Bug Unit

My brother in law Neil takes a lot of time detailing his procrastination on his blog. By writing this entry I am doing a little of the same. Basically, I will admit that this blog post is procrastination, but I won’t divide it into sub-categories.
We have had an exciting weekend in Edinburgh, and things can only go up from here.
On Friday night Kyle, Isje, Jack and myself went out for dinner at a nice cheap restaurant in Edinburgh’s student quarter. You always know when you are in the student quarter, because you get specials. On Friday night we took advantage of the special at The Assembly that gives you two main meals and a bottle of wine for £14. To those not earning in pounds, don’t convert. Just trust me that it is cheap. To give you perspective, a large pizza from Pizza Hut is about £10, and a bottle of wine when you are out is usually £10-£12 for a cheap bottle. So this is why I love The Assembly. I had a Thai chicken curry, which is the other reason I love The Assembly. So then two bottles of wine, four main meals and 28 pounds down, we headed off to this club called Frankensteins. The club calls itself The World Famous Frankensteins (1818), but I think they are just preying on the famous name. Although, Frankenstein was written in Edinburgh. As was Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Notice a theme?
Anyway, I digress. Frankensteins is very cool, in an old building, and has a nice vibe. We got another bottle of wine and began bopping to all manner of disgustingly pop-y songs, and enjoying ourselves. As the wine finished Kyle and I became even more animated. But I confess that it was my idea to get the people next to us to take photos of us. I think my line was ‘Can we be in your photos? We’re South African.’ It turns out that one of the people with a camera had worked with some South Africans at Disneyland, Florida, and so took our picture(?). So somewhere out there is a photo of Kyle and I, red eyed and red lipped. Nice.
We left Frankensteins to get the last bus home, and who should we meet on at the bus stop? A Zimbo guy who went to Hudson High School in East London, where my friend Laura’s mom is a teacher. Yes, he knew her. Yes, the world is a ridiculously small place. He even invited us to a dress up party, but I am not sure when.

So Friday night was good. Saturday morning was a bit sketchy, but nothing that some water and Ibuprofen can’t fix.

Saturday was St Paddy’s Day. St Paddy’s now always makes me sad, because it reminds me of my Grandad and my Uncle Bruce. You see, my Grandad’s mother was Irish, so every St Paddy’s Day my Uncle Bruce used to take him out for a beer to celebrate. Both of them died very suddenly in 2004, and so it was that I found myself sitting on the couch, crying at the St Paddy’s Day music special with Westlife singing ‘You raise me up’. It isn’t something I can help. It even makes me sad writing about it.

Later, we got into a more celebratory mood. Isje and Jack had a couple of friends coming over, so we made some green vodka jelly, and got some chips and roast pepper hummus and naan bread, and started the day off. Luke and Christy were really nice and friendly, and we all got along well. They also gave us a chance to gloat somewhat. They live with a man who has really bad psoriasis and wears a little white nightie. He uses the communal coffee to exfoliate his itching skin in the kitchen sink. He also only believes in reading by candlelight, and refuses to let the other digsmates use his dvd player since they had a fight about what to watch. Kyle told Isje and Jack that they should be more grateful for us, and buy us more presents.

We then headed out to The Three Sisters pub on the Cowgate to watch rugby and drink Guinness (well, I drank Guinness and Kyle drank vodka, but who cares. Only my drink had a shamrock on it and his didn’t.)It was freezing cold, and very windy. The bar was also packed. But I had a steaming bowl of Irish stew, and the Guinness helped, and we moved inside and overall had a great time, except for when some drunk man threw up on Isje’s jacket. Photos will follow, and then everyone can finally see our housemates.

This week presents much excitement as well. On Friday Muppet and Tamaryn arrive in town to be shown around Edinburgh for the weekend. Yay! I plan to do so many touristy things, and also gloat about how much cheaper Edinburgh is than London. Then on Sunday night Louise and Rob arrive to stay with us until Wednesday. Yay. So many friendly faces, and South African accents. I cannot wait.