25th August 2005 Kyleakin, Isle of Skye. Day 3 of Skye High Haggis Tour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, time for confessions. As I write this it is not, in fact, August 25th 2005. It is no longer even 2005. This delay is in no way a reflection of my enjoyment of the trip; it was fantastic and I loved it. But I work from 8am to 9 or 10pm every day of every week with only a two-hour afternoon break. Somehow I just never got around to writing about August, or about the holidays that followed, including Europe, Guy Fawkes, Christmas and New [View Full Entry]

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24th August 2005 Sutherland, Scottish Highlands. Day 1 of Skye High Haggis Tour. I left Edinburgh this morning with about twenty other holiday-makers, all bound for the highlands of Scotland and adventures untold (and undoubtedly pre-packaged). We passed the apparently famous Forth Rail and Road Bridges on our way north towards Fythe, stopped briefly in a whiskey distillery outside Pitlochry, then continued northward to Killiecrankie, which I just love to say in a faux-Scots brogue. Kee-li-crrrahnki. At some point during the morning we were cheerfully manipulated into pla [View Full Entry]

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23rd August 2005 Edinburgh, Scotland. Irrespective of the chilly weather, today has been a joy - I'm just so happy to be alive and here, in this blissful little corner of the earth. My daily list of accomplishments is incredibly blank... I've been content with wandering idly about and simply seeing everything and everybody. Never mind that I came here for the Festivals! There are banners and signs and crowds and performers at every turn, from the Royal Mile to Princes St and beyond. The mood is electric, the air rife with melodramatic cries and the laughter of those watching. [View Full Entry]

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August 22nd, 2005 Edinburgh, Scotland. My much-anticipated holiday jaunt up to bonnie Scotland for Edinburgh's frenzy of August Festivals began badly. After a series of problems with the VirginTrains company (including sending my ticket to the wrong address and then sending the wrong ticket to the right address!), I finally managed to finagle my way onto a train...without a seat reservation. The next eleven hours were spent jostling with the many other seatless passengers for floor space in the aisles and the buffers between carriages. Of course, it should have been only eight and a ha [View Full Entry]

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July 23rd 2005 Bayswater, London, England. Guess where I was on Thursday the 21st, when the second (attempted) terrorist bombings took place in London? About thirty metres away from the Shepherd's Bush tube station, scene of a failed bomb detonation!! I swear it's true, my hand to god. I have just spent the last three days on a weekend break in London. And damned if I'm not more exhausted than when the break began! I didn't arrive at London Waterloo station until after noon on the 21st, having found it hard to have faith in my replacement and drag myself away [View Full Entry]

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July 17th 2005 Godalming, Surrey, England. Life becomes almost laughably idyllic here in my little corner of the world, as I build an easy-going, comfortable rapport with my client/couple and we slide into something vaguely resembling a routine. There's still a never-ending assortment of people - nurses, physiotherapists, doctors, family, staff, tour groups, visitors - always coming in and out, but that's no longer as disorientating as it was initially. In fact, it's nice to always be busy. Some home-caring assignments can probably become very lonely and monotonous. Autumn is almost her [View Full Entry]

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June 24th 2005 Godalming, Surrey, England. Well, how time does fly. The last week has been spent in care-work training, as predicted. It was actually really good, with the content allaying many a fear, until I'm now altogether much more comfortable with the idea - and the purported reality - of a care worker's duties and responsibilities. The attitude of the trainers and the company staff was fairly casual and good-natured, which was a relief as I'd been nervous at the idea of a super-serious psychological evaluation-type of training with cameras monitoring our every move and all of that [View Full Entry]

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June 14th 2005 - Very early Bayswater, London, England. I finally have some news to report after a fairly eventful week. I have been offered two separate jobs, both within twenty-four hours of each other. Unfortunately, I'm not particularly excited about either of them. The first is a waitress position, but on a casual basis, so with no guaranteed hours. They also want me to wear a "full" waitress uniform, which is one bow tie and one black vest more than I own - or wish to, for that matter. The other job offer is to be a care worker for [View Full Entry]

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How quickly I’ve become a devout fan of traditional English "weekend break" in the countryside!! I spent my Saturday in Bath, Somerset, which is famous for its ancient Roman springs and its popularity amongst the English gentry in the 1800's. Aesthetically, it is a very beautiful city, packed with cream-coloured three-story Georgian buildings, roman pillars, narrow alleys and cobbled pedestrian streets. I personally felt that is also had a certain Olde world, small-town homey-ness to it which was extremely endearing. I adored the colour and architecture of the city. Most of the build [View Full Entry]

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June 1st 2005 Bayswater, London, England. In the time since Stonehenge I've done a few odd cash-in-hand jobs, nothing permanent, just some menial stuff to earn a little dough and waste a lot of time. Most advertised jobs that I see and might otherwise apply for require permanent staff - they emphasise PERMANENT - and since I have no intention of staying beyond three months, I don't apply for those. Soon enough I'll give in and go for a few waitressing jobs, which I have just enough experience to be comfortable in, but I would prefer not to. So for now [View Full Entry]

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