Long awaited

It seems that a lot of time has passed since I last updated my blog. Since then a lot has been going on in my life! In August I took a week's holiday/'research trip' to Bonn/Cologne which was fantastic. Although it rained for pretty much the whole week, visiting Robert, Christian, Barbara, Joela and Nicole was great. It goes without saying that you five are all welcome in Edinburgh anytime!

Soon after returning from Germany I finished up working in both Schuh and the Rugby Club and packed up my student pad in Cardiff. At the expense of entertaining him for a few days in Cardiff, Brian helped me carry my stuff down the four floors to my car and accompanied me on the drive north to Edinburgh.

Having relocated home (i.e my parents' two-bedroom flat) I had left myself about a month to write up my dissertation. That time was the most stressful time I have gone through EVER! Suffering from the claustrophobia of working at home I regularly relocated to the local library or The Elephant House to put pen to paper. Nevertheless it was not until my parents jetted off on a month's cruise that I finally got the peaceful environment I craved. In the end, my dissertation on German versus European federalism was finally submitted, though I have to admit that I should have devoted more time and attention to it than I ultimately did. No matter, what's done is done!

At the tail end of this writing-up period I managed to get myself a job in Edinburgh working for Edinburgh South Liberal Democrats as a constituency organiser. While this job was both only 25 hours a week and a temporary contract, this job enabled me to make lots of acquaintances in LibDem circles and I found myself really enjoying working there. Unfortunately, the prospect of extending my contract could not be realised as funding sources were limited, however I have since landed on my feet, successfully obtaining a full-time position in Edinburgh West for John Barrett MP. I start in January.

At the start of December I took a wee jaunt south to Cambridge, London and Kent. Helen and myself took the train down to Cambridge to visit Ali and Andy. Overall we spent the few days being touristy, visiting popular landmarks, such as where Colin Firth struts under the cloisters in Pride and Prejudice!

From Cambridge I carried on south to London for dinner with my Cardiff flatmate Claire at Gordon Ramsay's pub The Narrow. I highly recommend it to anyone heading to the big smoke - it's an informal, dresscode-less bar/restaurant with the yummiest food at a reasonable price (no, Gordon is not paying me to advertise!). Afterwards I managed to catch up with Cat and Euan in Leicester Square. Day two in London was spent predominantly in and around the Dome. In the morning Claire and I visited the Tutankhamun exhibition. It was really informative but required a lot of concentration as each room followed the pattern of housing numerous artefacts with accompanying textboxes. Added to this, the whole place was mobbed, so, as you can imagine, my patience slowly deteriorated as I went round. After dashing over to Covent Garden to meet Tom for lunch and a wee walk down Regent Street, Claire and I returned to the o2 Arena to finally attend a concert that we had been waiting for for about 8 months...TAKE THAT!!! Unsurprisingly, the concert was fantastic and seemed to go by in a flash. It's a pity we weren't a bit closer to the action, beside the over-audience walkway ideally! To conclude my wee holiday, Claire took me to Canterbury to show me the sights. Claire will be glad to read that this trip finally dispelled my preconception that Kent may as well be called greater Essex! In a last little spurt of excitement on my way home, my two hour stay at Gatwick airport was dramatically enhanced by evacuation! Sadly (perhaps fortunately) the reason behind it would appear to have been a stray lit cigarette in a toilet but, nonetheless, standing in suspense on the apron for 40 minutes was pretty fun!

Over the Christmas period I have been dashing around, attending social engagements, visiting relatives and catching up with friends. Having run out of flowery language to describe this with, I think I'll just end with some fun photos!


So now it's Christmas Eve. I'm sitting cosily in my lounge watching Miss Potter with our Christmas tree twinkling on the balcony. Slowly, I will start jenning myself up for my organ-playing at church this evening. I am now the permanent organist at Drylaw church and this time of year is fairly demanding! At least, after tonight's performance I am rewarded with pressies. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!