Friday, 18 August 2006
Scottish Money
The assistant at the Needle Lady’s was rather perplexed when I handed over my money to pay … Scottish money while valid in England looks very different to notes printed in England. The poor fellow was so unsure that the money I had offered him was actually real that he popped next door to check that it was real hehehehehehe
Human Pin Cushion
After lunch I headed off to my first ever acupuncture session! The acupuncturist didn’t speak much English so much of the history/explanation of why I was there was done a translator which was an interesting experience – but strangely enough it didn’t freak me out that this person with whom I could only communicate with in a minimal way was going to fill me full of long pointy needles.
After establishing that I was there to have the tightness in my neck worked on – I was shown to a small room where I was asked to strip down to my underwear and lay on massage table with towel over me.
When the Needle lady returned she started gentley poking around my neck and then tapped me sharply with a single finger and wa la the first needle was in – I was really surprise at the fact that I didn’t feel a thing as they went in – when she was manipulating them I could feel them but it wasn’t painful more like a heavy weight pushing into my neck. In short order she had 8 needles in me – 6 in my neck and on in each side of my rib cage. After this I was left under a head lamp for a period time I’m guessing about 45 min as the entire appointment took near to 1.5 hours.
After I had been baked for a suitable length of time the Needle lady appeared and removed the needles (this stung a little but not much) and finished me off with a massage.
The massage was different to any other massage/physical manipulation I have ever had which I think is in part due to the acupuncture before hand and just a general difference in technique – the oddest bit was when she smack the heels of me feet…
So far the best treatment I have had for my neck since arriving in the UK and will be having more sessions with the inscrutable Needle Lady next time I am in need when I am down London way
After establishing that I was there to have the tightness in my neck worked on – I was shown to a small room where I was asked to strip down to my underwear and lay on massage table with towel over me.
When the Needle lady returned she started gentley poking around my neck and then tapped me sharply with a single finger and wa la the first needle was in – I was really surprise at the fact that I didn’t feel a thing as they went in – when she was manipulating them I could feel them but it wasn’t painful more like a heavy weight pushing into my neck. In short order she had 8 needles in me – 6 in my neck and on in each side of my rib cage. After this I was left under a head lamp for a period time I’m guessing about 45 min as the entire appointment took near to 1.5 hours.
After I had been baked for a suitable length of time the Needle lady appeared and removed the needles (this stung a little but not much) and finished me off with a massage.
The massage was different to any other massage/physical manipulation I have ever had which I think is in part due to the acupuncture before hand and just a general difference in technique – the oddest bit was when she smack the heels of me feet…
So far the best treatment I have had for my neck since arriving in the UK and will be having more sessions with the inscrutable Needle Lady next time I am in need when I am down London way
Trip to London Town
Celebrations for my Sisters Engagement took me on a trip to London. So I jumped a train from Dundee to London - which while longer than a plane trip is easier straight of the train to the underground and then a short walk to E&P's flat. I arrived at the flat at about 11pm Friday night - just intime to meet P's Sisters husband A and A&B who were also staying at the flat - it was a rather cosy weekend.
Saturday morning E&P and P's siblings headed out to visit around london. I started a bit earlier than them which breakfast with Mum and Dad who were staying in a near by hotel for the weekend. After breakfast Dad & I headed into London where I was going to 1st Contact and after that we wandered rather confusedly around for a bit before heading back to Hammersmith and lunch with Mum.
Saturday morning E&P and P's siblings headed out to visit around london. I started a bit earlier than them which breakfast with Mum and Dad who were staying in a near by hotel for the weekend. After breakfast Dad & I headed into London where I was going to 1st Contact and after that we wandered rather confusedly around for a bit before heading back to Hammersmith and lunch with Mum.
dance practice
The weekend also saw me have my first practice session with my partner for the Scottish Ceroc Championships. These are a chairty event with all the money raised this year are going to DEBRA
My partner for these comps is Sheepman of Meltdown Mix fame - he's in London so we won't be doing much practice. We did 1 hour on the Saturday and where scheduled to 2 hours on the Sunday evening but he & Little Monkey went out for a day of lesiure and the car decided it wanted in on the lesiure bit and ceased functioning!!
we were pretty pleased with what we achieved in the hour we had.
Advanced is a little different in the UK to in Australia - no lifts or aerials of anysort are allowed - which means that the purpose of our practice sessions isn't so much to learn speccie moves as to try and develop a sort of basic connection
My partner for these comps is Sheepman of Meltdown Mix fame - he's in London so we won't be doing much practice. We did 1 hour on the Saturday and where scheduled to 2 hours on the Sunday evening but he & Little Monkey went out for a day of lesiure and the car decided it wanted in on the lesiure bit and ceased functioning!!
we were pretty pleased with what we achieved in the hour we had.
Advanced is a little different in the UK to in Australia - no lifts or aerials of anysort are allowed - which means that the purpose of our practice sessions isn't so much to learn speccie moves as to try and develop a sort of basic connection
Summer Meltdown Mix
Saturday 5th August saw DJ Sheepman spinning the tunes for Dundee's first ever MeltDown Mix.
It was sort of like a late night Tea Dance - there were mellow tunes, delighful company and delicious cakes!
the only down side to the evening was that it did get a little warm in the hall - found out at the end of the evening that apparently there was air-con we could have turned on Doh!!
Didn't loose the photos this time Photos @ Kodak
It was sort of like a late night Tea Dance - there were mellow tunes, delighful company and delicious cakes!
the only down side to the evening was that it did get a little warm in the hall - found out at the end of the evening that apparently there was air-con we could have turned on Doh!!
Didn't loose the photos this time Photos @ Kodak
Parking on the Wrong side of the Road
over here it is legal to part against the direction of the traffic. This is something that still startles me when I see two cars parked nose to nose or a car pulls out into traffic from the wrong side of the road. It just seems so unnatural.
I did my first wrong side of the road park when picking Little Monkey up for our afternoon of shopping - was a very disconcerting experience to cross to the wrong side of the road to park - luckly there was plenty of room so i was able to drive in easily - as parralel parking isn't my forte
I did my first wrong side of the road park when picking Little Monkey up for our afternoon of shopping - was a very disconcerting experience to cross to the wrong side of the road to park - luckly there was plenty of room so i was able to drive in easily - as parralel parking isn't my forte
Taking a Break and going on a Mission
the week after all my fun and games in Stirling my body made it clear that it wanted a rest and it wanted it now!!!
so the next weekend I did nothing! well nearly nothing - I did the usual assortment of house hold duties and went on a Mission for Black Pants!!! Who would think that purchasing black pants made of stretch fabric would be this difficult - this was the 5th trip and still no success - either they aren't stretch, or if they are stretch they don't fit, or the fabric nasty.
So while the mission was unsuccessful I did have a lovely afternoon wandering the shops with Little Monkey - very relaxing afternoon with fabulous company and we found several lovely sparkle accesories for Little Monkey
so the next weekend I did nothing! well nearly nothing - I did the usual assortment of house hold duties and went on a Mission for Black Pants!!! Who would think that purchasing black pants made of stretch fabric would be this difficult - this was the 5th trip and still no success - either they aren't stretch, or if they are stretch they don't fit, or the fabric nasty.
So while the mission was unsuccessful I did have a lovely afternoon wandering the shops with Little Monkey - very relaxing afternoon with fabulous company and we found several lovely sparkle accesories for Little Monkey
Dancing in Stirling
in addition to all my touristing in Stirling I also went to a dance party at Albert hall on the Saturday night and another delightful Tea Dance on the Sunday.
The Saturday night has 2 rooms - Dance Demon in the main room and Tiggerbabe in the blues room. Would have liked to have spent more time in the blues room but it was just to hot - I am in the land that air conditioning forgot! and add to that that the bar ran out of water?!?! so ended up taking an early mark knowing that I wanted and early start and I had the Tea Dance on the Sunday to get the rest of my dancing fix
The Tea Dance was lovely - with nice mellow tunes by Tiggerbabe and lovely company with a merry little picnic to celebrate Freya's birthday before hand - so much delicious food I ended up feeling rather like a beach ball for the first hour or so felt rather like a beach ball.
there were some photos of these events but they have gone awol
The Saturday night has 2 rooms - Dance Demon in the main room and Tiggerbabe in the blues room. Would have liked to have spent more time in the blues room but it was just to hot - I am in the land that air conditioning forgot! and add to that that the bar ran out of water?!?! so ended up taking an early mark knowing that I wanted and early start and I had the Tea Dance on the Sunday to get the rest of my dancing fix
The Tea Dance was lovely - with nice mellow tunes by Tiggerbabe and lovely company with a merry little picnic to celebrate Freya's birthday before hand - so much delicious food I ended up feeling rather like a beach ball for the first hour or so felt rather like a beach ball.
there were some photos of these events but they have gone awol
Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest
the Sunday after the engagement party saw the troupe trooping off to breakfast at organic café – on arrival we were greeted by the master of the domain a beautiful black lab type dog. We ensconced ourselves at a table and pursued the menu which offered up many delights for our breakfast feasting.
Next on my agenda was heading into Kings Cross where I meeting Marnie for a quick coffee before my train back to Dundee so me & my suitcase waved good bye to the troupe and trundled off to the tube station.
Kings Cross was chaotic – much more so than when I arrived or caught the train up to Dundee – Marnie & I eventually found each other, grabbed a drink and found a stair to sit on. It was lovely catching up with Marnie – she seems to be settling into London life very well – a job, a place to live and so on as with all catch ups the time went far to quickly and before we knew it my train was being called.
Next on my agenda was heading into Kings Cross where I meeting Marnie for a quick coffee before my train back to Dundee so me & my suitcase waved good bye to the troupe and trundled off to the tube station.
Kings Cross was chaotic – much more so than when I arrived or caught the train up to Dundee – Marnie & I eventually found each other, grabbed a drink and found a stair to sit on. It was lovely catching up with Marnie – she seems to be settling into London life very well – a job, a place to live and so on as with all catch ups the time went far to quickly and before we knew it my train was being called.
Tuesday, 15 August 2006
I'm sorry i'm sorry I'm sorry
I've been very naughty and not posted here in ages - Stirling sort of brought me undone - I did so much and was so busy and tired it is taking me ages to write it up. And I haven't posted about the things that I have done since then even though I have writen them up because I wanted to keep this blog chronoglogical but I give up - tomorrow I will post links to all my Stirling photos - and about my adventures since stirling and the details of my fun and games in stirling will arrive when they arrive
Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Super Tourist
Ok going to keep this short - Last weekend I went to Stirling and Super Tourist I was you name it in Stirling and I saw it!! It's got an amazing palace with huge significance - whoever rules Stirling rules Scotland the saying goes
any way a full write up and photos will follow in a few days when I have a little more time.
any way a full write up and photos will follow in a few days when I have a little more time.
Sunday, 16 July 2006
Down Tunnels and Up Towers
*note I had really cool pictures to go with this post but blogger wouldn't load them*
Sunday dawned bright and sunny – well I’m assuming it did as I most certainly wasn’t up at dawn.
With a clear sunny sky – I headed off South on the half hour mildly scenic drive to St Andrews. Parking in St Andrews is a bit of nightmare but thankfully as it was Sunday parking restrictions didn’t apply – there are actually park and ride centres just out side the city centre – but didn’t learn about those until my day was over – well I know for next time.
I had intended to start my visit to St Andrews with one of “100 things to do in Scotland before you die” by having a custard slice from Fisher and Donaldson bakery however it was closed – but gives me an excuse to visit St Andrews again ;)
Decided to keep things simple by picking 2 attractions to see and no, one of them was not the golf course. I choose the Castle & the Cathedral. Both are ruins with a long and somewhat bloody history.
Both the Castle & the Cathedral both had an actor doing little character monologues giving a little of the history of the places.
My first port of call was the castle where I purchased my joint entry ticket to both ruins. And in for a penny in for a pound I also shelled out £2.95 each for booklets for self guided tour of each ruin – not entirely convinced that they were worth the money – but they did get me neatly around both ruins
I was advised that both the Castle & the Cathedral both had an actor doing little character monologues giving a little of the history of the places with the Cathedrals next performance in half an hour – so I headed to the Cathedral.
The Cathedral like so many things in this country isn’t just a historical tourist attraction it’s a living part of the community. People are still interned in this cemetery and as such the grounds are open to all and in addition all the tourists there were many merry picnic groups in the grounds.
Here your admittance gets you access to 2 displays of stone carvings and to the St Rules Tower which is one of the most complete structures at the Cathedral and with your token the non claustrophobic and unafeared of heights can take a steep climb up some very circular stairs and you are presented with a rather breath taking view of St Andrews.
Seeing these tombs pic it becomes clear why incense was/is such a feature of Catholic church services – these tombs were under the floor that had to get stinky!
It was quite fascinating seeing the different styles of headstones through the centuries – the older ones featured skulls and cross bones, and used the words, corpse and body no beating around the bush here. It was also quite common not to just give the date of death and age but no birthdate. And others listed not a burial but a true memorial listing the location of a person’s internment else where in the world.
Following the Actors little presentation which while somewhat informative was pretty average to be honest – I wandered a little more around the cathedral before heading back to the castle for the 2pm performance there. It was the same actor at the Castle as at the Cathedral and once again it was an adequate performance – following the performance I finished my self guided tour of the castle including the underground tunnels.
The Castle was sieged at one point in time with the siegers trying to bring the walls down by tunnelling under the walls the siegers were foiled by the a countermine dug by the defenders. These tunnels were discovered in the Victorian era when a the foundations for a house were being dug. For the non claustrophobic and sure of foot you can venture down into the countermine which is rather narrow and windy through into the mine which is large spacious – at the end of the mine there is a grate pic in the roof which can also be seen in the paving out side the castle grounds pic
Wandering back to my car I passed a house with a sign out the front – saying Preservation Trust, St Andrews Museum & Garden entrance was free so I wandered on in – not a place I would put high on your list of places to visit in St Andrews but mildly interesting – the best part was the garden a lovely oasis and it was delightful to sit quietly for a few minutes and be visited by a bumble bee.
I want to pat a bumble bee!!!! They look so adorable and fuzzy and like they would purr if you did – wonder what a bee would sound like a purring – maybe more of a buuurrrrrrrrzzzzzz
Photos @ Kodak
St Andrews
St Andrews Castle
St Andrews Cathedral
St Andrews Museum & Garden
Sunday dawned bright and sunny – well I’m assuming it did as I most certainly wasn’t up at dawn.
With a clear sunny sky – I headed off South on the half hour mildly scenic drive to St Andrews. Parking in St Andrews is a bit of nightmare but thankfully as it was Sunday parking restrictions didn’t apply – there are actually park and ride centres just out side the city centre – but didn’t learn about those until my day was over – well I know for next time.
I had intended to start my visit to St Andrews with one of “100 things to do in Scotland before you die” by having a custard slice from Fisher and Donaldson bakery however it was closed – but gives me an excuse to visit St Andrews again ;)
Decided to keep things simple by picking 2 attractions to see and no, one of them was not the golf course. I choose the Castle & the Cathedral. Both are ruins with a long and somewhat bloody history.
Both the Castle & the Cathedral both had an actor doing little character monologues giving a little of the history of the places.
My first port of call was the castle where I purchased my joint entry ticket to both ruins. And in for a penny in for a pound I also shelled out £2.95 each for booklets for self guided tour of each ruin – not entirely convinced that they were worth the money – but they did get me neatly around both ruins
I was advised that both the Castle & the Cathedral both had an actor doing little character monologues giving a little of the history of the places with the Cathedrals next performance in half an hour – so I headed to the Cathedral.
The Cathedral like so many things in this country isn’t just a historical tourist attraction it’s a living part of the community. People are still interned in this cemetery and as such the grounds are open to all and in addition all the tourists there were many merry picnic groups in the grounds.
Here your admittance gets you access to 2 displays of stone carvings and to the St Rules Tower which is one of the most complete structures at the Cathedral and with your token the non claustrophobic and unafeared of heights can take a steep climb up some very circular stairs and you are presented with a rather breath taking view of St Andrews.
Seeing these tombs pic it becomes clear why incense was/is such a feature of Catholic church services – these tombs were under the floor that had to get stinky!
It was quite fascinating seeing the different styles of headstones through the centuries – the older ones featured skulls and cross bones, and used the words, corpse and body no beating around the bush here. It was also quite common not to just give the date of death and age but no birthdate. And others listed not a burial but a true memorial listing the location of a person’s internment else where in the world.
Following the Actors little presentation which while somewhat informative was pretty average to be honest – I wandered a little more around the cathedral before heading back to the castle for the 2pm performance there. It was the same actor at the Castle as at the Cathedral and once again it was an adequate performance – following the performance I finished my self guided tour of the castle including the underground tunnels.
The Castle was sieged at one point in time with the siegers trying to bring the walls down by tunnelling under the walls the siegers were foiled by the a countermine dug by the defenders. These tunnels were discovered in the Victorian era when a the foundations for a house were being dug. For the non claustrophobic and sure of foot you can venture down into the countermine which is rather narrow and windy through into the mine which is large spacious – at the end of the mine there is a grate pic in the roof which can also be seen in the paving out side the castle grounds pic
Wandering back to my car I passed a house with a sign out the front – saying Preservation Trust, St Andrews Museum & Garden entrance was free so I wandered on in – not a place I would put high on your list of places to visit in St Andrews but mildly interesting – the best part was the garden a lovely oasis and it was delightful to sit quietly for a few minutes and be visited by a bumble bee.
I want to pat a bumble bee!!!! They look so adorable and fuzzy and like they would purr if you did – wonder what a bee would sound like a purring – maybe more of a buuurrrrrrrrzzzzzz
Photos @ Kodak
St Andrews
St Andrews Castle
St Andrews Cathedral
St Andrews Museum & Garden
Dundee Ceroc Party
Last Saturday night was the first of the new regular Dundee Ceroc Dance Party. And although I wasn’t much in a dancing mood, which wasn’t helped by rather too much blues music from Dance Demon early on, it was a fun night as there were many visitors from Glasgow, Edinburgh & Aberdeen – so there was plenty of good company to natter with. Tiggerbabes set later was more inspiring but by that time I was just not in the mood.
The night was a success though and I look forward to the August one.
The night was a success though and I look forward to the August one.
Saturday, 15 July 2006
Hamish Hunting
Went to the movies Friday night to see Superman Returns – this is not a movie that I would normally bother going to see at movies and on opening night none the less. But these are the things we do for friends. Hamish was an extra on and off for several months when this film was being shot in Sydney and in one instance even flew back from NZ for some shooting.
So I went with the impossible task of trying to spot one person amongst dozens and it proved to be beyond my capabilities. But it was fun trying.
Over all the move was a nice light bit of watching - although it's easy to see either a sequal or TV series spin off bringing up junior.
I foresee a movie night when it comes out on DVD to try again
Templeton Woods
Got an early mark on Friday and as I had practical shoes in my car decided to make the most of the delightful sunny weather and finally visit the local woods.
Templeton Woods were and weren't what I was expecting.
It wasn't as quiet as I thought it would be the woods is bordered by roads on 2 sides so there was a fair bit of abient road noise and just general surburan noise.
It WAS exactly as I had read about in dozens of english novels - although the only wild life I saw were these birds - they are bit hard to see in this picture
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they were flitting and chattering around and I suspect that the one in the photo was trying to get the others organised.
I was hoping to see a red squirrel but hopefuly next time.
Saw this wrapped around a flower stem - not sure what it is - and think the bubbles look beautiful close up. In reality though it looked more like that bubbly spit that younger siblings make to drive older siblings nuts.
The rest of my photographic efforts from the woods can be found on here on Kodak for the pick of the bunch check out flickr
Thursday, 13 July 2006
My Apologies to Commenters
My apologies to those people who made comments and were wondering where the hell they had gone.
Blogger had turned comment moderation on but because I hadn’t put an email address for that function I wasn’t getting emails letting me know that comments needed moderating.
I have freed all trapped comments and have turned moderation off so now when you add a comment it will appear immediately - have added an email address so if it happens again I will know when comments come in
Once again my sincere apologies for this and thank you so very much for your lovely comments
Blogger had turned comment moderation on but because I hadn’t put an email address for that function I wasn’t getting emails letting me know that comments needed moderating.
I have freed all trapped comments and have turned moderation off so now when you add a comment it will appear immediately - have added an email address so if it happens again I will know when comments come in
Once again my sincere apologies for this and thank you so very much for your lovely comments
The Dangers of Googling
Was a bit bored at work so decided to do some Google searches on some of my friends. One of the searches turned up a site by another friend in Perth – so thinking it will be nice to read a bit from home followed the link where I got a bit of nasty surprise.
The write up was about a dance event in Perth and in with all the happy lovely stuff – I got a sentence all to myself saying how I was “a conniving, nasty piece of work” it was rather a shock to read this as the person writing it was someone who I thought of as a friend – not a bestest friend but a friend – the sort you happily chat with at class and look forward to seeing and notice when they aren’t around.
I’m not sure what I did to them real or imagined to deserve that comment – but despite the comment being old it has really stung me and I’m not sure how I will feel when I seem them when I am next in Perth again. Thankfully it’s a long way off.
So the lesson here is 2 fold
The write up was about a dance event in Perth and in with all the happy lovely stuff – I got a sentence all to myself saying how I was “a conniving, nasty piece of work” it was rather a shock to read this as the person writing it was someone who I thought of as a friend – not a bestest friend but a friend – the sort you happily chat with at class and look forward to seeing and notice when they aren’t around.
I’m not sure what I did to them real or imagined to deserve that comment – but despite the comment being old it has really stung me and I’m not sure how I will feel when I seem them when I am next in Perth again. Thankfully it’s a long way off.
So the lesson here is 2 fold
- be careful what you put on the big wide web as you never know who wil find it
- if you go a googling you may not always like what you find
Wednesday, 12 July 2006
A bonus for the travelling fund
This Saturday the travelling fund is going to get a boost – I am doing some work directly for University of Dundee, and as this is direct will be getting paid around double the rate I get paid when I work via an agency. YEAH!
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