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2002 Journal Archive - click here. |
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A Week in Scotland - Again...
May 25, 2003 But, before I will arrive in Norway I will have to first say goodbye to my very special and dear friend here in Edinburgh where I have spent the past week after having spent several days in Greece on the island of Corfu. This past week has been both a trying and rewarding one for me. The very first day back from Greece, I had intended to take my final exams for two courses at the community college back home. Both courses were on-line so I have been able to complete them while traveling. One is a media course, the other is a philosphy course. When I logged on early Monday morning here in Scotland, I came to discover I had missed the deadline for both exams by a mere matter of hours. I had been told that one cannot pass a course at the college if one fails to take the final exam, regardless of one's performance throughout the semester. Having busted my ass all semester, this was certainly not the fate I wanted to have. I immediately emailed both instructors, asking for an acceptance to the rules. I was forutnate to dig up access to the Phil. test and took it, albeit late. The notes on the test said late test would be "considered" but not guaranteed to be accepted. Having had given the instructor a load of shit throughout the semester about his course material being sub-par, I could only imagine him deciding wether he'd allow my late submittal. The other course's instructor though I thought would be very fair and would more than likely allow me to make up the exam. To make a long story short, I never heard from the Phil. instructor but later came to see he passed me with a high C, and as for the media instructor, lets just say if she was a year or two younger and I perhaps a few months older, I'd marry her. She emailed me and told me that she was extremely surprised to see I had missed the deadline, and considering how much I had excelled in her course this semester, she was going to give me the points necessary to achieve an A and not require me to take the final. I love ya Linda! Anyway, after all of that settled down, I began to do some things around the house for Amanda while she was working this past week. Not having a man around the house, her "honey-do" list was quite long. One project that needed done was a new shower to be installed. For those of you in the U.S., you would not be familiar with the type of shower units out here in Scotland perhaps. To save energy, they use a box of sorts with controls on it. It has one cold water line going into it and then the unit very quickly heats the water as it flows through it by passing it over very hot coils which are heated off a 220 Volt power source. Anyway, lets just say it was a real job from hell which took me all day only then to find out the unit she had bought would not work with the power source she had in the house. I had to take it down and attempt to reinstall the original one, which after doing so, leaks. The next day went much better as I mended a gate for her outside garden, installed a door in her daughters bedroom, cleaned out her very messy shed, trimmed her hedges weeded her garden and finally planted some flowers. The rest of the week was spent in Edinburgh where I am now, sitting in the Starbucks on Princes St. just across from the castle. The trip from the village of Mid Calder to here cost 1.9 pounds on the double deckered bus and takes about 30 minutes each way. Yesterday I met with a lovely client named Coranne who owns the Castle View hotel here in town. She had purchased a nice flat for her son who was completing college only to have him then move away when he got a job. So, she wanted a web site for the flat to rent it out for a vacation rental. After meeting, we agreed to incorporate the flat into a new web site for her hotel which I will work on while traveling this summer. Amanda and I will stay there this evening after a nice night out on the town her in Edinburgh. (pronounced Ed - In - Burra) It has a lovely view of the castle and is very close to what is known as the Grass Market area of town. Another interesting thing that happened this week is that I recieved an email from the husband of a former client who wants a web site for his medical practice. Are you sitting down? He specializes in the penis. Enlarging it, widening it, and what ever else one might wish to do to their penis. He wants to develop a web site and then have it optimized for search engine purposes. I can only imagine my friend Eric's face when he saw I'd be referring this client to him for this purpose. Anyway, Monday morning will arrive and so too will that of a short flight over the water to Amsterdam. Once there, I will catch a train to the small town of Haarlem where I will rent a room in a house for a night or two before picking up a car and heading north to the village of Makkum where I will spend two nights with my dear friends Auke and Teatske Ann on the farm. Last night as I finished my cigar I found myself anxious to arrive to their lovely farm right on north sea. This will be my fourth trip to their farm. I was able to pick up a car for about $250 dollars for two weeks from Hertz and when I leave Auke's farm, I will go to Hamburg for one night and be hosted by a Dr. and his girlfriend for a night before heading north to the Fjords of Norway via both Copenhagen and Olso. I will return to Amsterdam for a day or two and then find my way to Budapest for the "heart" of my summers travels and some very, very dear friends. I'm not imagining I'll be able to update my site much over the next couple of weeks, but perhaps if time permits and I'm able to find an internet cafe here and there, I will attempt to do so. I find myself kicking around the rest of the summer's itinerary. I may be ready to head home in August after Budapest as I'm scheduled to do so on August 15th. But, not having a key to a front door of a home back in California, and only to that of a small $35 dollar a month storage locker, I might travel to Austria and Italy for some R&R. Quite the life I lead... PS. Last night I spent the evening by myself in Edinburgh and upon going out, damn near every pub I was greeted by all types of apparent football fans who thought I was a soccer coach from Ireland named Mick McCarthy. It was quite funny as they kept wanting to buy me beers... Do a google search and tell me what you think. I must admit, there is a resemblance. x |
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