Sky Parade and Dilettantes: 24 March

Last night, Magnus and I took the train to Glasgow to see a couple of bands, Sky Parade and the Dilettantes. We have been listening to alot of 60's-inspired 'neo-psychedlica' bands recently, and we came across Sky Parade while scoping out new bands on the internet. They were supported by the band fronted by a guy from our Favourite Band in the Whole Wide World, The Brian Jonestown Massacre. They were playing at a skeezy little place called the Barfly, and hardly anyone was there. It was awesome. Unfortunately, we had to leave about 20 minutes into Sky Parade's set to catch the last train back to Edinburgh, which was a shame. They were very cool.

This is the first band that played. It was only their third gig, but they did a great job. We can't remember their name, but I thought it's kind of a cool photo. I keep trying to get good gig photos without resorting to the flash, but I don't know how! So I gave up on the shaky unfocused shots, and used the flash for the rest.

The Dilettantes, fronted by Joel from BJM. They played really well, and their music is very cool, but I'm afraid Joel's vocals are a bit crap. The guy on the right sang a couple songs, which was a huge improvement.

More Dilettantes.

Sky Parade. Very very cool.

Paris: 18-23 February

Anyways, my folks asked if I would post some photos of our trip to Paris last month. It was our fourth anniversary on the 20th, and we spent a very romantic week in one very romantic city! We've managed to do something nice for every anniversary so far: first in Ireland, second in Durham, third in York, fourth in Paris. Next year: New York City, perhaps?

I think we took over 200 photos on our trip. We have an HP Photosmart R717 'point and click' camera, which takes reasonable photos. But I am always disappointed with how it handles 'abnormal' lighting conditions.

This is Magnus and I literally an hour after we arrived in Paris. We had a very early morning flight from Edinburgh, which meant we had a whole first day. And what a day it was! It was a crisp, clear winter day. The longer I live in Edinburgh, the more I appreciate these days. These days help you get through the long, dark Northern winter! We took this right outside Notre Dame, which was our first stop of the day.


We walked along the Left Bank, and came across this fine anatomically correct fellow. I thought he was fabulous.


We took a breather on a bench on the Left Bank. One of the things that I loved about Paris in the winter is that you are frequently ALONE in the city. Look behind me - there are no other human beings in the shot. All of the usual touristy places were as busy as you would expect, but as soon as we strayed from these spots, we often seemed to have the city to ourselves. Notice how my camera struggled with this one - the bright sky caused me to be underexposed, I think. I know this can be adjusted afterwards, but I don't know how!!

This one doesn't require a caption, I think!

I think you will agree that the hard pointiness of the Eiffel Tower perfectly complements the soft fluffiness of Magnus' beard.

This is us on the Eiffel Tower.

Magnus was very brave, and took this photo of the l'Arc de Triomphe from the centre of the Champs Elysees with traffic whooshing past on both sides.


We were sitting on a bench in the Jardin des Tuileries having a yummy lunch of baguette and cheese (yes, the weather was nice enough to eat outside - in February!!) when we suddenly realised we were surrounded by dozens of pairs of beady little birdy eyes. It took some doing, but we finally got a shot of one of the little buggers eating out of my hand.

We both thought this was hysterical. We love pigeons.

The Louvre. It wasn't open the day we went, but we hung out in the courtyard watching people for ages.


Sacre Coeur. This was the only day that wasn't all that nice. Cold and overcast. But we somehow didn't get rained on.

The famous Moulin Rouge.

We took this photo on our last day before heading to the airport. It was another absolutely gorgeous day. We had been trying to find a British pub to watch the rugby match in, but the whole city was overrun by English rugby fans, and every pub was packed. So we found ourselves a secluded little garden bench and just sat for ages, enjoying the view.

My first post!

Well, this is my first post on my new blog. I am not going to kid myself that anyone is actually going to read it, but the ice needed to be broken!

I have yet to decide what to actually DO with this blog. I've always been of the opinion that personal blogs are merely an outlet for the self-absorbed to brag about their kids/travels/poetry/music/art/pets/etc. My accomplishments in all of the areas are modest at best and non-existent at worst, so this will not be what my blog is about.

My first idea is to use it as a means to share experiences and photographs of our little life here in Edinburgh with the folks back home. Magnus and I are rampant photo-takers. Our computer is literally stuffed with photos we have taken on holidays and weekends around Edinburgh, and I would like a way to share these with my family. My mom and dad will probably be the only avid viewers of these photos, but hey, that's ok!

My second idea is to use it to motivate myself artistically. I enjoy binding small and modestly attractive books in leather and vintage fabrics. I have given away many of these as gifts, and have sold a handful at craft fairs, but I haven't really seriously applied myself to it yet. I think that having an outlet for sharing my books might motivate me to pick this up again.

Also, I have been thinking about investing in a digital SLR camera, and actually learning how to take decent photos. This will be a big step for me, because I never stray from the 'auto' setting on my simple point and shoot compact digital camera, and I have never even attempted to tweak a photo with a program like PhotoShop. I like the idea that my photographically gifted father might be able to offer me sage advice and constructive artistic criticism from thousands of miles away.

I don't 'internet' as much as I used to. Maybe that's because I binged so much when I was younger. Gorged, even. Now I think I have swung the opposite way, and I can barely sit down in front of my computer long enough to jot off a quick email. Literally. I can't remember the last time I logged into Facebook or MySpace. This means I have been absolutely unforgivably poor at keeping in touch with people I really do want to keep in touch with. Maybe this will help me to regain a healthy level of internet usage, and I can develop a social internetting habit once again.

We'll see! I have every intention of following this through. But the danger is that it might go the way of Facebook, and in a couple of months I won't even be able to remember my password.