Hot tea for me

Wrapping up a cozy, stay-inside sort of day today. Freezing rain and wind is enough to make anyone want to be inside. I have to say, that sort of weather beats snow in the worst winter weather contest. Snow has the inherent beauty aspect working for it... rain and wind is just gloomy.

Anyway, after the daily ritual to the coffee shop down the street late in the morning, and a brief stop at the mostly-deserted university library to trade some books, I spent all afternoon inside, searching for cool music (and finding some!) and working on a paper that's due at the beginning of next term.

Christmas is so close, and yet this year it doesn't feel much like it for me. Christmas Day will likely be spent in a way very similar to this and the past couple of days... inside, writing, drinking tea (because the coffee shop will be closed). I'm anticipating getting home and celebrating it belatedly with my family which is all Christmas really means to me anyway. That's the important part, and if it comes a week later, then... okay!

Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful weekend? It'll be a white Christmas for everyone at home!!

Cheers,
Kate xx

A lesson in stressful travel: The train to London

Yesterday morning I hopped the train at Edinburgh's Waverley Station and headed down to London. I was in a wonderful mood and ready to head south, but the journey wasn't without incident. I had an encounter with probably the gruffest, grumpiest ticket collector ever. Unfortunately I made a careless mistake and left part of my discount railcard in my flat. What I got for failing to read the small print and bringing along what amounted to only part of my railcard was a threat of a voided ticket and an up-front charge of £340 (I'm not actually sure where this number came from) for new tickets. Luckily, after explaining it was an honest mistake, he let it slide (phew!) and even though I had to blow quite a bit more on a new return (non-void) ticket, it's better than whatever that ridiculous £340 was! Perhaps that's how train companies make their money these days... but I refuse to be bitter. My only real complaint is with that particular guy's sideways sense of customer service. On the flip side, the other woman I talked to was wonderfully kind, so it cancels out. Ha, it is what it is.

Regardless, I arrived safe and sound in London in the afternoon, and despite seeing a rather bright and optimistic sunrise from the train earlier, it was rainy and heavy-skied all evening and into the night. I found my hotel, the Mornington Hotel right away, just off Hyde Park, and it's very nice. A lovely old pair of London townhouses that were remodeled and modernized inside to create a comfy little space with an adorable lounge downstairs that doubles as their homey Library Bar. I spent the evening walking around the very western end of Oxford Street, checking out all of the twinkling Christmas decorations and especially the inside of Selfridges. It's still high up on my to-do list to see Harrods all lit up, and perhaps Covent Garden too! I'm just loving the Christmassy atmosphere here, even if it is grey and rainy. Oh, London!

 



I've missed this city bunches. The last time I was here was 2011 and even since then, so much has changed. The skyline is different every time I visit! I just love it. I love the pubs, the fashionable people, Underground stations and the sound of the trains, the museums, and the fancy terraces, adorable mews and coffee shops. I'll never tire of it. :)

I hope everyone's week is off to a good start.

Cheers!
Kate x

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

... but it doesn't feel like it!

Well, okay. I take that back. But physically speaking, in the weather-and-temperature sense... very much not like any Christmas I've ever had. It's been around 50F and sunny here for the last three days, even though we were graced with a bit of icy chill last weekend. It's the middle of December and people are out in light jackets and biking in t-shirts! Consider me thoroughly schooled on the unpredictability of Scottish weather, not to mention Edinburgh's own peculiar little weather bubble. But I'm not complaining -- not at all. It has been marvelous.

Today I went out antiquing with a friend, as my mom and nana used to call it, when we would occasionally hop from antique store to antique store. I always thought of 'antiquing' as something only really grown-up people do. In Wisconsin there are more often than not antique malls, filled with booths of various dealers' wares. The shops in Edinburgh are independent and more often than not... piled from floor to ceiling and in some cases hardly big enough to fit more than one person in. Literally. But aside from the antique shops I stopped into a couple of used bookstores I hadn't been in before, and then some artsy gift shops and an art book and zine shop (art zines!! gahh)... we made a stop at the surprisingly wonderful Earthy Foods & Goods which on first sight looked like an old mechanics garage / garden center and turned out instead to be an extremely cool cafe and food shop! And they employ some of the friendliest people I've encountered in the city so far (and that is saying a LOT).

It was down to the Grassmarket for a stop into the pretty rad Avalanche Records store, which is, very sadly, looking about to close its doors next month. I hate to see these places go. I can't imagine a lease on the Grassmarket is the cheapest thing, but man... It's so sad that this is the fate of brick and mortar record stores these days. 

But back on the upside, we found some mulled wine (yes, for real -- I know in Wisconsin this seems like an affectation, but I've had more mulled wine in the last few weeks than I have ever had in my entire life... which is to say never, and it's totally acceptable) !!!

And now I'm back in my flat, since the sun sets at 3:30pm or thereabouts, and I'm happily enjoying a tea with biscuits. This is the life.

  

Christmas is almost heeeere!

Cheers,

Kate x