Wright After Reading

Its been a few months since I’ve written on here, and truthfully I didn’t know if I’d even try to keep this blog going after returning to Canada. I haven’t been writing much recently, and I really am missing it. I’m also missing all the great people I met in Edinburgh and some of the amazing places I got to see. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for things to come together on the job front, but I know it will eventually if I am patient. The farm life is peaceful, but moves a bit slowly. I’m working on a website for the farm, and I thought I might post a couple things here to get me writing again.

Aarti and I are celebrating our 1 year anniversary together – a little late, but I’m excited all the same. We’re off to Calistoga for dinner and then Ghillie Dhu

I was really excited that so many meetup people were interested in coming out for a night of bowling. I even got to meet a few new people, which is always great.

I have been so busy this week. I went Saturday and am only now getting around to writing about this on my blog.

The Great Timmies Trek was postponed due to bad weather, so on Saturday Aarti and decided to make it up. Instead of the train, we took one of the CityLink buses from Edinburgh and switched buses in Perth. It took almost an hour longer each way, but part of that is the ten minute stop in Perth and the indirect route that the coach takes. Worth it though because it is about half as much money.

After some aimless wandering in the city centre, Aarti and I started walking west. On the way to Glamis Road and the promised Tim Horton’s coffee. In our aimless wanderings, we did spot a few interesting pub names – Tickety Boos was probably our favourite. After what felt like a lot of uphill walking, we eventually made it to Glamis Road and almost immediately saw the SPAR in question and were rewarded with some really good coffee.

With an incredible show of willpower, we waited until we reached Mills Observatory before we opened the box of donuts. The observatory is in Balgay Park, and after I took us on a wrong turn, Aarti suggested in a surprising show of bravery that we go off trail and down a steep hill. Of course I went first in order to offer encouragement/criticism from down below. Instead of walking, she chose to slide down most of it on her bum.

After leaving the park, we walked to another hill, the Law. Its an old volcano that sits above Dundee like Arthurs Seat sits above Edinburgh. I still need to write a review of that for the Woodlands Trust website. I have already posted a few photos on Flickr.

Dundee is really more of a city than I imagined and it reminded me of the older part of Nanaimo. Its history has been tied to the ocean and the city’s importance as a port. Its also about the same size if not slightly larger.

On the way back into the city centre, we walked past Dudhope Park and saw the tulips starting to bloom. The weather was sunny for almost all of our time, and we had the heat of a proper spring.

Back in the city centre, the McManus Gallery was also an extremely good way to spend an hour and half – a mix between an local and natural history museum and an art gallery. Outside is one of the oldest statues of Robert Burns – from 1880. After a short walk along the shore, we were both sick of walking and started back to the bus station.

To love Tim Horton’s is probably the most Canadian of stereotypes. Tim Horton’s even did a whole ad campaign about Canadians travelling abroad spotting each other by their Timmies mug. Another ad shows a University of Glasgow student bringing a little Canada to Scotland.

Stereotype or not, I’m counting down the hours until I get some Tim Hortons at the SPAR in Dundee on Saturday. I haven’t decided if I’m going to be getting the Maple Dip or an Apple Fritter – I suppose it will depend on what they have, and how much I can carry back to Edinburgh.

I was expecting more Canadians to come out, but weekends being as precious as they are I guess I understand.

Looking for work is no fun, but luckily for me, I don’t have to do it anymore. I’m about to start work at Datamart doing B2B sales. Its part time and a small starting wage but there is commission on top of that. They’re giving me a three month trial to see if I’m well suited to the role which means I’ll have that long to build some contacts and generate some new business. They really are an old school company in how they do their sales, so it’ll be good to incorporate that into my plans. I’ll combine that with opportunities for email marketing and SEO and using social media which will be good for my skill base. Plus, they provide mostly office IT equipment, which I know a little about.

The manager seemed really excited about getting some new people in and trying to capitalize on that energy. Its a refreshing attitude, so I want to do well for them. Plus, I get to stay in Edinburgh. I start Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, I spent the weekend in Ayr, the birthplace of the bard himself, Robert Burns.

I posted some photos on Flickr and facebook.

I finally got around to doing a bit more follow up on the Rowan family, so I spent this very cold Scottish day inside doing a little research.

I finally got around to posting some photos to my Flickr photostream. I’m not finished yet, but I thought a few people might be interested in checking out what’s there so far.

I’m flying out tonight for a three day stop in Amsterdam. It should be some good times.