Let's Have a Wee Tour, Shall We?

Hi everyone.

Thanks for checking back.  Today's post I thought should be a bit of a tour of our neighbourhood.  This is in no way an inclusive photo tour, and I will be posting more along the way.  At least it is a start.

So, this is our street, looking toward Dalry, which is lined with shops and businesses.  The huge chimney stack is from the now defunct Caledonian Distillery, which started its life in the 1850s.  It is now a listed building (or whatever a chimney would be called).

And, looking the other way, up toward Caledonian Crescent.  If you look closely or enlarge the photo by clicking on it, you may notice a church to the left of the end of the street.  It is now flats, and seems to me to be a nice place to have a flat!  By the way, both photos are taken from the ends of the street, so it isn't as long a road as it may look.

Around the corner along Caledonian Crescent, you come across the Dalry Public Baths, which is a Victoian Era swimming and bathing house.  It now has the pool and a gym, so if we were inclined to get into some shape other than rotund, we could go here.  Certainly in Edinburgh, there aren't many of these old baths still around, so it is nice to have it in our neighbourhood.

Well, you may be saying, that all looks very urban and paved, but where do you go for a nice walk?  How about along the Union Canal?  No more than 10 minutes away, as the terrier walks, is the start of this canal that, if we were inclined, would lead us all the way to Glasgow.  It once was a major transport link between the two cities and the bodies of water along which they sit.  As you can see, it is used by canal boats and a lot of walkers, joggers and cyclists.  We think we are very lucky to live nearby.

 

 

For those viewers who have worked or are working in libraries, here is our local branch.  Quite the imposing looking place it is as well.  I haven't been inside it yet, proabably because it looks so damn imposing.  Not really, it is just that we don't have proper ID for them yet (sound familiar??).  I actually hope it is as interesting inside as it appears from the outside.  Just a side note - Sean Connery is from this area (Fountainbridge) although I doubt he lives here any more.  Just a hunch.

A little something we are considering buying!  It is for sale, but we haven't been able to find a list price.  Drat.  This was originally a college for the blind and has been used as an educational building for years.  It is now empty just waiting for some enterprising buyer.  A fashionable B&B perhaps?

And then there is the castle.  While you could argue that it isn't really in our neighbourhood, it only takes us about 15 minutes to get there, so in some senses it feels close enough.  If you have ever visited it, you will know that it feels less like a castle than a small city, as it covers a huge amount of its perch atop its volcano.  It contains the Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny (not to be confused with the Stone of Dentistry - sorry, inside joke!).

The Tale of Two Tickets

We have learned a very important lesson - you don't mess around with the parking police!

On our first visit to Edinburgh, on our way to stay with Rick's cousin in Angus, we stopped in to meet Kate and to drop off most of our stuff, as there was no reason to carry it all the way up to Angus.  One of the things that Dougal needed was a folding travel crate rather than the far too large shipping crate, so we drove over to a local pet store that we had been in contact with, to see if they had any.  We found a parking space, paid at the pay station, and went into the store.  Five minutes later and without success on the crate front, we had a parking ticket.  The explanation on the ticket was that we weren't the right kind of car, which seemed a but fussy.  There was not sign of the parking police, so we just drove off, grumbling all the way.  We were going to question it, but decided that, with everything there was to do, we would just pay it and call it a lesson learned - well, misunderstood, but kind of learned.  What we have subsequently learned is that we were in the one spot on the block that is reserved for "club cars," which is Edinburgh's versions of those ride/share co-op type things that are in Vancouver.  Sigh.

Cut to the day we moved into our flat.  Parking is at a premium in our area, but we are allowed to have an area pass to park anywhere in the Z4 area (obviously not in club car spots!), although when I say "have" I actually mean purchase.  It is needed between 8:30 am and 5 pm, Monday to Friday.  If you don't have a pass, you can purchase temporary passes, each of which is good for a short period of time, and displayed on the dashboard.  If you are longer than one pass, you must put another on the dash, and so on and so on.  Rick and Kate headed off on foot to purchase us a Z4 pass, and we had our first temporary pass on the dash.  As the end time for pass #1 was approaching, Bob headed down to put pass #2 on the dash, as there was no sign of Rick and Kate returning, only to discover that Rick had taken the car keys with him, so there wasn't access to the dash.  Bob went back into the flat to try to phone Rick, but to no luck, so off he went to at least maybe put it under the windscreen wipers, where it might help before it was stolen by someone passing by.  Too late.  Tucked under the wiper was a ticket.  The pass expired at 11:30, and the ticket was issued 11:31, so the parking police had been and gone, as there was no sign of anyone.  This one was paid as well, for the same reason above.  At least if you pay quickly the amount is cut in half.  Still, double sigh.

In a subsequent conversation with an Edinburgh native, the parking police have been described as ninja-like, which we are coming to believe, although having spotted some of them recently, they are rather old and chubby to be ninjas.  Still, they can be remarkably stealthy.

Lessons have been learned, and we are pleased to report that we have been ticket free for a couple of weeks now and hope to stay that way.  Wish us luck.  Oh, and Edinburgh council - use our contributions productively.  Thanks.

Post Office

Yes, this is everything one might expect from Canada Post, as long as one is delusional.

Home away from home

So, where do we live?  Funny I should ask.  We are living an a tenement building from the 1860s on the third floor (probably second floor to people in the UK) which involves stairs, so we are getting our workout!  You could say the building is worn, but really what would you expect after that passage of time.  Our street is fairly quiet, but we don't face onto the street, so we are on the quieter side, overlooking the shared garden space that is more space than garden, but Dougal enjoys it.  Parking is a sport in itself.  Fortunately, our car is small, so it allows us more opportunities for parking spots.

Rather than trying to explain everything with 1000 words, how about some photos!!

Our car, and its evil twin.  Even both number plates start with SK (yay Saskatchewan!).

This is the front of our building.  The doorway is partially hidden by the giant butterfly bush that has since been pruned a bit.

When you get in through the security door, this is the stairway to heaven...err... the upper floors.  It would appear that bike parking space is as precious as on street parking.

Our living/dining room combo.  We added the throw rug to brighten up the space - thank you IKEA.  If you look carefully, you can see our jumbo-tron television.  The dining table does double duty as Rick's office at the moment.

The compact kitchen that contains our washer as well.  We now have a microwave, which is a necessity in our book.  Despite the size, we have found it quite functional, even to the point of both of us being able to work in it.

The second bedroom, or as we like to think of it, our tumble dryer!  Our washer doesn't dry (some do over here), so this room is often filled with racks of drying clothes.  Dougal likes to stand on the box under the window and keep and eye on his kingdom.

The bathroom, part 1.  Small, functional, and fully carpeted!  Actually, it is a bit more functional with some additions we have made

The bathroom part 2.  Ah yes, the toilet, or more to the point, the clear toilet seat with suspended fish.  It does, as you might expect, what it was born to do, but it does give you impression that the toilet is open, which makes us feel that we might drop something into it.  That said, I'm sure that we will soon not even notice.

Our lovely big bedroom.  Oh to have one this big at home!

The view out all of our very large windows, and Dougal's kingdom on this side of the stone wall.

And finally...the blog starts!!

Well, hello everyone who might follow our blog.  Sorry for the delay, but I trust you will forgive me as there has been plenty to do and many adjustments.  I hope to now keep this going on a regular basis.

Dougal waits for his visit with the vet

Dougal applies for permission to fly to the UK

 So, to begin at the beginning, we loaded up our rental SUV in Surrey and off to the airport early we went, only to find that Dougal was only needed to be there at that time so they could measure him and his crate and weigh them.  We then had to pass 3 hours until he was ready for them to take him for shipping, which we did in a very hot Richmond.  Fortunately, he was a good boy and didn't seem to mind.

Our worldly possessions

Dougal at his departure lounge.  Classy.

Our flight was uneventful and sleepless for me once again.  Rick managed a few naps along the way, the lucky pup.  We had taken 4 extra large duffle bags as our luggage, but only 3 arrived.  It is very lonely at the carousel when there are no new bags arriving.  Oddly enough, there were several unclaimed items still circling about, which made me wonder where those people were.  Eventually, the bag was tracked down and delivered to us, which is good as it was the one the contained all of Rick's clothes for work.

After 4 hours, we were finally able to pick up the hound and head north to Mawdesley, which is a lovely small town, where we were hosted by Ronald and Margaret, who are the parents of the relative who Rick visited in Chicago, for those of you who remember.  They were wonderful hosts and treated us to a relaxing visit and a chance for Rick to chat about family.  Dougal rudely woke them up the first morning by jumping on their bed, but they forgave him.

Our refuge in Mawdesley.  Lovely.

A dog who is very anxious to go for a walk!

After 2 evenings in Mawdesley, we were off to Edinburgh to drop things off and meet with Kate, Rick's exchange partner, and then off to Dundee to drop off the rental car, and up to Rick's cousin Alison's place to bunk in for a couple of days before the flat in Edinburgh became ours.  Oh, and to pick up our "new" car, a 2008 Toyota Yaris, which is turning out to be a good purchase.  We are adapting well to driving on the left although sometimes the gearshift isn't where you grab for it in a panic - not that we have had any close calls or anything!!  Yeah, right.

Making oneself comfortable at Auntie Alison's.

Alison and Brian took us to a place called Casc, which has a very interesting assortment of beer.  Three of us had regular strength drinks, but Bob had a much more manly one, which unfortunately came in a dainty wee glass.  Powerful stuff, though!