So not the best start to the Edinburgh fringe festival and I don’t feel like I can go to that venue again (luckily there are hundreds of venues.

The other show we have booked for is the world’s biggest Burlesque club. After we booked it we realised there was a dress code. “Cast off your inhibitions, glam fetish, dandy, vintage, silver screen, lingerie and they reserve the right to refuse admission.” So not sure what we have signed ourselves up for, it goes from 9.00 pm to 4.00am.

The house is very addictive, we have a nice fast unlimited internet connection, 100 TV channels which looks great on our new lcd TV and a nice big space to enjoy it all in. When it is raining we are quite reluctant to leave the house. Luckily we signed up to the gym and we have been spending a decent amount of time there at least every second day.

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.

Some good news

Advertising for the Andy Warhol exhibition. I'm sure some resident Edinburghers are unimpressed by the defacing of historic buildings.

Our five days of (almost) non-stop house hunting have paid off. Today we got a phone call to tell us that we were approved for the property we viewed yesterday afternoon in Roseburn. Great relief. We sign and pay on Monday and move in the same day. Luckily we don’t have much to move in, only a couple of backpacks worth of stuff. Then it’s off to Woolies to stock up on groceries and other supplies. Then we will probably just stay in the flat for a few days, catching our breath and feeling like human beings again. I do need to get a job soon though, week after next if possible. If the temp agencies aren’t useful I’ll visit all the shops etc where I’ve seen ‘staff wanted’ notices.

Today we didn’t have any plans, just needed to wait for The Phone Call, so we decided to get the train out to the suburb where the first house we viewed was. This was the nice apartment with the fantastic view which we’d decided against because of its distance from the city (10+ minutes by car), although it remained our Plan B all week. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn coming out of the train station and ended up a fair way from where we wanted to be, in a suburban shopping centre a bit like Woden or Kippax. We had lunch in a ‘Mexican’ restaurant where the waitresses had T shirts that said things like ‘Maid in Mexico’ and ‘Famous for Fajita’s’ (sic). Despite the promising slogans, the food was pretty awful and not that cheap. We’d decided that after lunch we’d walk back to the train station and take the right turn this time to the house, to see what was in the area so if we weren’t approved we could apply for it straight away. But while we were eating we got the phone call. So we just trekked back to the train station and back into the city, a train trip that took less than 10 minutes and was very comfortable. That made us wonder if we should have gone for the suburban apartment with the great view after all, but it’s too late now and besides I think we’ve still made a good choice.

Returned to the hostel where there was a note on our door saying ‘please report to reception ASAP’. Uh oh. Turns out we were supposed to check out today but because I can’t count I’d managed to convince myself we were leaving tomorrow. I guess it’s for the best because we needed to get that phone call and if it had been possible we’d have liked to sign the papers today, but it’s an extra 49 pounds we hadn’t really counted on. We were very apologetic, luckily we are able to stay in the same room and don’t have to bunk down with strangers. We’ve booked a hire car for the next few days so tomorrow morning it’s back to Oxford to pick up our things from Margaret’s. We think on Sunday we’ll drive halfway back, and spend the night in a B & B somewhere in Yorkshire or the Lakes District, to give us plenty of time on Monday to get into Edinburgh. It’s a great relief to have a house sorted, now begins the next challenge of finding a job. And seeing some festival shows of course, I have started to make a list of the things I want to see. I think the way to do it is give yourself a budget (say 50 pounds) and then try and see one of everything (one comedy, one film, one play, one concert, etc) unless you don’t like everything. I’ve been trying to get Toby to think about it but he’s been too focussed on the house, if he doesn’t start paying attention soon we’ll end up only going to things I want to see (which would obviously suit me).

View from our hostel window, which we won't miss. A week is long enough to spend in one room. There's only so much Sudoku you can do and Scrubs you can watch.

Probably going to be a little quiet over the next few days, with lots of driving planned and setting up house etc etc. Hope everyone is well.

More house hunting, the flu and the Simpsons

Our first application got knocked back, the reason being somebody else had already put an application in for it. What made it even worse is we went to see some other places and realised what great value it was and still remains the favourite place we have seen by far.

The whole rental system works differently to home, one application at one time so a real estate agency making a stuff up and accepting two at the same time is a big no no. This big no no has worked in our favour they have driven us around Edinburgh showing us all sorts of places outside of our price range that they think they can get the land lord to accept at a lower price (with the 6 month rent in advance thing). We have put in another application on a place we saw today and we should get a call in the morning, the landlord has to accept 50 pounds a month less but gets his 6 months rent in advance. If that fails we think we will go for the first place we saw with the fantastic view, we have seen some pretty dingy places the last few days and even considered one because of its size and location. You would never want to cook anything for fear of getting poisoned in the darkest dingiest kitchen ever (even worse then the back of the pancake parlour for all the meter readers reading this). Anyway we held out went back to the real estate agent who had been so helpful yet stuffed us around and they took us to this other place, a little bit further out then we would like and no view to speak of but it is a really nice place on the inside, 25 minute walk into the centre of the city and comes with a parking spot in case I buy a motor bike or small car as they seem so cheap over here. Although I really do want a bike, I’m thinking a touring BMW as a shaft drive would be good, would hate to break a chain on a long trip. Also touring parts of Europe on a motorbike would make this a much more Toby like adventure

What makes life extra fun at the moment is the flu like symptoms I have developed. Yay, my head weighs a tonne, my nose runs and my throat is sore, after going to two chemists we found night and day cold and flu tablets (not big over here) which helped me sleep, just a shame I don’t have time to be sick, have to keep on house hunting and will be going back to Margaret’s house full of cats which will make me even sicker in a few days.

Why does everyone think only Dot writes on this, this is my third entry, I know as a couple she brings the writing talent to the relationship but I still contribute *pointing at Dicko and Virtue*.

We are both pretty sick of the hostel room, so much so we decided to go to the Simpsons movie yesterday, it was pretty entertaining. The only touristy thing we have done in the last week is going to the Scottish National Museum, good museum just needs allot more time than we had to look through it, once the house is organised we plan to go and do some of the fringe festival things that makes Edinburgh so famous.

Edinburgh's most famous hound, Greyfriar's Bobby. Apparently Disney made a movie (quelle surprise, as Dot's mum would say) about him. Whenever we walk past it reminds us how much we miss Tiffa.