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Published: August 7th 2007
Foggy summer styles
Kate is forced to adapt her Aussie BBQ skillsAmazing new experiences marking brief respites from intense lifelessness is how I would describe the last few months. The situation I've found myself in has to be one of the worst of my life. But at the same time it's put money in the bank and provided opportunities I could never have imagined. Long commute, miserable weather, unfulfilling job - best forget about it. I've been looking for somewhere new to work, but until recently have had difficulty getting my head and heart to agree on some promising sounding opportunities.
I have, however, had some entirely agreeable breaks in between job hunting and work:
I climbed the first two Munros of my life on a beautiful, sunny, windless highland day. A Munro is a "mountain" over 3000ft and are without a doubt the most sought after collectible in the UK with people striving determinedly to "bag" the whole set of 284. I even managed to get sunburnt in Scotland, I'm guessing there may even be a few Scots who couldn't make that claim given this summer's form. On route, I met Scottish 'midgies' - If a sandfly is a hungry goldfish at feeding time, then a midgie might fit
squarely in a pack of piranha making mince of the finger that fed it... deadly.
Mum and Dad came over to set their wayward son straight, and we experienced the finer side of Edinburgh - namely 'Leith', the exclusive suburb down by the beach. We tried walking round like we owned the place, but no-one paid any attention. Fools. Though we did spend some of the afternoon on the Queen's private yacht.. Well it WAS her private yacht, now it's a big floating tourist attraction, but definitely worth a look.
I packed the folks off to Poland on their lonesomes while I finished my week at work and then Asia and I joined them for the weekend (somewhat of a role reversal). I think it was quite an
experience for all involved.
I also disappeared off to
Switzerland for a touch of business and a well needed dose of R&R. By some stroke of luck Asia was travelling through the very same city on the same weekend, and we made the most of the time - as I surreptitiously looked for somewhere to sit down and watch the Americas Cup.
The flatmates and I all headed
for an classy weekend of hunting at the Palace followed up by a visit to St Andrews. Well it might've been classy if we didn't park up Steve's 'rugged' campervan in the carpark the night before and proceed to figure out who truly would be last man standing.. just class. We were at the Game Conservancy Scottish Fair, set in the grounds of Scone (and that's "scohne", not "scon" for you Kiwis) Palace. In a world where tweed jackets outnumber designer gumboots 2:1, there were associations dedicated to international pheasants and exhibitions of dressed sticks, gundogs, falconry, fishing, and shooting. Trying our hands at clay pigeon shooting and watching the trained hunting birds were definitely the highlights. Then we drove out to the coast to park up on a narrow strip of grass between the 17th hole of the legendary St Andrews golf course and the adjacent beach. I think we really addded "colour" to the tourist bus photos we'll inevitably appear in. Once the summer fog cleared the next afternoon we had a beautiful day in the really nice wee town.
Sarah from Frisbee back in NZ came to stay for a few days this week on her
Klinika play in Wroclaw
The day before we head south to meet Mum and Dad in Krakow big European adventure. And after my first midweek drinking sessions since I arrived in the UK she's definitely helped me feel like the big exciting world is still out there.
On Sunday I'm off to Loch Ewe, waaaayy up north to work for a week digging holes. I've quit my job though, after this there's only 9 more office days before a complete change of scene.. I'm going back to University.
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