Disconnecticut

Dear all,

As some of you may know I managed to get a PhD at the University of Connecticut in the States; consequently, for the next 5 years I will try to keep up a new blog: Disconnecticut.

Hope to see you all there!

Cheers,
Beata

Planning!

Hi again!

These past few days I've been planning the rest of my stay in the UK, and trust me, I'd rather have 20 essays to write! In any case, I'm leaving for the Isle of Skye tomorrow at... 4.45am! Together with Chiara, I'll travel from Edinburgh to Glasgow and then from Glasgow to Portree (city on the Isle of Skye):


Arriving at 1pm we are going to hike our way to a hostel in Uig, which lies on the western coast and is indicated on the map by the green arrow:


On the 16th of May, we will stay and explore the mountains to the east of Uig, and on the 17th we plan on walking back to Portree but taking the longer coastal route: head to the northern-most point of the island and then carry on along the eastern coast until we reach Portree; however, this is quite an ambitious plan and it is by no means certain we will be able to carry it out. Still, I'm an optimistic person, so I think we can do this!

Annavera will also be in Portree then, and on the 18th we will be sleeping in and wait for Vilhelm to join us too. The rest of the 18th we will probably head to the east or south of Portree, and on the 19th Joost will arrive.

On the 20th Chiara and I will unfortunately have to head back to Edinburgh, so the highland adventure will be quite short for us.

On the 21st I will spend a day in Edinburgh (watching sunrise from Arthur's Seat - an old plan never come true), but on the 22nd I'm heading to Manchester to stay there for a few days to attend the Manchester Phonology Meeting (yay! I'm really looking forward to it!). Although I could find lodgings for the 22-24th, my hostel was booked for the night of the 24th and I still need to find a place to stay. However, I think I will be staying somewhere near the Yorkshire Dales, so I can cross these on the 25th in order to catch a train to Newcastle where I will be staying until the 27th. Klaas is kind enough to pick me up in Newcastle on either the 25th or 26th and we will explore Newcastle for a bit. The 27th we will return to Edinburgh to stay there until the 29th, and then it will be time to say farewell to Edinburgh.. but let's not think about that for now! On the 29th Klaas and I will go to see the Lake District and in the evening we will stay in Manchester, which we are going to explore on the 30th, with possibly taking a break in Stoke-On-Trent. On the 31st our journey to Dover really begins: hopefully we will have enough time to visit Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford and Canterbury before we catch our boat in Dover, which will take us to the mainland (Calais), from where we will drive home.

All this means I will have very little time and will largely be unavailable (it will be hard to kick the habit of checking my e-mail every hour but I will survive); I do not know when I will have time to keep you more up-to-date, so I figured I might just as well tell you now :).

Now it's very late (11.30pm) and I still have to prepare the sandwiches for our journey tomorrow, pack by bag (travelling light!), as well as figuring out how to walk from Portree to Uig.. so I will have to leave you for now.

Take care!

Cheers,
b

Tourist Incompetence Centre

I hate the Tourist Incompetence Centre in Edinburgh. For all those travelling around in Scotland, I advise you to become a member of the SYHA (Scottish Youth Hostel Association); membership is free for students and you get discounts at hostels but -more importantly- on low-cost public transport (e.g. citylink). Such information cannot be obtained at the TIC, so I thought I might as well jot it down here.

"There is no room" ~ "There is no space"

I'd forgotten this interesting bit of research I'd performed a few weeks ago (on 5:01am Monday, Apr 14):

Interestingly, a 'regular' google search (google.co.uk) reveals twice as many hits for "there is no space" than for "there is no room", whereas scholar.google.co.uk shows the exact opposite pattern.

Weird words: Struthonian

(stru'thonian)
Tending to hide one's head in the sand.

This is a modern weird word, used a few times after the late Arthur
Koestler invented it in 1963, but now almost unknown. His aim, in
an article in Encounter magazine, was to describe those pundits who
prefer honest self-deception to ignoble truths.

You may recall that there is an animal famed for its in-sand head-
burying, so you won't be surprised to learn that "struthonian" is
from Latin "struthio", an ostrich. Related to it is the standard -
albeit technical - English "struthious", of or like an ostrich.

An ancient, rare and defunct name for the ostrich, by the way, was
"struthiocamel", from the Latin "struthiocamelus". The Romans took
it wrongly from Greek "strouthokamelos", literally "sparrow camel"
or, more loosely, "camel-bird" (the scientific name of the ostrich
to this day is Struthio camelus). It's difficult to imagine a cross
between a sparrow and a camel, but the Greeks managed it. In later
Latin it became "avis struthio", the struthio bird.

Botanic Gardens @ Edinburgh

Hi again!

Apparently, I'm in full blogging mode. Today I went with Annavera to the Edinburgh botanic garden, which are situated in the north of the study (beyond Princes Street). Hahaha - I mean north of the city! How's that for a Freudian slip!

In any case, the Edinburgh garden is part of the Royal Botanic Garden of Scotland; it was founded in 1670 and is the second oldest botanic garden in Britain after Oxford's. However, the garden moved to its present location at Inverleith in 1820.

Before we walked to the Botanics, we had a hot potato at Princes Street Gardens:


The rock garden at the Botanics was truly beautiful! A selection from some of the pictures I shot:




Such wonderful colours:




One more of the rock garden:


And one more of the colours:


Trees are irresistible to climb - everyone knows that!




Previous statement buttressed by Annavera:



Anna went all biology on me:


Close-up:


A strange tree, which looks as if it was running away but grabbed by a big hand and put head-first into the ground; use your imagination, you'll see it too!


View from underneath a tree that goes up, up, up!


Rhododendron:


The most remarkable about this picture is the colour of the sky; the purplish blue is a result of the camera rather than a faithful replication of reality.


Close-up of the same flower:


There was also an elaborate greenhouse complex with various plants (the fact that some pictures are dim/misty is due to the high humidity, which caused the lens to mist up).
I think all of the flowers below are orchids (speciaal voor jou JR!):





Look at those huge leaves!


More interesting plants:




The following one reminded me of the skeletal representations used in chemistry:


There were some fish which made my skin crawl (hence they are excluded from the pictures on this weblog); Anna like them though, so they deserve to be mentioned.

Beautiful waterfall:


Vanilla plant:


Doesn't this picture make you wish you were a frog?


An odd flower, which was shaped as if it was a rose; however, it was very compact and certainly not a rose.


There were very many squirrels; surprisingly, they weren't afraid at all. However, these grey ones are evil little creatures as they have chased away all the brown ones, which are now nearly extinct in Scotland:


After a long day, we took a break at a very cosy place which turned out to be a Polish-Scottish tea house! We were very relieved to sit down for a bit and had tea ...


... and chocolate cake!


Finally, on the way home, I saw this restaurant! Needless to say, Camino Leiden is a much more pleasant spot :)


Now, it's again almost 2am and tomorrow I have to get up early as it's museum day! Yay!

Cheers for now!
Beata


"Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin, on your shoulders" -- A.E. Housman On application of thought to textual criticism

sunny, sunnier, sunniest

Hello!!

The good weather is continuing and everybody is getting outside enjoying the sun as much as possible. Some of us poor students still need to study for exams, but others -including yours truly- are free to roam the city. In the morning I went to a picnic in the meadows, organised by some international students.

In the afternoon Annavera & Bruno and me moved to sunbathe on the slope of Arthur's Seat.





In the evening Annavera and me drummed up some friends to join us for a barbecue party at the hermitage, which was a huge success. The food was lovely (Annavera (paraphrased): 'I love to eat the meat with my hands, it feels good to go back to basics!'), the company charming and the surroundings enthralling.

On our way to the hermitage:


Drowsing in the sun:


The perfect picnic/barbecue:




We finished the day with tea and three kinds of ice-cream: a muddy pool of chocolate, a mountain ridge of vanilla and a raked garden of strawberry. Sweet Edinburgh summer!

Cheers for now & I'm saying good night: sleep tight & don't let the bag pipes bite!

red blotches & sprung blood vessels a.k.a. a Scots tan

Hi there!

Today was a beautiful day - summer has finally made its way to Scotland! Although I was starting to believe that there was no such season as 'summer' up here, I have been proven wrong (luckily).

I went to the King's Buildings (KB, which houses the natural sciences complex (down south from where I live) to visit Annavera, who is studying for her exams. She suggested that I would go on to the hermitage situated next to the KB -- and I was smart enough to take her advice (thanks so much Anna!!). From their website, "The Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill lie under the Braid Hills between Morningside and Liberton. This Local Nature Reserve was the first to be designated in Edinburgh in 1993 and offers a wide range of walks from a leisurely stroll along the Braid Burn to a steep climb on the slopes of Blackford Hill. [...] The range of habitats includes 160 acres of mixed mature woodland, scrubland, grassland, The Braid Burn and wetland which all provide a haven for wildlife. Listen for green woodpecker calling from the top of the tall Beech trees. If you are lucky, you could startle a fox hunting rabbits or even an otter swimming in the burn! [... Some of] the amazing birdlife you will encounter; herons, kestrels, kingfishers, song thrush and even tawny owls can be regularly seen around the Nature Reserve!"

In the morning I walked through the grassland and scrubland, and in the woodland I took a short break and read a bit under the trees (The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brian; a very odd book that I enjoyed reading very much, but I wouldn't advise it to everybody, however, if you love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (Lewis Carroll) you might try your hand at this darker version). On my way back to the King's Buildings I -unsurprisingly- got lost, but in the end I managed to find my way onto the industrial estate like area of the KB (on my own!). It proved to be another challenge altogether to get back to the Darwin Library where Annavera was studying; although I'd been there twice before I had to give up and ask for directions. After a refreshing lunch, I went back but most of my energy was spent and I decided to finish my book instead. Having done that I simply lay on my back enjoying the sun.. drowsiness fell over me and I lay half-dreaming about bicycles (related to The Third Policeman), birds (they were chirping over my head), and my upcoming essay (on a subject I'm not going to bother you with). At last, I decided to head back, but not before I'd had a lovely ice-cream break with Annavera (most of you will know about it but for me it was a wonderful discovery to find that there's Magnums covered in plain chocolate).
When I got home, I could witness the profit of today's hard work: red blotches & sprung blood vessels a.k.a. a Scots tan. :)

Cheers,
Beata

P.S. As always, I forgot to bring my camera, but I am sure to return there and I will take pictures.

An apologetic note.

I just want to apologise for not updating regularly. Or rather, for nearing the stage of not updating at all :).

And to tell you that the Hugh Robson Building is the ultimate study environment, because the Scots have not realised that the war is over and there is no need for bunkers any more.



Cheers,
Beata

A typical 5-day weather forecast for Edinburgh

tonight: showers early
tomorrow: showers
Wednesday: heavy rain
Thursday: light rain
Friday: scattered showers

Sunny Holland

Hi there!

I have decided that my short break in the Netherlands might be a point in my blife (blend of blog & life ;); intended to make you love morphology!) that I start afresh. Hence, a short update on my stay in the Netherlands. I hope to report about February-April the 16th as well of course, but aren't able to say when that will happen, if ever.

In any case, as most of you know, on the 16th I flew back to enjoy "Vlaamse Friet" (proper chips) and a coffee at Schiphol Airport with Tessa and Corianne -- interestingly, I managed to exit the wrong Arrivals' Hall, because the route I had chosen would be quicker. Needless to say, I was right. However, the reason it was quicker was because it was virtually deserted, as a consequence of it being the wrong exit. Luckily, though, I ended safe and sound in my parental home (at a decent hour as well!).

On Thursday I arrived at the shocking conclusion that my hair was in desperate need of cutting, and -having conquered my perfectly reasonable fear of hairdressers within 24hrs- found myself (minus split ends) having dinner with Marieke & Koen in Amersfoort on Friday.

On Saturday, a group of friends had organised a surprise hen party for Marieke; it was a very early day as we had to leave for the location at 8.30am (and I'm not joking!) -- from 11 until 2pm we honed our shooting skills during a cool paintball session (or should it be called painball?), which ended with Marieke being the elephant we all had to hunt!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a slightly less volatile pastime (yet by no means less enjoyable): a High Tea. However, it proved to be quite dangerous, as Jorinde got a cup of scalding hot water on her..

"Last Vestiges of the British Empire", or pictures shot just after hunting an elephant:




In the evening, I travelled from Utrecht to Ninja & Klaas in the Hague -- I had forgotten to buy a ticket for the train, as I usually have an OV-card (free public transport). Terrified that I would have to pay a fine I remembered that the sign read that there was one stop between Utrecht and The Hague: Gouda. Channelling all my brainpower to draw a mental map of the Netherlands in order to figure out how close Gouda was to Utrecht, I had to conclude that I had absolutely no clue where the cheese-city was situated. Finally, I admitted defeat and resigned to having to defend myself in front of a ticket collector; naturally, the train entered Gouda at that point and I was spared a quite embarrassing episode in my life.

Having arrived safely at Ninja & Klaas', we had a very good dinner; and I would like to take this opportunity to recommend Cosmopolitans - they're very good (and is pleasant from both an articulatory and perceptual perspective in my opinion). An apres-dinner tea resulted in my arrival at Leiden CS at midnight -- Diana was waiting for me and we chatted until 2am. I had planned on attending Asia and Rebecca's birthday party, but I must admit that I was completely exhausted and had to throw in the towel -- blessed sleep overcame me.

On Sunday, I returned to the university buildings and experienced the odd sensation of being a tourist in your own city. In the afternoon, I met with Marianne & Sander, and we went for a drink in "De Grote Beer" (litt. 'The Big Bear'). The waiter who attended to us, however, was slightly.. strange. The moment Marianne moved her hand to choose a tea from the box, he closed it just a few molecules short of her fingers. He mumbled something indistinguishable, moved inside, and returned with another box -- this time leaving it on the table while moving away, which revealed to us the fact that he had fastened a wine glass at the back of his apron. At 5pm we were unceremoniously requested to leave because of another party that had engaged the spot, but undaunted we moved to Camino where I enjoyed my first Vasco (red wine) in months -- you cannot imagine how divine it tasted!

Dinner with my brother at 8pm lasted well until 11pm, and when I got home I finally got round to read a bit for an essay which is due soon(-ish).

Monday morning I woke up at 9am, and -I realise this must be a shock and sounds quite unbelievable but I swear it is true- got out of my bed at 9.10am. The reason was the beautiful weather! Truly, I have never expected myself to say this, but the weather in the Netherlands is wonderful! Around 10am I arrived at the university, and I studied a bit in the morning to be interrupted by Rose, with whom I studied (i.e. chatted) until 1pm.

After lunch with Jeroen I had to go to a meeting with someone about a possible internship at an academic publisher's -- naturally, I still had to figure out where the publisher was located, and I had not counted on the slowness of the Leiden computers.. In the end I had to hurry, but I made in almost in time! Just 3 minutes after 3pm! (which is something I'm quite proud of, moreover, I might have been in time if I hadn't missed the entrance door the first time I walked past it)

In the evening I had dinner with Diana -- it was very good except for the fact we had to wait over an hour for our food.. In retrospect, these two aspect might be strongly correlated.. However, it was a good opportunity to catch up, and the iced coffee with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it was a delicious dessert.

Camino with students of English (Anthe, Corianne, Tessa, Marina, Jeffrey and Hester) was the final stop for the day, and I enjoyed the taste of Camino's Chardonnay and some phonology talk!

Tuesday -already my final day in the Netherlands- found yours truly also up and about at 9.15am, and at 10am I had breakfast at the Bagels & Beans with some brave adventurers who had just returned from Saint Petersburg: Dorina, Gea and Alexandra. Around noon I met up with Rose again, and bumped into Marijn, with whom I had coffee and more phonology!

For lunch I met up with Annedith, and we ate our sandwiches in the Hortus -- also a highly recommendable pastime. Soon it was time to leave for the airport, and over a coffee at Starbucks (at Schiphol) Annedith and I ridiculed some people.

Just in front of the last check point, Ninja called me for a chat, but 10mins before boarding time I decided I'd better get going :). Although the hall was known (H), the gate, however, had not yet been revealed. At boarding time the sign luckily changed, though: "DELAYED". Of course. Life's like that.

However, I decided to take it as a sign and finally started reading for the essay that I'm currently writing. On the other hand, my bladder wasn't as patient, but I didn't dare to move to the nearest bathroom afraid that I'd miss my plane (furthermore, I had no clue where it was). Still, after more than an hour of waiting I decided that enough was enough and I left to find it -- it was -conveniently- located behind the check point.

Now, you can already guess what happened: when I came back into the hall the plane was boarding! And I had to go through the check point again, and because I was slightly panicked it didn't go as smoothly as I'd wished it. Nevertheless, I made it in time; the flight was uneventful except for the fact that I couldn't sleep properly because of a very ugly Scot sitting next to me (moreover, he was drinking a Bloody Mary, and I am not particularly fond of the smell of tomato juice).

When the plane landed on Edinburgh Airport I forgot all my worries, though -- it felt incredibly good to be home again! After the bus trip to the centre, I practically ran to my flat! It had been a great holiday in the Netherlands, but I am proud to call Edinburgh my home right now :D.

Now, I have procrastinated enough and have to get back to my essay. Finally, a totally random comment: Chardonnay & Vasco, gives CV which -incidentally- is a perfect syllable :)

Cheers,
Beata

“History of Sock” – W.N. Herbert

Sock is sold at
M & S slave block attached
at ankle to Siamese Sibling.
Owner frees Sock
with tender snip
of plastic connective tissue.

Sock is an inveterate something
without a bra, or
Sock is not an invertebrate, but
Sock is no sad sack, rather
full of shapeless hopes.
Sock regards Foot
as a parasite.

Sock is navy blue with
lycra and cotton content to
easily grasp Owner’s
concept of war against taste.
Sock empathises with Owner’s
restraint of irrational opinion;
Sock is a logical being.

Sock does not speak to
Sibling, whether
in drawer, basket or
resolving bin of deluge.
Sibling, on the other foot, regales
Sock with unlikely tales
of their common goal and bogcotton origins.
Sibling has
creative limpings.

Sock disdains creativity, sport
and sneakers, releasing heady
pungencies as defence.
Sock disdains lawn-treading
and weeding duties:
Sock is not a piece
of garden hosiery.

Sock is lost in soiled condition,
somewhere between Saturday
laundrette and
rented flat.

Dog in Voltairean mode
pisses on Sock.

Sock regards overnight stars
as possible subspecies of the cufflink.
Sock remembers being pulled on
to Owner’s hand
to be rolled over Sibling
in neat bundle. And
vice versa.

Further Dog in dog mode
sniffs and then pisses on Sock.

Owner having retraced sockless steps
locates Sock. Owner is appalled at
Sock’s apparent incontinence.
Sock is reunited with Sibling
to whom Sock does not speak:
Sibling limp-ankled poet, whereas
Sock has now seen Life.

Ninja @ Edinburgh

Hi there!

So much to blog about yet so little time! And, admittedly, I have not really felt like it. Recently, I’ve been inspired to write, though. Unluckily for you this fever is linked to my essay on ultimate attainment of late L2 speech production, rather than to my blogging activity. Nevertheless, I will make an attempt to catch up -- at least a bit. I apologise in advance for the poor writing style.

As I promised you before, this update will include a short overview of Ninja’s stay here (it would be impossible to try to limit that experience to mere words). In any case, Ninja was extraordinarily lucky as she arrived during the Student Festival Week, which is the students’ response to the fact that the two biggest happenings in Scotland (i.e. Hogmanay and The Fringe) fall outside university semesters.

She arrived in the evening; it is quite a walk from Waverley Station (where the bus from the airport arrives) to where I live, and that is why on our way we stopped to have dinner. The food we were served was quite interesting: it looked very good and appetising yet had no taste whatsoever (except for the oily taste of… oil). After dinner we dropped Ninja’s luggage in my room and together with Chiara we went for a pint at the Library Bar. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that evening, but rest assured, before you have finished reading this entry you will have seen enough (if not too many) pictures.

The next day, the weather was very fine, and the first thing we did was start climbing Arthur’s Seat.


Notice the rainbow in the top-left corner!


View on Edinburgh (rainbow included)


View on Edinburgh (Ninja included!)


View on Edinburgh (loch included)


View from the top -- I just love taking pictures from there!


Luckily I wasn’t the only one:


The picture below shows where I live, approximately (arrow on the left); and the right arrow points at the main library.


The place I am standing at is the actual top -- the other pictures are taken from a ‘near-top’ next to it; arguably, the near-top is the real top, though. I must admit I am not entirely sure which one is real; just to make sure, we’ve been on both.


The two of us sitting next to the ‘near-top’:


Magnificent view:


On our way back, we decided to take another route, which was a bit more challenging. The following picture is taken half-way; you can see we had come down a pretty steep path:


Naturally, the die-hards who have been on Arthur’s Seat will move on to St. Anthony’s Chapel -- as promised before (see entry on Jan 19), a bit more information this time. Prior to the 16th century, Holyrood Park was held by the Abbeys of Holyrood and Kelso. St. Anthony’s Chapel stands in the part which probably belonged to Kelso Abbey. The origin and history of the chapel are obscure, but it was certainly built no later than the early 15th century, as in 1426 it is recorded that the Pope gave money for its repair. The chapel may have been linked to the Preceptory of St. Anthony, a skin hospice, which was based in Leith around this time. The last chaplain is recorded in 1581. Although in ruinous condition, there is some indication from historical and archaeological research what it must have looked like; 18th century records describe it as being “a beautiful Gothic building, well suited to the rugged sublimity of the rock… at its west end, there was a tower… about forty feet high” (Hugot Arnot, The History of Edinburgh, 1779).


After our healthy exercise we decided to take a well-deserved break at Starbucks.


Since we were near the Scottish Parliament, we dropped in to listen to the MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament) debating about how to teach the subject of Scottish history at secondary schools. I will blog more about the Parliament at a later point in (blog)life.

In the evening, there was a ceilidh (pronounced “cay” “lee” ['kjhe:lji:] >> ok, the lay-out messed up my IPA transcript: it should read 'a palatalised aspirated [k] followed by [e:], then the next syllable starts with a palatalised [l] followed by [i:]; stress falls on the first syllable (hence the aspiration)') organised by the university union; a ceilidh is the traditional Gaelic dance in Scotland, but it is still very popular (at least among students). This night’s theme was “Irate Pirate Ceilidh”, barrels of pirate punch included, and hence Ninja and I dressed up as “Tesco Pirates”:


We thought we had put quite some effort into our costumes, but it turned out that Scots take theme parties very seriously: they had dressed up as if they were extras in Pirates of the Caribbean. They must have loads of clothing stuffed in their closets to make sure they have appropriate attire for every theme, and they have many (thematic) parties here.

The following day, we headed towards Princes Street, crossing the Meadows (park), passing Bobby Greyfriars (statue), and were forced to take a tea break at Elephant House (the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first drafts to the Harry Potter series) due to Edinburgh weather being at its best: it was frigging snowing!

After tea, we had a quick look at the castle but as (i) we had already visited the castle and (ii) the weather was uncompromising, we didn’t enter.



View from Edinburgh Castle; obscured by the snow. You can still recognise Arthur’s Seat, though.


Walking on to Princes Street, we shopped for a bit, and had some fish & chips at a nice place in Rose Street (which runs parallel to Princes Street). In the meantime, a blizzard had developed and we had to walk home through the raging storm. We might have taken a bus, but I didn’t know which one… I must admit that I am clueless as to the public transport network. We might have asked, but, after all, how many people can say they walked through a blizzard and survived?

In the evening, it was time for the German Bierfest (‘beer festival’): “Bodacious Bierhalle”.


After the Bierfest, we headed to the Library Bar (conveniently located in the same building).



On Friday, we started off with a Scottish Breakfast (I must admit it was the vegetarian variant), after which I had to go to class (MCLA) and had an article discussion (Crisma 2007). We had lunch at the main library, after which I had another class (historical phonology). In the afternoon we went to Old College (where the Law Faculty is situated) and visited the beautiful Playfair Library Hall, and up to Calton Hill. After dinner, we went to Peter’s place for a Kitchen Party (if I haven’t explained this before: a Kitchen Party basically entails getting together in somebody’s kitchen and drinking whatever you brought with you), which ended by going to l’Espionage, one of Edinburgh’s many clubs.

Me & Chiara:


Ninja & me:


Ninja, me, & Chiara:


Needless to say, it was a great evening. Without going into details, I will leave you with the information that I met a very nice Irish pilot, but I’ve never seen him since. We had a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, the next day Ninja had to leave. For the last time we walked on Clerk Street/Nicolson Street/South Bridge/North Bridge (the street keeps changing names) towards Waverley Station.


At the airport we had our last tea (Ninja) / coffee (me) together, and said our goodbyes. I was sorry to see her go, but it was a great holiday.

I realise that I am still very much behind, but now I’ve at least finished telling you about January!

Lots of love from Edinburgh!

Cheers,
B


"Where does phonology live? It doesn't live in the sky; it lives in people's heads." - Lecturer at Edinburgh University