The Flat

Welcome to our humble abode!  This post is just a glimpse into life in our tiny apartment here in Edinburgh.  

We live on Blackfriars Street, roughly halfway between Cowgate and the Royal Mile.  For those of you who have never been to Edinburgh, we're pretty much smack dab in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the Old Town part of the City.

So, if you were to exit from our place and turn to the right, you would be facing the Royal Mile:

Brian walking toward the Royal Mile.

And if you were to turn left, you would be facing Cowgate:

Our flat is the grey brick just above the cream paint - we're on the end!

This is the nice big red door that leads into our building:

Our building was originally built a long time ago as a tenement for blue collar workers during the industrial revolution.  There is a really faded plaque on the outside describing this, but it's so worn that we can't really make out much about the original date the building was completed.  At any rate, there is a further plaque on the side indicating that the last major overhaul occurred in 1871.  Our building, in its present form, is only 4 years younger than Canada...  

Once you come in through this door, there is a large entry way that has a couple different hallways and storage lockers and such in it, and if you look up at the stairs there is a nice big skylight.  The building has 4 floors, and thankfully, we're only up one flight of stairs!

This is the door to our flat, complete with cute duck-themed floor mat:

For this door we have the raddest set of keys!  They're all olden timey gigantic keys from medieval-type movies.  I'd take a picture, but the camera battery is presently charging...

Once inside, there is a long hallway that runs the span of our flat and joins all of the rooms:

Woohoo coat and shoe rack!

The bedroom is to the left of the door, the utility closet faces the door, and the bathroom, living room and kitchen are to the right.  When we initially saw pictures of the flat we had no idea there was a hallway, so we were pretty pumped to get this added space.

Due to the dimensions of the rooms, its pretty hard to get photos that accurately depict them, so these pictures don't really do justice to the living space, which we think is roughly 500 square feet.  The whole flat is painted a neutral beige/cream, which is kind of boring, but it is really bright and open inside.  The ceilings are pretty high and we have big windows too, so it is a really cheerful, but cozy little place.

This is our bedroom:

Which has a gigantic window, walk-in closet, and a further clothes closet.  The bed is a double and it's wedged into a nook, so it's kind of like being in a camper, which is fine for me because I like cozy little spaces for sleeping :).

This is our bathroom:

It is actually pretty huge in comparison to many of the flats we viewed online where you had to close the door into order to turn around.  The space has DIY stamped all over it, and includes ancient plumbing, a slight mildew issue, and those classic British individual taps for hot and cold water.  But, I've managed to get it to my cleanliness standard, and so I'm happy :).  It was a tad touch-and-go there at the start (the prior tenant had left it in a state that can only be described as "yuck", **shudder**), but a lot of cleaner, elbow grease and a new shower curtain put everything right :).  Our toilet was even made by Royal Doulton.  Eat that porcelain collectors :).

This is our living room:

This is actually a really comfortable spot.  We've got a dark brown/black leather two-seater sofa, a coffee table, and we've recently purchased a cute little breakfast nook table set to go by the window there.  Brian's clearly also got his music corner all figured out :).  The two-in-one washer/dryer is in a closet to the right of the couch and it works pretty great.  If you can buy Persil laundry detergent, do it.  That stuff works so well!  Basically a thimbleful does a full load, and despite the washer's size, it can handle a lot.  Very impressed.

And last, but not least, this is our kitchen:

It's super tiny, but it does all that we need it to.  The fridge is effectively a beer fridge, and the freezer is even smaller, but there are grocery stores within walking distance, so we try to only pick up food for use in the following day or two.  The stove/oven is old, but it's gas and so very simple to use.  It even has a broiler drawer in the middle!  Perfect for nachos!

So yeah, this is Chez Robertson :).  Because we're on a lower floor, the views aren't spectacular (a parkade on one side, the courtyard of several flat buildings on the other), but for the price and location, this little flat can't be beat.  I simply have to walk a block and a bit to get to school, and 500 m in any direction are loads of pubs, cafes, restaurants and shops.  Plus, one of the "haunted Edinburgh" tours has a stop right outside...  I can't wait to take that tour and figure out what happened here all those many moons ago :).

Ttyl!

M

Blogging from Edinburgh, Finally!

Well, we finally obtained access to the internet from home!  This only took three weeks and a bit, but the wait was worth it **sigh of relief at being reconnected with the world** :).

For those to whom we have not yet whined about the glacial pace at which one obtains domestic access to the internet in the UK, please let me explain.  In Canada we pay ridiculous prices for internet service as a result of the apparent lack of competition in the marketplace.  As well, each company (Telus, Bell, Shaw, etc.) is responsible for its own infrastructure.  So, Canadians are at the mercy of these giant companies for the provision of internet services in terms of pricing, but the companies employ their own technical staff to hook up the actual physical connections because all those wires and such belong to them.  Hence, if one were to call Shaw today, it is likely that a tech could be sent out within a day to hook up the service, should such haste be necessary.  This is not so in the UK, as we have learned.

Over here, the government (aka British Telecom, or BT) owns all the infrastructure, but multitudes of companies, large and small, offer internet provider services.  As a result, the cost of obtaining internet in the home is 7 Pounds for the acquisition of a landline (it's all ADSL) and then 15-ish Pounds for effective unlimited internet usage, per month.  HOWEVER, since BT owns and operates all the infrastructure, it takes forever to get a technician to come out to your place to hook you up.  The first quote we obtained from Orange UK indicated that it could take up to seven weeks for a BT engineer to come and hook us up...  We ultimately went with O2 UK because they actually called BT and we were able to set up an appointment for three weeks from the date of initiation of service.  

So anyway, the engineer came to our flat on the specified date (yesterday, we signed up on August 23 or something), and we are now elated to finally have access to such wonderful things as this blog!  Therefore, the unnecessary delay was not due to my ineptitude in keeping current, but because of BT seemingly only employing like 5 engineers for the whole of Scotland :).

But enough with the long-winded justification for the lack of Edinburgh Adventure blog posts, let's move on to the fun stuff!!

After waiting what seemed like forever for the day to arrive, August 20th creeped up on us pretty quickly.  It's actually kind of shocking to wake up one day (despite telling myself that this was coming for over a year) and realize that you are leaving all you know behind for some place (mostly) new and different.  It's exciting and scary, and some other strange emotion I can't quite put my finger on.  It's just a weird feeling.  Anyhoo, Brian and I managed to fit the large majority of our stuff into three hockey bags and some other smaller luggage, and we headed out the door to the airport.  

George on the stairs watching us haul luggage to the car.

Given the amount of stuff we were taking on this voyage, we were mildly concerned about being allowed to even get it onto the plane, but the staff at the United Airlines check-in desk was awesome and waived both the bag weight and size requirements for us.  High-five United!  But after that elation, it was time to head into the torturous realm of US customs, and so we had a slightly tearful goodbye (by 'we' I mean me, of course) with our parents before trudging off to be put through the security ringer.  Following only a mild amount of molestation, and putting our too-heavy-and-too-big luggage on the conveyor, we grabbed a coffee and parked ourselves in front of the flight info screens to wait the short time to boarding.

Happily waiting for the flight to board in Edmonton.

One minute we looked at the screen at it indicated that our flight was leaving on-time, and the next minute it indicated a three-hour delay...  This was kind of unsettling because our itinerary was such that we went from Edmonton to Chicago O'Hare, then O'Hare to Dublin, and then Dublin to Edinburgh (yes, I know that sounds tedious, but it saved us 50% in flight cost, so whatever), and we only had a little over an hour to get to the Dublin flight when we arrived in Chicago.  However, given the near riot atmosphere at the gate, it was apparent that we were not the only ones that were set to miss our connection in Chicago that day.  So, after standing amongst the angry mob and listening to the poor United gate staff apologize a bazillion times, I figured out that our plane was sitting on the tarmac in Edmonton all fuelled up and ready to go, but a huge series of thunderstorms in the Chicago area had effectively shut down all air traffic heading into and out of that centre, and that we had to wait for ATA clearance on the weather situation before the plane could board.  It was annoying, but there was nothing to do but wait it out.  Thankfully, the delay was only an hour, and we made it to Chicago A-OK :).

While waiting in Edmonton we met a girl from Newfoundland who was also traveling to Ireland, so we made a pact to meet up and run from the arrival gate in Chicago to the departure gate to Dublin together.  She turned out to be an epic find.  None of us had ever been to O'Hare before, which turns out to have its own LRT system as a result of its insane size...  So, after arriving a bit late (we caught an awesome tailwind, so the delay was largely made back), and then traversing the terminals and trains, we ultimately ran into a wall of people at the security entrance to the departure gates.  I personally don't understand why people are made to go through security again if they arrived in and haven't left the secure portion of the airport, and they were already strip-searched once, but, I digress...  By the time we hit the throng of people, our flight to Dublin was already boarding, and it was panic time.  Brian and I just stood there with concerned looks on our faces, with that complacent Canadian attitude where we'd rather be defeated than speak out of turn, but our new Newfie friend took the situation by the reins and just plunged ahead.  She'd politely ask the people in front of her if it was ok for us to butt in front of them because our flight was already boarding, and then just move past them without really giving them much of a chance to reply.  So, we just grabbed onto her and apologized our way through.  Everyone would just look at us with this confused look, as if they should be pissed off, but perhaps there was an emergency they didn't know about and they didn't want to interrupt.  It was great! All-in-all, we made it to the Aer Lingus gate just before it closed, which was a huge relief, and all due to our new friend Andrea, the Newfie :).

For the record, if you ever get a chance to fly with Aer Lingus, do it.  They are awesome.  From the telephone help line (whom we harassed a lot regarding baggage panic), to the check-in counter staff, to the in-flight staff, we were hugely impressed with their friendliness and helpfulness.  Perhaps this is because of having to deal with A/C a lot in Canada, but really, Aer Lingus rocks.

Another reason why we enjoyed our experience with Aer Lingus might have to do with the fact that we flew in business class on a relatively new plane.  It was one of those types where the seats reclined fully into little nook beds, you got noise-cancelling headphones to utilize the in-flight entertainment, and the food was real food.  The seats even had a lumbar shiatsu massage thing in them, and Brian was particularly impressed that the staff would give him two beers at a time :).

Brian enjoying his pre-flight champagne.

We arrived in Dublin on-time and not too worse-for-wear.  The airport was buzzing with activity because it was 8:30 am local time, but in our heads in was well past bedtime.  So, we grabbed a bite to eat, checked out the nifty shops in the airport, and found a quieter section of a restaurant to chill and wait for the connection to Edinburgh.

Brian, taking his chilling really seriously.

After a several hour wait, we were finally on our way to Edinburgh!  While we had been to Edinburgh twice before, we had never been here during The Festival (International Festival + Literary/Book Festival + Fringe Festival + Street Performers), so we had no idea what to expect.  Well, it was a wondrous sight indeed!  The sun was shining and the place was just crammed with people.  We took a taxi from the airport (there is a really sweet bus service, but with all our junk there was no way we could get on a bus) and when we crossed from suburb to central Edinburgh, there was just people and noise and busy-ness all over the place.  The taxi dropped us off at our flat building, we met with our glorious agent, Lucy, to get the flat's keys, hauled our luggage up the one flight of stairs to the flat (thank GAWD for only one flight of stairs!), and set off to see what the Festival hubbub was about :).  It's amazing what a little adrenaline will do to put off the effects of jet lag!  We wandered the beautiful streets for a bit, picked up some essential grocery items, and then headed back to our new home to get some much needed rest.

Well I think that's enough blogging for one night!  More to come, so please do stay tuned :).  

Hope all's great with you guys!

M