North Queensferry

Brandon snapped this shot on our way down to the aquarium.

Last Friday we ventured out to North Queensferry. It’s the first stop on the other side of the Forth rail bridge and it’s a neat little coastal town. Our major purpose for going there was to go to see Deep Sea World, Scotland’s national aquarium. It was expensive, but totally and completely worth the 13 Pounds it cost each of us to get in.

We started out by looking at all the little colourful fish just inside the entrance. They were blue and green and orange and all of them amazingly vibrant. Most of them were pretty small but there were a few that were of rather substantial size too. Especially two in one tank that looked like grumpy and wrinkly old men.

The aquarium is broken down into different areas, one of which is called Jaws. There are all sorts of creatures there that are known for their teeth. In one tank there were huge catfish looking all mean and grumpy and in another a small school of piranhas. Larger, red bellied piranhas were a little further along and there was also a huge alligator snapping turtle sitting totally still in his habitat. He had a very nasty looking mouth and a wormy like thing wiggling away on the end of his tongue. That was the only thing moving as we watched him – without that movement he looked like a big rock.

Piranha!

Snap!

The best part of the day came next in our journey through the building, the underwater tunnel. It’s a 112 meter long aquarium holding 1 million gallons of water. There are countless fish and rays in there along with small and very large sharks. Just as we walked into the tunnel, just as we finished taking photos of each other “underwater”, we watched an angel shark working to hide itself in the sand at the bottom. It would kind of lift up and then slam its body back down and then wiggle and shudder to get underneath as much sand as it could. This happened over and over until all you could see was the top of its tail fins. We checked back in on it on our way out and it was still there just completely still.

Watch out Brandon!

This is the angel shark all covered up.

We lucked out and got to see the divers come into the tank to feed the fish. The big sharks stuck close to the surface while this was going on which kind of surprised me. The guide said that they get fed every other day and are used to getting their food on sticks so they don’t try to eat any of the other fish in the tank. Or the divers! The fish take chunks of food right out of the divers’ hands and some of them come back over and over trying to get back in front and get more. Especially the stingray – the guide said she’s the hungriest fish in the whole tank.

It almost looks like they have eyes on the bottom too.

We stood and watched all of the fish in the tunnel for a long time. It was so neat to see the underside of the rays with their smiling mouths and gills. They look like they’re flying as they float along through the water and that really reminded me of snorkelling in Mexico last Christmas. There were also crabs and lobsters in the tank but we didn’t see them much. We did see one eel, but only really his mouth and one eye as he peeked out from his hidey hole.

Creepy looking eel!

We left this area and spent some time trying to find sea horses. I found three in their leafy and bright aquarium. They’re super hard to spot as they’re very shy and nervous creatures. There was a tank full of little Nemo fish next door to them that we ooh’d and aah’d over and then we headed into the reptile room.

There really is a sea horse in this photo, I promise!

Nemo!

They had all sorts of icky and slimy creatures in there. There were brightly coloured, sticky looking frogs that are highly poisonous. In fact, I think all of the frogs they had on display were full of poison! Taking pictures of them through the glass made me wish I was seeing them in their natural habitat – how great would it be to see them sitting on a rock in the middle of a rainforest?

A poison arrow frog enjoying his mist.

Brilliantly blue little frogs. Also highly poisonous so no kissing these guys!

And finally we made our way outside to the seal sanctuary. The tank itself was not all that fabulous. It actually looked a little mucky and the smell was rather, well, nasty. But the two seals seemed to be having a good time. They are a mother and daughter pair and we watched them swim around a bit and then also watched them as they were fed. The older one, Morag, is 20 years old and her daughter, Heather, is 12. Heather did all sorts of tricks for her food but Morag was happy to just be rubbed and patted by the trainer. They use feeding time to look over the seals to make sure they’re in good health. I can’t remember just how much it was, but they said the seals eat the most fish of any of the creatures in the entire facility. It was funny to watch the seals roll themselves from the “beach” back into the water. It reminded me of little kids rolling down a hill – lean half way to one side and then throw yourself the other way and just roll and roll and roll to the bottom. It was hilarious!

This is Morag checking out the crowd.

Dinner time!

We left there a little reluctantly. It was a really neat place and with Simon Fish waiting for us at home, we kind of felt a neat connection to all those fancy fishes. I can’t imagine him getting as big as some of the ones we saw! We bought our souvenir magnet and headed back up the hill to find some lunch. We ate at one of the little hotels where we were nearly alone in the pub’s dining room. Best carrot and coriander soup I’ve had yet!

Back up the hill to the train station we went and after a bit of a wait, we got onto our train and made our way home. It was a really great day!

Today is Valentine’s Day but we marked the day with dinner on the weekend and with gifts and cards yesterday. On Saturday night Brandon made us a fantastic dinner of braised lamb, mashed parsnips and wilted spinach. Oh man it was good! I had a hard time getting past the fact I was eating something that used to be a cute little animal, but I promised Brandon I’d try it and I did actually like it. Yesterday he came home from work with a dozen absolutely beautiful white roses for me along with a card and a piece of cheesecake from one of our favourite little restaurants. He’s so good to me! I gave him an mp3 player so he has something to occupy his time while he’s on the train to band practice twice a week, and I pre-loaded it with all the piping tunes we have saved on the laptop. And I also bought a deck of playing cards and wrote one thing I love about him on each card. So sappy, I know. But that and the flowers and the cards all made for a really sweet evening.

Oh one more thing: Happy birthday Craig!

My Bus Goes There

While there are a lot of cars on the streets, this is by far a walking and public transport town. Owning a car here is not cheap. Aside from your insurance, there’s also your yearly MOT which is basically a safety inspection that you have to have done. There’s also a road tax. And there are toll roads. Then there’s parking which is not all that easy to find and like all cities, very expensive too. There are parking attendants walking up and down the major streets all day, every day. There’s not really such thing as a back alley so it seems that parking at home for most people involves finding a spot on the street (passes required) or for those with front gardens, converting them into driveways appears to be popular.

There aren’t trains here in Edinburgh other than those that go in and out of town so the bus is the way to go. There’s more than one official bus company and therefore so many different routes to take you everywhere. Right around the corner from home is our most regular stop. The 1 takes you in the direction of Princes and George streets so I take it to work and we take it if we’re going to the train station. The 35 goes to the Old Town, stopping right in front of Brandon’s work, and then eventually on to the airport. A five minute walk up nearby Easter Road gets you to London Road where about a dozen buses stop and in general, if you miss the ideal one you’re looking for you can usually catch another one that will drop you close by.

The usual fare is 1.30 Pounds for any single journey. There’s no such thing as a transfer which we’ve found very frustrating. But you can buy a day pass for 3.20 Pounds and that gives you unlimited travel all day until midnight. Finding exact change for the bus is not something either of us likes and we have tried out the use of both books of single tickets as well as monthly passes. The passes are only worth it if you’re using the bus twice a day, five days a week so we don’t do that every month.

The really great thing is that where we live, we are within walking distance to just about everything we need. There have been numerous times where we just walk instead of even taking the bus. Brandon often walks home from work and I walk to and from band practice every week rather than try to coordinate schedules and count out change.

There are definitely pluses and minuses to this walking and public transport culture. We’ve both lost a bunch of weight which is good but walking home after a long day spent on your feet can sometimes be more than you can take. We do both miss having a car. It would be so great to hop in and get out of town and grocery shopping would be so much easier. But I wouldn’t be surprised that wherever we end up back in Canada we’ll be looking for neighbourhoods that offer some of the things we’re used to right now.

In the Real World

I’ve mostly focussed in this blog about all the positive and wonderful things we’re seeing and experiencing. But I’d like to write today about the rest of the story. Turns out living in a foreign country is hard. Now that we’ve been here in our flat for three full months and away from Canada for four and a bit, we’re facing the reality that we are not on vacation. There are bills to pay – the obvious ones and the ones that seem to just pop up out of nowhere that you’ve never heard of before. Like TV tax. And the stair cleaning company. Seriously. We pay 10 Pounds a month to a company that comes in a couple times a week to sweep and mop the stairwell. I honestly don’t know how, on the wages that are common, people own beautiful flats, drive two cars and send their kids to private school. And take the lavish vacations I see advertised lately. Don’t get me wrong, there is money to be made in this city. But there is an obvious and blatant class diversity that I am not used to seeing.

We’re doing okay. We seem to be able to make it on what we’re bringing in. Things are about to get tighter because I just found out that my paycheques are going to be going down. Turns out this company pays you your contracted hours every week and then all of the overtime you work at the end of the FOLLOWING month. Confused? That means that starting this week, if I work more than my four hours that I’m contracted to work, I will not see that extra money until the end of March. I have no idea why this policy is in place and I have trouble wrapping my head around what could possibly be a reason for it. But I think we’ll be fine; we just have to be a little more careful.

I have an interview on Tuesday for an office job. Finally. And yes, all the eggs are in this one basket because this is the only basket that’s called me back.

One plus to not having a full time job yet is that I can keep up on keeping the flat tidy. Or well, most of the time anyway. Laundry seems to be a never ending cycle since the loads have to be so small and the drying time is so long. I’ve devised a clothes line in the living room though and that’s cutting the process a little shorter thankfully. It’s not terribly strong so only little stuff can go on it, and it does mean ducking under socks and underwear on your way to the couch, but it’s been a great help so far.

We both have other pressures now too in the form of pipe bands. Brandon’s band played yesterday at the opening of the Scotland vs. England Six Nations rugby match. It was great to see - or well, hear him play on TV. And I was so proud of him for this, his first gig with his Scottish band. He even played in the front rank! We both have a spring and summer full of competition days and both bands are starting to amp up the practice pressure. I’m finding it difficult to memorize the music for some reason. It’s a much different style than I’m used to and I feel like I’m constantly trying to catch up. I hate this part. If I could skip over this learning and putting it all together part and go straight to playing in the circle on the day, I’d be much happier. Sometimes I regret joining this band. I feel a little like I’m cheating on the Highlanders. But if I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t have any sort of social interaction outside of work so I guess it’s important. And I’ll be at all the games days that Brandon is this way too so that’s a plus. And I’ll play in the World’s. That’s pretty freaking cool.

Brandon’s work is going well. It doesn’t work out very often that we have days off together so when we do, we try to make the most of them. Next week we’re going to go to North Queensferry to see the Aquatic Life Centre. It’s supposed to be pretty spectacular. His boss is really good about working with Brandon to make sure he gets practice nights off and he gets along well with his co-workers. This is a much better fit than the first place he worked.

Someone asked me when we were packing up if I didn’t love the fact that everything I owned was going into my backpack. I said I hated it and I have to say, I’m still not liking it. We obviously have more now, but I find myself wishing for my garlic press and my purple skirt and a bunch of other things we left behind in my parent’s basement. And then there’s the Tassimo machine that my parents bought us for Christmas and added to the room full of boxes. That would be super handy right now. I crave Clamato juice fiercely. And I miss A&W. And I absolutely ache for a cuddle with Charlie every couple of days or so. But I already know I’m going to miss things from here too so I try not to think about all that stuff very much. I did find myself wishing I could go to Chinook Centre earlier today though.

I hope this post doesn’t come across as bad news or that I’m complaining. We’re very happy here. We both comment on a regular basis how much we love this city. I love the food, I love that people are friendly and want to hear all about why you’re here. I love that within an hour’s train ride we can see things that we’ve dreamed of seeing our whole lives. And I love that thanks to an amazingly generous Christmas gift, we’re going to Greece for a long weekend in March. Can you wrap your head around that? Greece. For the WEEKEND. Nuts!

We’re doing okay.