Behind the second door was a UFO

Well here I am.. at home.. alone.. and what bliss!! It has been another hectic couple of weeks. Last weekend I caught the bus to Edinburgh with a couple of friends. Think about it- a BUS to SCOTLAND from LONDON. It is not a great prospect. The journey scraped in at just under eleven hours and we made it home in a speedy ten and a half- non-stop! Even if you are from a country slightly greater than Great Britain you have to admit that is a long bus journey.

But it was only fifteen quid return.

The UK was hit by storms last weekend though we didn't see much of one ourselves on our rush up the country. I left London in the rain and wind and we arrived into Edinburgh in the wind- strong and cold. Not even a mulled wine at the German Christmas market near Princes' Street Gardens helped to take the edge off.



But the next day it was beautiful- clear blue skies were the order of the day- as was the full British breakfast I ordered. Lovely:)



we went up to the castle to admire the views and it was fantastic. The bus ride was forgotten. A mad rally of shopping helped to block the pain a little too.



Then it was Monday morning and time to head home again. Highlights of the trip include the complete bafflement of my French and Brazilian friends everytime a Scot opened their mouths and their wide eyed amazement at the amount of kilts worn after the rugby on Saturday.

I felt almost jetlagged on Tuesday when I went to work and had horrible toothache which was so bad I had to ran out of my morning class to go and get some painkillers. Didn't stop me nipping to the pub for a pint after work though to catch up with Sarah.

Wednesday I went out for a few jars with the folks from work- teachers rather than students for a change. Thursday was my last day in my Spanish class so we went out after to say goodbye or rather chao. I don't know what I am going to do on Thursdays now for the next five weeks at least until I go away. Since I started the classes (thirty weeks ago) I have found that my weeks have just rushed by- I have barely started my Monday morning and then it is Thursday again.

I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying learning a new language and it has impacted on my teaching too, of course. It was actually a resolution that I made on the way home from New York to London last year rather than something I decided to do after making plans to go to Colombia. My last teacher said that my writing was very good and both he and the last teacher said that I don't sound like an English person when I speak Spanish- which is cool I guess! the problem is that I really lack the confidence to speak. And I get more opportunity than my classmates because I spend a lot of my day with Spanish speakers. But it will come.

Last night I met Perrine and brought her back to Grays so that she could help Penny and me with the painting. Penny has done most of the work- OK, pretty much all of it- so I thought that getting an extra pair of hands would be the least I could do. We had a fun day today all getting covered in paint. I had forgotten how much fun it is to have a visitor too.

Post-painting I took Perrine into Grays town centre where she was overawed by the 99p shops.. in fact she loved it so much that she wants to come back next weekend to continue the shopping. And it took us two hours to get from London to my house last night so she has vowed never to complain about the bus journey to work again!