Archive for January, 2007
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27
Jan
2007
Sweet Mystery of life at last I’ve Found You!
Now I think I’m officially back. My laptop was in for service for TWO weeks. Why does warranty work suck so bad? Surely it could be done faster? When I took it in, I was told a week to ten days. It had been nearly two full weeks before I even bothered them.
Wednesday I called and Read the rest of this entry »
23
Jan
2007
I Was Really There
Car back!
Still without a decent computer, but at least I can cart my butt around again.
Baby steps, people, baby steps…
Without my laptop, I haven’t really looked at these in detail, but just skimming them gave me the sensation I was about to hop back on that bus in the morning.
Getting ahead of myself… reminiscing – you do that in old age I hear…
Anyway, Alison, a new friend from the Scotland backpacker tour, posted her photos from the trip. Check ‘em out, see that I was really there….
22
Jan
2007
Off To A Bang
Okay, to put things in perspective, it’s not the end of the world, not remotely, but I’m hoping that beginning the year with a weather-canceled street party is not indicative of where 2007 is going.
Summing up my return to the U.S. of A.
Nearly missed a tight connecting flight from Newark to Atlanta. Barely got to the gate on time.
Flight delayed and ultimately canceled due to mechanical issues.
Arrived in Atlanta 6 hours late with luggage that had ultimately beat me back here but was mislaid by baggage folks. Well, it happened to more than a hundred others.
Got home 24 hours after I woke up in Edinburgh and had a collapsed closet shelf and a laptop that apparently committed suicide due to neglect after two weeks - sniff! Still under warranty…. At the shop every since I’ve been back.
Was supposed to get a laptop for my new position at work, it arrived DOA with a hard drive problem. Still haven’t gotten it.
Spent most of Saturday trying to catch up (right now more or less doing old and new jobs). Late in the afternoon, got in the car to get out for a bit, got a mile and could smell burning electronics and see a few puffs of smoke from steering column. Turned around and went to a garage near the house. Too late for them to do much more than verify I wasn’t about to burst into flames in their parking lot. Left baby behind and came home. Took most of today to verify that my multi-switch in the column burned itself out… $$ Should get car back tomorrow if part comes from dealer… No fun needing friends to taxi you about.
So, two dead laptops and now a car. I’ve learned from my mistakes, vacations should never end…
I’ve a loaner laptop (read old and slow) from work, but I’ve been a non-entity online as a result. I’ll catch up with my online life and work on my trip photos as soon as my Fujitsu is home.
Hope everyone else is having a better January 2007 than me! 
9
Jan
2007
Edinburgh Blues
Last day in Edinburgh. Tomorrow morning, I fly out at 9am… per Edinburgh Airport, that means I should be there at 6am… ouch… So, today needs to have an early conclusion so I can be done packing and all that fun stuff. I left with a 32 pound backpack, and I don’t think I’ve added enough to it that I should worry, but keep your fingers crossed none-the-less.
Forgotten Tidbit
And I really should kick myself for this one, but I literally had less that two minutes of time left on here (and the shop was closing) last night, so I was rushed. On the last full day of the backpacker tour, one of our stops was to Loch Ness. Actually, Fort Augustus is on the Caledonian canal and has a view of the Loch as well. But near sunset, we actually stopped at the infamous home of Nessie. If nothing else, I think I got some rocking pictures of the sun setting on the Loch. No Nessie sightings despite Rab’s Nessie chant and dance that he had us do. I look forward to some of the pictures that were taken of that. Had to be a sight. I had never really read up on Nessie, but apparently there’s actually over a thousand years of history of sightings and sightings at other Lochs. Rab left it up to us what we wanted to believe about the Beastie, but he said that he’d been on boats that had sonar sightings of something down there.
Back In Edinburgh Again, And I feel Fine…
Sort of anyway… The night I got back I was fighting off a cold and taking my Airborne. We had several sick people on the bus by the time it was done. And I was right there at the end. Cough, sinus drip… yum… First night in, I slept, and I slept LATE…
My first day back, I decided to get out of town again. I had some intentions to take a train up to St. Andrews, but I started looking at the schedules. It’s a train and a bus. The train alone takes two hours. You can just do a bus, but that’s three hours… I didn’t want to kill that much of a day on a return trip. St. Andrews will have to wait. So I still wanted to see the coast, and I took a train to North Berwick, a little seaside village half an hour from Edinburgh via train. Even in the off-season, quite picturesque. I can imagine that during the summer, it’s really something. Like most places around here, it has history going back thousands of years. It used to be, ironically, a stop over for pilgrams on their way to St. Andrews. Go figure!
I got some beach shots, wiggled my fingers in the North Sea (hope you didn’t think I’d take my shoes off and wade!). And I wandered around town. Had some chips for lunch and sat and watched the waves break. Real sleepy place in winter, but I suspect in summer a different manner. Almost the whole stretch of houses that faced the water had rental signs in them for holiday-seekers and there are multiple golf courses around it.
My guidebook indicated that there was a castle east of town, Tantallon, built in 1358 by the Douglas Family. Book said it was three miles… hmmm.. no signs… I could do that in an hour easily… but not without some idea where I was going. Found a bus stop and the castle was one of the stops – problem solved! Sort of…
The bus was literally waiting there, so I hoped on. The castle wasn’t far off, but civilization died off rapidly and we were shortly in idle farm fields. Once there, I checked out the castle for a couple of hours. I literally climbed up every wall that was allowed and wandered around looking at the ocean views (the castle is built with two sides facing out and the other two were left open because they are sheer cliff drops). Not the most remarkable place I’d visited, but I was literally the only person there, so it was nice not being buffetted about by crowds for a change, hence the two hours.
Finally done, I got my prerequisite fridge magnet and asked the curator when the next bus was… just missed it… Then he looked at his watch again and said maybe not, if I hurried. I had to have missed it. I had a view of the road the whole time I was walking down from the little visitor office and never saw one. I waited by the side of the road for another 20 minutes before deciding I’d rather just walk. It was 3pm. The sun is down at 4:30pm and I wanted to be back in town before that happened. And sure, enough hoofing it along the little paved path on the roadside, I was back into town just as dusk hit. I did a little shopping and hopped the train back here to Edinburgh.
A little TV and then bed… yawwwnnn!!
Last Day Wandering
Last day can only be described as a ramble. I had thought about going down to Leith Docks to the shopping centre there or to see the Queen’s old yacht, Britania. In the end, I just wandered around and did some shopping and took some photos in between the dark clouds (partially sunny today with ocassional showers). I found the local Forbidden Planet, and got some Doctor Who stuff (yes, it was time to let my geek flag fly – oh wait, I did that when I wore my Batman t-shirt on day 4 of the backpacker trip). Also checked out the graveyard at St Cuthbert’s, an 18th century church. This place has a tower left from the days when they had to guard against body snatchers (taken and sold to the local medical school). This is also where I managed to take a spill on some mossy damp steps. Glad to say that it was just my dignity and not my body or camera that was injured in the fall.
Dropped back by the room and dumped the purchases I’d made, including some CD’s for some Brit music that I won’t really get to listen to until I’m home (wahhhh!!). One was a CD for a Scots band, The Fratellis, that was playing as one of the acts at Hogmanay and I had intentions of hearing them, but of course that didn’t pan out The other, The Automatic, I heard a song of theirs on the radio several times while here. Listened to enough of both albums to be sure I’d like them.
After that a ramble up to Edinburgh castle for some dusk photos, and I think I got in some good ones. Very dramatic sky this evening, clouds and the last remnants of the sun before setting. Plus the castle lights were already on. The only thing left on my plate is dinner, no pun intended. After that, packing and early to bed. I’d thought about a museum nearby that has late hours on Tuesdays, but I think it’s better to end today on this note before I wear myself out. I’m sure I’ll be back again someday. And tomorrow will be a long day. Flight to Newark and then to Atlanta… wheee!
8
Jan
2007
Scotland: Time Flies
I’ve one more full day in Scotland to report on and am days behind in updating my blog. What a combo…
Ullapool to Fort Augustus
More beautiful scenery and history. That was true every day of the trip to the point that it becomes hard to really describe it.
Among other places, we stopped in at Clava Cairns, a prehistoric site which is the remains of circular tombs built thousands of years ago. Really an amazing site. It also contains standing stones, though nothing as elaborate as stone henge. But still amazing when you consider the tools that people had to build these with at the time.
Afterwards, we visited Culloden battlefield, the site of the last uprising between the Scots and the English. The Scots under Bonnie Prince Charlie had very nearly won all of Britain in their battle in 1745. By 1746, the tide had turned and the last few Clansmen fought a much larger force in the open and everything fell apart. The highland clearances began after that. The people were removed from their lands and their customs and ways were banned. The culture was very nearly extinguished.
Lunch was in Inverness. Just enough time to explore a small part of downtown before back on the bus. Good old fish and chips shop. Granted I had chicken instead of fish. Sorry but yuck! Inverness was a lot like other Scots cities I’ve visited. An old core surrounded by newer development.
That evening we moved on to Fort Augustus, where we visited a little museum dedicated to preserving the ways of the highlands, the true kilts (not the ones we are used to today) and as much of the way of life as is possible. It was really an interesting experience and well worth it.
Afterward, we retired to Morag’s Lodge, a hostel in Fort Augustus, probably the nicests I’ve stayed in outside of London. There was karoke and movies. At the end of the night, a few of us were watching Scooby Doo and the Loch Ness monster before bed at 2:30am… ouch…
Fort Augustus Back to Edinburgh
Morning came much too fast on the last day. I don’t think anyone on the bus was particularly awake. We got an hour out when someone realized they’d left their camera behind and we had to double back. We made a couple of scenic stops along the way, but I was half asleep and mainly was just getting off the bus and taking pictures and then sleeping. We had lunch in some small pub, where I had a Scottish Venison burger. I also sampled some haggis off another plate and can report that it was okay. I don’t know if I’d want the full meal deal, but it wasn’t all that bad, reminded me somewhat of meat loaf.
Came into Edinburgh and it was, of course, raining. Said farewells to most of the group and trudged down to the my hotel and checked in. Near collapse. I can report that it is at least a nice place which a view! I’m not paying near their regular rates since it’s off season and I booked in advance.
More to come…
