Here Comes the Sun ....

The days of cold, windy rain seem to have broken for now.  Woke the last few mornings to sun streaming through the bedroom windows.  What a treat after the long stretch of dreich.  Today we are climbing Arthur's Seat, a few minutes from the house, for some great views of the area.  Janie has been asking to do this since we arrived.

I had a very funny "Kate" encounter earlier this week.  As I was walking toward the main street to catch a bus, I noticed a group of workmen standing on a corner in my neighborhood.   About six of them, wearing reflective work vests over their coats, were leaning on brooms and tools and chatting.  What a great picture opportunity -- large groups of workmen apparently doing ..... nothing!  I walk past them a few steps, get out my phone and turn on the camera.  As I turn toward them to ask if I can take the picture (and I'm ready to shoot as I ask), they absolutely SCATTER.  One large man in his 40s actually ran to the other side of the street to hide behind the work van.  They get all flustered, one older man says "I'm here doing research, I mean supervising research ... ummmm, just don't take my picture, OK?"


They absolutely would not let me take a picture and every time I raised the phone they turned their backs.  The guy behind the truck never would come back across the street.  Apparently they were city workers doing clean up prep work for the street cleaning truck about to come through.  I never did see them do any actual work.


Most of them were convinced that I was from a newspaper trying to document their loafing, and if I wasn't, then I was taking pictures for someone who was.  We talked about the neighborhood and where I was from in the US.  It took a bit of explaining that I wasn't from Atlantic City (they mentioned the HBO series Boardwalk Empire and the Sopranos -- yeah, uh huh, that should give them a great idea of America).  Daryl has encountered the same confusion about Atlanta -- "Hey, isn't there a lot of gambling there?"


The conversation was friendly as long as I didn't try to take their picture -- the rare elusive tribe of Edinburgh Street Cleaning Indigenous Peoples who are not to be photographed in the wild.

School Days

Caroline and Janie will start school Monday, March 14 at St. George's School for Girls.(http://www.st-georges.edin.sch.uk/)  On Tuesday they had such a great visit for assessments and class time that they asked if they could start as soon as possible  instead of the planned April 17.   The winter term is winding down, so they will go to school until March 31 then return for the summer term April 17-June 30.


Janie will be in P2 and Caroline will be in Lower 4 which are the equivalent of the their US classes, 2nd & 7th.  These year groups seem to be a good fit, the assessments went well and I think with a few adjustments to new requirements/grading (and a five-day at-school week!) they will have a good transition.


If we ride the city bus, it is a direct shot, about 45 min door to door with a short walk on each end of the route.  When we get a car, I'm told I should be able to make it in 20 minutes, if I can figure out the route to get there without going through the center of town or the financial district @ 8 in the morning .....


Janie made a lovely friend, Tilly,  during her preview day, and I met Tilly's mom and brothers on the campus after school and we visited while the kids ran around the school garden.  Tilly, Edward & baby George.  Love it.  Janie was desperate to go back the very next day because "Mom, they're baking!"  


Caroline walked out of her buildings with a friend, Kara, who was very pleasant and friendly.  Caroline said the girls were funny and nice to be with.  Her assessments were easy, she said and in the math class she attended she figured out a formula first, which is a good sign.  I was hoping that she would be on level or ahead in math.  We'll see about science; maths and science are a big deal in the private schools here.  Not complaining!


So we spent a good part of Wednesday buying some uniforms to get them started.  The school mums run a uniform consignment twice a month, but we just missed the last one.  Just as well, I would have had NO idea what sizes to buy them.  As it was in the shop, the girls tried on most things in at least two sizes.  Now I know what sizes for which items, so when they have the next consignment in a few weeks, I can get some duplicates and hopefully a blazer for Janie.


I'll post pictures if I can get them to model them for us this weekend.  Janie wears a plain navy blue jumper over a light blue blouse (the perfect color for my girls' eyes :), a not-quite-red/not-quite-burgandy cardigan and navy tights.  She has a navy winter coat with the school crest to wear to school and any outdoor time, PE shorts and PE polo shirt, PE drawstring kit bag, and school backpack.  And art smock. She can wear her own undies and shoes ....


Caroline wears the same blue blouse with a navy skirt, same color v-necked sweater (jumper) and a lovely wool navy blazer with the school crest.  Navy tights, black shoes.  PE shorts & polo, track pants, PE sweatshirt, PE bag, larger school backpack.  Depending on what sports she does, she'll need specific uniform gear for that, as well.  She looks 16 instead of 12!

They are in the winter uniform now, the summer one subs out a blue gingham-checked blouse for Caroline and the same pattern in a dress for Janie.

And now it's raining sideways and the wind is howling.  I don't want to go anywhere today and don't have to.  Our air freight is to be delivered between 9 a.m. & noon and Sky is coming to install the telephone and internet in the afternoon, so it's a great day to be stuck at home!

Edinburrrrrrgh

If Atlanta is Hot-lanta then Edinburgh is definitely Edinburrrrrgh.  I'm freezing today -- sweater, slippers, and .... wait for it .... SOCKS, which I've worn every day since our arrival.  My feet had forgotten what they felt like.  My flip flops are stashed on a top wardrobe shelf looking forgotten & forlorn.


Edinburrrrrgh not just for the cold, but the lovely way they burr an r here.  I've been on the phone several times lately with a lovely lady, Rose, in Aberdeen (north of Edinburgh) about our air shipment's arrival this week.  I had to listen to her first voice mail three times just to figure out that she was saying her name was Rrrrrose.  Long burr-y hit on the "R," short on the "se."    And you should hear how they say "Daryl."  Doesn't sound Southern or like the Newhart Daryl-Larry brothers.


Sometimes the pronunciations have a hint of upper midwest/plains in the "good" or "OK, then."  I have a wee bit of trouble understanding people giving me instructions on the bus or in the store if I'm not paying close attention and if there is any other conversation/background noise.


I think yesterday when we bought uniforms the clerk helping us might have wondered if English was MY first language, I asked her for clarification so many times!  And I kept calling Janie's sleeveless dress a jumper.  I've got to remember that.  The jumper is a dress and the sweater is a jumper.  But Janie doesn't wear a jumper, she wears a cardigan with her dress.  Janie got a funny look when she asked if they ever wear pants to school.  Yes, they do, that's undies.


Our big news is that the girls are starting school next week instead of April.  I'll write a separate post with the details for that.

Things I Was Going to Do Today

I'm about to find out if Edinburgh shuts down in the snow like Atlanta does.  There's already enough to cancel Cobb County schools for at least three days.


I've been up for about an hour, but just noticed as it was becoming light outside that it was snowing ..... sideways.  The wind was absolutely howling last night at bed time, but seems to be lessening.


Two minutes ago it was coming down thick and steady, now it has completely stopped and I can see some breaks in the clouds.  I don't know if it might snow all day.  


Like a five year old I had to wake up Daryl to tell him it's snowing and then go take a few pictures in the thin early morning light.


I'm terrible getting photos where I want them in a blog post, but here are a few.  Back of the house, view from the front, view from our bedroom window of our street, a few shots of the back garden.

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Today I am/was going to the letting agency sign the lease for the house and pick up a spare set of keys and then go on to one of the uniform outfitters to get the girls situated for school.   We just missed the most recent used uniform store at school, but they open it twice a month, so maybe we can pick up a few things in a few weeks (not sure how much will be available mid-term, mid-year!)  If it just stays wet & slushy we'll be fine, but if the sideways snow starts again, we're staying in and eating junk food and watching TV all day!

History & Neighbors

My neighbor Mr. Cruikshank lives in the most lovely home.  From the exterior, our homes appear nearly identical.  But once you step through the door at his place, you expect Jane Austen to pop up from around the corner with ink-stained hands.

And yet it is not a museum, but a home.  The dull gleam of the silver and quiet good furniture, the scattered worn Perisan rugs, the family portraits -- they don't add up to ostentation or "look how much good old stuff I have" but to a feeling of comfortable history.  I'm not sure I want him to see our beige berber and tan paint ...

I knocked on his door last week (having missed the door pull located at the end of walk outside the gate) to borrow a hammer.  He disappeared into his Grandfather's workshop in the cellar and then offered me a selection after asking what I was going to hammer.  I was too embarrassed to admit they were Ikea closet baskets/shelves (at least you can't see them unless you open the closet).

I was trying not to ask too many nosy questions, but he did volunteer that it was his Grandfather's workshop, so I thought I could ask if this had been his Grandfather's house.  I'm glad I did.  His grandfather purchased the house 100 years ago and it has remained in the family.  It was purchased from a woman who was born in the home in 1832 and her family built it.  So for some 200 years this lovely home has been under the ownership of only two families.

When I returned the hammer, I was treated to a few more tidbits of neighborhood history .... not only did I learn where the bell pull was after knocking again, I learned that the gate was wooden and installed during WWII when all the iron work was removed from properties in town.   Mr. Cruikshank showed me the filled-in holes in the low stone walls where the iron fence had been and not replaced.  Now I'm looking at the tops of  all the low property walls to see if they had fencing removed 60+ years ago!  Ours have been replaced since then.

His home has a wider front door than ours and a larger vestibule.  It was designed to accommodate a sedan chair through the front door and to have enough room to set it down and for the passenger to exit before entering the house.  The little neighborhood in which we live was once a gated community (and I thought Atlanta had the patent on that!)  Mr. Cruikshank pointed out the small gatekeepers cottages at the end of road and the stone columns marking the entry from the main street.  Large gates once hung from those pillars and anyone seeking entry to these streets was admitted by the gatekeeper.  (Any and all Monty Python skits involving gatekeepers may be posted to my FB page :)


This week/today I hope to meet a family to whom we were introduced via mutual friends on facebook -- and it turns out they live around the corner from us, in the same small neighborhood!

Things that Make Me Cry in Edinburgh

Today is another day.  Life going well, another trip to the park, dropping off Daryl's shirts at the cleaners that doesn't use starch (!?!?!), wrestling with the washer/dryer, starting a bag of Kettle Crisps Salt & Basalmic Vinegar (divine with Coke Zero).

I haven't been too emotional since we said our goodbyes in Atlanta last week.  But now we're coming up on a week since that last day and I'm missing my friends, family and neighbors (most of whom are friends....)


Daryl & I were filling out some customs & insurance paperwork for the company managing the move.  Apparently all our stuff left the house last week uninsured.  I'm not sure why anything would have even been loaded onto the truck without these papers being signed.  All sorts of things can happen on the road .... just ask my State Farm agent!


So as I'm looking again through the loading manifest, I'm reminded again how it's all just STUFF.  Some of it I'm more attached to than others (photos, some silver & crystal, books), but other than the photos, it can all be replaced.  Or not & I would just do without it.


But the friends, family and neighbors that I love and form my village are non-insurable and irreplaceable.   I'm not much for deep, meaningful heartfelt sob sessions with my friends;  it's the daily interaction and support that carries so much meaning for me.   Waves and desserts exchanged over the fence, sending a kid off to the pool to meet up with another family, last minute car pool pickups, joy rides just for the thrill of the car top down on a beautiful winter afternoon, "hey, what's playing at the dollar theater, want to go?" impromptu after-church Sunday lunches .... these are the moments and faces I'm missing.


 Missing you all, hoping to share Edinburgh with you soon.