Hi all ye wonderful people who for some strange reason feel compelled to check out this nefarious blog on a regular basis in the vain hope that it has, as by magic, been updated and that there might actually be something of note here. I appreciate it though ;-) Crazy though you may be :-)
At the moment I'm in Manchester, enjoying seeing all the people I used to work with...over 13 years ago.. Christ how time flies... I was seventeen when I was here last working at a Solicitors office enjoying the big city life although I was, technically, far to young to enjoy it ;-) Nothing much has changed though... well apart from me now being a single mother of two, technically uneducated ;-) and on her way back to University....


Been having an excellent time here in Britain, gallivanting around flashing my very endearing smile at unsuspecting Scottish, Welsh and English people. I spent the first week in Edinburgh being part of a group of Icelandic teachers having a browse around the various primary schools as well as attending university lectures both there and in Glasgow, great fun as you can imagine. To keep in shape I've made sure that every night I lift weights, admittingly most of the time it's only my right arm ;-) The local term here I think is something akin to "lifting a pint" :-P apparently I'm getting pretty adept at it as well, even knowing how to say cheers in welsh ;-) We stayed at this really nice Hotel (expensive as hell) where I (of course) got to know the night guards well ;-) well after poor Sigruns incident I kind of had to.. she had this severe bout of allergy one of the first nights there and literally spent the rest of the trip in hospital :-/ Lucky me I got ride in a Scottish ambulance and to spend one night in the emergency ward waiting room ;-) you can imagine the colourful characters I saw there, even had the whole waiting room checking their pockets at one point because I didn't have any change on me and after having been there for four hours I was literally dying for a coke !! but it was fun, never seen so many bashed up drunk men in kilts before in my life ;-) not kiddin..
The first night there I had my first "lock inn"....i.e. for those of you not familiar with the term it merely means that the pub has for all intents and purposes been closed to the public and those left inside are just "friends of the owner having a party" this is due to the fact that the pubs here close at 11 !!??!!


Then I spent a few days seeing the Scottish Highlands, visiting each and every castle we passed. My favorite by far was of course Eilean Donan !! (Pronounced eelandonan) If the quote "I am Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod" rings any bells you can see why ;-) Had an excellent time there, one of those snapshot memories if you catch my drift, .. sitting in the sunshine up on a wall (o.k. so one wasn't technically suposed to go there but anyway) in good company looking over the castle walls, accross the lake and onto the mountains.... Mesa wantsa ...
Then we went up west alongside Loch ness, sorry no I didn't get to see the Monster :-( I did however ask my friend Callum to go splash around in the Loch in order for me to take pictures of at least "a" monster in the Ness Loch but for some strange reason he thought I was joking ;-) Spent a while running around Urquhart castle, still on the shores of Loch ness. Oh well, the up accross the higlands we went, seeing some Hoolankoos (apparently the correct spelling is Highland cows but I assure you that's how it's pronounced ;-)
Once accross the mountains we arrived at this litle paradise of a place .. called Plockton, doesn't sound like much but picture this, a fjord (or a firth as they call'em there) a castle on the far side and on your side this idyllic british village, white washed houses in a row along the shore, little boats on the water, their relection almost perfect in the still water and the leaves on the palm trees slowly moving in the breese....YES the PALM TREES... !!!! The following day we went accross to the isle of Skye where on the top of a deserted mountain in this island in the north of the middle of nowhere Callum very bravely allowed me to try my hand at driving on the wrong side of the road (I'm pretty sure he's still regretting that ;-) Had a wonderful time in and even more so around, Dunvegan castle. Had a slight fall in with the Scottish thistle....;-P

Then I went for a spell to Wales, again visiting friends and looking for castles ;-) The first one we visited was Conwy castle, where I immediately chose a tower for myself and have very vivid images in my mind as to the interior decor and the library..kitchen?? what kitchen...? does one need one of those as well ?
O.k. I have now spent over ten quid just to use the net here :-/ so I think I might have to leave my Welsh tales until later. Once I'm done here I'm off to Sheffield for a university interview, going to meet up with a professor to discuss the possibility of a joint Ma in Folkloristics and Japanese next year...fantasy world filled with never ending student loans here I come ..!
Then later that evening, i.e. on the 27th.my brother is bringing the kids down from icelandand dad will be arriving up from Rome and we're al going to meet up at Heathrow, rent a cara and then speed off down to Devon, Seaton. There we'll be spending a week at my aunts place, which I am told is right on the beach, in which case the kids are going to have the time of their life !!!

Looking forward to seeing the kids again, have a bit of a withdrawal syndrome there, missing the hugs and cuddles ;-)

Then it's just back to Iceland, to redecorate my town place seeing as we're moving south, had enough of teaching for a while so I'm going back to school.

Anyways, enough blabbering for one letter, hope this sees you all well, stay in touch ;-)

Cheers,
Gunnella.