Edinburgh as a Tourist
Image via Wikipedia
When my BF comes up tomorrow, we’re going to do some nice touristy things. I’ve lived in Edinburgh now for nearly 6 years, so I pretty much know it inside out (unlike the monster that is London, Edinburgh is quite compact and walkable).
What I’ve done is picked out a couple of new outdoor things, as well as decided on some classics that we can do while he’s up here.
Outdoor/’best kept secrets’:
- Walk the Water of Leith: The Water of Leith is actually a stream running all the way through Edinburgh. It’s very pretty (I saw it the other day when looking for the B&Q near there).
- Boat Trip to Inchcolm Island: You can take a boat either from South Queensferry, or (apparently) from Newhaven. I just hope they will have a service, what with the fuel shortages etc.
Some classics:
- Edinburgh Castle: Edinburgh’s heart
- Palace of Holyrood House: This is where the queen stays when she’s up here
- Mary King’s Close: Real horror deep underground
- Edinburgh Dungeon: Ours is the most haunted city in Europe
Edit: The Edinburgh Tourist Guides also have some great suggestions!
Pension Plans
I’ve never thought about joining a pension plan, or think in any way, shape or form about my retirement (well, other than wanting to retire at 40 – though not sure as it’s only 6 years away! Might be too early after all 
).
However, my current employer apparently has a really good pension. It’s a very boring and grown-up topic, but to be honest I don’t want to have to work when I’m, say, 60. I’d always like work to be optional. Doesn’t mean I’m a lazy c u next tuesday, it just means I don’t want to have to work if, say, I hated it (I’ve had some bad experiences with having to work in the past, and I do not want to repeat it).
Either way, I think I’ll have to ‘opt in’ to the pension my employer is offering in order to activate it. In a past longer-term job, where I stayed for 5 years, I never joined the pension scheme as I wasn’t really thinking about my old(er) age and what I’d do for a living.
I’d always assumed that I’d just be on the dole
Austrian Incest Rapist Josef Fritzl
Abominable is the case of one Josef Fritzl, who locked his daugher in a cellar for 24 years and fucked her till she was raw and sore and had borne him 7 children.
He had been raping and fucking his daughter since she was eleven.
He then locked her in a cellar at 18, to rape her at his leisure, for the next 24 years.
He went downstairs often.
WordPress at Web 2.0 Expo
WordPress have announced a new feature that suggests posts (from your own blog or the blogosphere) based on what it thinks is related to whatever it is you’re blogging about. Sounds like a semantic app.
At the web 2.0 expo they also announced the upcoming Monotone – theme, which is basically a photo-blog template. It looks quite nice (demo here) – though photo-blogging is not for me. I’m first and foremost interested in the written word.
Images only when they are blown up 
edit: it didn’t suggest possibly related posts for this one. Maybe I need to switch the feature on somewhere.
Strike in Grangemouth = No Scotland Trip
Image via Wikipedia
I had planned to drive somewhere e.g. Falkirk Wheel, and do some touristy things when my BF visits me next week-end.
However, due to the Grangemouth Strike this looks unlikely. At least Edinburgh is so beautiful that you can easily fill touristy days, without even spending all that much (it’s got so much free beauty going on, all you have to do is walk through the streets of Old Town, or climb Arthur’s Seat or Calton Hill!).
Ah well. Luckily I don’t necessarily need the car to get to work either, in case the petrol runs out. The other worry is my friends A. and S. though – they live out in South Lanarkshire and commute to work in their two cars every day
Looks like we won’t be able to visit them on public transport either – I don’t think a bus goes there (it’s really oot in the sticks!)
Wee Neighbour Boy R. Moved Today
Today, my wee neighbour R. moved with his family to a new house, more or less down the road (a few streets away).
Apparently it happened late morning/early afternoon. The man with the dogs (nosey, always walks his dogs ‘coincidentally’ when things are happening on the estate) told me all about it as I got home from work tonight.
At 8PM, R. knocked on my door, but I couldn’t be arsed to answer. He’s quite hyperactive and annoying, though a good boy nonetheless
My BF is coming up to Edinburgh next week-end, so we can see R. then (they always do male bonding over cars etc.).
What’s Up With Gmail?
Lately, all new WordPress comments that need approval have been ending up in my spam filter. Also, gmail chat has reappeared on the left handside, even though I set it to not be there
Looking at the top right corner, I can see a link has appeared to ‘older version’ – and when you click on it, you’re taken to what looks slightly more familiar.
I.e. there doesn’t seem to be much of an aesthetic difference, but some tech changes underneath. Not sure that I like it
BBC iPlayer Icon is Skype in Pink
I’ve just started using BBC iPlayer, more info on that some other time. Just an observation that their wee icon looks just like the Skype one – only it’s pink 
Sweatshops are Evil – Buy in Charity Shops
Tonight I watched a programme on BBC3, where young adults go to India to work in a sweatshop, so they understand where their clothes are coming from. It’s called Blood, Sweat and T-shirts.
Very good actually, and reminded me that I need to buy more clothes in charity shops. The problem is that I’m currently short of smart clothes, i.e. those that I can wear to work. Luckily you can sometimes find decent, smart clothes – in charity shops in posh areas. In London for instance try Chelsea and Knightsbridge, and in Edinburgh, the Meadows/Bruntsfield/Morningside areas (i.e. areas far away from where I live ).
It was in a Morningside charity shop that ages ago I found an Edinburgh Charity Map, listing all (or most!) of the city’s shops. I’ve just found same maps online, here.
For posh charity shopping, I recommend the maps for Stockbridge, Ferry Road, and Davidson Mains, and the one for Burntsfield, Tollcross, and Morningside.
I’ll be going to some of them myself next week 
Adventures in Chav-land
In London this week-end my chav friend J. (22) told me that his next tattoo will read:
White and Proud
I asked him why, and which whites are included in this pride thing:
- English? Yes
- German? Yes
- Polish? Noooooooooooooo
- Hungarian? Yes
This doesn’t make sense on two counts:
- Polish people ARE white
- How can you be proud of the colour of your skin?
I told him that I’m not going to take him up to Scotland, or indeed be seen with him in public again, if he gets a White and Proud – tattoo.
I don’t mind having this one chav – friend, and I can put up with his self-definitions including violence, drinking/alcoholism, ill-education, sexism, and a general dose of chav-culture.
However, when it comes to White & Proud, my tolerance. absolutely. stops. I will not accept it and I will not be friends with him anymore.
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