Going off the Calendar

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

I mentioned earlier that I just bought tickets for our trip back to the States.  It occurred to me shortly thereafter that, at least for me, this move will be somewhat unique.  Every other transition in my life has revolved around a calendar - the school calendar.  The years have been neatly divided into semesters since I was five years old, and as such, my various moves have usually been designed to have me where I need to be by the first day of school.  But now, there is no first day of school awaiting me on the other side of this move.  No orientation, no first semester.  When I board the plane bound for America, I will essentially be going off the school calendar for the first time in my adult life.  I thus finding it interesting that I will not only be moving into another country, but into a new kind of time. I am curious to find out what this will be like.

Setting a Date

Monday, July 06, 2009

Almost a year ago, I wrote about how buying the plane tickets to fly to Edinburgh made the whole experience finally real.  We were really doing this, really moving overseas and starting a whole new adventure.  Now, here it is, July of 2009.  Seems like we've been over here for years rather than months.  Edinburgh has changed from a foreign city into a place that we can call home.  But today, after much dawdling, I finally bought the plane tickets for our flight back to the States.  We have a date: August 27.  A date for the beginning of another adventure.  Once again, it's real.

The Fourth of July

Saturday, July 04, 2009

In my (admittedly limited) experience as an American living abroad, there are two days that really make you feel homesick for the States.  Those are, of course, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.  I've got to admit, Thanksgiving required a fair amount of improvisation.  We don't really have anything as good as an oven and have to get by with a combination microwave/convection oven, which only sometimes works.  The device is a bit on the smallish side, so turkey was definitely out.  We ended up cooking a roast chicken, which was fine, but it was still sad to miss out on the Macy's parade and all the other goodness associated with Thanksgiving.

Then there's the Fourth.  They do actually have the Fourth of July in Britain (it would be awkward to skip straight from the Third to the Fifth).  Sadly, it is not marked with either barbecues or fireworks.  Which makes sense, I guess.  I can see how the British might not want to celebrate the rebellion of their former colony.  In any case, it's odd to celebrate American independence when you are in the country from which America declared independence.  And, as Kellie remarked to me earlier today, the Fourth is really quite a good holiday: after all, there are no cards or presents to buy, no elaborate dinners to cook, just burgers and blowing stuff up. 

So, it feels odd to be in the wrong country today.  But, I guess it helps one to appreciate the meaning of the holidays we sometimes so mindlessly observe.

(The good news is that Rachel Baumann is actually randomly in town today, so we will be celebrating with a fellow American.  Huzzah!)

Heat Wave II

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Today, the heat wave migrated north and reached Scotland.  It got up to 86 degrees, which is apparently hotter than it has been in at least three years.  I believe I actually broke a sweat while biking, which is quite out of the ordinary.  While no one dropped dead (that I know of), I've gotta say: 86 degrees is considerably less pleasant when your flat is equipped with neither an air conditioner nor a fan.

Heat Wave

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Along the lines of the previous post, here's another bit of weather fun.  It has been widely reported by the BBC that there is a heat wave going on in England (though, perhaps not in Scotland, depending on your definition of "heat").  The UK actually has an alert system in place for heat waves.  This is true.  At the beginning of summer, the alert level is automatically level one, which means that we ought to be on alert, I guess, for the possibility of heat, in wave form, no doubt.  The system kicks into high gear when the temperature rises above the unbearable level of 30 degrees Celsius, a sweltering 86 degrees Fahrenheit.  This, over here, is considered really, really hot.  So hot that hospitals are prepared to receive an increased number of heatstroke victims.  And again, this is true, the alert system came about because the last heat wave in Britain, with temperatures over 86 degrees, claimed hundreds of lives.

Now, I certainly don't want to make light of deaths by heatstroke, which is a big problem even in the States.  However, it seems crazy to me that whilst the English are actually dying from their 86-degree heat wave, it is currently (1) cool and rainy here in Scotland and (2) over 100 degrees back in Texas.  I don't know quite what to make of that.

Extremes

Meteorologically, the weather in Scotland is rather mild.  The temperature in the winter rarely dips below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and in the summer rarely goes above 70.  Despite the relatively high latitude, it doesn't snow much, nor is there much hail or even thunderstorm activity to contend with.

This may be true on paper.  Nevertheless, I find Scottish weather (or at least Edinburgh weather) to be a study in extremes.  It is either so stunningly beautiful that it seems that the heavens are smiling down on our fair city, or else it is so depressing that you just want to close the curtains and crawl back into bed.  Sadly, I fear that our fair city is drifting toward the latter extreme.  A few weeks ago, we had a brief summertime here.  It was glorious and it lasted approximately one week.  The temperatures were high, the sun was out, there was little wind, and people of all ages were laying out on blankets in the park as if it was the beach.  But then the rain returned.  And, a dew days ago, an ominous haar drifted in from the North Sea  (I've spoken of the haar on here before, right?).  Each afternoon, the sun gets warm and it gets close to burning it off, but the fog is thick and insidious, and tends to roll back in during the early evening, blanketing everything.  In terms of weather phenomena, there's really nothing much worse than a fog, as it takes away everything: not only the sun, but the sea, the hills, even the buildings down the street.

Such a tumultuous place for such a 'mild' climate.  I'm hoping summer returns before the end of the summer.

Unrequested Aid

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I was sitting on the edge of the bed the other evening when Kellie asked, somewhat quizzically, "Did you hurt yourself?"  This seemed an odd question to me, as in fact, I had not hurt myself, at least not to my knowledge.  No, I replied.  She then pointed to my lower right calf where, sure enough, there was a band aid affixed to my leg.  How could this be, I thought, as I had not injured myself and surely had not applied a bandage.  As Kellie looked on, I removed the band aid and examined it, finding that it had indeed been in use for awhile.  But, examining the skin beneath the bandage, there was no evidence of a wound, either past or present.  Something odd was afoot.

It took me a few moments to realize what happened, but suffice it to say, I was not pleased.  The previous evening, Kellie had a scratch on her leg and put on two band aids some time before bed.  Apparently, in the night, one of them had peeled off of her and gotten stuck to my leg instead.  And, indeed, had been there for the entire day without me noticing.  The ENTIRE day.  Not only is it bizarre for a band aid to be nocturnally transfered from wife to husband, but to go unnoticed by either party for hours on end?  I was somewhat horrified at this, but Kellie of course thought it hilarious, and laughed at me until she started crying.  Good times.

Sandwich

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

I'm sitting here at at Starbucks near the Meadows, trying to get some work done on my very, very evil dissertation, when I notice that the list of available wi-fi networks includes one called 'thundercloud.' This, of course, makes me really, really want a Thundercloud sub. An Austin Club, perhaps. Sadly, I do not think their franchise extends to Scotland.

Accordion

Aside from the freshers upstairs who used to keep us up until all hours of the night with their incessant partying, I don't really know much about my neighbors. Everyone on our hall seems to keep to themselves, and we run into one another in the hall on surprisingly few occasions. Although the ceilings are apparently rather thin, the walls are rather thick, so there's not much one can really hear of one's neighbors' activities unless one ventures out into the hallway. That said, over the past months I have been able to discern a distinctive musical sound coming from the flat next door.

That sound, my friends, is that of the accordion. The girl next door has apparently been teaching herself to play, starting with very simple exercises and lately moving on to more complex tunes. And do you know what? I think she's gotten rather good at it.

Technology

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

As I boarded the plane that was to ferry me from Newark to Dallas last week, I came to my aisle seat to find that the center and window seats were already occupied. Sitting next to me in the middle seat was a well-dressed, well-groomed gentleman in an airline uniform - must be flying either to or from a job, I surmised. For some reason, he simply looked important. He was sending some emails on a shiny new iPhone when I sat down, but when the plane took off, he put it away. After we reached our cruising altitude, he rummaged around inside his bag and removed a case with the Sharper Image logo on it. Opening it, he revealed one of those sweet, but expensive, noise cancellation headsets. I figured he would be using the iPhone to listen to music, but to my further surprise, he removed from his bag a second case, this one containing one of those portable DVD players. After looking through a selection of movies, he selected an unmarked disc, put it in, connected his headphones, and sat back to relax. After all this nifty technology, I was expecting a flashy movie to appear on the screen, but imagine my surprise when the disc turned out to contain no less than four hours of pre-recorded soup operas, which he watched, sometimes dozing, for the entire flight.

I don't know whether it was the fact that this fellow was so contrary to the stereotypical soap opera viewer, or whether thousands of dollars of technology were being used to make this soap opera viewing happen, but either way, this struck me as the most amusing thing that could happen on a flight from Newark to Dallas on a Tuesday afternoon.

Maybe this was one of those things that if funnier when you were there.