Things

It’s G here. C pointed out that it’s our blog and not just her blog so I’m taking a turn. It’s been a bit warmer here today, maybe around 8, and quite calm unlike the last few days so seemed comparatively balmy. I still need to get an overcoat and gloves, but having some difficulty in forking out 170 pounds for a coat, which seems to be what I’ll be needing to pay for anything decent (i.e. it’ll keep me warm). Obviously, I’ve assimilated the stereotypical Scottish thriftiness quite quickly. No doubt the dropping temperatures will force the issue.

Things: I landed a job today with the TrainLine (hooray) although I’m a bit apprehensive now as I’ve just read C’s previous post about what she’ll do when I get a job. Hopefully, it won’t rage too out of control. The office is right in the middle of Edinburgh with views of the castle, which is nice, and is about 25 min walk to our place that we have applied for (fingers crossed we’ll get it).

The girl from the agency through whom I found the job asked me if I was having any trouble understanding Scottish accents and I replied, ‘Not really’, and added that we got a reasonable amount of British shows on TV in Australia so we were used to all sorts of British accents. She, and her colleague, looked at me as I if I had said I enjoyed wallpapering fish. I don’t really know why what I said could have produced that reaction, but the meaning of communication is the response you get so I guess there was a glitch somewhere. Further to this, when I got a call from her to let me know that I had the job, she said that she would shout me lunch. I light heartedly responded with, “Ooh, I hope it’s somewhere nice like McDonalds or Burger King”, to which the slightly shocked and earnest response was, “Oh no! It’ll be fine dining.” Maybe my delivery is off….
Speaking of off things, when we were doing the rounds of the op shops in Portobello looking for 2nd hand coats, C accidently stepped in something unmentionable. Let’s just say the dog sitting at the entrance to the florist we had just passed was looking guilty but somehow subtly triumphant. As a consequence, only I went into the last op shop on the way, C considerately not wanting to contaminate a heated and closed up room. No good on the clothes front, but I overheard an interesting snippet of conversation from the two ladies who worked there.
“Hae yea nor tried Guinness, then?”
“Aye, I hae tried it. Ah don’ laike the tairste but ut’s fool o’ vitamins soo ah drunk ut wharle ah wass preegnunt”
(Apologies for this poor attempt at a phonetic representation of an Edinburgian accent (Edinburgh-ite? Edinburgher? What do you call someone from Edinburgh, anyway?))

Speaking (writing) of accents, I caught a cab the other day after a job interview out in the sticks, and when I jumped in the car, the cabbie said something like “Weerdablochnaeglochennow?” (or similar). I sat thinking furiously for a few seconds trying to translate what he had just said into ‘Strine, after which, watching me blinking and staring, he felt prompted to helpfully add, “Gillblanegoonoddabumudlee?”. I made a cognitive leap and said, “Livingston North train station”, which seemed to satisfy him and that’s where we ended up so I’m guessing I leapt in the right direction. We ended up overcoming our communication problems sufficiently during the journey for him to learn where I was from and, like a lot of locals we have spoken to, express disbelief that we had chosen to leave an Australian summer to come to a Scottish winter. I don’t think that they realise what a sticky, debilitating and overpowering heat is a part of a Brisbane summer. Things are always greener.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to Holyrood castle and abbey ruins. I found out today that “rood” means cross, which has cleared things up greatly. I still think “Holyrood” sounds like some sort of sacred object, the absolute rudest possible, worshipped by a devoted bunch of really rude people.

That’s about all for the moment, however, I’ve just realised that I haven’t talked much about C in this entry so I think I should mention that she is, of course, as always, quite wonderful and the best companion I could have on this adventure.
Bye for now,