Thursday, September 06, 2007
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Long time no see
Hi everyone. I haven't exactly been keeping up to date with my blogging. I won't even try to make lame excuses.
The weather here has been amazing. There has been a heat wave, which, if you are from Ontario will translate to pleasantly warm. This means that you don't need AC to sleep at night.
I can't find the words to describe how beautiful this country is in the summer. I just spent the day boating on Loch Lomond and having a picnic on an island with a lovely beach in the middle of the Loch. The Loch is surrounded by rolling hills, each of them begging to be climbed. I have only done Ben Lomond (a Monroe) as well as the walk from Cardross over to Balloch.
Monday and Tuesday this week I was in the Borders area of Scotland, which is just south of Edinburgh. How many words are there for beautiful? Bruce and Brigette were visiting from Canada and we took a scenic drive there, toured the Melrose Abbey and visited junk shops.
The Melrose Abbey is in ruins, but there is enough left to feel that you can sense the monks going from their dormitories to masses in the middle of the night, having little bickering squabbles and spending their lives copying manuscripts. I regularly feel the past in this country. It has left its stamp everywhere, unlike in Canada, where you can frequently imagine that you could be the first person to ever step in a particular spot (not likely but...).
We stayed the night in Eilston in a dumpy B&B (I am a critic now). At the local in Eilston we enjoyed the company of two locals. One was a cool high school teacher, the other was a very drunk guy who kept commenting that I spoke English very well for a French person.
I won't bore you any more with the details, but I will try to post some photos after Bruce sends them to me.
The weather here has been amazing. There has been a heat wave, which, if you are from Ontario will translate to pleasantly warm. This means that you don't need AC to sleep at night.
I can't find the words to describe how beautiful this country is in the summer. I just spent the day boating on Loch Lomond and having a picnic on an island with a lovely beach in the middle of the Loch. The Loch is surrounded by rolling hills, each of them begging to be climbed. I have only done Ben Lomond (a Monroe) as well as the walk from Cardross over to Balloch.
Monday and Tuesday this week I was in the Borders area of Scotland, which is just south of Edinburgh. How many words are there for beautiful? Bruce and Brigette were visiting from Canada and we took a scenic drive there, toured the Melrose Abbey and visited junk shops.
The Melrose Abbey is in ruins, but there is enough left to feel that you can sense the monks going from their dormitories to masses in the middle of the night, having little bickering squabbles and spending their lives copying manuscripts. I regularly feel the past in this country. It has left its stamp everywhere, unlike in Canada, where you can frequently imagine that you could be the first person to ever step in a particular spot (not likely but...).
We stayed the night in Eilston in a dumpy B&B (I am a critic now). At the local in Eilston we enjoyed the company of two locals. One was a cool high school teacher, the other was a very drunk guy who kept commenting that I spoke English very well for a French person.
I won't bore you any more with the details, but I will try to post some photos after Bruce sends them to me.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
The whole world can talk for free!
Its true. All you have to do is download Skype, get either a headset or a microphone, and, ta da, we can talk for free. It really is that simple. It doesn't take long to install and appears to be bug free. Most of my family members have been using it for years to talk between Europe, Canada and Japan. The more friends of mine who have it, the better.
So, go to
http://www.skype.com/download/
and download it. Its that simple.
After you have downloaded it, you will do a search for people you might want to talk to. You can enter their email address, their full name or the Skype name. To make things easy for you, my Skype name is GRAZMAC. I'll be waiting for your call!
So, go to
http://www.skype.com/download/
and download it. Its that simple.
After you have downloaded it, you will do a search for people you might want to talk to. You can enter their email address, their full name or the Skype name. To make things easy for you, my Skype name is GRAZMAC. I'll be waiting for your call!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
The good things about living in Glasgow
After my last post I had the impression that people thought my experience here is all negative. So here's a list of the positive things about living here instead of Ottawa.
1.) I am rarely reminded by the media that Stephen Harper is my Prime Minister. Instead I am reminded that Tony Blair is my Prime Minister, maybe this cancels out, on second thought, nope.
2.) I didn't have to shovel snow all winter.
3.) On a similar note, you can play tennis, soccer or go bike riding all winter.
4.) There are loads of lambs all over the countryside at the moment.
5.) There are loads of sheep all over the countryside all the time.
6.) News coverage here is far and away superior to news coverage back home. Broader scope and more indepth.
7.) Compared to the US, people here know that Ottawa is the capital of Canada.
8.) Compared to Canada, the media here are completely unabashed about their anti-American sentiment.
-1.) People always think I'm American.
8.) Ribena, orange squash, custard and good chocolate are readily available and inexpensive.
9.) There is something on every night here, whether it's live music, theatre, art, dance, opera, or clubbing. This city is buzzing all the time. I went to see Edward Scissorhands - The Ballet last week. It was amazing.
10.) The architecture here is amazing.
11.) Public transport here is amazing. Subway, trains, buses and cool cabs.
12.) Glasgow has roughly the same population as Ottawa, but it is more condensed. It doesn't take you 2 hours to drive from one end of the city to the other at midnight, when there's no traffic.
13.) Ottawa accents are really boring compared to the accents you hear in this city.
14.) I won't have a 6 hour time difference between me and the world cup this year.
15.) Apart from the deep fried food I mentioned in the previous entry, the food here is great. I always have great meals in restaurants and at friend's houses.
16.) I'm current with Coronation Street.
17.) The BBC, need I say more.
18.) Entertainment Tonight doesn't take over the airwaves every evening.
19.) I haven't dated anyone here.
-2.) I haven't dated anyone here.
19.) My sun allergy won't be a problem here (I think it's gone anyway).
20.) I'm living in Glasgow, not Ottawa.
1.) I am rarely reminded by the media that Stephen Harper is my Prime Minister. Instead I am reminded that Tony Blair is my Prime Minister, maybe this cancels out, on second thought, nope.
2.) I didn't have to shovel snow all winter.
3.) On a similar note, you can play tennis, soccer or go bike riding all winter.
4.) There are loads of lambs all over the countryside at the moment.
5.) There are loads of sheep all over the countryside all the time.
6.) News coverage here is far and away superior to news coverage back home. Broader scope and more indepth.
7.) Compared to the US, people here know that Ottawa is the capital of Canada.
8.) Compared to Canada, the media here are completely unabashed about their anti-American sentiment.
-1.) People always think I'm American.
8.) Ribena, orange squash, custard and good chocolate are readily available and inexpensive.
9.) There is something on every night here, whether it's live music, theatre, art, dance, opera, or clubbing. This city is buzzing all the time. I went to see Edward Scissorhands - The Ballet last week. It was amazing.
10.) The architecture here is amazing.
11.) Public transport here is amazing. Subway, trains, buses and cool cabs.
12.) Glasgow has roughly the same population as Ottawa, but it is more condensed. It doesn't take you 2 hours to drive from one end of the city to the other at midnight, when there's no traffic.
13.) Ottawa accents are really boring compared to the accents you hear in this city.
14.) I won't have a 6 hour time difference between me and the world cup this year.
15.) Apart from the deep fried food I mentioned in the previous entry, the food here is great. I always have great meals in restaurants and at friend's houses.
16.) I'm current with Coronation Street.
17.) The BBC, need I say more.
18.) Entertainment Tonight doesn't take over the airwaves every evening.
19.) I haven't dated anyone here.
-2.) I haven't dated anyone here.
19.) My sun allergy won't be a problem here (I think it's gone anyway).
20.) I'm living in Glasgow, not Ottawa.
How safe is it where you live?
Well, that's the question I had. I spent the last few years in Ottawa, which is one of the safest cities in the universe. Or so it felt to me. Then I moved to Glasgow. All of a sudden, I don't feel comfortable walking around at night by myself. I asked myself how reasonable my paranoia was, and realized I couldn't tell on my own. So I resorted to my comfort zone, statistics.
I assembled some data about murder rates in different cities to help me come to terms with whether I was being paranoid. Maybe I am, but according to the numbers, I am at least somewhat justified.
Check this out:
Source: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb1203.pdf pp 10-11.
I assembled some data about murder rates in different cities to help me come to terms with whether I was being paranoid. Maybe I am, but according to the numbers, I am at least somewhat justified.
Check this out:
Source: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb1203.pdf pp 10-11.
The first thing that jumps out at me is that I have no idea where Lefkosia is, but it looks like a good place to live.
You will also note that Glasgow is not on this list. A different source ( http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5021432.html ) states the homicide rate for Glasgow for the same period is 5.87 per 100,000 people. So on the above list, Glasgow is sandwiched between Belfast and San Francisco. Well that's reassuring. Worse than Belfast. At least I didn't decide to move to Washington DC.
BTW, Lefkosia is in Cyprus. Did anyone know that?
Back to paranoia. So I was discussing my worries with a police officer one evening and he told me what I knew, that knife crime is the big thing here. So at least my risk of getting shot is probably lower than back in Ottawa. That's a relief. He also told me about something I didn't know, in fact had never even imagined. Apparently people put fishing line across bike paths. At head height! Now that sounds dangerous. So, great, now I'm paranoid to go bike riding as well. And forget road rides. No way I'm riding my bike on these streets. Besides, I think I would have to do special exercises to enable myself to do shoulder checks to the right. I wonder if the cogs and things on bikes are on the other side here?
One thing people around here aren't paranoid of is trans fats. Well, fat in general actually. If you want something deep fried in hydrogenated fat this is the place to come to. Pizza, mars bars and sausages (I haven't seen deep fried bacon yet, but I'm sure it's battered and deep fried somewhere in this city). No surprise then that Glasgow has the largest incidence of cardiovascular disease in the world for women and the second highest for men (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/337109.stm ). Note, the place with the highest incidence for men is North Karelia in Finland, according to the same article. In case you were wondering, North Karelia is a region in the east of Finland.
But if you think I'm paranoid, compare me to the deer that used to live in the abandoned lot across from my flat. I used to see him (could have been a girl) daily when I was out on my balcony. That all ended one evening when some kids were hanging out there. He took off like a shot. I'm not sure where he went, but I hope he's OK. This deer is going to find city livin' a little rough if he can't get used to a few kids hangin' out in his 'hood.
Apart from the fact that these kids scared away my deer, I was somewhat relieved that the younger generation aren't too cool to hang out in an empty lot. I was getting a little worried that something was wrong with the kids here. I mean, this is a pretty large lot, and anyone hanging out there would go mostly unnoticed. Except by me and anyone else in my building whose balcony faces the same way, of course. Well, order in the universe is restored. Except I miss my deer.
Books I'm reading
I tend to have a few books on the go at any given time. Currently I'm into mysteries, and have decided to give Patricia Cornwell another go after deciding a few years ago that she was getting boring. So I'm reading Blow Fly by her. Not the best, but I'll probably finish it.
I am also reading some books by Christopher Brookmyre. He's a Glaswegian author, described on the jacket as Scottish noir. I'm definitely enjoying these ones.
Just finished a few by PJ Tracy. Very readable.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I also whipped through a Dean Koontz, Life Expectancy. Pretty quirky book.
I'm also reading some non-fiction. Nothing exciting, mostly stuff about writing CVs and promoting yourself. Of course, if they work, you won't see much of me on here!
I am also reading some books by Christopher Brookmyre. He's a Glaswegian author, described on the jacket as Scottish noir. I'm definitely enjoying these ones.
Just finished a few by PJ Tracy. Very readable.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I also whipped through a Dean Koontz, Life Expectancy. Pretty quirky book.
I'm also reading some non-fiction. Nothing exciting, mostly stuff about writing CVs and promoting yourself. Of course, if they work, you won't see much of me on here!
So, based on previous post, here's the link to David Scrimshaw's blog:
http://davidscrimshaw.blogspot.com/
Highly recommended. Question is, where does he find the time? I guess the blog fills the hole that the cancellation of Buffy and Angel left behind.
Another site that has me addicted, but will only matter if you grew up in Halifax, NS during the eighties is:
http://media.locals.ca/localsconf/viewtopic.php?t=46948&sid=de602fafb11ea2bf904adf95ebf91f0c
This messageboard has resulted in the reunion of (ex)punks from around the world. Very cool. Don't think that anyone remembers me though, guess I moved to Ottawa too soon. I remember some of the people posting though.
http://davidscrimshaw.blogspot.com/
Highly recommended. Question is, where does he find the time? I guess the blog fills the hole that the cancellation of Buffy and Angel left behind.
Another site that has me addicted, but will only matter if you grew up in Halifax, NS during the eighties is:
http://media.locals.ca/localsconf/viewtopic.php?t=46948&sid=de602fafb11ea2bf904adf95ebf91f0c
This messageboard has resulted in the reunion of (ex)punks from around the world. Very cool. Don't think that anyone remembers me though, guess I moved to Ottawa too soon. I remember some of the people posting though.
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