Charles and Camilla move in next door

Every year around this time, our neighbourhood is graced with the presence of its most famous residents, the Royal Family. Strangely, we have been present every year for the past three years when the helicopter has landed in the park behind our flat, and have managed photos on two occasions.

It's all very exciting. First, a hoard of police arrive in a van. Then, they go around telling all the kite fliers to take in their kites. Then they form a square at the corner of the park through which no one is allowed to walk. This involves much waving of arms and pointing at Japanese tourists and dog walkers. This is the point at which I arrived today. I knew what was about to happen, and my first thought was 'Sweet, some awesome photos for my 365 tonight!' So I plopped myself down on the grass to enjoy the sunshine for awhile. About 15 minutes later, the gates of the Palace open, a helicopter emblazoned HRH lands inside the square of policemen and a bunch of people get out and rush into the Palace. This year I was close enough to actually get a couple of photos of HRH in a kilt.

London: 15 - 19 May

Last weekend, Magnus and I went to London to visit some of our friends. We stayed with Pete and Melanie in their new house in Colliers Wood. They were absolutely brilliant hosts, and we had such a nice time. We had a BBQ on Saturday - Zach and Annalisa, Habba, Ali, and their little girl Emma, and a couple of friends of Zach and Anna all came.

Habba and little Emma

Pete overseeing the BBQ activities while we stayed dry and warm in the conservatory.

OMG - Mel's black bean burgers

Ali and Emma, and Magnus


Zach and Anna

Magnus enjoying a manly cocktail - 'Twinkle my lights'

Mel and Pete's sweet little kitty Pip

We had AMAZING sushi in Soho on Sunday night.

Magnus and Pete getting violent at the Trocadero

Blowing bubbles on the Tube

Walk in the park this evening.

One of our favourite things to do in the spring and summer is to take walks in the park after dinner. The weather this evening was crisp and clear, and it was perfect for clearing the cobwebs after a big meal. The light was absolutely lovely, and I took loads of photos.

Girlie Lunch at Sally's

Today, Sally hosted a lovely girlie lunch for myself, Giordana, Kiki, and Kiki's lovely kids. Sally made some unbelievable carrot orange soup, a huge salad, a wonderful loaf of bread, and some absolutely amazing scones. A wonderful tummy-filling time was had by all.

Can you tell I enjoyed my soup? (and my wine!)

Kiki and Milly helping with the scones.


These were AMAZING!!

I love Sally's flat - she has it done up so nicely. These are her spice jars on the open shelves in the kitchen.

Sally FOUND these cool letters on her street and painted them with chalkboard paint.

Her cool American-sized fridge

Our walk to work this morning

One of the things I love most about living in Edinburgh is the fact that I walk to and from work with Magnus almost every day. On mornings like this, it is a special treat.

Clinic, Errors, RememberRemember: 27 April

After our sun worshipping yesterday, Magnus and I went to see Clinic at Caberet Voltaire. The gig was part of the Tryptych Festival which puts on gigs and movies in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. We've been listening to them for awhile, and we managed to catch them in Glasgow awhile ago when they supported Arcade Fire. They were supported by the Errors (kind of forgetful electro-indie) and RememberRemember, who were also kind of forgetful, ironically. They did do this kind of cool sampling/looping/layering thing that was pretty interesting, and they had a very cool/nerdy saxophonist... but it wasn't really our sort of thing.

Clinic, however, were very excellent. We managed to get right down front, which in a small tightly-packed place like Caberet Voltaire isn't always easy. The crowd was pretty middle-aged and mellow (except for the beardy jumpy clappy guy next to us, but hey, he wasn't hurting anybody), and we had a very nice time drinking huge-ass Newcastle Brown Ales from the actual glass bottles (no bottle throwing at Caberet Voltaire!) and listening to some pretty sweet music.

Spring is springing!

We actually had some absolutely gorgeous weather here yesterday! The air smelled of spring, the sun had real warmth to it, and the breeze was uplifting rather than bracing. Magnus had to study for his exam (which I am happy to say he passed this morning!), so he grabbed his study guide and the picnic blanket, I grabbed my book and my ipod with speakers, and we headed out to Holyrood Park for a couple of hours of actual basking in the sun.

Unfortunately, the rubbish weather returned today, but yesterday certainly lifted our spirits... let's hope they stay lifted until the next fair spell!