Under Attack

Edinburgh is under attack, but at least this year we were prepared. It's festival season again, and with hundreds (thousands?)of shows and events playing at several hundred venues across the city, tens of thousands of tourists from across the country and overseas have descended upon Edinburgh, crowding the footpaths, stopping every bus that goes by wondering where they're headed, and ticking off the locals.

Last year our lives were quite affected by the festival. By being only two blocks away from Edinburgh Castle, the noise of the Edinburgh Tattoo's fireworks was scary-loud. It was particularly bad on Saturday nights, when the special late show included a five minute firework display. In our bedroom it sounded like the place was being bombed. Now we just hear a rumble every evening between 10:37 and 10:40pm, and I have yet to hear the Saturday night fireworks. We also lived in a much more central location, only 2 blocks away from the Royal Mile, between the very busy Grassmarket and the popular bars of Tollcross. As a result hundreds more people would walk by our window every night. And there was no chance of forgetting about the special closing times for bars and clubs during August. The festival goers who took advantage of the 3am bar closings and 5am club closing sure would make a lot of noise on their way home! But now that we live off to the west end of the city on a back street, there's no party-goers walking by (unless they're heading home), and since we're up on the third floor they're no longer walking by our window.

We're staying away from all the festival stuff this year actually. Last year we went to a couple shows, including the tattoo, a musical, and a comedy show. This year Derek's been heading to Glasgow all the time, and I've been working on a new chapter. I'd been completely focussed on my work and barely noticed that the festival had begun until I went to a pub near campus and saw the extent of the traffic jams outside. We now put off shopping until a day in the middle of the week, because on the weekends the main shopping area around Princes Street is absolutely packed. Walking anywhere that requires going near or on the Royal Mile? Give yourself an extra 20-25 minutes! There's buskers, show-goers and tourists stopping all over the place to take photographs, plus the annoyed local trying to get places. And if I don't allow myself enough time to get to school for a meeting, then I become one of those annoyed locals trying to get somewhere! The problem is, if I ever need to speak for any reason then the locals think I'm one of the problem-causing tourists thanks to my accent and in turn find me annoying. So I just try to look like I belong, like I've got places to go, people to see, etc. :)

I can't believe that August will be coming to an end quite soon, but we've gotten a lot accomplished this month. Derek is onto his second stage of training and is enjoying the work and the people in his programme. I've written the rough draft of a second chapter for my thesis and am feeling really good about becoming a PhD-3 shortly, plus a friend and I have a great-looking conference in the works which I'll tell more about once we've got our webpage up. It's been a very busy month, but a productive one, and in truth I'm rather glad that we've been able to stay away from the craziness of the festival, instead staying focussed on home, work and friends.

Little Furry Animals

There is a little black cat who lives on the ground floor of our apartment building, down one of the sides of the building so that we can see the bay window of its apartment from our kitchen window. Almost every evening, and at different times of day throughout the week the cat's owners open the window. Keep in mind that windows here don't have screens, as there are few bugs and flies compared to back home. At some point the kitty will appear on the window sill, cautiously place her front paws down on the outside of the wall, and jump down into the grassy courtyard. Sometimes she runs immediately for the bushes (when she's in what I would call her 'jungle-cat' mode), but most of the time she just saunters a couple steps and sits down in the middle of a brown square of grass a few feet from the window.

There's a man who frequently comes out the back door for a cigarette. We call him 'Mr. Depressed Smoking Guy,' because he generally looks really down and and lonely, although one time last week he had a lady friend with him. (Can you tell we don't have a dishwasher and thus spend a lot of time washing dishes while staring out the kitchen window from up on the third floor?) If he's out when the cat is out the cat keeps him company, which I think is so cute!

Derek and I keep an eye out for the cat, telling each other when we spot her (FYI I tend to assume all cats are female), if she's climbing down, or being a jungle-kitty, having a nap, etc. When it's time to go in (whether she's decided so or one of her owners is sticking their head out the window calling her), she stands at the base of the wall, prepares and jumps up into the window, disappearing into their dark living room. She seems like a nice, fit, well-behaved kitty to be allowed out on her own here, staying within the little grassy area by the parking lot and coming home when she's called. We like to keep an eye out for her. We'll be off an a walk through the Meadows or looking out over the fields in Holyrood Park and Derek will remark on how much Sneaquers would love it here. Sometimes we see little white puppies that remind him of her. The cover story on a recent Historic Scotland magazine was about dog-friendly historical sites in Scotland, with favourite places to visit for the whole family. If only his puppy wasn't a 7 hour flight away and from a country with rabies (a disease the UK doesn't have).

We miss our pets. We also just miss pets in general. I long for having a friendly animal around to pet and cuddle. Part of that is because I grew up with a big friendly kitty in the house, and anyone who knows me somewhat well knows I'm a total cat-person. Derek's used to having his cute little puppy around back home, and even though he didn't grow up with a dog, their family dog has been around for 10 years now and is a big part of the family.

We both love Skype (free video-conferencing software that allows us to see and speak to others with webcams and the programs back home or anywhere in the world). It's great to see our families, and it's also great because we get to see his puppy Sneaquers and my big fat cat Lucy, as well as my Grandma's cat Jimmi if she's in the mood and Derek's sister's cat Alexis (who we're quite close to, having cat-sat her for a few months before moving to Edinburgh).

A lot of friends here report how much they miss their pets, or just having an animal to pet occasionally and say 'hi' to. At our last flat, there was a big friendly dog who spent most days lying outside the door of the used bookstore next door. He was a great sport about accepting doogie-noogies and a 'hi' or a scratch on the chin. A couple of my fellow pet-deprived friends used to take him for the occasional walk in the Meadows, or having found neighbours' dogs to walk. I just love days where I'll walk around a corner and there is a cat who's willing to let me come near, and maybe even let me scritch her along the chin or et the top of her head. There's a black cat who hangs around campus on occasion, and she's been known to flop right over for a cautious belly-rub. There was also a cow-patterned cat that would hang out on a doorstep on my way to school from our old place, and it was always great to see her.

I don't know how people can feel comfortable letting their cats loose outside without supervision here, to be honest. I don't think I'd want my cat to be outside back home if I lived in a city, because of all the traffic. Then add to the fact that here dogs don't have to be on leashes, and in my opinion you have a very not-cat-friendly environment. Plus there's so little grass anywhere, that the tend to have to stick to cement doorsteps, windowsills, and hiding under bushes to avoid the rain and mist.

So to celebrate all these great furry animals of ours back home, I thought for today's images I'd put together some favourites of our pets (and those of our families', mentioned above). Enjoy!

My Cat Lucy (who can look deceptively small)

Derek's Family's Puppy Sneaquers

Derek's Sister's Kitty Alexis

Grandma's Cat Jimmi