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Published: August 6th 2007
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First touch of the ocean
Asia on the west coast of Skye Hey guys, I guess you thought I’d abandoned you, or at least this blog. .. Truth is I haven’t really been in the writing mood.
I stayed in Glasgow for two months living in a heartless hostel in the centre of the city - while Scottish weather hasn’t been as bad as the Scots make out, the short days and hard grey streets have been depressing.
I tried looking for a flat for a while, but after wasting hours riding the tiny subway all over the city I ended up feeling about as welcome as a door-to-door salesman at the Warehouse. People often wouldn’t even call back to say “no”, or worse, would just stay in their rooms while I visited THEIR house. It feels like Glasweigans are quite a closed bunch, I know I need to make the effort - but there’s a point at which it just gets ridiculous!
It took me 7 weeks to open a basic bank account with no credit facilities - in 3 months time they’ll consider giving me an overdraft or credit card. There are a lot of “very sorry” people in banking over here. I got a lot more apologies
than action as the staff at the Bank of Scotland lost every single piece of documentation I gave them, one piece at a time - eventually I sat in one of the customer services offices with £1500 worth of cheques in my hand and told them that as I no longer had any money to eat, I was going to sit there till they found everything they’d lost over the previous 6 weeks and open an account. After 2 ½ hours in their office and a trip back to my office to get more paperwork I was eventually told that they could do it - but it’d take 2 ½ weeks.
I suggested I have a chat about the people I’d dealt with to someone higher up…
Everything was fixed by Monday morning.
It’s an amazing culture here, VERY risk adverse. Responsibility is passed far and wide.. By the time you find the people finally responsible for something, they have such an insignificant part of the issue at hand that it’s arguable as to whether they are responsible for anything at all. It’s uncanny, considering the risks associated with Iraq. There’s something totally surreal about getting an office H&S
New Lanark
Looking after world heritage e-mail suggesting that some pot plants in our very midst are too large and dangerous, then watching Iraqi citizens on TV in the evening and seeing what they’re asked to deal with day to day in their new homeland - all in the name of OUR safety.
Sorry, that’s enough of a rant..
I’ve moved into a flat in Edinburgh (the first and only one I looked at). I think there are 6 people, a couple of Aussies , a few Irish, a good few bottles of red wine, and me. It feels fantastic to finally have my own room after 8 months of shared sleeping in one form or another. The commute is slowly wearing me down, two hours from bed to desk, and two hours back again in the evening (where I am now). Work’s not too hard, and I think they appreciate having a Kiwi on the staff. At the moment there’s a lot of desk-based investigation work, but I have managed to get out and dig some holes - and even had a couple of days geologising off abseil ropes. Good work!
At the moment I’m working on a wall at a UNESCO
The Royal Mile in Edinburgh
Out the window of the hostel I lived in for a month (one month in Glasgow, then one in Edinburgh)... Summer's on the way! site that’s older than the treaty of Waitangi. My great great great great grandfather might’ve helped build it for all I know - it’s not that far out of Glasgow where the family roots are - hard to conceive - but a great feeling to be adding to “World Heritage”.
We have a smaller office in Edinburgh, I’m not intending to commute for long… but no-one knows that yet. It’s Easter this Monday, I’m tasting whiskey next Monday, and am of to Poland the week after that.. so maybe you’ll hear from me in a month. I’ve included some pictures of Asia and I up north (it really is beautiful), sorry I’ll save my fantastic bank and dangerous plant photos for another time.
And congratulations to Andy and Kirsty on their wedding!! Would’ve loved to have been there guys!
K.
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