weegies

hey kids!
today i had a proper day in glasgow for the first time. on the way we drove through stirling, home of stirling castle (top of foreground hill) and the wallace monument (phallic bit on the top of the background hill)


first off we had a bit of shopping, then we went to the cathedral via a crumbling old cathedral spire at spire park (formerly townhead-blochairn church), masquerading as the cathedral we actually wanted to see (glasgow cathedral of st. mungo). glasgow cathedral had a really interesting necropolis, i took more pictures than were necessary but i've never seen a graveyard that big. it was awesome. all the top of a hill and at least two or three sides of it - and it was a big hill! most of the stones seemed to be from the mid-1800s but there were some as recent as the 1990s that i saw - although i definitely did not see all of them. tombstones were quite lavish and the preferred decorations seemed to be obelisks, cloth draped urns, and celtic crosses. quite a lot of all three designs. so here's a nice view of it.



next we walked down the hill again to the car and passed MY street!

(frankenstein called, he wants his shoes back.)

here is the university of strathclyde business school

and this is the university of strathclyde school of architecture and planning. you figure that one out.

then we went down to the river (quite a lot of really nice stuff being built there!) and saw the SECC which is "scotland's answer to the sydney opera house".

then we went to a really huge nice museum but only had an hour before closing so we didn't get to see the art (shame), so we did the only proper thing: went to the pub for a pint.

tomorrow is new year's eve! perhaps i'll do some drunken blogging after i get home, or maybe i'll just leave it for hungover blogging on monday. either way there are sure to be pictures of kilts and dancing. be safe, whatever you end up doing! (i'm sure as heck not driving anywhere - the concert hall where the ceilidh is to be held is only about half a mile down the road! perfect stumbling distance)

catch you in the new year!

love, mcnabbs

holiday photos

you can view ALL photos of the holiday here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbsmcnabbs

naughty pigs!

woo! sorry about the wait, kids

hey all! sorry it's been a week but i've got important things to do, like drinking.

i went to edinburgh again last weekend, got through on friday night, had a bit of a walk down the royal mile. this was the courthouse or city hall or something, i can't remember, but it was inside a courtyard and they had projected all these bright colors and famous people onto the side of the building, pretty awesome.


then i went back to neil's and his friend karl flew in from iceland for a couple of days. we hit a few bars, which were all empty and had far more men than women. we couldn't figure it out. while queueing up for an underground mexican themed club with a three-pound cover (?!) we spotted this car parked out front, in the middle of the street. look closely and you'll find the sign on the side reads "ZNIRP top security". your guess is as good as mine. znirp!

this picture is the following evening, saturday night, when we all gathered to go out to the pub. left to right kis karl, neil, glen, becky, a hidden shell, caroline, sandy, leanne, me, and keith in the front. yes, we have already been drinking.

later the same evening, things start to get frisky!

KARL!

christmas eve we went down to the neighbors' for a champagne open house and got gloriously smashed. and HAPPY. we were there about 3 hours, then went down to the pub to meet the boys. stumbling across the bridge it was all foggy and i decided to snap a photo of the kirk in the fog, and this! is what came out...

this is neil, graham, and a classic richard face, christmas eve at the pub:

and then it's christmas! after a lovely long lie-in and a batch of cinnamon rolls, we start drinking, like you do. champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends!

i made all the boys hats for christmas. don't they look warm!

so that's about it - i made off with lots of chocolates and scotland-themed bits and bobs, and a nice cold to boot. so yesterday we hit the boxing day sales, and i stayed in last night and all day today watching tv and feeling sorry for myself. good times.

i miss you all and hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!

much love,

mcnabbs

happy birthday to both jim and brian's mum

hey guys! i forgot to put up this awesome photo i took while barhopping in Edinburgh last weekend. leave one bar, trot down the road on your way to the next, look to your right - hey! a castle!

so today was a gorgeous day. i went down to the river (it's tidal up to about Perth - smelled like the ocean, YUM) to check on the flood levels - it went way down just a day or two after i got here and now it seems to be at pretty normal levels but now you can see the extent of the flooding. see, branches were stuck in the artworks here:

and here is the flood wall on the left hand side, which was entirely covered up in the middle when we were down at the park last thursday night, you can see the darker areas of leaves where the river washed them up; the brighter green spots were all covered in water.

this last photo is from the other side of the riverbank, you can see the wall on the other side. see where the guy in the red coat is standing? he's standing at the bottom of the previous picture - entirely submerged in last week's flood.

that's about it for now. finishing up christmas shopping tomorrow then back to edinburgh on friday.

LOVE!

mcnabbs

p.s.

i absolutely HATE comic sans. there. i said it.

hmm

sorry kids, no news today. had a lazy day - got up super late after some strange dreams and now i'm attempting to find a reasonable mitten pattern. maybe i'm setting my sights too high.
i wanted to go to london tomorrow but the decision has been left too late and there are no train tickets left, and plane fare is cost prohibitive. i might have to skip it, unfortunately. ditto for dublin. i am going back to edinburgh next weekend though, and i'll be going to glasgow as well, so i won't be spending all my time in perth. plus there's the much-awaited amsterdam trip! yay!
i'll get back to my knitting attempts just now - wonder if i can fudge a thumb...
love,
mcnabbs

lazy sunday

i came back through to perth yesterday with keith, we stopped in at sarah and gordon's place since brian and jacqui (my hosts) were there for dinner. gordon brought out five different bottles and offered me all of them. then he was talking about kilty pies (kelty pies?) and turns out it's just steak and gravy in a pie - easy peasy. i told him i'd make him one and he offered me more of everything. the scots certainly are the most hospitable people i've ever met.
today i just went down to the chippie for lunch (mmm, fried things) and i'm pretty sure i'm going to be gaining back everything i lost - everything here is fried and veg is rare. i'm doing my best though. i will get to cook some (made a lovely chicken and white sauce with rotini saturday night) so i put in veg every chance i get. mmm. can't wait to have sushi again when i get home. what veg there is is wayyyyy mushy and overcooked. but it's a small price to pay for the hospitality.
i'm going shopping in perth tomorrow for christmas presents, let's see what i can get at reasonable prices (£1 is $2 even - i'm getting royally done up the arse). but it will be fun poking around town by myself.
hope you're all doing well.
love, mcnabbs

saturday in edinburgh

we decorated Neil's christmas trees! they look really nice. here's one:

we went out in edinburgh last night, took a couple of pictures. nothing big. i got dressed up just for kicks, the dancing was good but not as nice as fridays at the noc. here's the boys.

see how excited i was to be hanging out with such attractive tall men?

so yeah, we had some good times. i talked to some ridiculous fellows at the chippie who thought that alaska was more than half the size of the rest of the States. i told him he was wrong and he said "no, i've been to america!" turns out it was like connecticut or something. he was still wrong.

people are friendlier here - quite willing to talk to you on the street or give you a chip in the middle of the night on the way home from the pub. nice.

more later.

love, mcnabbs

everything tastes better with bacon

keith and i came through to edinburgh last night, we're staying at neil's new flat here. it's about the same size as mine, maybe a bit smaller, but really nice. we're going to go get him a christmas tree today and decorate it - fun times!

last night we were up drinking lots of foster's, and jack & cokes. neil had a variety of snacks left over from a party he had, this one is my favorite:

check out the caption under the green V. it's so wrong... but so awesome.

i'm off - bacon rolls for breakfast! seems i'm going to totally negate the 15 pounds i lost before i came over. oh well, you win some, you lose some. i'll walk all over edi today to make up for it.

love, mcnabbs

first day adventures

Hey all!

I've arrived safe and sound here in Perth yesterday. No hassle in the airports even though I brought 4 ounce containers of shampoo and conditioner (the limit is 3.4 oz, report me to the authorities!). All flights on time and smooth except for a windy takeoff from Seattle, which I slept through. Good times.

I watched three movies, knitted three hats, ate three meals, and went through three airports. Arrived in Glasgow after having slept through the entire Amsterdam - Glasgow flight, was wide awake on the ride back to Perth, had some lunch and then a wee nap, then dinner and felt fine - went down to the pub and was up till 2 AM. Woke up at 10 this morning and feel entirely acclimated so we'll see how the next couple of days go, but I'm surprised at how good I feel.

Yesterday when I arrived they said, "Did you hear about the flooding?" and there has been massive amounts of rainfall here and the Tay is bursting its banks. We went down to the edge on the way to the pub last night and the river is maybe 8-10 feet higher than usual. It's really amazing. You can usually stand on the bridge or riverside walk and look wayyy down to the river but now it's nearly up next to you.

Going into town this afternoon for a bit of shopping, then to Edinburgh tonight for some debauchery. Should be some good pics of that up in the next couple of days ;)

Love,

McNabbs

HEY EVERYONE! COME AND SEE HOW GOOD I LOOK!