Archive for November 27th, 2006
Not all the recipients of our Christmas news know about Eric, but it’s probably time for them to find out.
Eric is nearly 7 now. He is yellow, and has a fluffy body with long arms and legs. His chief features are his smile (very wide) and his (rather small) quiff. Eric is probably related to the Muppets one way or another, but the main reason for mentioning him here is for the times he’s come on holiday with us.
Eric made it to Madrid in May, although it was quite hot out, and he tended to stay put and have longer siestas. The hotel, the Vincci Soho near the Prado, was also rather cool in terms of the interior design, which suited him too.
His main trip was to Italy with us in October. Determined not to miss out at any point, Eric too tried out the sunloungers, visited the Colosseum, and ended his visit by seeing his cousin, Eric, a permanent member of the toy family belonging to Rachel and David’s children. (Their eldest, Dani, was very fond of Eric when she was small, and when they moved to Italy, we found an Eric for her to keep.)
Eric’s chief party trick is to play charades. He’s particularly good at helping shy people who don’t really like playing charades. They can just sit there and Eric does all the actions for them. However, he has also been working on miming to songs. In a recent poll of the favourite James Bond title song, we were pleased for Eric that his key piece, Goldfinger (for obvious reasons), was number one favourite.
Perhaps it’s best to let Eric speak for himself… Here are some of the photos from this year.
November 27th, 2006
You know you are joining a bandwagon when you realise the City of Edinburgh Council has published a map of its charity shops.
There were even articles about the map in the papers during the summer.
Evidently theatre companies like to go around the charity shops to collect props for the productions that are then part of the Edinburgh Fringe. The articles didn’t say whether the companies then donated the articles back to charity at the end of the shows, but it seems a reasonable bet.
Our previous flat was close to Stockbridge, home to many charity shops. As it’s quite a smart part of town, the clothes on sale are a few notches higher up the designer scale than you would normally expect. I spent one happy afternoon browsing during August, and came away with two pairs of trousers and two skirts, for a grand total of £19.
The main indulgence though is book shopping at charity shops. Shelter, the charity for the homeless, is not only very good at window displays, but also has great collections of second hand books, with children’s books a particular bargain.
Our main outing of the year for second hand books is in fact a book sale held in Peebles, close to where my parents live. It’s only on for one weekend in March, and we book our night’s accommodation with Mum and Dad in plenty of time.
We all adopt different tactics when going round the fair - mine is to show the person at the cash desk a £10 pound note, tell them I intend to spend all of it, and see how many books they’ll let me get away with. The sale does also have a good antiquarian section, and as one of the organisers says, they’ll even give away old copies of National Geographic to use as loft insulation. No wonder we keep buying bookcases.
November 27th, 2006
So, we’ve been in our own home for over two years now. How is it coming along? Rather slowly is the answer.
Having helped other friends with their decorating over a few years, we roped in all the help we could get when we first moved in, and got both bedrooms painted. We also then got the sitting room and study painted, more slowly, after Daniel learned how to do plastering on the moon-like surface of the study walls.
In an attempt to move things on, we also got the hall painted over Easter time. I say we - a great deal of help came from Dan’s mum Jen, who brought her trusty paint pad with her. (She also kindly painted over the roses on the tiles in our bathroom the previous summer.)
So, it’s now just the kitchen which needs painting. As it has a pitched roof, it will be quite a job putting up new lining paper. The plan is also to put in a new cooker and fridge, and it’s probably best to do them all at the same time…
The other job we are trying to gear up for is redoing the bathroom. One of the Czechs in our little church group, Thomas, is very helpfully a tiler by profession. Another in the group, Olly, has been hard at work doing the bathroom and the kitchen in his own flat, and I suspect we will be drawing advice (and possibly numbers of plumbers) from both.
Given that cooking food and having hot water are necessary for much of the year in Scotland, I suspect we won’t get a great deal further until at least Easter next year.
There are other bits and pieces we want to do, like knock out the fake fireplace in our bedroom. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would like a go, if we put out an invitation that sledgehammers are the weapon of choice. (Only directed at the fireplace, of course.)
Both mums also helped tremendously in the garden at Easter time, moving a flower bed a foot to the right, and planting a magnolia, my birthday present from my parents. I’m hoping for some good blooms this coming spring. We had a wonderful magnolia in the garden in Malvern, where I spent my secondary school years, and as our flat is on the first floor, it’s nice to have something good to look down at in the garden.
My parents also came over in October to help with hedge cutting etc, and finally Mum and I planted some of my plants that have patiently remained in their containers ever since we moved here. Admittedly, they were in containers on the terrace outside our old flat, but it seemed a bit unfair to put them in a garden but not let them out…
Probably the main excitement for the garden is Dan’s lawn mower. It’s German. It’s bright yellow. It sounds like a dishwasher when you turn it on. Crucially, it collects the grass and is entertaining enough to make grass cutting fairly frequent.
One thing we do manage well, however, is buying bookcases. I think my brother is probably resigned to me asking for money for a new bookcase every birthday. It would no doubt cut down on the painting to put bookcases in the kitchen and bathroom, but as both rooms are very small, even I would have to admit defeat on fitting a bookcase in either.
November 27th, 2006
Ok, so I’ve nearly done on my comments about travels this year, but here’s one that was back in January.
One of the other parts of my job is school linking between Ireland and Scotland. It’s aided along by going to a partner-finding event with teachers from Scottish schools. Often these are in Ireland, and many a partnership has been cemented over a Guiness (or several) at the end of a long week of teaching.
In January, it was Belfast’s turn to host. I’d been there a couple of times before, for meetings with our language assistant colleagues. However, I hadn’t done a tour, which takes in the - possibly notorious - murals presenting both sides of the political divide.
To help us put things in context, the hosts kindly laid on a slide show on the first night. We were able to see pictures that we’d then see for real the next day, as well as others that have now vanished, either under new murals or have been cleared. The guide and deviser of the slide show was scruplously fair in portraying both sides, switching from Republican to Loyalist pictures and back.
I think few of the teachers who’d come from mainland UK had realised just how detailed the imagery is - I certainly didn’t realise there were so many symbols for each side to draw on. It was very powerful to be going in a coach along a local street, with little shops, and suddenly to hear that this was the Falls Road,and that buses didn’t serve at all at some points in the Troubles. I hadn’t realised how close the different neighbourhoods are to each other at points. Perhaps one of the most impacting sights was going along the side of a fairly normal looking estate, and see murals covering the whole side of a house on the end of a row. Our guide also told us that at times, some people tried to cover over the mural…and might be visited in the night to be told, in no uncertain terms, that the mural was to stay.
On a happier note, it was also a trip which included a Northern Irish ceilidh. It was a little confusing where some dances were the same as Scottish ones, but with different names; others had the same name but slightly different steps in between. The Scottish teachers acquitted themselves well, however. In proper ceilidh fashion, there wasn’t just dancing but also some singing, including from two Welsh teachers determined to keep the side up…
Our aim is, at some point, to manage to have a school partnership which includes Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. it didn’t come off this time, but maybe next year in Liverpool…
November 27th, 2006
The more chances we have to travel, the more we seem to bring back food…or try out new food.
We’ve been doing this for a while when visiting Italy. Some of the best options are ones our friends have introduced us to. A great alternative to crisps and nibbles is the tarrallo (tarralli if you have more than one, which of course you will), a little loop of seasoned bread baked to a similar finish to bread sticks.
We’ve also tried gnochetti sardi, not actually gnocchi but very small shell shaped pieces of pasta, which are wonderful in a stew. They cook right down but still have a little bit of a bite to them.
Our May trip to Spain was a chance to try out food that I’d read about for a while. We bought membrillo, quince paste that is meant to be best tried with sharp manchego cheese. We also found packets of very thick hot chocolate, and saffron that is much cheaper than in the UK. The market in Madrid had some fantastic pastries as well as lots of fruit - including grapes with double pips.
We benefitted from my colleagues’ experience when we all met up in the evening. A few had previously lived in Spain, and so we tried baby octopus (surprised at how good it was), grilled asparagus with lots of salt and pepper (I changed my previous dislike of asparagus) and a fair few other things as part of the tapas experience.
I managed to have some time in Berlin between my induction courses in Germany and Austria. I knew it had lots of good Turkish food, amongst other things. My surprise was just how popular the cocktails were…a little reminder of its former decadence in the Thirties? As I was leaving Berlin on the Thursday, there was also a good food market on in the Hackescher Markt, just opposite the British Council office. We have Pizza Express outside our office in Edinburgh, but it’s not quite the same!
In Graz, Austria, the local speciality was pumpkin oil, a strong green colour, which is served with every salad. But it’s also good with meat, and is meant to be very good for you. When I stayed on for the induction course, food was a key part of the way the centre (a former castle) was run. You could buy local organic apples etc - but equally lots of cake was available every breaktime. The honesty boxes were working overtime…but just in case you missed out, they kindly served cake at the end of every lunch time too. And strong red wine to finish up the course. Or finish off the tutors, most of whom then had to dash back up to Vienna and the outskirts for teaching next day.
We tried a ‘tourist menu’ in the Trastevere suburb of Rome with a certain trepidation - would it be good? In fact, it was a fantastic meal, allowing us to try some Roman specialities we knew, such as spaghetti carbonara, but also the veal dish saltimbocca, which we didn’t. It really does ‘jump in the mouth'’ as the name has it…
It’s just as well I’m writing this after an evening meal. My apologies if it’s making you hungry. Or maybe not. I may have kicked my cookbook buying habit, but I’m still happily cooking away. My great plan for the Christmas holiday: making my own tarte tatin, having now acquired some pans that will go on the hob and in the oven. Jamie would approve.
November 27th, 2006
There is plenty to say about Rome, our next destination after Ischia, as part of our Italy trip in October. One thing we hadn’t expected, however, was all the cats…
You can buy calendars of cats on famous monuments - and certainly if you go past any of the Roman sites at night, it doesn’t take long to spot them moving about among fallen masonry. In fact, some of the sites have put up notices informing passersby of attempts to neuter the cat population to try to keep it under control.
Observing cats at work, posing for cameras in various settings, led us to consider a day in the life of a professional cat in Rome:
Morning: the park on the top of the Aventine hill (close to where we stayed). Attract young German boys who want to sit and stroke you. Best achieved as a pack of three where each cat is a different colour, for pleasing photographic contrast.
*Cats who want to work overtime can also appear at the park on Saturday mornings, where there is a good chance of appearing in a few wedding photos as the bride and groom pose for photos after a ceremony in the adjacent church. Should the bride wish to sit on a seat with the cats, claws must be sheathed.
Late morning, early afternoon: a spot of calendar modelling. it is best to get into your favoured historic location in time to have a nap. This allows the photographers more of a chance to capture your best side, and to rest from the morning’s labours.
Mid afternoon: Appear outside the Colosseum. The well trained cat can keep the body motionless while turning its head to face each of the three photographers in sequence. Ideal for attracting attention of tourists who don’t want to pay the charge for being photgraphed with a gladiator.
Evening: a little evening stroll around some other monuments, or a quick look for food in any food bins outside restaurants. Nervous cats beware: this time coincides with the evening stroll, which can include humans with small yappy dogs.
Further options for suitable cat remuneration should be put to the editor.
November 27th, 2006
One feature of my job is that there can be a certain amount of travel around Scotland. I could be meeting new foreign language assistants who have just arrived to teach their languages in Scotland; advertising the English language assistant programme at universities around Scotland, or again visiting the universities to interview some of the prospective English language assistants.
Two of my nicest trips this year: visiting Inverness for the first time at the start of September. At that time of the year, my manager and I are usually out most days of the week for the first fortnight, meeting as many of the foreign language assistants as we can. I hadn’t had the chance to meet assistants working in Highland region before, and it was one of the most beautiful autumn days, heading up on the train.
The train staff seem to know their passengers well. Some passengers arrive on the platform by bike, and bring the bike on for the rest of their journey. The buffet staff member greeted them by name and pretty much had their morning tea (or coffee) ready for them by the time they’d tied up the bike. Who says we can’t manage service in the UK?
My visit to Gourock, along the Clyde, was sadly on a very wet and windy day in early November. However, it was cheered by the chance to visit my aunt Catriona in the neighbouring town of Greenock the night before, and a hearty venison stew…In fact, both foreign language assistants whom I saw at work were having a great time, and were being well looked after by the teachers there.
Despite the downpours, I still left with a big smile. The only difficulty? The assistants were not quite old enough to hire a car together so they can see more of Scotland. However, they too had been to Inverness by the time I met them, and had plenty more plans for travelling Scotland before their year was up.
November 27th, 2006
That’s mud to you…Ischia (see post re noise of the surf) is renowned for its hot springs and volcanic mud. As a treat, Dan and I decided to have one of the treatments each, and I went for the mud treatment plus shower (very necessary afterwards).
The room where they did the treatment had a little cut out at the base of one wall. When the lady in charge was clear what I wanted, she called ‘Bucket of mud please!’ or something similar through the wall, and they slid in a tin bucket full of hot mud…
You mostly lie back on the mud, which is spread out on a table with a useful plastic sheet to keep the mud in the right place. Further dollops of mud are added to hands, feet, knees etc. Then they wrap you up, add an extra blanket on top, and leave you to steam for fifteen minutes.
I would say it is pretty relaxing - the weight of the mud on your hands means that you have no inclination to move. Although you might worry what would happen if a fire alarm sounded, for example.
Clearly, the mud gets everywhere. You get the option to hose yourself down with a hand held shower after, but really you need someone else to help with the shower too, so you’re not left with mud anywhere too embarassing. Another option on the fango option is seeing the fumaroles elsewhere on the island, where steam comes up through mud.
After three: di mi fango, fango, fango…
November 27th, 2006
It sounds like something you create on a synthesiser, but this was actually the sea around the island of Ischia, in the bay of Naples, where we started our main holiday of the year in October.
As the water is less affected by tides than it is around the UK coast, the swell was pretty constant all day, and the sound too. There was a particular low growl to the sound, and even though the waves did come up the beach by varying amounts, the sound remained the same. I tried timing it, and the pattern was just under five seconds almost every time.
It was particularly good to listen to at night, and I tried leaving the French windows open so I could hear it as I was dropping off to sleep. Sadly, my enthusiasm for such a romantic sound was tempered by us both being bitten thoroughly by mosquitoes…Not so different from the midge bites on a west coast of Scotland holiday, then. But certainly warmer - even in mid October, temperatures were in the mid 20s centigrade, and even came close to 30 one day.
I had previously been unsure about a hot beach holiday - when you’ve grown up with Scottish beach holidays, rain is an expected occurrence at least at some point (and is indeed welcomed to keep the midges off). But after three days, I started to get the hang of sun loungers, particularly with a very useful adjustable part for shading my eyes. A pool that was the temperature of a warm bath was also a good incentive!
Our one word of caution: if you want to try Ischia, which we really enjoyed, it seems advisable to speak either Italian or German. Most of the other hotel guests were German speaking, and the hotel staff switched between greeting you in Italian and taking your order for dinner in German…Further practice for me, but it left Dan out a bit.
November 27th, 2006
One of the events we look forward to each year is the Edinburgh College of Art degree show. It cunningly coincides with our wedding anniversary, and we’ve had some successes finding items to buy over the last few years.
This year, we couldn’t settle on anything we really liked, and left empty handed.
Thankfully, in September, we were able to attend an Artists at Home event in Abbeyhill. A lot of artists live in the colony flats there (and other colonies around the city), and they’ve been opening up their homes for a couple of years now. You see as many or as few as you like, often enjoy a drink, and browse the art, which is also to buy.
Funnily enough, we’d also been to an Artists at Home event in London earlier in June - the first time we’d been aware of these events. Dan’s mum Jen teaches pottery in a couple of centres in London, and some of the people who attend her classes are also established artists in other fields. One particularly friendly student even fed us smoked salmon as well as a glass of wine…not guaranteed, of course, but a great way to get you in the mood for choosing some art.
So it turned out that at the event in Edinburgh, we were able to buy an oil painting for the first time, created by Emily Ingrey-Counter, who we know from church. Her collection was based on birds of various types, and we came away with a great picture of a heron. The heron is now just waiting for us to put up the picture in our study. Perhaps it’ll help keep the magpies at bay outside.
November 27th, 2006