EH10

new home

2007-06-12T21:48:00.000+01:00

We're settling into our new (physical) home - plenty of boxes still around, and a growing list of DIY and renovation projects, but we'll get there eventually. The house is great with bags of potential, as they say in real estate land. Actually, they probably don't say "bags" - that's a kateism I think.

We have a baby now too. He arrived 5 weeks early, ahead of the house move and taking everyone by surprise. His name is Calum, and he's got his own webpage already! He hasn't quite got the hang of html yet, so in the meantime you can keep up-to-date (sort of) with our exploits at Communikate.info - my new home online. A built the site (isn't he clever?), but I'm still getting my head around its capabilities. There are some cute pics in the gallery, though.

A little piece of Auckland

2007-04-29T05:35:00.000+01:00

It's been a while, and not without incident. Andrew's been back a week and a half. We now don't have any claim to eh10 at all - the mortgage's been discharged, our stuff's being shipped - it really is about time for a new blog. But bear with me here just a little bit longer...

So, in the last wee while...

The Auckland summer has just kept on giving - yesterday we saw the first sign of rain in 10 days or more. Logically, we should have been soaking up the sun on Waiheke, but too many things going on cityside...
The small matter of transport was resolved last week at Turners' Car Auctions. A few test drives to rule out other possibilities, and we were ready to bid for one of NZ's most popular cars - the Toyota Corolla. They've even put it on a stamp. White (do they come in any other colour?) and with one government owner, it seems - so far - like a good buy.
We bought a house! A 4-bed, slightly rumpty (which I think is Akl real-estate-speak for in need of a bit of work!) bungalow in Balmoral (or Mt Eden, the biggest suburb in the world, if you're a real estate agent ). Here she i s (1/5/07 - sorry, doesn't work any more). Cabbage tree at the front, a flat sunny backyard with veges and even some fruit trees, Zap2, Videon and buses to town at the end of the street, 4 bedrooms, what more could you want? We move in in a month, before the baby arrives (just). It's a big relief not to be househunting any more, and to be able to make more definite plans.

Good things

2007-04-05T05:18:00.000+01:00

We've been busy in the kitchen (mum & I). This sticky looking mess is fig jam, made from the last of the season's figs. There might have been more, if it hadn't been for the crazy rain last week.

Thunderstorms are threatening today, although may not eventuate. Our neighbour sent us on a wild tsunami chase last week - it turned out that, despite coastguard alerts suggesting otherwise, the Solomons' tsunami didn't make it all the way to Waiheke. I'm not sure what we would have done if it had!

In other news, my baby's had a growth spurt, meaning my belly's bigger than ever. Glad I'm not contemplating that long flight now. Haven't found the perfect house yet, but there are some possibilities out there...

My strange new life, almost a week on

2007-03-18T05:54:00.000Z

I'm not in eh10 any more, but have yet to find my new home. So I'll hang around here a bit longer.

A week ago today I was busily packing and preparing for the big trip. And now I’m here, living a different kind of life on Waiheke Island in Aotearoa.

It’s a strange sort of feeling, to be homeless (although living somewhere very nice), jobless (sort of) and temporarily far from A and not in the city. At times it's slightly disorientating, but also full of small, holiday-like pleasures – walking on the beach or down to the village, picking fruit from the tree. These have become much more pleasurable since my big toe recovered from a stumble down the steps on my first morning here – although it’s still a fetching shade of purple.

The Ostend market is a nice way to spend Saturday morning – supping on freshly squeezed tangelo juice, munching on pastries or Hungarian fried bread, learning about merino & muslin nappies and other designer baby gears, rifling through boxes of secondhand books, marvelling at the size of the lettuces and basil plants, and wincing at the impromptu busking of a pair of schoolgirls who quickly changed from red patent platforms to flat sneakers before dad arrived to pick them up. There seem to be lots of pregnant women around, and lots of enterprises geared to us and our babies. The population of the island is 8000, yet there are 2 antenatal yoga classes (I’ve sampled one already, conveniently a short walk from mum and dad’s).

I’m off to the big city tomorrow, for a morning swim at the Teps, a few bits of shopping and my first househunting foray. It’s all a bit daunting – the Herald Homes section of yesterday’s paper had 95 pages!!! Where to start? Top of my shopping list is a street atlas, so I can reacquaint myself with the city. I’ve found a seemingly helpful agent to drive me around a few places, so we’ll see how that goes.

Daylight saving ended today – hope that doesn’t mean the end of summer, as I haven’t seen too much sign of it yet, and still haven’t managed a swim in the sea. Kevin’s much more hardy – he’s been every day, even in the storm.

Last weekend in EH10

2007-03-10T17:08:00.000Z

Because tomorrow I fly...

Given the size of my belly, it may not be too much fun

I'm only allowed to take 20kg with me, so some of this stuff will have to stay behind. Especially since I just found out that the rate for excess baggage is £38 per kilo. Ouch!

I think my blog will definitely need a new name, too. Watch this space...

Birthday boy

2007-03-03T07:14:00.000Z

A happy day on many counts yesterday. There was cake. A cake day is always a good day. Especially when it's chocolate! Then the reason for the cake - A's birthday. As you can see he enjoyed himself immensely. Much fun was had playing with new gadget, the Squeezebox. Our music has been freed.

And then, there was the exciting news that the (rather good) offer on our flat went unconditional - taking us one step closer to being sold up. We accepted the offer 10 days or so ago, but like most offers in Scotland it was subject to survey. Took a while to get a surveyor in, who thought things were fine but wanted a structural engineer to take a look just in case. Apparently (although we didn't know this at the time, and spent last weekend angsting that we'd never sell our flat and that our building might be falling down) this is increasingly common, as a few surveyors have been sued by people buying a place with a clear survey report, only to find problems later. Next twist in the tale - our buyer's solicitor was off sick, and the junior who took on the work couldn't cope. Another couple of day's delay. Then we discovered that the buyer's solicitor had made a keying error with the offer, and accidentally switched a couple of digits around. So the offer wasn't quite as high as we thought (lucky those digits weren't 9 and 1!!!). But all has been worked out now, we're just waiting on the paperwork, with an entry date to suit A's schedule nicely, inthe middle of April. Big sighs of relief all round.

Junior's developed quite a kick in the last few days - and enjoys exercising it just as I'm settling down for the night (or waking up in the morning, or in a meeting). So at 7.30 on Saturday morning, I find myself wide awake and writing my blog, instead of tucked up fast asleep in bed. The 6am birds have started too - must be time for the clocks to change soon.

A week tomorrow it's the big trip. Not really looking forward to the flying bit, but hoping for some sunshine and swims at the other end.

Kirsty Gunn on being a mum

2007-02-27T21:40:00.000Z

Since being pregnant I've taken much more of an interest in the "Family" section of the weekend paper. All sorts of gems are contained within. Best baby slings or nightlights. Oh how my life is changing. There was a great piece this weekend by Kirsty Gunn (a kiwi living in Scotland, coincidentally), about the entanglements and possibilities of domestic life. Worth a read - especially the poem at the end.

What's wrong with ebay?

2007-02-21T07:27:00.000Z

Well, for a start, everyone keeps outbidding me. Very inconsiderate, and at times bordering on the ridiculous. In the last week I have twice seen a secondhand skirt sell for just less than the new retail price (which adds up to be more, when you count the postage). Crazy! A. discovered yesterday that the search term "maternity" is most popular in London (closely followed by several other English cities, and Dublin). Maybe there's a baby boom going on. No wonder there's all that competition for an Isabella Oliver skirt.

Consequently, I decided to splash out and buy some new preggy gears - an important step, as otherwise I'd be wearing pyjamas to work. People seem compelled this week to make comments like "gosh you've suddenly got HUGE!" and "when I was 5 1/2 months I was hardly showing at all". I'm not taking it personally, nor am I particularly comforted by the thought that big babies run in my family.

In other news, our flat "closes" today at noon. In the Scottish real estate system - quite good for sellers, really crappy for buyers as you may remember if you're a long time reader - this means that all prospective buyers have to make their offers to our solicitors by that time. It's a sort of "sealed bid" auction - you just have to guess how much over the asking price the flat is worth, do some kind of impossible calculation about what the (11) other prospective buyers might be willing to bid, and then if you can sell your granny's jewellery to raise a bit extra and hopefully outbid the rest, do that! Fingers crossed for some diamonds.

How Auckland could be

2007-02-11T22:40:00.000Z

Some interesting, visionary and even some downright wacky solutions to Auckland's perennial transportation nightmares. Scroll down the blog post till you get to the pics and you'll see what I mean. A 20 min ferry link from the airport to the city, via canal. How cool would that be?

Edinburgh's pulling out all the stops...

2007-02-09T10:19:00.000Z

...to charm us and woo us with her beauty before we head back to NZ. And I have to say, she's doing a pretty good job!

These are a couple of shots I took yesterday on the way to work, our first real snow of the winter. No new snow today, but a good hard frost to keep everything in the realm of fairytale.

We had a hectic first viewing of our flat last night - 10 separate people/groups. Most people seemed to like it. And in baby news, I seem to be growing quite a kicker in here.

living in a fairytale

2007-02-08T07:55:00.000Z

Here's the snowy scene that greeted us this morning. Isn't it pretty?

Delightful sunny first floor flat for sale

2007-02-07T14:01:00.000Z

(ours)

Check it out.

Morningside op shops rock

2007-02-05T20:22:00.000Z

Here's the latest treasure they've yielded - more kitsch Kiwiana than you can shake a stick at, in the form of this lovely tablecloth. And only £1.50 - what a bargain! The central plateau may not quite be in the right place, and "Mt Ngaurauhoe" has an extra letter, but other than that it's an excellent geographical resource and dining accessory.

eating and drinking in Edinburgh and Fife

2007-02-04T19:01:00.000Z

Who needs the Canary Islands when the east of Scotland can turn on a stunning day like this? We made the most of the winter sunshine with an East Neuk tiki tour, checking out the harbour and wynds in Pittenweem, gorging ourselves on fabulous famous fish'n'chips in Anstruther and pretending to be statues and students while dodging golfballs in St Andrew's. Good company (Kevin & Emma), good fun and lots of sun.

Today was a bit greyer, but not dreary enough to deter us from a brisk climb up Arthur's Seat - after all, it may be our last in a while. Wind and views to take your breath away. Ravenous after all that exertion, we stopped in at the new Khushi's for a 4pm curry feast. Why not? The restaurant is a lot more glam than its predecessor, but the food just as good as at Potterow. And being off-peak, we didn't have to wait...

Sticking with the food theme, Friday night we went to Blonde - a bit disappointing - and then down Leith Walk to the homely Boda for drinks (elderflower cordial in my case). Last night's watering hole (after a fab chilli miso salmon concoction chez nous, and ice cream at Luca's) was Bennet's, and tonight we left Kevin and Emma at the Bow bar. That's a whole lot of consumption in establishments mainly beginning with B.

The week I almost met Bill Gates

2007-02-02T08:45:00.000Z

Pity about that "almost". But I was in the same room, within touching distance at times! That sounds a bit sad...

Gates was in Edinburgh to get an honorary degree from the University, meet some government officials, and to hear about some research - especially in stem cells & regenerative medicine. After all, he does describe biology as a hobby. This is the connection to me - I helped a couple of the scientists who did actually get to meet him and talk about their work to prepare for their presentations.

So what of the man himself? Very natural, very friendly and personable, and very, very smart. After just a minute or two of intro, he had some very sharp questions to ask that got right to the heart of the research and its implications. I was impressed - even if I'm not a big fan of the software.

In other news this week, we've been busily preparing to sell our flat - cutting out clutter and making things look nice. I'll post our schedule when it's ready next week so you can give your verdict...

And today the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and Kevin & Emma arrive for a weekend in Scotland. All is well.

It's been a while...

2007-01-22T21:58:00.000Z

But in my defence, there has been a lot going on. Christmas, an unscheduled trip to NZ, my expanding belly and all the gubbins that goes along with relocating - selling our beautiful flat:-( , organising travel, thinking about where we might live back in Auckland (that one in particular is giving me a headache), sorting stuff with work...

So if you're still with me, great. If you're not remotely interested in babies or moving stories, the next few months could be kinda dull.

Today is an exciting landmark (for me if no-one else) - 20 weeks' pregnant, officially half way through. I'm getting a bit worried about just how big I'm going to be by the time June rolls around.

A cool thing that Andrew built

2006-12-27T15:58:00.000Z

He's so clever! Completely pointless and lots of fun, PlotShot combines the original plot generator with photos from Flickr to make stories with pictures. The results are sometimes offbeat and curious, and definately make you think more carefully about how you tag your photos! Check it out.

What's wrong with Auckland?

2006-12-11T22:06:00.000Z

Car dependency - the main disincentive for a return to the city of sails (aka city of motorways and traffic jams). Here in Edinburgh everything's in walking distance - work, a morning newspaper & croissants, the cinema, friends, the city centre, parks. Hop on the bus if you're feeling lazy, or your bike if in a rush. Back in Auckland, it seems like we would need a car (or two) just to exist.

Watch this series on YouTube and hear about the whole sorry saga of Auckland's great motorways and crappy public transport. A. thinks it's a stroke of genius to showAustralians telling Aucklanders their train service is embarrassing. Hope it has some effect!

O Christmas tree

2006-12-10T18:18:00.000Z

We got our Christmas tree yesterday. Rather pretty it is, too, with its pink and white lights, glass and silver baubles, silver fern nymph, paua Christmas tree, African tin angel, santa, jack-in-the-box and even a furry elephant. Minimalism has no place in this Christmas household!

Lots of presents underneath it too...

new things

2006-12-03T16:28:00.000Z

I've recently discovered Last.fm, and finding it to be both useful and compelling. You can now see what I've been listening to lately, right here (in the sidebar).

Other new(ish) things:

Chinese white tea
Sweet Melinda's - A lovely wee neighbourhood eatery. A. took me there for our anniversary last month, and we've been back already (this time for their pay-what-you-think-it's worth Tuesday dinner - brave of them and entertaining for us come bill-time!)
Burnt Sugar fudge

Meanwhile, I'm getting bored of winter, rain, gales, cold, darkness and associated seasonalities - although they do make for interesting pics like this one. Can you guess what it is?

Still, there are Edinburgh's gorgeous Christmas lights and the prospect of getting a tree, some long lunches and plenty of good food to cheer things up.

Santas on Harleys

2006-12-01T14:51:00.000Z

A cheery Christmas scene yesterday. I was leaving work, the evening pitch black and extremely windy. Then from nowhere, before my eyes, the road was lit up by a troupe of Santas on Harley Davidsons, complete with jingle bells on their sound system and a some very impressive lighting kits.

a picture from our hols in Greece that I had forgotten about...

2006-11-10T17:55:00.000Z

...and that made us laugh a lot!

I think this might be the best hat I've ever seen.

Jim Anderton defends kiwifruit

2006-11-07T08:49:00.000Z

After last week's Stern report, and spurious subsequent comments about NZ food miles, Jim Anderton's been writing letters to the editor, and was all huff and puff on this morning's Today Programme. And oh so kiwi. Quote of the interview:

If European producers want to make the argument [about food miles] based on solid scientific evidence, they're going to be on a hiding to nothing.

It's ages since I've heard that phrase, but it's a goody.

Since I'm talking about solid scientific evidence (instead of, say, our latest travels or what the neighbours are up to), the Dilbert blog had a pretty exhaustive discussion about stem cells (very much on the agenda in the US because of the mid-terms). It's far too much to plough through, but a small sampling gives a flavour of the range of information and otherwise out there.

And if that's not enough stem cell action for you, take a look at this film I made (you'll need Flash player).

autumnal

2006-10-23T20:56:00.000+01:00

The view from our window on Saturday morning. Everything rain-soaked after a drookit night, leaves on the turn, apple boughs bowing and the sun starting to do her thing. It looked amazing and like a day full of promise.

Chilly, but. There's a definite air of autumn about Edinburgh right now. Emergency gully clearing (all those leaves). Lots of rain - interspersed with blinding sunshine. Skidding over crabapples on the way to work.

So, on our day full of promise, we headed west. But Glasgow had other ideas. As is often the case on the 45 min trip, the skies got greyer and more ominous. Still, we made it to Kelvingrove (via the clockwork orange and a walk along the river) without getting wet. And there was plenty there to keep us occupied as showers passed by (with a tasty lunch stop across the road at Mother India's cafe...butter chicken to die for, zingy lime and coriander baked trout). When we first came to Scotland, Kelvingrove was closing and we thought we wouldn't still be here when it reopened. Sorry mum! It's a great museum - fine art and natural history under one roof, Dali rubbing shoulders with the dinosaurs. I don't normally go in for old bones, but my favourite thing was the majestic, enormous skeleton of the giant Irish deer (pic#7).

We've been in Greece

2006-10-08T22:00:00.000+01:00

Hence the dearth of posts.

We've been back a week and I'm slowly adjusting to normal autumn Edinburgh life after more than 2 weeks in the Greek sun. My tan is fading, summer clothes have been packed away, but we still have plenty of photos to wade through.

Pictured left is Oia, in postcard-pretty Santorini, one of three islands we visited. It's extremely photogenic, from the pastel-hued villages that cling improbably to caldera cliffs, to red beach, a colourful result of the island's volcanic past.

One morning, we woke to a deafening boom echoing around the caldera. A, half-asleep, thought the volcano was erupting again. Fortunately not. Instead it was one of several dramatic thunderstorms that punctuated our trip.

Even more hair-raising was riding on the back of a scooter up (and more to the point, down) some seriously steep and winding hills. A few off-road adventures, too - especially on Naxos, which is a much bigger island and therefore easier to get lost in. But you're never far from a gorgeous beach and/or greek coffee, so getting lost's no great hardship.

We liked Naxos a lot. It may lack Santorini's drama, but it also lacks many of the hoardes of tourists (especially in September), making it a much more relaxed proposition. More soon...

"It's not really bothering us"

2006-09-12T14:08:00.000+01:00

An ohhhmmmm update. Our neighbours one-up are going crazy - one has moved back with her mum this week to get some sleep. Last Thursday, we slept in the lounge on the airbed, marginally more tolerable than the noise in the bedroom. And this morning I think the whole building was vibrating.

Meanwhile, the source of the hum has been identified (2-up). But it's not really bothering them, so they haven't done anything about it.

I think our neighbour impressed on them the gravity of the situation this weekend, though, and hope to return to quiet nights sometime soon.

Neigh wach man (sic)

2006-09-06T21:21:00.000+01:00

Hot off the press, in our letterbox today, comes this from the inimitable, indomitable Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter for Jordan Lane East:

I was very disappointed last month to have a copy of the Newsletter pushed under our gate wrapped in a clear plastic glove for protection, and I presume, to protect the messages written on the newsletter. The message written in highlighter pen and addressed "To Neigh wach man" threatening that the Leith boys will Get you" was accompanied by language not even used on Big Brother. As I put every copy through a letterbox I can only assume someone doesn't appreciate my efforts.

Phew. What an intro. My eyes are peeled for ned-like sorts wielding highlighters lurking in our stair. In fact, I have a theory about the culprit.

Meanwhile, our man with the binocs remains undeterred, and furnished us with a cracker this month. Highlights include the theft of over £30 worth of deodorants, followed just six days later with an upped ante of £50 worth of antiperspirant products from the same shop. By my calculation that would be 25 or more deodorants. That's a lot of the underarm stuff. Either someone's figured out how to make speed from it, or the thieves have some serious perspiration problems. Mysterious.

You see why this city's produced so many great crime writers?

Ohhhmmmmmmm

2006-09-02T16:43:00.000+01:00

No, not the relaxing meditation chant. Quite the opposite.

Instead it's an unexplained, unpredictable, unlocatable noise in our building somewhere. Rating as highly as Berin's frogs as a sleep impediment, and able to penetrate earplugs (I'm beginning to think it just makes my skull vibrate), it's becoming a problem. We think it's in the pipes, somewhere, but no amount of water running or boiler fiddling makes a jot of difference. Must be pipes upstairs, over which we have no control. And usually comes on after 11, when we can't really visit neighbours to investigate.

Apart from mild sleep deprivation, everything's fine. Spotted this picture of a familiar view in a charity shop window yesterday, had to have it!

the rest of the fest

2006-08-29T20:25:00.000+01:00

or, what I did last week (don't worry, no "what I had for breakfast"s, just the edited highlights)

Saturday
a festival-free day, but we did venture out to watch the rugby (ABs vs SA) for the first time all season, in the cosy, friendly and delightfully unsmoky Teuchters.

Friday
Ian Rankin on the couch - psychoanalysed by celeb psychiatrist Raj Persaud (whose Motivated Mind sits unread on our bookshelf - we're too unmotivated to read it). What makes a crime writer, and his famously damaged creation, Rebus, tick? It could have all gone horribly wrong, but Rankin's gabby enough to pull anything off (and I mean that in a nice way).

Thursday
Wide Awake at Cineworld - a personal exploration of insomnia. I thought I was bad, but this guy (the filmmaker, Alan Berliner) was a lot worse. Good film though - with all those extra waking hours he's built an amazing warehouse-sized archive of footage and newspaper clippings that was used to great effect in this doc.

Wednesday
John And Jane - another doc, this time about call centre workers in Mumbai. Quite a surreal start when after the EIFF graphic came "New Zealand International Film Festival, sponsored by Telecom". Bad print hygiene, I guess, but it did make me smile. The call centre was for American clients, the workers kept American hours (working through the night), and as part of their training learned about the differences between the US and India (fluffy towels, consumer choice and catalogs). Side-effects of this 'education' included the conversion of Hindu call centre workers to happy-clappy Christianity of the mid-west kind, and the tragic figure of Naomi, bottle blonde, right down to the eyelashes, and "totally very Americanized". The backdrop of Mumbai streets and homes rapidly gives way to desolate malls, endless cookie-cutter apartment blocks, and the sterile call centre itself. One character even dreams of owning a Spanish-style villa. A disturbing glimpse of globalisation in action.

Tuesday
Work freebies took us along to the bookfest to see Ian Wilmut and Richard Holloway chew the fat. Cloning, animal research, all the usual suspects.

Monday
A. thought she might not be much good live. But Regina Spektor was better than good. I felt like I was in the presence of rare talent. Better live than recorded. What a voice! And so sweet with it. Gush.

I came across her in a slightly unusual way. Every time we went to the cinema, we saw the Sky TV ad with "I am Danny Way" on it (y'know, UK dwellers, the skateboarding one) and Regina belting out the uber-catchy Us. Had to track her down. And then she came to Edinburgh :-)

Festival recollections

2006-08-27T23:02:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy old week and a bit. Lots of culture. I'm going to try to track back through it, see what I remember. If my memory's good, this could be a long one. You have been warned...

Tonight's easy. It finished little over an hour ago. The closing gig of the Edinburgh Book Festival - Richard Holloway. A. asked me as we waited what he was going to be talking about. I had no idea. " Dunno. Philosophy, I guess." I'd booked the tickets on a bit of a whim, as we'd both liked his Looking in the Distance so much. Holloway used to be the Bishop of Edinburgh, but is not so hot on God any more. It turns out (not all that surprising, given his former life) that he's a fantastic, captivating orator - who can recite whole chunks from texts with scarcely a glance at the page. Tonight's theme was suffering - not an easy subject, "sacred ground" that it is - and the intellectual, theological and practical responses that are possible. He circled around his theme, reading from the book of Job, holocaust literature, Larkin, a Polish poet whose name I couldn't catch, and the ending of The Line of Beauty, as Nick contemplates his likely fate:

It was a love of the world that was shockingly unconditional [...] It wasn't just this street corner but the fact of a street corner at all that seemed, in the light of the moment, so beautiful.

I hadn't felt like going out, was feeling a bit festivaled-out. I'm very glad I did.

Yesterday
We had landed some freebies from A's work to the if.comeddies - the awards formerly known as the Perriers. Good sponsorship deal that - even though they've stopped sponsoring, everyone namechecks them. Not so sure about the new name. I read an alternative suggestion in the weekend papers - the iffys. Fortunately, the comedy was not remotely iffy. For the first time this festival, I laughed a lot. Especially at David O'Doherty, and his story about the other David O'Doherty - top in Google and a bit geeky too. Even funnier was Mark Watson - no cheap jokes, no sweary words (you could take your mum), just great observation and timing and a very endearing persona (again, mums would love him).

Earlier in the day, we watched Zidane, a 21st century portrait. Football and art cinema - an odd combo. For one game, 17 cameras are trained on Zizou. No narration, just a few quotes as subtitles, a soundtrack by Mogwai and the sound of the game, as Zidane hears it. I didn't even realise that other 'galacticos' like Beckham and Ronaldo were playing until well into the film. Like much art film, (and much football!) it was both fascinating and boring. I began to think maybe that was the point - to show how mundane football really can be, how much downtime, sock folding, spitting and sweating goes on. You get to see lots of all of these. How daft our emotional and financial investment in this game really is. And yet. There's something about Zidane - he's unreadable but not in Beckham's blank way. A bit more mystery. You never see his eyes. He smiles but once. Communication is limited to about three words. You sense his instinct as he roams the pitch, hunting the ball. And delight when he finds it, or it finds him, and he performs the magic we love him for. Beautiful - in spite of all the sweat and spit.

It's Zizou who says it best: "Magic is sometimes very close to nothing at all...nothing at all."

pink minicrocs

2006-08-27T11:43:00.000+01:00

It seems I am not the only croc-wearer in the whanau. I have, however, discovered a problem. Static electricity. I wore them all day on Thursday and managed to get a shock from the car (twice) and my computer. I also seem to be even more trip-prone than normal.

new things

2006-08-16T18:54:00.000+01:00

It's been a material week. First, a whole roomful of brand new carpet. It's nothing fancy, but infinitely better than living with someone else's stains. We decided on it in record time a few weeks ago. When they didn't call back about the fitting, I started to worry...a feeling exacerbated when I looked for their telephone number and found this litany of complaints. #1 and 4 on Google! But I tracked down the errant fitters and it's now in situ.

On the carpet are my brand new crocs - shoes that are impossible to be sad in. Soft, comfy, incredibly light and silly. What more could a girl want? If I was embarking on a round-the-world adventure, they'd be my shoes of choice. I'm still trying to decide whether I can wear them to work, but they'll definitely be just the thing for the pebbly beaches of Hydra.

This monotype by Ruth O'Dell was my birthday present from A - bought is a cute wee gallery in Harris and just back from the framers. Can you tell what it's depicting?

One new thing I'm not allowed to play with is a new blog. Meanies.

Festival team

2006-08-06T21:38:00.000+01:00

Yep, it's that time of year again. Tourists and thesps take over. Buttoned-up Edinburgh becomes, for a month, overwhelmingly theatrical and even a wee bit camp. It's fab, but infinitely distracting. A's working hard on Teamtastic (what do you mean "what's Teamtastic?"??? - you haven't been spammed yet? - well get in there and check it out), and I've been helping out a bit, but we've managed to fit in a wee bit of festival distraction too. Sleep? Pah, who needs it?

Today we saw the eye-popping Kataklo - "athletic dance theatre". We were right in the front row - close enough to see every breath, sinew, and bead of sweat on the amazing troupe of 7 dancers, as they interpreted sports like football, swimming, tennis and skiing through dance. It was my favourite Fringe show of all time (3 yrs so far) - for the art, physicality, wit and sheer endeavour of it all. How did they make their bodies do that?

Yesterday was MyoSung, a Korean show fusing jazz, hip-hop and classical Korean dance. Yep, dance is my thing this festival. Not as slick as Kataklo or last year's Jump, it felt young, raw, and full of energy (tempered with a bit of angst), and had plenty of amazing moves to keep things interesting.

Later, a freebie from A's work led us to Tim Minchin, an Aussie comedian (former glam rocker) who sings like a glam rocker should (maybe better), plays the piano, and composes wickedly funny, perfectly rhymed lyrics - with the odd off-rhyme moments hammed up for comic effect. Entertaining but nothing mind-blowing - although his resemblance to a Mr Smith I know was slightly spooky...

The moon is like a piece of pie

2006-08-02T21:59:00.000+01:00

I just looked up to see a pie-wedge moon peeking out above a cloud. It looked really cool but I was too slow to grab the camera and now it's sunk down behind the clouds. I always thought moons rose. But that's the second time this year I've watched it set.

There's also a bat flying around outside - it's the first time I've seen a bat in the city. And yesterday there was a fox skulking between gardens. All this wildlife might have to find a new home if our big garden neighbours have their way, though. 2 houses at the end of Jordan Lane each want to subdivide their enormous gardens, building new houses and chopping down lots of trees. The neighbourhood is in revolt, there are notices in stairwells, and peer pressure to make a submission. It's not so much the bats and foxes. Mostly, people are worried about where they will park their cars.

camping in Scotland

2006-08-01T18:46:00.001+01:00

We managed 6 out of 8 nights under canvas on our last wee trip north. For those of you who know Scottish summers, this would probably mean a miserable week all round. But no. It was sunny. We wore shorts. We only had one picnic in the car (this is A's universal marker of all-time holiday low). We enjoyed nights that didn't really get dark: wandering home to our tent just outside of Stornoway at 2am, after a night at the festival, the town far from asleep (even though it was, technically, the Sabbath), the sky still streaked with remnants of what must have been a gorgeous sunset. We saw a few of those on our trip.

Harris was a bit rainy, but fortunately we were holed up in a fab wee B&B, warm and well-fed by chef-owner Margaret. The first time I'd ever seen kumara and haggis paired on a menu (Margaret had spent a season cooking in Whitianga, so was well acquainted with this most kiwi of vegies). Highly recommended if you're ever out that way (unlikely for most of my readers, but you never know...).

Skye brought more good food and some spectacular hills to climb (no not the Cuillins, we're much too soft), and probably the hottest day of the year. And back on the mainland, via ferry ride number three (I do like ferries), midges, a swim and a gorgeous beach. Here 'tis.

Nothing else seems to be working

2006-07-31T08:22:00.000+01:00

I think that's why I liked Don Paterson's attempt to sort out Israel and Lebanon:

(...) I end the day in prostrate delirium, trying to figure out how you could solve the Middle East crisis at the mixing desk. Basically, if we can get some hard-knee compression on Syria, we can reinvert the phase on Hizbullah, run it through a high-pass filter and then bury it under the hi-hat. I bounce Israel to mono and pan it hard right, but it sucks even worse. Hand me my bitcrusher, Keith. Sleep claims me. I dream of sleet.

News, island style

2006-07-23T21:54:00.000+01:00

We've been on holiday, camping in Lewis, Skye and the highlands. There are some pics on Flickr, and I'll write more soon. For now, here's a taste of island life courtesy of my very favourite newspaper, the Stornoway Gazette:

For the second year running, the Point and Carloway will be running the exciting 'Bravest Dog' category at their shows. Isabel Badley expained: "My former husband (...) looked through all the entries and decided this animal was the most deserving."

14 year old Labrador cross Sonny Jim, who had spent nearly five years in a wheelchair due to a congenital abnormality of the spine, was presented with the award. Sonny Jim did not let his disability get the best of him, and continued to live his normal life, becoming a well known member of the community with his daily walks up and down the village.

I kid you not. I really wish I had come across Sonny Jim when we were in Lewis. It would have been a great honour to meet such a brave dog. Plus I've never seen a dog walking up and down a village in a wheelchair before.

Close second to this article comes with the headline "While islands swelter, New Zealand freezes". Been having some bad weather back in kiwiland? No hiding it from the Leodhasachs - exiles like Angus Finlayson (formerly of Aird Tong but now living in Wellington) keep the islands informed, by sending cuttings from the local (Wellington) paper, to be rehashed in the local (Stornoway) paper.

"Swelter" may be pushing the point a bit, but it was hot and sunny. And even at the busiest time of the year, in the middle of the Hebridean Celtic Festival, it was easy to find a whole cove, beach or cliff to yourself.

good things

2006-07-02T19:15:00.000+01:00

making it home before the heavens opened and turned our street into a river today
the smell just before the storm - like an Auckland summer's day
schoc chocolate - dark chocolate with cardamom
strawberries, raspberries, warmed by the sun
my ingenious new bedside table - a wooden box with a lid that slides. You can open it without moving your books.

pictures and voices

2006-06-19T21:20:00.000+01:00

This is a simple idea, but somehow beautiful. Lost, anonymous photos, given life and space to capture new imaginations. One of those nice moments you sometimes find on the web, amongst all the clutter and MySpace badness.

Speaking of beautiful, saw Bic Runga this weekend. She looked like a little doll, with a lolly-pink dress, stylish bob and silver sandals. Last time we saw her it was an acoustic set at the Reid Hall. This time there was a band, plus Annika Moa and Anna Coddington on backing vocals. She did a fantastic version of the Jacques Brel song, Ne Me Quitte Pas, but for me Bursting Through, just Bic's voice and guitar, pure and haunting, was the highlight.

All the festival programmes are out now, so lots of poring over listings to do, important choices to make...

Not-quite midnight sun

2006-06-13T22:04:00.000+01:00

But 10pm and still bright enough in Edinburgh. The nights are short, the birds getting louder and earlier every day (3.30 this morning). It's a nice time of year. The weekends, in sharp contrast to last year, have been properly hot and sunny. Not wearing a jumper socks and shoes sunny, but shorts, singlet, sandals sunny. Lying on the back lawn with the newspaper and a cool drink sunny. Heck, even going to the beach sunny.

So, like everyone else in Edinburgh, we went to the beach last Sunday...froze our ankles paddling in the north sea, inhaled a lot of burnt sausage fumes, fought for a car park. Despite all that, and all the people (on what is supposed to be one of the quietest nearby beaches), it was wonderful to lie on the beach in the sun!

We also lunched with the Reeves (Snr) this weekend, and found a not-too-rowdy pub in which to watch the very boring second half of the England match. Always nice to see kiwis in town.

Land of the midnight sun

2006-06-13T21:19:00.000+01:00

This in Tromso, in northern Norway, at around midnight. As dark as it gets. Makes going to bed, never mind sleep, challenging. I know, you're thinking "blackout curtains, no problem". Well, you'd think so, wouldn't you, in a place that doesn't get dark.

Apart from the lack of sleep, it was a fantastic place to have the opportunity to visit. I went on a work trip - our film was screening at a media festival up there, and I had to give an introduction. And collect our prize - we topped the TV & video category, much to my surprise, beating broadcasters to win a nice vase and 20,000 euro!

A bit of a frontier town - stuffed polar bears on the street, half-finished pavements, some grim-looking drinking dens. At the reception on the first evening, reindeer heart, reindeer fillet, seal and whale were served! But it's a university town too, so there are nice cafes.

Spectacular scenery abounds - snow covered alps close to midsummer, and serene, isolated fjords. The odd patch of shoreline settlement that makes you wonder what it would be like to live there, so far north and so far away. Maybe it would be worth it for the light - like this in summer, and the Northern Lights in winter.

getting under the skin

2006-05-28T13:01:00.000+01:00

Those who have known me a while will be surprised at my interest in an exhibition that is at times a bit gruesome. Anatomy Acts, at the City Art Gallery, explores "the social, cultural and scientific significance of anatomy in Scotland over the past 500 years". Contemporary commissions sit alongside ancient texts, exquisite medical and anatomical illustrations, and plenty of objects to trigger that funny feeling in my legs.

You see, I'm a fully paid-up member of the squeamish society. My imagination runs away with me on matters medical. I even managed to faint in first aid class (giving fellow-students a practical case-study on which to test their new found knowledge of the recovery position). The trigger was nothing more than a photo - quite a famous one - of a long-jumper mid-flight, his fractured shinbone protruding obviously. Ouch!

So what was a wimp like me doing at this medical-themed exhibition, examining with interest the tanned skin of a soldier - gory war souvenir; a collection of delicate, dangerous surgical instruments in a velvet-lined case; elegant drawings of men and women holding open their own chests or stomachs, to reveal the anatomy within? Not fainting, this time. I have recently rediscovered an enthusiasm for science, and especially a fascination for the spaces where art, history and science intersect. Like the best art, anatomy in this exhibition invokes feelings of shock, awe, wonder. It reveals dark secrets, tells us something of ourselves and our past (in Edinburgh, home to Burke and Hare, a somewhat murky one!).

The highlight for me, though, was the exhibition of commissioned poems by the fabulous Kathleen Jamie (her Findings was my favourite book of 2005) alongside the objects that had inspired them. I can't find any of them online, though. You'll just have to go see the exhibition for yourself...

If you're too far away, there are some Renaissance drawings on this site.

culture old and new in ultramodern Seoul

2006-05-23T18:17:00.000+01:00

I'm just back from six days in Seoul - a city I liked enormously. It's full of juxtapositions and incongruities that make it fascinating. Here are just 2. The first is in downtown Seoul, but its name escapes me. Ancient monument of some sort, modern skyscraper.

The second is a Buddhist temple that was just across the road from the COEX exhibition centre where our conference was, and one of the few old things in an otherwise relentlessly modern (and consequently not so appealing, although there was some spectacular architecture on display) glass and concrete part of town.

Last is the recently reclaimed Chonggyechon, an inner city stream that used to be covered by a road. Quite an improvement. It's a popular haunt of courting couples - a frequent sight throughout the city.

in Seoul, hello

2006-05-17T14:41:00.000+01:00

This is just a quirky building opposite the collosal COEX behemoth in Seoul, where I'm attending a conference about science communication. I arrived yesterday, but haven' t had a chance to see much yet, outside of the conference venue and enormous shopping mall/foodcourt that lies beneath. Everything in this part of town very modern, except the buddhist temple across the road in amongst all the skyscrapers.

Garden of Cosmic Speculation

2006-05-07T21:55:00.000+01:00

Third year lucky. I've wanted to visit Charles Jencks' Garden of Cosmic Speculation ever since mum told me about it a couple of years ago. It's only open one day per year, which this year happened to be today. The first rainy day in a week, sadly, but I couldn't be put off. In 2004 I was working, and last year, it was Shane and Steph's wedding. In fact, A. telling me that they were away this weekend to celebrate their anniversary was a lucky prompt on Friday to check the dates. So, rain or shine, today was the day to make the trek out to Portrack House.

When we left Edinburgh we could barely see in front of our bumper through the smirr. Heading west, things remained damp but clearer and brighter. I wished I had worn my pink wellies!

The garden was well worth a bit of dampness, though. The intricate details of the DNA garden are thoroughly engaging, from the palindromes in the paving to the wave forms in beautifully wrought gates. Six sculptural pieces combine double helix forms with representations of the senses. Outside these gates, your senses are called into action as scale increases exponentially. You get to clamber over Nonsense, wonder about quarks, smell heady scents that more botanically minded folk could no-doubt identify, reel at the riot of rhodedendron colour, hear how the Crow Wood got its name, and walk up spiral mounds and down again, wondering how come you never bump into anyone travelling in the opposite direction. It's a place of beauty, stillness, activity, wonder, marvel, colour, texture. There are more pics here, but here's one of my favourites, part of the "Scottish Worthies" railway walk:

would you like starch with that?

2006-05-05T22:53:00.001+01:00

For the first time in what feels like forever, it's been a normal week of home, work, no travels or filming, just regular Edinburgh life. It's been great! The sun has been shining - hot enough for lunch in Princes St Gardens and a picnic on the Meadows this evening. There are people outside everywhere, every eating and drinking establishment in the city has found some outdoor furniture and a patch of pavement, Auld Reekie feels surprisingly continental. And everyone's happy.

The evenings are long and light too. Soccer (or here, football) started up this week, and unlike last year, I was brave enough to go along. Also on the Meadows, near where we've been playing golf and picnicked this evening, it's an informal affair, with jumper goalposts and teams arranged by t-shirt colours, mixed guys and girls. It's the first time I've played soccer in at least 5 years, and the first time in as long that I've really used a lot of the muscles in my legs, judging by the discomfort now! It was fun, though.

I called A. on my way back from soccer, to see if I should pick anything up:

"I don't know, maybe some dinner."
"I thought you were making dinner."
"I did but it's pretty bad."
"It can't be that bad."

It was, actually. Up there with the broccoli stalks incident. He's not afraid to be experimental in the kitchen...not always a good thing. Found come cannelli beans in the cupboard, and looked up a recipe for them. Cannelli bean puree, that sounds good. Missed part 2 of the recipe, which suggests serving with "the copious juices from sloppy stews". That's kinda different to pasta, which doesn't come with it's own sloppy juices.

So the dish: some slightly over-sauteed garlic and suspect bacon, mixed with aforementioned cannelli beans (pureed with some week-old white wine), served with (adhering firmly to) rigatoni. The adhesion applied to anything else it came in contact with too - the roof of my mouth, throat, ribs, plate, fork...you get the picture. Sticky and starchy. But excellent pizzas yesterday, so all is forgiven.

Free golf, 24 hrs in Sweden

2006-04-30T15:39:00.000+01:00

It's taken us three years - can't quite believe that this May we'll have been in Scotland for three years - but we have at last played a round of golf on the world's only free course. The Bruntsfield Links are just a 15-min walk from our flat, with a backdrop of Arthur's Seat and 36 pitch-and-put holes. It's a bit lumpy sometimes, but hey, it's FREE!

When Caragh was here last September we bought clubs and balls from the local op-shop. For a princely sum of £8 we were fully equipped, but the weather conspired against us. Winter has since passed, and spring has definitely sprung now. Daffs and hyacinths are in full bloom around the surprisingly dry course. My technique is poor, but I hope that by the end of summer it will be less so!

*********

A small passport problem took me to Glasgow yesterday. When I flew to Copenhagen last week, an overzealous check-in assistant (at 6am!) threatened to cancel the trip, because my passport only had 6 weeks of validity left. In Brussels, apparently, that would be a problem. I protested that we weren't flying to Brussels, and after much colleague and computer consultation, she discovered that Copenhagen has no such regs. Still, I'm off to Korea in 2 weeks, and will need a valid passport, hence my trip to the passport office for "fast-track" service.

It was nice to be in Glasgow, especially on such a hot sunny day. Much wobbly flesh was on show, plenty of dodgy orange tans, and a general air of celebration. The sun was shining. At the weekend!

My 24 hrs in Sweden was somewhat hectic. We were filming 3 interviews, with a neurologist and a couple of ethicists, as part of our film on the ethics of stem cell research. A 7am flight saw us arriving in Lund (via the Oresund bridge) by 11.30. We found our filming studio, local sound guy, equipment, and left the boys to set up while we scouted our 2nd locations for each interview. The persistent rain made exteriors impossible.

Lunch was quick and tasty Thai (canteen-style), and then I had to find the hospital locations my director had her heart set on, plus secure permission to film there. Fortunately my local contact plays golf with the head of the neurology clinic, and Swedes are more relaxed about filming than in the UK. Several schedule changes and some great interviews later, we wrapped at about 6.30.

Next stop, check in. Rooms in Lund are scarce at this time of year, so we were booked into the Patienthotel (where mothers and their families stay after giving birth). There were a lot of babies born that day, and we found ourselves bumped to some decidedly more spartan cells further out of town, complete with lights that didn't work. Ah well. We were hungry, first and foremost.

After a few "sorry we're fully booked"s, losing our cameraman, finding him again looking somewhat bewildered, all the while dodging the rain, we settled on Bantorget 9 - a gorgeous little house that looked cosy but with seriously good food. Our starter of wild nettle soup with salmon roe, quail egg and crispy bacon confirmed the hunch.

By the time we got back to our rooms, the lights were working. But by then, I just wanted to sleep.

Everywhere you go...

2006-04-19T20:23:00.000+01:00

Saturday, 0720 hrs
"ugheghlo"
"What's the weather like in Edinburgh?"
"uh, just let me open my eyes and see...not very bright, yeah, grey."
"Give me a call back in half an hour and let me know if it's still grey."

Saturday 0750 hrs
"Do you think it's going to clear?"
"Dunno, it's patchy"
"I'll get the paper and look towards the castle to see"

Saturday 0800 hrs
"There's some sun, but cloud too. Do you need 100% blue?"
"Yes, definitely, or it won't work. Let's try for tomorrow."

Saturday 1300 hrs
"Is it sunny now? In the Borders it's beautiful."
"Yeah it looks OK."
"Do you think we should try for an end of day shoot instead?"
"Maybe tomorrow."

Saturday 1700 hrs
pouring with rain
"Glad we're not trying to film now."

Sunday 0730 hrs
"ugheghlo"
"Is it sunny?"
"I'll just look...sort of, not 100%..."
"It is here, let's go for it, see you in an hour."

Sunday 0830 hrs
"What happened to the sunshine?"

Spring weather! By the time we were rolling, though, the sun was shining again, and we got some purty shots at the Camera Obscura. Which is lucky - I'd already started having weird dreams about the filming (somehow the cast of Dallas - soon to be a movie - were joining me in my weather angst).

Otherwise Easter was fairly low-key. Lunched at VinCaffe - a tasty reminder of Italy. Watched Junebug - a movie of delightful simplicity, space and honesty. Walked along the Tweed, whooping at the gambolling lambs en route. Tucking in to succulent chops from aforementioned babes. Simple pleasures. Just the thing, after a weekend of more excessive ones in Bellagio.

Bloody good site

2006-04-15T21:10:00.000+01:00

I promised an eh10 plug for A's latest venture on the web, stop-nosebleeds.org. He's a man on a mission...to rid the world of bad techniques for stopping nose bleeds.

So, why did he start this site? What's it all about? Here's the reason, from the man himself...

We've travelled all over the world and encountered people with nosebleeds in all sorts of places. Almost all the people we've met with nose bleeds had their own method of stopping them. Mostly, however, these were bad and/or slow methods - like leaning back and letting the blood flow down your throat. When we first show people the Thumbs Up method there is often some resistance - perhaps it's just too simple - but once they've tried it, people swear by it and never look back. This website is dedicated to spreading this simple but important knowledge and thereby making the world a (slightly) better place.

There you go. Plus he gets to use all sorts of dodgy puns like the one in the title of this post, and of course the IT fave, "bleeding-edge" (like leading edge, only more so). Make his day, take a look, change your technique!

Bella Bellagio

2006-04-15T19:23:00.000+01:00

Since being back in Edinburgh, I've hardly been here.

I had an overnight in London less than a week after we got back - 1st class train-ride down, a lovely dinner with Fern that night, and a workshop in the hallowed halls of the Royal Society the next day, along with lots of medical men in suits.

A visit from Josh & Helen made the next weekend fly by, and a flying visit to Manchester for a conference followed hard on their heels.

Early last Saturday morning (550am flight!) came the highlight of my work year - our annual meeting at the luxurious Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, on the shore of Lake Como. The location is stunning (especially at this time of year when there's still snow on the Alps, on the days when the lake isn't shrouded in mist), the hotel suitably grand and the food gourmet. Most of us (scientists not known for being well-paid, especially junior ones) felt like impostors on the first day, but had settled in and were reluctant to leave by day 4. It's amazing how quickly you can get used to 3 course lunches, 4-5 course dinners, live music every night in the "salon" by an accomplished Belarusian trio, and of course that amazing lakeside location!

I'm back in Edinburgh for a quiet Easter weekend - catching up on sleep, kicking the cold I've had for the past 10 days (hopefully), eating well. The only intrusion is some weather-dependent filming. Every morning at 7.30 the director calls me from the Borders to see what the weather's like here. Hopefully I'll be able to say "gloriously sunny" tomorrow and we'll go, get our shots and be done by 10am! Fingers crossed...

Auckland special

2006-03-23T21:32:00.000Z

from the Waiheke ferry, taken by Andrew. Dramatic weather, anyone?

late summer in new zild

2006-03-21T20:45:00.000Z

Saturday afternoon, 2 pm, Waiheke
Lazy days on the island - Fayth and I test drive the Taylors' new hammock.

Friday morning, 7 am, Mangawhai estuary
The perfect start to the most perfect day of our trip. Warm enough for an early morning swim (if you're crazy and go by the name of Caragh). The rest of us waited till it got really hot. Not a cloud in the sky, all day.

Thursday night, 8pm, Tinakori Bistro, Wellington
Andrew's birthday dinner, cheesy grins all round

Friday afternoon, 3pm, Civic Square, Wellington
The big fern ball in civic square and a big ole Wellington sky.

Saturday morning, 10am, Mangawhai golf course
Check out that swing! A. makes like he was born golfing.

More pics on Flickr.

Two and a bit weeks passed in the blink of an eye. The sun shone, most of the time. We swam a few times. We drank excellent coffee every time. The company was excellent and food delicious. Sights were familiar, friendly, nostalgic. All good.

Listening to: The Return of Fly My Pretties
Reading: An Unexpected Light, by Jason Elliot

being back

2006-03-16T06:21:00.000Z

It's 6am, I've been wide awake since not much after 5. Doesn't bode well for my participation in a role-play (I know, but it's work-related) this evening. The jet lag is still hanging about - sending me to sleep while eating dinner, waking me early. A positive benefit is I get to see the pre-dawn snow, which is blanketing my world in white as I write. It's beautiful.

I had been expecting spring to have sprung by the time we got home. Sure, there are crocuses, but today they'll be buried by the snow. Before today, Edinburgh's just had that matt, flat grey light that doesn't much change from dawn to dusk, accompanied by cold to chill the bones.

Our flat seems really small after 3 weeks away in NZ-proportioned spaces, but cosy and warm thanks to insulation and central heating (I wish NZ had the plot on this).

Listening to: Fly My Pretties, No. 2 Soundtrack, Loop compilation and assorted other soundz of home.

Wishing I was: on the beach

About to eat: porridge - what else would do for a snowy morning?

Watching: Swimming at the Commonwealth Games. Beginning to see benefits of this jetlag.

in by the skin of my teeth

2006-02-28T09:19:00.000Z

It's the last day of February, and so far this is the first month since the beginning of EH10 without a post. Ingrid told me today that even Berin was more up-to-date than me. A sorry state of affairs.

We're in New Zealand, Auckland for the moment but off to Wellington tomorrow and Nelson on Saturday. Chasing awaythe last vestiges of summer wherever we go - Auckland is feeling decidedly autumnal, and everyone gladly tells us that this is a new thing.

We've still experienced a lot more sunshine than our pasty scots skin is used to - A. managed to get sunburnt behind the ears while boogie boarding. Not something that could ever happen in Edinburgh! And Friday, a year to the day since I last arrived in NZ, a year since my brother died, was the most perfect day anyone could have wished for - still, clear, cloudless and warm. We spent the day as a family up at Mangawhai, up and kayaking at dawn, watched the sun rise over the Barrier, stunning...I'll post some pics when back on broadband.

Until then...I'm on holiday!

what's been happening

2006-01-23T20:58:00.000Z

Well, we've all just about survived the most depressing day of the year.

Otherwise, not much. I've been:

Watching:

too much TV (curse those programmers and their new season schedules). I also blame digital TV for giving me 3 chances every week to catch ER etc.
A Bittersweet Life - extremely bloody, visceral, satisfying, cinematic Korean mob movie. Was pleased to see it was made by bom productions, whom I had met at the Busan film festival a few years back, and organised a NZ recce for.
Match Point. Ridiculous. Nothing else to say about it. A liked it (or liked Scarlett in it?)

Reading:

Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere - see my last post

Eating:

Breadmaker bread. Yeah, I know. Very 1999. But there's never any good French bread left at the deli by the end of the day, and regular bread in the UK is worse than awful chemical gunk, which stays on the shelves for days, so never fresh despite all the preservatives. My uncle gave me an old one of his that he doesn't use at Christmas time, and I haven't looked back. Loaves aren't very loaf-shaped, but taste good.
Making up for my misshapen bread are a series of perfectly loaf-shaped cakes - gingerbread last week, marmalade cake the week before. I'm working my way through Nige's Kitchen Diaries

Listening to:

Belle & Sebastian - live last week (chaperoning some 13 yr-olds to their first gig) and on my ipod since
Podcasts - Nature, Jon Snow, Ricky Gervais so far
more, generally, since apple replaced my ailing ipod battery

More connectedness

2006-01-08T15:20:00.000Z

Not people this time (although Tim did give me and the rest of the world a handy update on the old flat, and I did read about Harper Simon, who is (was?) in a band with A's cousin, Chris, in the paper this week).

I've been reading Richard Holloway's meditative and simple, powerful book, Looking in the Distance. Subtitled "the human search for meaning" it's just the thing for this time of year - the beginning of a year, especially when coupled with the time off work that yields rare and precious thinking time, always brings out a bit of "looking in the distance". Feeling a bit melancholy after watching Brokeback Mountain, I was delighted (well, as delighted as one can feel, while maintaining melancholia!) to read that Aristotle thought that all interesting people had a touch of melancholy in their make-up. Looking in the Distance is a book that sends you back to all sorts of wonderful sources - Burns, Larkin, Pound, Michael Ondaatje, John Rawls & John Stuart Mill (a reminder of 1st year philosophy). But Aristotle had come via someone I didn't know, Jan Morris (Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere). 10 hours later, I found her again, describing Trieste as her favourite place in this morning's paper. Being somewhat susceptible to suggestion, I guess I'll just have to buy the book! Either that or go to Trieste.

Old flatties and the connectedness of the universe (in NZ)

2006-01-03T16:00:00.000Z

I somehow found myself reading Tim Selwyn's blog (it's the holidays - I obviously have too much time on my hands) and was amused to see a pic of another former flatmate, Karen (different flat, different city even) featured in a recent post.

Apart from random ramblings through the blogosphere, I've been passing the holidays:

trying to edit some decidedly patchy footage into something less patchy, shorter (potential audiences breathe a sigh of relief) and more filmic
sleeping lots
reading - Beyond Black, Original Bliss, Ghosting and some poetry for a change
trying to wangle a trip to Seoul this year (work, but with a personal agenda)
shopping - just a little bit, but in my defence, Polly Toynbee asks:

Is mass culture so deplorable? Shopping is the number one leisure activity - nothing wrong with that. A cornucopia of affordable pleasures invites the eye at Ikea. (It is mostly men who inveigh against retail therapy, but is sport any more elevating?)

Christmas cheer

2005-12-24T22:55:00.000Z

It really can be beautiful in Edinburgh at this time of year. The days are short, the skies clear, and Christmassy-ness abounds - even without a skerick of snow. There's ice of course, in Princes St Gardens. You can skate on it. Here's my dad doing just that, earlier this month...

A day at the beach can even be had. Here are Fern and Andrew, out in East Lothian, soaking up the sunshine.

And although the days are short, the light as the sun sets is stunning (thanks to all those open fires?). Today we walked the vertigo-inducing Salisbury crags as the sun went down.

It's Christmas already in NZ, and word from Doherty and Taylor households suggest much fun is being had by all. We've got one more sleep to go...

Merry Christmas!

Frenzy?

2005-12-20T18:35:00.000Z

The run up to Christmas seems to be passing me by this year. I'm surrounded by last-minute panickers, but am unmoved to get in on the act.

A faraway destination for Christmas parcels certainly helps - dad took all my presents back with him earlier this month, so no last-minute shopping required. Food-wise, I just have to make a trifle. Which, if it lives up to its name, should be fairly straightforward. It's winter solstice tomorrow, though. That might be a day (night?) for cooking up a big feed...

In general, I think I'm just waiting around for the year to be over. 2005, despite high points (visits from far-flung whanau, a stimulating new job, producing my first proper film), has been a stinker. I really, really hope that the new year will bring happier times.

not many Dohertys left in NZ

2005-11-25T20:58:00.000Z

The much threatened "coldest winter in 40 years" has arrived. I arrived back in Edinburgh from Brussels last week, wee brother in tow, to sub-zero temperatures. The sun has been shining (between the hours of sunrise and sunset anyway - 8.09am-3.50pm today!), but without any warmth in it. And today, as I walked up the hill to work, it snowed. By the time I arrived my black coat was white and I sported a grin from ear to ear. Snow just has that effect.

Brussels was an EU conference on Communicating European Research - where I had a booth screening the rough cut of our "stem cell movie" as the scientists like to call it. The funky booth design involving a wall of rolled-up posters didn't quite work out, as the couriers lost our posters for a few days. People seemed to like the film, though.

I picked Kev & Emma up in Amsterdam (much to their surprise) on the way back from Brussels. They've had a whirlwind Scottish trip, taking in the sights of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dollar, Bellshill and Lewis in little over a week, and are now somewhere in northern Holland (I hope it's snowing there too, they were hanging out for it here and left just before it arrived in full force).

Meanwhile, my dad arrived in Scotland on Monday, much to the surprise of the rest of his family and especially the brother he's staying with. Apart from his brother's wife, Kevin, Emma, Andrew and I, no-one knew he was coming. The family party the next day was quite an event (much shrieking and wailing).

Tomorrow we're off to Murrayfield with Dad, to see how the ABs cope with a bit of snow.

Wildlife

2005-10-25T18:58:00.000+01:00

I wrote a wee while ago about mice in our house. In the end, we caught five of the little rodents (tiny, they were, like a 50p piece). Yesterday there was a big froggy toady jumpy thing in the stair, much bigger than a 50p piece. All this cold wet weather's driving them indoors. And making me jumpy - how can such a small thing give such big frights?

Evidence of the beard

2005-10-23T22:09:00.000+01:00

Pictured here atop the Eiffel Tower. Last time we went to Paris they closed the top level of the tower while we were queueing. Top of A's list for this visit was to get to the top. We almost didn't - leisurely breakfasting and Batobusing along the river saw us again arriving at peak time, but by taking the stairs, we made it up just before it closed for 2 hrs. Phew.

More photos of Paris.

It's grey and wintry here in Edinburgh. A good day for being warm and cosy inside. Our dining table in the bay window makes a good vantage point for the birds feasting on windfall apples in our neighbour's garden - so I get to keep in touch with nature without getting wet.

what's that on your lip?

2005-10-20T20:12:00.000+01:00

This post's for any Taylor readers out there. Just saw cousin Chris on the telly, sporting exceedingly dodgy moustache and excellent salesman patter. It was an arts feature on Ch 4 news, on the Zoo art fair.

Facial hair has recently been rediscovered by A. too - he's currently sporting a full ginger number - and reports today that colleagues are following the trend he has set. Or are keeping their chins warm for winter. Or something.

my wee sister

2005-10-11T21:59:00.000+01:00

Is much taller than me. Here we are on the Isle of Skye, approaching the weird and fantastic Fairy Glen. Yes, I am wearing pink tartan wellies. They were indespensible in the many peatbogs we trudged through while on the Isle of Lewis.

There are many more adventures to write about (not least the moose in our hoose...which became two and then three. Their addiction to chocolate spread was their undoing...) but we have to get up at 4.30 tomorrow morning cos we fly to France and away from the mice. More when I get back from Paris next week...

Braveheart

2005-09-25T22:04:00.000+01:00

Caragh arrived from NZ yesterday. Today we went to the Wallace Monument, in Stirling. It rained a bit, and we witnessed the arrest of a crazy man half way up the tower (handcuffed and dragged away, it was all quite exciting). Notice the similarity of the wallace statue to a much shorter Australian actor. The most impressive thing was Wallace's sword - at least as tall as me, meaning that the man who wielded it would need to be at least 6'6!

Since last post I've also been to Italy with the Taylors and Greece with work - more photos when time & visitors permit!

2005-09-05T21:01:00.000+01:00

As the pics suggest, Franz F. are looking more like the Beatles than ever - sharply suited, gorgeously coiffed, ever so cool. They even sound more like the fab 4 than most bands of the moment. The stage set was stunning, almost better looking than the Castle in the background, From the Dr Who intro to the explosive This Fire, they rocked.

At Princes Street Gardens again last night, this time for the fireworks. Spectacular.

Much activity in between whiles - preparation for Taylor visit, then a hectic weekend of tripping about - Pentlands, Modern Art Gallery, rugby, Harvey Nics, Ikea (on every kiwi's must see list, it seems!) - in glorious sunshine. Fat Freddy's tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

Franz Ferdinand

2005-08-30T23:53:00.000+01:00

Beachy

2005-08-21T21:43:00.000+01:00

It's been a hot and sunny weekend. Hot and sunny enough to inspire a trip to the beach. We went to Seacliff, in East Lothian, and managed to fit in some lazy newspaper reading, flashy frisbee throwing (pay attention, un-co kids, this is how it's done), a SWIM!!!!!!!!!!! and lavish picnic before the ravenous spring tide devoured the beach at an alarming rate. Even the tide was fun though - watching people who wore shoes on the beach try to avoid getting wet (no, you can't walk on our picnic! take your shoes off, weirdos) and providing the perfect opportunity for much beach construction activity.

Speaking of swimming (yes, it was cold), A. got this t-shirt at Spanish (?) high street store, Zara. Very strange (you need to click the pic to be able to read it). Apparently there's no such thing as the Auckland Aquatic Centre. I asked my mum, and she knows these things. We've subsequently seen the same shirt on TV - someone at the running of the bulls in Pamplona was wearing a red one. So, kids, you heard it here first. Auckland is officially cool in Europe. Or swimming. Or something.

Salty, sunned and sandy, we had no sooner arrived home yesterday than I got a nice text from Welly pal Chloe, who's working at the film fest. Want some free tix? Cool. See you in 20 mins. Remembered (just) to change out of my togs, threw on some jeans and jogged down to Cineworld. Arrived and realised it must be a premiere. Seriously underdressed. Oops. We did get a few strange looks, but the film was worth it (On A Clear Day, good heartwarming stuff with great Glasgow locations). And we got to sit 2 seats away from Gillian Anderson. She stood next to A. for a while as we waited to exit. He was quite excited. Other celebs in the flesh included Peter Mullan (bizarrely kilted out with some kind of purple velvet top half thing going on - foppish and a bit of a mismatch for the Glaswegian hardman. Although that's just the roles he's played... maybe he's a big saftie underneath). Also Billy Boyd and Brenda Blethyn.

It's raining now, and time for bed.

On the telly

2005-08-17T18:46:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy old week in the brave new world of stem cell research. Our researchers published a paper, reporting that they had, for the first time, made pure brain stem cells. We thought that was quite cool, a major advance, so we wrote a press release about it.

Often, you can write a press release about a science story and nobody notices. But this week they did - maybe because we had pretty pictures in the press release too.

The BBC made a story of it. And then so did just about everyone else. The news making the news.

Enough about work, though. Back on the Fringe, Cracks in the Garden was a wee bit uncomfortable - an audience of only 10 is seldom anything but. Kevin MacNeil was worth getting up early-ish for on Sunday morning - I'd read his new book, The Stornoway Way, cover to cover the night before. It's always nice to hear the voice of a Leodhasach (love that lilt).

Kiwis in the house

2005-08-07T20:43:00.000+01:00

Listening to: The Black Seeds

Over and over, on CD, bought out of a battered kiwi suitcase at the Black Seeds gig in Edinburgh last week. Also Fat Freddy's Drop, bought from same suitcase. The sun's been shining, and Wellington dub is good sunshine music.

So, the gig. Never knew there were quite so many kiwis in Edinburgh. I think I was the most Scottish person in the crowd. How could I tell? Well, apart from the sea of hands in the air when the Black Seeds played a track for "all the kiwis in the house", they also have a look about them (we have a look about us?). A. describes it as "an extra layer of grunge". Guys with shaggy hair (here, they're more coiffed than the girls, a la Becks), jandals, grubby Ts. Girls dressed down, without fake tan.

We've had kiwis in oor hoose too. Actually, a Wellingtonian, currently resident in London, and his girl from Denver - Simon and the lovely Lesley. Their visit was nicely timed to coincide with Fringe previews, so we took in a couple of shows at pleasantly low prices. Definite highlight was Jump - one of those random picks which sounded intriguing in the programme, and turned out to be fantastic. A piece of Korean physical theatre, piled high in the air with comic, acrobatic and kung-fu capers. We laughed a lot at the sheer silliness of it, and marvelled at the gymnastics on show.

The whole Fringe seemed to be running late on Friday - not so good when you're going to a show at 11.59pm. More like 1 am by the time things kicked off. This was Best of the Fest - a pot luck selection of stand up. Apart from the dire, painful Fiona O'Loughlin (although a late and well lubricated Friday night Edinburgh audience, kept waiting for an hour, are not the easiest to please), there were laughs aplently.

Yesterday was rugby day. Enough said about that.

Buggy

2005-07-27T21:32:00.000+01:00

I'd always thought of cool-climate Scotland as a pest-free zone. When I leave toast crumbs and a sticky knife on the kitchen bench they are still there when I get home from work...no voracious ants to devour them. And on the occasional balmy night, an open window isn't an open invitation to mozzies and other flying biting things.

Nothing like a camping trip to dispel a few myths.

Despite A's entrenched belief that it simply wasn't possible, never mind sensible, to go camping in Scotland, the new tent had to be tested. A-camping we must go.

Friday night, after work, we packed up the car with assorted essentials - espresso pot (but no stove to put it on) food, wine, tent, the ubiquitous fold-up chairs (less than a fiver at Tesco)...the baby boot of our C2 was fuller than it's ever been.

We headed through Glasgow and up the west side of Loch Lomond to Inverarnan. Our campsite was on a farm on the West Highland Way, surrounded by trees and hills, very pretty. No caravans (unusual in Scotland, where they're almost as ubiquitous as those cheap folding chairs), but lots of people and lots of tents. Ours was up in minutes (it seems to be foolproof, so far), the barbie lit, wine uncorked and stomachs rumbling. Our sausages browned, sunlight faded, the breeze dropped, and just as we were about to tuck in, the midges descended. And tucked into us.

Actually, the biting's not so much of a problem. It's more the density of the swarm - they get in your ears, your nose, your food if you're trying to eat...not very pleasant. Fortunately the Drovers Inn was within walking distance for a wee dram and some local colour.

Later that evening...

There's nothing worse than listening to drunken, unimaginative chat up lines, like "what's your favourite sport, " when you'd rather be sleeping. Delivered in a booming Glasgow accent that sounds like it's in the next sleeping bag instead of the next tent. The joys of camping. We resolved to head further afield in the morning.

Imagine our horror when, on the road, the same booming voice was only four cars behind. It even stopped at the Green Welly Shop when we did. Oh no.

Fortunately we managed to lose it somewhere in Glencoe, which was looking glorious in the sunshine, and somewhat different to our last visit.

We took the Corran ferry over Loch Linnhe towards Resipole Farm on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. Lochside camping, an on-site restaurant and art gallery, peace and quiet. A didn't enjoy the single-track road driving, but I'm sure it keeps the crowds at bay.

Wonderful walks to deserted beaches (just watch out for those clegs - yep, more biting insects), ruined castles, and the weekend was gone too fast. We forgot the camera, so no pics. I discovered the only souvenir on Monday night. Alive, and still attached to my leg. A tick. Lovely.

(Don't worry, it's since been safely disposed of. Not my idea of a pet.)

Nice things

2005-07-17T22:43:00.000+01:00

Listening to: The Magic Numbers (and grinning, how could you not be?)

I had one of those milestone birthdays that end in zero this weekend. No big bash, but low-key delights aplenty...a welcome situation, since this was my first weekend at home in the last 5.

The day started with the postman's doorbell ringing (bills, and junk mail, of course). Hot on his heels were mum, dad and Fayth (my 3 yr old niece) , with various songs down the phone (including happy birthday and what A has dubbed "the kiwi vowel song"). I opened their presents while talking to them - almost like being there.

Quirkiest present is definitely the baby pink polarfleece beanie embroidered with "Auntie Katie". Fayth chose it herself, and the colouring-in poster card that went with it.

A. finally succumbed to my pestering, and bought me a tent for my birthday. It's super-light (less than 3kg), roomy enough for our airbed (for comfort camping), and even has skylights for looking at the stars. I pitched it in the livingroom yesterday - successfully banishing any thoughts of aging by playing camping!

We had a picnic at Roslyn Glen, making the most of this most unScottish summer, joined the hoardes at Roslin Chapel (wondering if we are the only people in the world yet to read the Da Vinci Code), and a very grown up dinner at the Stockbridge Restaurant (as an indicator of grown-upness, my heels got an outing, for only the 3rd time this year!). We dined magnificently on halibut, asparagus, sorbet, parma ham and other summery colourful treats, washed down with some very tasty kiwi wine (Waipara Hills sav, I think).

Here are some pics of Hydra, in Greece. I was there last weekend, on a work research trip. Seriously.

It's an island 1.5 hrs from Athens, with no cars (donkeys and boats and feet are how you get around), 365 churches, pebbly beaches, turquoise water, tasty food, great sunsets and a quirky host of residents and visitors, all trying to find something, or escape something, or both. We met a French-Canadian poet looking for Leonard Cohen (who used to live here). A globetrotting restaurateur. A lady artist. A storytelling sailor. And lots of others.

We saw dolphins too, which as my first non- themepark encounter with these graceful, playful and intelligent creatures was super-exciting.

Live8 in Scotland

2005-07-07T08:24:00.000+01:00

Is is just me, or was James Brown an odd choice to wrap last night's Live8 gig at Murrayfield. Sure, he's the "godfather of soul" and a living legend, but his dancing girls and the over-produced nature of his set was in stark contrast to the low-fuss, lo-fi performances of the rest of the evening that had so electrified the crowd. He played to rather than with the crowd.

I didn't manage to get tickets to the gig, despite furious texting, so just watched on telly. Murrayfield is only a couple of miles down the road, but it didn't rain once here.

the bathroom chronicles

2005-06-15T22:32:00.000+01:00

For the first time all week, I'm properly clean.

We have been without a shower since Monday, but today we have a white shiny new bath. For those of you who have seen our bathroom, this is quite an achievement (the room is not much bigger than a cupboard).

Tomorrow we get tiles, Friday grout, and Saturday we get to paint and A gets to drill holes in the new ceiling and hope hope hope that his wiring is in the right place! On Monday, it didn't all sound so easy, when the plumber arrived with drawings that were 20cm out.

If you're into Sudoku (people are mad about it here in the UK), my friend Alastair has built a nifty website. He's very clever.

spring food

2005-06-11T22:46:00.000+01:00

I've eaten quite well this week...perhaps inspired by the delicacies on my Copenhagen brunch plate. And the almost summery weather, bringing raspberries and asparagus and other things of the season.

This morning, not quite as bright and early as I planned, but bright and early enough, we went to the Farmers' Market. It's on every week now, instead of twice a month - meaning that you can wake up and decide to go, instead of waking up and trying to figure out whether it will be on before going (I have miscalculated in the past and trekked downtown thinking about yummy things, only to discover an empty carpark where laden stalls should be). This week's delights included perfectly ripe, home-grown strawberries (sweeter than any I've eaten in a long time); still-warm pretzels - shiny, salty, chewy and tasty; home-made ginger marmalade; wild venison pies; blackface lamb and baby beets for a spring sunday roast; organic veges and dry-cured bacon. Our fridge is looking good!

We had perfectly ripe figs earlier in the week - with peppery rocket and topped with Dunsyre Blue from Mr Mellis. And a melon, pink grapefruit and lychee fruit salad another day. Sounds odd, but tasted and looked fabulous.

2005-06-08T23:22:00.000+01:00

abject terror on the Demon

Copenhagen highlights

2005-06-05T18:27:00.000+01:00

Tempted by the prospect of pastries and design from the home of such delights, we snapped up some cheap flights and booked a B and B (without the second B, as is apparently the norm in Denmark) for a weekend in Copenhagen.

Much shopping, munching and mooching made for a nice couple of days. The sun even shone a wee bit, as Andrew demostrates here in Nyhavn. That was just before he terrorised motorists, cyclists and pedestrians alike when he took to the streets on a bright red free bike (the bikes are ubiquitous and indestructible, luckily).

Friday night we screamed our little lungs out on a small but fast and scary rollercoaster (the Demon) in Tivoli, an unDisneyfied funpark straight out of a fairytale. Elvis Costello played there too, another fab Copenhagen freebie, in what became a very dramatic electric storm. Forked lightening, rolling thunder, torrential rain. Great atmosphere, but very wet feet. Which explained the popularity of welly boots - since it's a pair of red Hunters I've set my heart on, I thought I should wait till I got home to Scotland.

More mooching on Saturday, with some tourism activities thrown in for good measure...Rosenborg Slot and the national art gallery - where we saw a man with very long legs.

This gallery was also where I devoured a fantastic brunch plate, comprising:

greek yoghurt and spiced blackcurrant compote
shrimp salad and egg (Andrew helped me with that one)
Lomo and hummus
smoked salmon and creamed artichoke hearts
a big hunk of pecorino with black olive tapenade
fresh fruit (melon, grapefruit)
croissant with home-made rhubarb and strawberry jam
home-made breads & butter

I could get into this brunch plate concept, definitely.

Late night modern jazz with an anti-Chirac flavour at the Copenhagen Jazz House. The bass player is actually wearing ninja shoes.

5.30 this morning on the way to the airport. Sleepy...

Daisy, daisy

2005-05-26T13:11:00.000+01:00

give me your answer do
why are you carpeting my lawn today
and why so many of you?

OK so that was lame, but the daisies look amazing out on the back green in their thousands. Reminds me of making a daisy chain that went right around our house when we lived up in Lewis.

Have wheels, will travel

2005-05-22T21:51:00.000+01:00

We're quite excited and delighted to be drivers once more - a lovely man from Yorkshire delivered this wee cutey a couple of weeks ago (thanks Intelligent Finance, yay company cars).

Since then we've clocked up 500 miles or so - work and back a few times (the poor scooter's feeling neglected), plus a couple of longer trips. Last weekend the sun was shining (just like in the car photo taken the weekend before - it's not all dreich and dreary in Edinburgh) so we headed out to St Abb's Head for a bracing clifftop walk (Scotland does bracing very well). Saw lots of seabirds making kamikaze aerial manoeuvres, and lots of old men with binoculars. A bit further south (almost in England, in fact), we stopped in at Eyemouth for a fish supper at Giacopazzi's, followed by home-made Italian ice-cream. Mmmmm.

On Friday, after work, we headed further afield. As we were driving to an outdoor concert (always a risky proposition in this part of the world), the torrential rain en route was somewhat concerning. But the sun was shining by the time we got to Culzean Castle, for the Burns an a' that Gala Concert. Culzean, by the way, is Cullane, and I also discovered on Friday that Menzies is correctly pronounced something more like "Menghis".

This is a blurry pic of Culzean lit up in pink at the end of the concert. It's about 11pm, and not dark yet...one of the best things about Scotland at this time of year.

The main reason we trekked across to the Ayrshire coast was to see this man:

Lou Reed. He only sang four songs, proclaimed Scotland to be "colder than Finland" and was perhaps a touch grumpy , but it was still very cool to see him, live, and in such a stunning setting.

Other acts included the orchestra of the Scottish Opera, Eddi Reader (singing Burns: my fave was John Anderson My Joe), Phil Cunningham & Duncan Chisholm (very nimble-fingered on the fiddle and accordion) and folk singer Dougie Maclean. His Caledonia made me feel very Scottish and somehow sad. Whether I'm in NZ or in Scotland now, I think I'll always miss the other place. The downside to dual citizenship...sometimes feeling torn.

It's a lockout!

2005-05-19T10:44:00.000+01:00

Got home from the pub quiz at the Antiquary last night at 11-ish. 10th out of 16 - a pretty poor performance. A & I suspect we may not be asked back!

So, 11pm, A takes out his keys, and discovers one has developed an unusual curve while in his pocket. Tries to straighten it and *snap*. Broken clean in half. Crap.

We borrow some pliers from a neighbour who's still up, but the haf-key is too short to open the lock. Nobody seems to have the key for the long ladder upstairs. Time to call the locksmith.

Enticed by big ads in the yellow pages promising no call out fees* (beware of the asterisk) we called a few. And discovered that £100 is the going rate for such a service. Per hour. Minimum. Plus of course VAT and materials. Not a buyers market, then.

We waited in our neighbour's flat and watched a rerun of Footballers Wives. There's something comforting about trash TV in moments of crisis. Eventually, anonymous locksmith arrived (later, when things weren't going so well and I asked his name, he refused to tell me).

His initial proclamation that we were in real trouble because the lock on our door was more at home in a jewellers shop and was impossible to open didn't fill me with confidence. Since it was now well past midnight, the volume of his delivery and propensity for swearing wasn't great either. Still, he had a box of tools. There must be something in there that could sort it, right?

Wrong. Said box contained a motley assortment of re-purposed and homemade junk. Not a purpose-built gadget in sight. The torch ran out of batteries about 2 mins into the job (yes, you guessed it, "materials" and therefore chargeable). A noisy half hour later, after much cursing and pulling scarves through the letter box (but magician he wasn't), I remembered that our spare key might be within reach. Off he went to get the fishing rod. Really. A fishing rod. Probably still had bait remnants smeared on it. Didn't work.

Next he had a hissy fit and noisily packed up his "tools". Didn't really want to stand on a ladder in the dark and rain to get in the window. He was a master locksmith. We could call anyone we liked. They wouldn't be able to get in either. Our flat was impenetrable. The only way was to drill out the lock, but that couldn't be done at night in a common stair. Stomp shout.

Suddenly, I was reminded of a TV programme I'd seen called something like "all locksmiths are dodgy", which showed that in 95% of lockouts they drilled out the lock rather than using less invasive procedures, so they could charge you for more materials (at a premium). Suddenly, I was glad of the late hour, and understood his bad humour. No drilling allowed.

Somehow, he changed his mind and decided he would get his ladder out and try the window. Must have been that vision of big fat wads of cash. More noise and harumphing. But once he was up the ladder, he was in within 30 secs. So why didn't he try that first?

So feeling a bit tired this morning, and determined to make some kind of a spare key plan to avoid ever having to experience a master locksmith again.

More on bunny rabbits

2005-05-04T21:30:00.000+01:00

Real live ones this time though, with bouncy legs and cottony tails. We saw lots of them this weekend, at the nature/sport themepark that is Center Parcs. Lots of ducks too (check out the photo), and squirrels and big fat woodpigeons. And tadpoles and squashed toads (I thought the "toads crossing" sign was a joke until I saw the squashed ones).

Someone at work today asked me why I had gone to Center Parcs - they had the (quite reasonable) opinion that you only went there if you had children. We did see a lot of children. Hooning around on bikes, poking aforementioned ducks, screaming in the swimming pool. Even more dangerous on the bikes, however, were the adults who had forgotten how to ride. Wobbly. Everyone's on bikes, you see, because you have to leave your car in the carpark - it's a car-free environment. I guess that means that the toads were squashed by bikes.

We were at CenterParcs among the trees for a reunion of one of the branches of my family. 44 kith and kin (of whom I had met only 4, including A, before the weekend) - some closely connected, some more tenuous, some I still haven't figured out.

The sun shone, we had a big barbecue, people told their favourite stories. It was nice to meet the extended family, but still feels strange to be so far from my immediate family.

Save Tob(e)y

2005-05-03T21:20:00.000+01:00

It's amazing what people will spend their money on. I've always found the wealth (in both senses of the word) of animal charities in the UK a bit disturbing. Are we so dislocated from each other that it's easier to give to animals than to fellow humans?

Taking things a step further, animal lovers are now shelling out thousands to stop someone eating their pet rabbit. Clever chap has already raised US$28,000, and been on telly.

Our pal, Al, never one to miss a trick, suggests there's another Tobey out there that we could all save, if only our pockets were deep enough. Go on. Dig deep. Save Tobey Maguire.

Painting

2005-04-18T08:48:00.000+01:00

It's a year since we bought this place here in EH1o. About time I sorted out the kitchen, thinks me. Anniversaries seem to have that effect - a good motivator to do something.

I thought it would be a small job, just stripping and painting a couple of walls. But then A said all the woodwork should be painted too. Fine. Still should manage this long weekend. Hah!

Stripping the walls started well, with the paper coming off easily. The second wall, though, had seven layers of paper (including quite a few vinyl layers). Aagh. It soon became apparent that all that paper was holding the wall together - as the paper came off, so did bits of the wall. Lucky I'm so experienced in the art of Polyfilla.

Back to wall one, which seemed so easy. But the wallpaper paste was actually superglue, unbudgeable despite sugar-soaping. Only sugar soap applied with sandpaper would do the trick.

A bit more sanding this morning, then I'm ready for painting.

No posts

2005-04-10T21:15:00.000+01:00

This blog has been a bit gappy lately.

During the last couple of weeks, work has been keeping me busy and away from internet access - I was at a conference in Milan, and before that a meeting at the gorgeous Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio. If only our punishing 8am-10pm schedule (wall-to-wall stem cell science!) had afforded more time to enjoy the stunning and luxurious surrounds. At least I had trompe l'oeil ceilings, elaborately carved columns and huge gilt mirrors to distract me when the data, proteins, transcription factors and other scientific detail became too much for me. And meals were always a welcome interlude - especially the "molecular cuisine" we enjoyed on the first night. This meal included nitrogen-frozen ice-cream of the smoothest possible texture, created right in front of us by a virtuoso chef of the Ferran Adrià school of cooking.

weird things

2005-03-29T17:08:00.000+01:00

There is a guy lying on the pavement across the road. It's cold and damp, not really the kind of weather for lying on the street. He is youngish, though (hasn't collapsed there), and seems quite happy - wiggling his feet and chatting to my neighbour who was I guess concerned about a guy lying on the street.

Professor Doherty?

2005-03-23T21:41:00.000Z

I got an email at work today, from organisers of a conference in Milano that I'm going to next week (yes, I have scheduled a day's shopping at the end!), which began "dear Professor Doherty". Naturally, I corrected the mistake. The next email I received was addressed to "Dr Doherty". It seems that in the field I work in, it is inconceivable to be a lowly old Ms. It's OK, though. I'm getting used to being the least educated person in the building!

Tell me a story - plot generator

2005-02-09T20:35:00.000Z

Since DIY's been on the back burner, we've been busy building something else instead. A plot generator.

A what?

A nifty gizmo that's guaranteed to while away hours of your time, producing Hollywood-style plots at the click of a button. Give it a shot. It's a throwback to A & Steve's code geek days (they also made a programme that produced cocktail recipes), rewritten in PHP and housed on my nice new website.

Let me know what you think.

We caught up on a couple of movies this weekend too, Closer and Sideways. London and California. Art and wine. Beautiful people making a mess of things, and not so beautiful people making a mess of things (but not so irredeemably). I liked both, but Sideways wins for making me want to hit the bottle (in a wine-appreciating way, of course!). And for making me laugh lots.

Springtime?

2005-02-01T17:17:00.000Z

It feels like it. Today was a home-work day, and I had windows open, bare arms and sockless feet as the sun streamed in. It's been like this for days, unseasonably warm and spring-like. Crocuses are sprouting all over the place. It's enough to distract a girl from the dangers of climate change for long enough to enjoy the moment!

We hired a car this weekend, as we had a family 5oth to attend in Uddingston (much like the family 60th in Uddingston). Nobody in my family lives in Uddingston, I hasten to add, but for some reason St John the Baptist Church is a favourite venue. Must be the cheap beer (£1.40 a pint) and liberal smoking policy, which to me seem incongruous with a church hall, but it is like a different country over west. Uddingston is a Glasgow commuter town these days, but hard to commute to a) from Edinburgh and b) on a Saturday night. Hence the car.

Anyway, with such splendid weather and a car to play with, the Pentlands were a good choice. If you've been to our flat, they are the hills we look out on. The hills were nice and high (for lowlanders like us) and the views right nice:

View from Carnethy Hill, the Pentlands

Those of you who hang out for DIY updates (or should that be DIY, A?) will be pleased to know that we now have two shelves in the study, nifty floating bracketless ones that were a complete bastard to mount on our crumbly masonry. It's starting to feel like a proper office now. Progress on the bathroom has been slower, and our designer curved ceiling is yet to materialise. Maybe we need a designer's help?

Hokey Pokey Squiggles...

2005-01-20T14:42:00.000Z

...quite possibly the best biscuit in the world. I'm tucking into my Christmas stash. mmmmmm. Thanks mum!

I survived a week in the world of science

2005-01-20T13:55:00.000Z

Thursday lunchtime, and it's the end of my (formal) week's work. One of the perks of being part-time (although I'm less part-time than I was at the beginning of the week - I've been upgraded to 3 days/week).

I've learned lots of new words, like transgenesis and hematopoietic (nothing to do with verse), attended a seminar which felt more like a piece of avant-garde theatre (incomprehensible but lots of juicy words), and discovered that posters are not what you and I might think of as posters. But I'm not quite as green as I was on Monday, and already have trips to Brussels and Bellagio in the pipeline. I still don't have a lab coat, though.

Snow, new job

2005-01-17T20:09:00.000Z

As I type, Edinburgh is being blanketed in white. It's funny how the weather sometimes seems to be attuned to events in my life.

Today I started my new job, at EuroStemCell, as communications and outreach officer. The role will involve dealing with the media, developing an "outreach package" (including a short film, website and leaflets), and a lot of translating cutting-edge science into plain English. First, though, I need put together a communications plan.

It's a part-time job, 2.5 days/week, leaving me plenty of time to develop other projects. I'm based at Edinburgh University's Kings' Buildings, a 25 min walk from here, in a building that sometimes smells of mouse. I haven't been issued with my lab coat yet (although it's on my orientation list!).

The MORI Lady

2005-01-10T08:44:00.000Z

Scotland has been in the grip of some crazy weather in recent days. Edinburgh has been spared the brunt of it - no floods here - but it's been unpleasant nevertheless.

So when the hapless MORI lady rang my doorbell on Saturday afternoon, looking apologetic, damp and windswept, I couldn't send her away. She promised her questions would take only 20 minutes, and would be interesting, so as I'm a pushover, I invited her in.

A torrent of hard-hitting, personal, political, bizarre and just plain daft questions was unleashed. First up was "who would you vote for at the next general election", and some general, opinion poll, impression of the government-type questions. They also asked about the biggest issue in education, and a lot of questions about retirement provision - would my parents be living with me in their retirement? - would my children be providing for my retirement? - and other such crystal ball material.

One of the most bizarre questions involved looking at pictures of egg cartons, and identifying whether they were free-range, barn or battery. As they all said what they were on the cartons, I'm not sure what the point of this was - reading test? I also had to pick my favourite real and fictional double acts - French and Saunders, Sooty and Sweep - perhaps Gordon and Tony have decided to work on their relationship and are looking for guidance.

I saw Scorsese's latest, The Aviator, on Friday. It's the story of aviation pioneer, eccentric billionaire, filmmaker and wooer of leading ladies, Howard Hawks.

Leonardo DiCaprio puts in a fantastic, nuanced performance in the title role, surrounded by a big-name supporting cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda and Ian Holm. Blanchett, in particular, manages to capture the essence of Katharine Hepburn - a character who borders on caricature - without overdoing it.

The film, at 166 minutes, is long, but flies by in a whirl of Hollywood glamour, fabulous costumes, business by instinct (huge decisions in split seconds) and airborne adventures. Yet accompanying the glamour and Hawks' outward ascendance is his inner turmoil and descent into madness. Hawks embodied the classic dichotomy - genius and madness . Scorsese treats it well. While mental illness frames both the film and Hawks' incredible achievements, leaving the viewer wondering what happened to Hawks, the darkness isn't overpowering or bleak - just human.

The Long Tail

2005-01-03T21:24:00.000Z

An article in Wired that I found really interesting, analysing how media markets have changed, fragmented, specialised...and what that means for producers and consumers. Chris Anderson argues that:

"The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream...

Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it in service after service, from DVDs at Netflix to music videos on Yahoo! Launch to songs in the iTunes Music Store and Rhapsody. People are going deep into the catalog, down the long, long list of available titles, far past what's available at Blockbuster Video, Tower Records, and Barnes & Noble. And the more they find, the more they like. As they wander further from the beaten path, they discover their taste is not as mainstream as they thought (or as they had been led to believe by marketing, a lack of alternatives, and a hit-driven culture)...

Long Tail business can treat consumers as individuals, offering mass customization as an alternative to mass-market fare."

It's worth reading the whole article if you're interested in the impact of things like Amazon.com recommendations.

I'm in web research mode, as the above might suggest. A's back at work, so I'm thinking about work too - what that might mean in the year ahead.

white, shiny and new

2005-01-02T23:00:00.000Z

It's that time of the year...contemplation, resolution, overindulgence, bad TV. Makes you wish it would just snow, make everything look clean and white, provide a meteorological distraction.

Last night, it did. We went to the movies (saw Garden State on a second-hand but reliable recommendation (Morg) ) and A said it would be snowing by the time we came home. It was. I don't know how he does that. It was especially exciting as the first snow of the season, and it's nice that it snowed on New Year's Day.

I really liked the soundtrack to Garden State, and the film's quirky randomness - images like the boyfriend in faded armour, the boat atop the crevasse, the beige Canterbury helmet, "we'll go after we've buried your mom, I guess," seem to have stuck in my mind.

Today my Bellshill rellies came for lunch. We ate split pea and frankfurter soup - sounds weird I know, but apparently all those round golden things are symbols of prosperity and just the thing for New Year feasting. I hope my unrisen bread didn't reverse the effect. We also ate "smelly socks cheese" (except the person who called it that), gooey brie and chocolate cake (but not all at the same time), washed down with gallons of tea. There were three Dohertys in the house, after all.

My uncle gave me a yoga book for Christmas, and I did a nice winter practice this afternoon (the book's chapters are in seasons). He also gave me a book about world peace and how I can help make it happen - I'll give it a go and keep you posted.

New Year's resolutions of sorts (may be updated after reading said book):

Find a new way of making a living (that one's been forced upon me, but I am embracing it)
Laugh more, fret less
Blog more

I've got a Site Feed now, so you can find out when there are new posts, if you're that way inclined.

Happy New Year, y'all.

Merry Christmas from eh10

2004-12-29T22:28:00.000Z

That's Jeremy, Andrew and me on a post-turkey, pre-trifle stroll. Jeremy's wearing flashing santas, Andrew's got a sparkly santa hat, and I think he might be trying to be a turkey.

Olly was the photographer, Netty was keeping warm inside (cruel Christmas flu).

We had a super Christmas, just like a childhood one (lots of toys and chocolate, endless dishes), only more champagne. Toy of the day was probably the i-Top, although the Powerball was also popular (Jeremy the reigning champ, much to the other boys' chagrin), and my favourite was my new pink iPod mini. So cute. Lots of lovely NZ goodies too, including a paua Christmas tree for our Christmas tree.

Speaking of Christmas trees, they are better here than in NZ. You get to choose from lots of different varieties - branchy ones or bushy ones, short or long needles, silver or green, 3 feet or 13 feet (metric still hasn't really caught on). Ours is branchy, and its piece de resistance is an African mama painted steel angel from South Africa.

There are a few more Christmas pics on atkd.

Sedition

2004-12-29T21:50:00.000Z

It's great to see Timothy "electoral fraud" Selwyn up to old tricks again - and still wearing the same suit. Earlier this month, he was accused of an axe attack on NZ PM Helen Clark's electoral office, and has been charged with charged with "conspiracy to commit criminal damage and seditious conspiracy." Serious stuff.

Back in my student days, when I lived above the undertakers with a collection of weirdos and Tom, I got to know Mr Selwyn quite well. Not voluntarily, I hasten to add - he dated one of the weirdos, and spent a lot of time sitting in our kitchen dressed in only a towel. Enough to put a girl off her breakfast. He was also quite fond of expounding his particular view of the world (whether or not you wanted to hear it). It seems that he has developed even more forceful methods of putting across his "alternative viewpoint".

In need of a holiday

2004-12-14T22:19:00.000Z

How can I tell?

I just spent half an hour looking for a book of stamps that I had put in a safe place only half an hour before.
I almost sent my computer to an early grave by dousing it in tea.
The contents of our study and bathroom and some of our living room too are arranged around the walls of our bedroom, and everywhere else in the house is covered in dust or wet paint. There are works in progress - a good time to get out.

It's 23 deg in Fuerteventura! Christmas with a tan...it'll be just like being at home. Who am I kidding? I don't really tan. But maybe I'll be less translucent :-)

Life on site

2004-11-29T21:03:00.001Z

Construction site, that is. I'm perched on a chair next to a freshly painted wall, atop some bright orange bubble wrap that makes a good, if noisy and at times fright-inducing, dust sheet. Pop. One sofa's obscuring the telly, another blocking access to the dining table. We've been painting.

Now A's busy (pop) exploring the fireplace we've just discovered. Pop. Well, we knew it was there, but didn't realise that it was so easily accessible behind a hinged door. No skeletons hiding in it. A's dreaming of installing an entertainment system, or shelving, or one of those flash modern fireplaces we can't afford (and I'm not mad keen on them anyway - too modern). I think we should just seal up the door and wallpaper on over it. Especially since we've bought such fab wallpaper.

The bathroom has a big hole in it too. One day the ceiling will be raised, but we're not quite sure how. So for now, a big hole where the water tank used to be.

Domestic bliss aside, I discovered today that the end of the year will signal the end of my employment contract...no funding = no job for me. I had been thinking about not renewing my contract anyway, but it's still a shock. It's somehow much better when you are free to make the decision yourself, rather than have it made for you. The positive spin, though, is that my boss feels bad and is being nice, rather than being annoyed that I'm leaving and being difficult. I'll get a good reference and maybe some intros for freelance work and, as I still have some holidays left this year, my last day will be this Friday! Four more days! I can't quite believe it.

To escape from the orange bubblewrap (pop) we took in a couple of movies this weekend. First up was Enduring Love, based on Ian McEwen's novel of the same name. I've read a few of his books, and now I'll definitely have to read this one. The detail in the film was so finely tuned that I was left wondering whether to admire the craft of the writer or the director (probably both...and the actors too). Small moments in the lives of real people. Blowing the dust out of plastic picnic cups before pouring the bubbly. Mundane detail, but utterly convincing. Great story, too, and the cinematography and art direction were gorgeous.

Quite different, but just as enjoyable (maybe more so), was The Incredibles. Lots of laugh-out-loud moments (like when Dash's flying feet propelled the Elastogirl rubber dinghy to shore), great characters (personal fave: Edna), super suits. Cool fun all round.

looking back on London

2004-11-23T18:47:00.000Z

That's right, I was going to say some more about London-town.

It wasn't all art and views...we managed to fit in a bit of shopping (I always manage to). Top spot - Marylebone High Street, home of the Conran Shop, Cath Kidston, Skandium and other treasures. Coffee comes kiwi-style at the Tapa Room (flat whites even, and NZ mags), but even then it was beaten to the title of top London coffee by Fern's find Ottolenghi (staffed by Australians). Yum!

We also fitted in a grand tour of the beeb (Fern again, what a star) - even on a quiet day we saw Ruby Wax in reception and Kirsty Wark filming Newsnight. And the Blue Peter Garden. Cool.

It was nice to catch up with old pals, and to come back with two loaves of Vogel's (thanks Tanya!) ... we might even visit again. Urban Path looks like a good guide to the better things in the vast metropolis.

Closer to home, I'm jobhunting (again/still), developing a few projects, anything as an escape route from my current employment. A's making holes in the bathroom, training for a half marathon and helping with my projects. Busy times.

Keeping an eye on London

2004-11-18T23:33:00.000Z

London Eyes (x8)

Twice the Taylors, last seen high in the sky on the London Eye, sporting sunset glows and family resemblances aplenty.

London was a fun town this time around (last time we had been travelling for 4 months and suffering from associated poverty/"will we find a job?" anxiety/general travel fatigue). It feels so much more the big city than dinky wee Edinburgh...more and better shops, busier streets, blacker snot, bigger distances.

We marvelled at fantastic art. The Saatchi Gallery was a definite highlight, with Tracey Emin's Bed, Damian Hirst's formaldehyde, Ron Mueck's Angel and other definitive moments in contemporary art. My favourite, though, was the oil room, a wood-panelled room filled torso-high with black oil, providing a perfect mirror image of itself when viewed from the inserted walkway...cool!

The ooh-ing and aah-ing didn't stop there. The London Eye, perfectly timed to catch the sun disappear behind Big Ben, afforded fantastic views of a flat and sprawling city, and the pink sunset further along the Thames made jewels of the riverside buildings. Cold, though. And can you find a pub when you want one? At about half past ten at night they start turfing you out, and are few and far between on the South Bank.

It's way past my bedtime (London pubs are long since shut), so you'll have to hold that thought till next post (soon, I promise!).