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Hmm, it looks like I have let a huge swath of days elapse with no posts, it must be time for an update. When last I checked in with the lot of you I had just acquired my new hammer dulcimer and was happily learning how to play it. Since it was such a new toy I took it with me last week when I went to the mine to work, which, perhaps, explains in part how it was that I didn’t post from there.
So, what did I do while down there, besides play with my new toy in the evenings? The answer to that is on my other blog.
I returned from the Mine headquarters on Wednesday evening, with a couple of PhD students who had also been working down there. It made for a very enjoyable drive home, since there were people to visit with. I also had one of them drive and gave the other the front seat, since my dulcimer is large enough that it takes up a bit more than one seat in the car, and it seemed fair that if it was projecting into anyone’s space it should be mine.
That gave me Thursday during the day to work in the office and check in with my boss, and Thursday evening to pack and get ready for our flight to Scotland on Friday. Sleep didn’t really happen much—I was up at 05:30 Thursday morning, and didn’t go to bed till 03:00 that night, but I managed to accomplish everything that had to be done before we left, including mostly finishing the case for our tablet on Friday morning while![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lord_kjar was at work. Our flights went smoothly, but it takes time to do it in hops like that (Luleå to Stockholm to Copenhagen to Edinburgh), so we didn’t land in Scotland till nearly 22:00, though we left the house at 13:30.
We went straight from the airport to the apartment whereclovis_t lives. He wasn’t home—he was off at a swing dance weekend, but his housemate was ok with letting us in and staying the night. I had originally thought to visit with clovis_t, but when I found out he wouldn’t be home decided that it made sense to stay there anyway, so that we could pick up the last of my stuff that he has been storing for a year now (and drop him off the few little things I had brought back for him from Australia). One of the things he has been storing for me is a bunch of fabric I had forgotten about. Back when I was getting ready to leave Italy last year I decided that since I hadn’t used my step-father’s kiln in the seven years since he had died it was time to find it a new home, and I asked on some SCA lists if anyone wanted to trade for it.
I found a lady in the UK who was interested, and had fabric to offer, so we agreed to the trade, and the kiln was dropped off at her place and the fabric picked up when he did the drive with the stuff from Italy to Scotland (recall that if I hadn’t metlord_kjar when I did I would have moved to Scotland while figuring out what to do next). However, when time came several months later to ship my boxes to me he forgot the fabric, which wasn’t in a box, and he also missed a couple of little backpacks and a small suitcase. So he has been storing that pile ever since.
Saturday morning we picked up our rental car, loaded our luggage and the long-stored pile of stuff into the car and hit the road for some adventures. We drove first to Stirling, where we got out and stretched our legs a bit and used a loo, and then hurried on to the highlands (I have been missing mountains!). The drive was beautiful, the mountains had snow on the peaks, and the weather was varied. We had sun, we had wind, we had rain. Sometimes all at once. We stopped at one mountain pass and got out to play in the wind, which was so strong it was actually difficult for me to walk—every time I picked up a foot it wasn’t possible to put it back down where I intended, but instead it got blown to a place of the wind’s choosing.lord_kjar, who outweighs me by quite a bit (being rather taller), enjoyed the fact that when he jumped straight up the wind blew him a noticeable distance over before he landed again.
We arrived at our B&B, in the village of Avernish, by Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland, around 18:00, which means that we missed the views for the last hour of the drive, but we knew that we would see it the next day, so we weren’t particularly bothered. Being both rather tired from not sleeping much as we got ready for the trip we spent most of our time at the B&B happily sleeping, but still got up early enough for the 08:30 serving of breakfast (and enjoyed the view out the window---yay mountains!
Sunday morning we drove a little but further out along the road we were on—just over the bridge to Skye, because we could, then we started the day’s adventure by stopping at Eilean Donan castle. It was closed for the season and it looks like they are doing renovations as well, but we didn’t really expect to get in, so we weren’t disappointed. However, the tourist sign there mentioned an “iron age broch” which was “as short walk from the road” on the other side of the loch, so we decided to see if we could find it. We found the road around the loch, but we didn’t find the broch. We did, however, find a delightful hill to climb, and some beautiful views, and the drive was pretty, so no complaints.
From there we went south to Loch Ness, then along the loch to Urquhart castle, which was open, so we spent an hour or so exploring the grounds and poking our noses into corners of the castle. Then we headed east once again before heading south to Glasgow. Once again we wound up missing the last hour worth of decent views (and another part of an hour of driving through the lowlands) before we got to our destination, but that is to be expected on a winter excursion. Besides, the sun sets so much later here than at home it feels like we got bonus time, anyway.
We are staying at a self-catering apartment here in Glasgow—the kitchen is equipped with basics, so I get to enjoy my own cooking, which makes me happy.lord_kjar’s class is about 25 minute walk from here, so I walk in with him in the morning, then I return and settle into work on the computer till he comes home after class, his brain rather full after a day of full on learning. We then have a few hours to enjoy one another’s company and work on projects together before sleep and doing it all again the next day.
This weekend we will train over to Edinburgh for an SCA dance event weekend, and next week we will be back here for more class (him) and work (me). We still haven’t worked out the details of what adventures we will do the final weekend before we fly home.
So, what did I do while down there, besides play with my new toy in the evenings? The answer to that is on my other blog.
I returned from the Mine headquarters on Wednesday evening, with a couple of PhD students who had also been working down there. It made for a very enjoyable drive home, since there were people to visit with. I also had one of them drive and gave the other the front seat, since my dulcimer is large enough that it takes up a bit more than one seat in the car, and it seemed fair that if it was projecting into anyone’s space it should be mine.
That gave me Thursday during the day to work in the office and check in with my boss, and Thursday evening to pack and get ready for our flight to Scotland on Friday. Sleep didn’t really happen much—I was up at 05:30 Thursday morning, and didn’t go to bed till 03:00 that night, but I managed to accomplish everything that had to be done before we left, including mostly finishing the case for our tablet on Friday morning while
lord_kjar was at work. Our flights went smoothly, but it takes time to do it in hops like that (Luleå to Stockholm to Copenhagen to Edinburgh), so we didn’t land in Scotland till nearly 22:00, though we left the house at 13:30. We went straight from the airport to the apartment where
clovis_t lives. He wasn’t home—he was off at a swing dance weekend, but his housemate was ok with letting us in and staying the night. I had originally thought to visit with clovis_t, but when I found out he wouldn’t be home decided that it made sense to stay there anyway, so that we could pick up the last of my stuff that he has been storing for a year now (and drop him off the few little things I had brought back for him from Australia). One of the things he has been storing for me is a bunch of fabric I had forgotten about. Back when I was getting ready to leave Italy last year I decided that since I hadn’t used my step-father’s kiln in the seven years since he had died it was time to find it a new home, and I asked on some SCA lists if anyone wanted to trade for it. I found a lady in the UK who was interested, and had fabric to offer, so we agreed to the trade, and the kiln was dropped off at her place and the fabric picked up when he did the drive with the stuff from Italy to Scotland (recall that if I hadn’t met
lord_kjar when I did I would have moved to Scotland while figuring out what to do next). However, when time came several months later to ship my boxes to me he forgot the fabric, which wasn’t in a box, and he also missed a couple of little backpacks and a small suitcase. So he has been storing that pile ever since.Saturday morning we picked up our rental car, loaded our luggage and the long-stored pile of stuff into the car and hit the road for some adventures. We drove first to Stirling, where we got out and stretched our legs a bit and used a loo, and then hurried on to the highlands (I have been missing mountains!). The drive was beautiful, the mountains had snow on the peaks, and the weather was varied. We had sun, we had wind, we had rain. Sometimes all at once. We stopped at one mountain pass and got out to play in the wind, which was so strong it was actually difficult for me to walk—every time I picked up a foot it wasn’t possible to put it back down where I intended, but instead it got blown to a place of the wind’s choosing.
lord_kjar, who outweighs me by quite a bit (being rather taller), enjoyed the fact that when he jumped straight up the wind blew him a noticeable distance over before he landed again.We arrived at our B&B, in the village of Avernish, by Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland, around 18:00, which means that we missed the views for the last hour of the drive, but we knew that we would see it the next day, so we weren’t particularly bothered. Being both rather tired from not sleeping much as we got ready for the trip we spent most of our time at the B&B happily sleeping, but still got up early enough for the 08:30 serving of breakfast (and enjoyed the view out the window---yay mountains!
Sunday morning we drove a little but further out along the road we were on—just over the bridge to Skye, because we could, then we started the day’s adventure by stopping at Eilean Donan castle. It was closed for the season and it looks like they are doing renovations as well, but we didn’t really expect to get in, so we weren’t disappointed. However, the tourist sign there mentioned an “iron age broch” which was “as short walk from the road” on the other side of the loch, so we decided to see if we could find it. We found the road around the loch, but we didn’t find the broch. We did, however, find a delightful hill to climb, and some beautiful views, and the drive was pretty, so no complaints.
From there we went south to Loch Ness, then along the loch to Urquhart castle, which was open, so we spent an hour or so exploring the grounds and poking our noses into corners of the castle. Then we headed east once again before heading south to Glasgow. Once again we wound up missing the last hour worth of decent views (and another part of an hour of driving through the lowlands) before we got to our destination, but that is to be expected on a winter excursion. Besides, the sun sets so much later here than at home it feels like we got bonus time, anyway.
We are staying at a self-catering apartment here in Glasgow—the kitchen is equipped with basics, so I get to enjoy my own cooking, which makes me happy.
lord_kjar’s class is about 25 minute walk from here, so I walk in with him in the morning, then I return and settle into work on the computer till he comes home after class, his brain rather full after a day of full on learning. We then have a few hours to enjoy one another’s company and work on projects together before sleep and doing it all again the next day. This weekend we will train over to Edinburgh for an SCA dance event weekend, and next week we will be back here for more class (him) and work (me). We still haven’t worked out the details of what adventures we will do the final weekend before we fly home.
