Edinburgh

Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities - slightly biased view given my patriotic ways, but having travelled all over the world I still think that. I'm excited to be living and working here for a little while.

It's weird to say I've finally left home...I know I've been living away for a third of my life, but I actually never felt like I'd left Loughborough Road. Edinburgh is only 45 mins away and I'm living in my brother's flat, but for the first time I feel like I've really left home! It doesn't really make sense, but that's okay. It'll be fun living with Gav & Jen for a while, I'll see how long I can handle the madness.


Seems like I'm going to have plenty of tennis coaching opportunities, I just have to decide how many hours I want to do, where, and with who. I'd like to get some work on the physical side - fitness and injury prevention - with some of the elite athletes in Scottish tennis. Fingers crossed...










Edinburgh: view from Calton Hill; over the city; towards the castle

I'm also taking my Development Coaches Award over the next 7 months or so...despite having coached in Arizona & New Zealand, I can't legally be responsible for coaching on my own in the UK without a coaching license so it's something I just have to do. I'll be able to coach at the same time though, and having good contacts, knowledge and experience means I'm able to start at a high level which is great.

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London & Wales: 6th - 17th Jan

I got back to Scotland almost a month ago, but so far I've spent 3 nights in my own bed, have been in four different countries in 2006, and I'm still living out of a backpack. Staying in one place is going to be so hard!

Flew to London and met up with Mum, Dad, Gavin & Jen for a fun weekend. We'd booked tickets to see Cirque du Soleil (Alegria) on Saturday evening...it was fantastic. I've seen two other performances in Arizona (Varekai) and New Zealand (Quidam) and all three have been amazing - the combination of acrobatics, strength & flexibility, colourful costumes, and music is brilliant...the entire show is so full of energy :)


Cirque du Soleil, Tower Bridge, PD & his cousin Catherine

On Sunday we all went to Caroline (cousin) & Richard's for lunch, and Tory (other cousin!) was there too. Patrick & I stayed in London for a couple more days, sight-seeing and catching up with family & friends. The Science Museum was really impressive - I could have spent a good few days in there and still not seen everything!

Kirsty (a school friend from Kirkcaldy) is now living north of London with her boyfriend Richard, so we went to see them too - it was brilliant to see her again, and catching up on the gossip nearly kept us up all night :) We went to Sussex for a couple of days to visit Patrick's Granny & Grandpa, and then had a couple of days in Wales where there was a family party.













National History Museum, random pub, Kirsty & Richard, PD & his brother Matt

We went back to stay with Kirsty & Richard on Sunday night (more blethering!) and I got a bus up to Newcastle the next day. I basically just don't want to admit the travelling is finished for a while!

Stayed with Gran for a night in Newcastle - was lovely to see her and help with a few jobs around the house...in return I was thoroughly spoiled and given enough food to last me a week! Got the train back to Kirkcaldy yesterday and I'm going to start work (coaching) tomorrow night in Edinburgh - no rest for me :)

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Dublin: 3rd - 6th Jan

New Grange, Melifont Abbey, Dublin by the river









Glendalough: above the lake, Richie & I, St. Kevin's bed,









Trinity College, Glendalough lake, no explanation needed :)


Monasterboice

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Christmas & New Year!!

Christmas was brilliant - being together as a family again was pretty special, and Braemar is just always fantastic, I love it up there. The weather wasn't nearly so cold as I was expecting, but at the same time a white Christmas would have been nice. Jen (Gav's girlfriend from Perth, Australia) managed to survive our family banter, musical evenings, silly games & sing-songs which is quite a good effort...I think she enjoyed it, especially the stocking (which was particularly Scottish) :)











Scottish guided tours: Snow arrived on the 27th, and Patrick came over from Ireland the same day! He had a whizz tour of my favourite spots in Scotland, starting with a picnic at Ballater on the way back from Aberdeen airport :) We went to Linn of Dee, had a walk at the Quoich & saw the punchbowl, then through Mar Lodge and back to the house at Braemar. Next day mum drove us back to Kirkcaldy via St. Andrews & the coast road, and the weather was pretty good the whole time. On the 30th we explored Edinburgh, did an open-top bus tour and headed back to Gav's flat for a couple of drinks before PD had to get the flight back to Dublin. I think he liked the introduction to Scotland...still can't believe it was his first time here :)













Derek from Arizona (well, Wisconsin really, and he might say San Fransisco now, but he's a bit of a nomad like me...) arrived in Edinburgh on Hogmanay, so we also did an open-top bus tour and explored a bit of the city (I should apply for a tour guide position). A crowd of Gav's friends from Ireland were over for Hogmanay, and we all went to the ceilidh in Murrayfield. It was brilliant fun - haggis, neeps & tatties, a ceilidh band, and plenty of Scottish country dancing...my favourite kind of party!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! Up earlier than expected, we decided to try hitching a ride up to Braemar on the 1st. It was great fun - four lifts and a lot of interesting conversations later we joined the folks & all their friends at the house! More drinks, more food, more music, and more games...Christmas time is so much fun :)

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