The Big Birthday Bash

It has taken a little while to recover from our wild weekend in London but at last it is time to chronicle the passing of a milestone for Frank – the big 60! It was his weekend to plan whatever he wanted and he wanted… records! So to the big vinyl market in Spitalfileds we went. It is held the first and third Fridays of each month so we needed to be there a few days before his birthday. No problem!

We headed down to London on Thursday night on the Caledonian sleeper. Yup, like in the old movies! We had a cabin with a double bed and a “bathroom” – a closet that doubled as a toilet and a shower. Very entertaining! We left Aberdeen at 9:45 and had some prosecco and snacks in the dining car before heading to what we expected to be a peaceful night with the gentle rocking of the train to lull us to sleep. HAH! That might have been the case if it didn’t feel like the tracks didn’t quite line up and a few of the wheels were ready to come off! The rattle of the carriage as we barrelled throught the darkness was anything but soothing. And then there was the “bathroom” door which didn’t quite shut snuggly and so knocked incessantly until we stuffed towels in the latch. So a goodnight’s sleep was not to be found – but it was an experience!

So we were a little trainlagged (?) when we arrived in London and made our way from Euston to Spitalfields where our AirBnB was located – right across the street from the market! And right upstairs from a fish and chip shop! With the front door in an alley behind rubbish bins! Yay! 🫤 But we are intrepid travellers so we dropped our backpacks and headed for the market where the next several hours was spent rifling through vinyl old and new.

We then spent the rest of the day wandering around the east end. For all the times we had been there, it was always just a stop on the way to somewhere else so to actually spend 3 days there was definitely a different experience. We were AMAZED by the street art in Shoreditch, where hipsters and vintage clothing stores are amazingly thick on the ground. Here’s just a sample. The photos don’t do justice.

To be honest, most of the weekend was spent walking around, looking for records, eating things we don’t get in Aberdeen (Peruvian, Vietnamese, etc.) and just relaxing. We spent as much time out and about as possible, avoiding the stuffiness of the flat – opening the windows during the hours that the chippy was open was not advisable! – and day drinking. They’ve elevated it to an Olympic sport in London with “happy hour” specials for the entire day on Saturday. And of course we had to join in the fun… although it actually wasn’t our idea…. really!

If you followed our adventures in Portugal on the travel blog, you may recall the Hungarian friends we made at our cooking class. Well one of them actually lives in London so Alexa met us for lunch and then suggested that we try the cool cocktail bar down the street. And everything went weird from there! It was two-for-one that afternoon so you order one drink and get two. They obviously weren’t as strong but there was no measuring going on and just lots of beverages being handed round. The crowd was quite lively. We were well into our second or third round of two fisted drinking when the bar staff started dancing on the bar and throwing ice. And so it went for the entire afternoon. Alexa headed off to meet other friends and we managed to find somewhere to eat and get back to the flat without too much mishap.

Sunday was more of the same with stops at Brick Lane Petticoat Lane market. We had covered Camden Lock the day before so we had the east end street market scene pretty much covered. So we watched Spain score against England (the only goal… ugh) and then headed one of Frank’s favorite breweries to quaff more beverages. We ended the day with an Indian on the famous Brick Lane before it was time to get ready to pack for home. We were taking the train home as well but this time NOT the sleeper but first class on one of the long distance trains. Monday was the big day itself so everyone wished Frank a happy birthday and we enjoyed the free drinks in first class all the way to Aberdeen. Now it is time to let the liver recover.

Now back to reality….

A Grand Day Out

(Cue the Wallace and Gromit theme tune!)

I love the British pragmatism of the “Bank Holiday Monday.” People need a day off occaisonally and there’s no reason why a designated and named day is required. Let’s just close all the banks and offiical offices on a Monday and call it a day off. It’s even better when not everyone gets the day. This past Monday was the spring Aberdeen Bank Holiday so I had the day off and it was time to go explore! Weather in Aberdeen didn’t look promising so we headed north to Moray where the sunshine was glorious and the temps were comfortably around 16 or 17 C (60ish for the Farenheit folks).

Starting in Elgin, we played tourist at the cathedral, parts of which date back to the 13th century. It is the historical home to the Bishop of Moray. Even though most of it was destroyed during the Reformation, the remains are still an impressive structure. We learned all about stone masonry, climbed one of the towers, wandered the graveyard, and got to see Bishop Archibald’s reconstructed effigy from his burial in 1298. Astounding to think of how old things are!

With our history itch scratched, it was time for lunch so we were off to the garden centre for some baked potatoes and paninis. If you have not yet experienced a Scottish garden center, you are in for a treat. Not only do they sell plants, outdoor furniture and other garden implements, some sell furniture or groceries and booze as well. And every one that I have ever been to has had a cafe that did everything from scones to roasts. This one was no exception and while we could have had the pork loin or haddock mornay, we decided to stick with simpler fare. We wandered around the town while our lunch settled and then it was time to hit the road – there was more of the north coast to explore.

A braugh sunny day is the perfect day for the beach so off we went to Lossiemouth – at the mouth of the river Lossie! We stopped to get some ice cream from a shop selling more types of sweets that I’ve seen in ages. Then it was time to walk the gorgeous sandy beach with our sweet treats (including sour plooms and shrimps!). We even found the campsite where Frank thinks his family went on holiday MANY years ago!

Then a short drive brought us to Cullen, an amazingly lovely seaside town – possibly one we could see ourselves retiring at someday. More wandering about town where we found: public toilets labled in Doric (I’m the quine, Frank is the loon) and a very bright dinosaur head sticking out of an empty building. Apparently this has caused much concern amoungst the locals – it even lights up at night!

But that wasn’t the highlight of the day: not far off our route home was the village of Pennan where much of the movie Local Hero was filmed. One of my favorite films, I had to stop by and see the iconic phone box that is so important to the movie. So here’s my little taste of Hollywood (freshly painted too!) All in all, it was an amazing day!

A “business” trip

A short jaunt to Switzerland isn’t enough to merit detailed updates on the travel blog but it would be a shame not to document the incredible time we had touring Switzerland for a few days with friends. I did, in fact, have a business meeting to attend: it just happened to be the day after my birthday which prompted the idea of spending a few days having fun for my birthday before doing that work thing. So we did!

There were many firsts on this trip. First time leaving Aberdeen airport at the a**crack of dawn. I was very glad that the taxi app I used to book a cab at 3:45 AM did not let us down. Of course, the lack of traffic here at that ungodly hour meant that we actually got to ABZ before the counter was open to drop off our bags. Eventually they were ticketed through to Zurich (forshadowing….) and we had plenty of time for breakfast before our BA flight to Heathrow. Just like Rochester and Kansas City, you can’t really fly anywhere from Aberdeen without changing planes and for this trip that meant braving Terminal 5.

And you probably guessed that it didn’t go very smoothly. Let’s start with the fact that we were both denied boarding through the automated gates. Frank’s boarding pass flashed “seating assignment” and mine flashed “boarding denied.” Seriously!?! Frank got a new boarding pass which worked fine. I did not. But the gate agent eventually gave up trying to fix it and let us both board. Even though were were literally the last people on the plane, we still had plenty of time to sit and gaze out at the tarmac before take off. That’s when we noticed Frank’s suitcase sitting on the ground outside the aircraft all by itself. We then watched a baggage handler pick up the bag, through it on the cart and drive it BACK to the terminal! ARGH! We altered the flight attendant who had the captain radio to the ground crew. No, we were told, it must have been a mistake because all the bags for this flight were loaded. Are we sure it was our bag? Um, yes? How many green LLBean cases with neon yellow handles do you think pass through LHR Terminal 5? It’s not like it was a random black Samsonite. But maybe we could be wrong.

But of course we weren’t. We get to Zurich and there is only one bag. We think things are fine because there are two more flights from London to Zurich that day so surely we will only have to wait a few hours. Nope. It took two days for the bag to arrive. But we didn’t wait for it. We had several busy days planned. Starting with exploring different places around Lake Zurich and a fantastic racelette dinner with our wonderful travelling companions. The next day we were headed south in the intermittent rain and grey skies that would be with us for most of the trip. But that didn’t stop us from having a lovely time visiting Einsiedeln abbey and the Black Madonna – so much pink marble!!! Then it was time for lunch while cruising Lake Luzerne where we saw the place where Switzerland was founded. A visit to the Willem Tell monument and a cup of coffee in Altdorf rounded out the day.

We were spending the next two nights in a hotel owned and operated by the Swiss National Bank with the most amazing views of the surrounding Alps. A “quick run” before dinner turned out to be a seemingly vertical hike up (then down) the mountain where my shorts and Tshirt were not quite appropriate for the light snow that started. But dinner was excellent and put us in just the right mood for what I have since dubbed the “Playroom Olympics”! The hotel had both ping pong and foosball in the kiddy room but since there were no kiddies about, we took it over. Scotland vs Switzerland. A mixed bag of results – mostly Switzerland kicking our butts but there were a few redeeming shots in ping pong before we hit the hay.

The rain the next day meant that the many outdoor activities on the agenda would be a bit soggy. However, it turned out that the calendar would be our worst enemy since most of them were not yet open for the season. So it was off to an amazing the amazing Giessbach Falls with the accompanying art deco hotel on Lake Brienz. Amazing! A hard act to follow but the St Beatus caves held their own. Nearly 1km of tunnels into the mountain with so many cool rock formations. So amazing! Back to the hotel for cocktails, another fantastic dinner, and round two of the Playroom Olympics. This time Scotland managed to not be embarrassed at foosball but completely lost all ability to play ping pong. I think we needed to be happy with the Silver medal!

One last fun day before work which was MY BIRTHDAY! And I awoke to about 10 cm of snow! (We were in the Alps!) As we drove down from our 1400m height, it mostly became rain but as we were headed to the Swiss Museum of Transport, there was no worry about the weather. We mostly stuck to the planes, trains, and automobiles so we’ll need to do the planetarium and chocolate parts next time. Still a fantastic time all around. Then a little wander around Luzerne with the famous bridge – including some shopping – and it was time to head to Zurich to prepare for the work stuff. As we approached the city, the sun came out and provided some much needed warmth and vitamin D.

The work stuff happened and then we had some more time to wander around the city in the sunshine. We made the obligatory stop at the Fraumünster to see the Chagall windows, did a little more shopping and cocktails before meeting friends and colleagues for dinner. Then the trip was pretty much complete. The flight home was less painful (although I will avoid Heathrow at all costs now!) and we managed to arrive with all our belongings where they should be. Now to prepare for the next trip scheduled for 5 days later…..

Just a few photos from the trip. Nothing could do it justice.

Weekend Wanderings (and Whisky!)

Even though it is far from tourist season here in the highlands, we are not letting that stop us from exploring our new place. So it was time to head north west to visit the land of Speyside malts and see what there was to see.

We headed out Saturday morning bound for Dufftown – a small village that happens to be home to Glenfiddich and seemed to be in the middle of lots of things. Well Google maps can be deceiving! Dufftown is fine – the hotel we stayed at was basic but clean and comfortable – but at least in January there is NOTHING to do. Luckily we had booked a tour at the Glenallachie Distillery in neighbouring Aberlour so we had our Saturday set. Frank had never heard of Glenallachie until we stopped at a whisky shop in Inverurie over Christmas and he got a little sampler pack. It seemed like as good a place as any to visit so that’s where we started.

For those who tour such things (wineries, breweries, etc.), you’ll know that there really isn’t much difference in how one place operates compared to others. We have toured many distilleries in the past (to the point where we once had the oldest child at about 12 roll her eyes as she answered questions about the spirit safe at one place!) so the production process was familiar. What is now interesting to me is the business part of it: how the place got started, what their market looks like, how they decide what to make, etc. Unlike wine or beer, whisky takes a LONG time to get any return on investment. There may only be 3 inexpensive ingredients (water, barley, yeast) but the equipment costs are rivalled only by the opportunity costs of aging the spirit for a dozen or so years. Bourbon has it right here: only 4 years in a new cask. For single malts, the minimum is legally 3 but no one would do that. For some reason, 10-12 years is the commercially available minimum which seems like forever. And the casks are never new – purchasing used sherry, port, bourbon and even rum casks isn’t cheap.

With that in mind, we heard about how Glenallachie is a relatively “young” distillery in that it was built in the 60s, spent most of it’s time distilling inputs to Chivas Regal, and was only sold to an independent buyer a few years ago. The production is small and the owner/master blender likes to experiment with a variety of approaches to get different flavour profiles. Or so we were told. I was the driver that day so I didn’t taste anything – Scotland’s zero tolerance policy means that drivers get small take-away tastes.

We stopped in Aberlour to have a walk about town – nearly everything there is whisky themed – before heading back to Dufftown. We had tried to do a hike to Linn’s Falls by the distillery but after more than three-quarters of a mucky, muddy mile we gave up. Instead we trekked our muddiness back to the hotel and got checked in. As it was just late afternoon, and there wasn’t anything else to do, we sat in the pub chatting to the the folks who came in for a drink. One boy was from a town not far from where Frank grew up so they played the “do you know/remember” game. Others stopped in to complain about Aberdeen FC losing to Hibs 6-0 (costing the manager his job) so that was also entertaining. Eventually we needed food so off to the Indian across the street (which was lovely) and then an early bed.

Sunday morning after breakfast we headed to the big gun in town: Glenfiddich. We made a quick stop at Balvenie Castle (a ruin that is currently closed for refurbishment?) before our tour. The contrast in the scale of operations was amazing: where Glenallachie had a 4 stills, Glenfiddich had 15 in the old still house and 20+ in the new one! It was very impressive! (By the way, the ladies toilet at the distillery is AMAZING! It has a fireplace with armchairs and everything. The boy in the shop told us it’s the most photgraphed toilet in Scotland.) The distillery is still in family hands – 5th generation – and now owns lots of other brands including Balvenie, Drambuie, and Hendrick’s gin. Because we walked to the distillery from town, I did participate in the sampling and I have to say I’m getting a taste for the stuff. Probably not good for the pocketbook or the waistline but the 15 year-old Solera was quite nice – so a bottle had to come home with us.

And home was where we headed next. We walked for a bit and got some snacks to make sure all was kosher for driving back but then it was time to head south. We are already planning our next trip: overnight in Aberlour with stops at Aberlour and Macallan (maybe a short stop at Cardhu as well?)

When are you coming to join us? 😀

Happy New(ish) Year!

What does it mean when time speeds by? Does it mean that we are getting settled and so we don’t notice time? Or does it mean that life is still such a whirlwind that we can’t keep track of it? Regardless, here it is nearly a month into the new year so it’s time for an update.

I do think that we are adjusting albeit slowly. The flat is now feeling more like home, even though we are STILL waiting for the delivery of the rest of our belongings. Grrrr…. we got notice two weeks ago that they had landed and cleared customs. Now we just have to wait for them to get to Aberdeen. How long can that possibly take? It’s the same bloody island! I’m fairly certain we could walk faster. (Note: according to Google maps it would take 163 hours to walk to London. Depending on our level of determination, we COULD actually walk faster.) It’s not that we don’t have everything we need because technically we do. What we don’t have are the things we own that we want: pictures for the walls that mean something to us, sharp knives, hats and gloves, books, records, etc. I am very much looking forward to the day that I can actually dice tomatoes without mashing them to cook in my cast iron skillet while listening to music on vinyl. (Let’s say Ghost in the Machine or Learning to Crawl if we are looking in the “P” section). Being patient and taking lots of yoga breaths….

Work has begun to have a *bit* of a routine – although I think that will more evident starting this week now that classes are back in session. I give my first lecture this week (Eeek!) which is much earlier than expected. I’m co-teaching Data Governance and Ethics and the other lecturer has to be in Vancouver this week so I get to do the “Welcome to the module” lecture. Which will contain very little about ethics because that’s his gig. My part isn’t for another 6 weeks when I start talking about how data governance helps people to do the right thing (once the ethics stuff explains what the right thing means). I’m already planning for a bottle of prosecco and a fish supper to celebrate my first lecture on UK soil. Updates to follow.

Besides work and home, we are exploring. Our hiking boots are getting quite the workout and we are loving that! We look for opportunities to head out every weekend to wander somewhere nearby. We’ve covered quite a bit of the coast north of Aberdeen, a few kilometers in the Cairngorms, and some woodlands around castles nearby. We are now card carrying members of the National Trust for Scotland (or will be when the cards arrive!) so we will be visting lots of castes and manor houses and other historical sites. First up was Castle Fraser which has nothing to do with the characters in the Diana Gabaldon books but that didn’t stop them from capitalising on the name. The grounds were lovely (albeit very icy) and the castle was really interesting. Most NTS sites are closed until April but this one runs a “behind the scenes” tour in the winter that shows how restoration is done and how the collection is cared for. We got to see all kinds of things that are usually off limits to tourists during the summer and hear all about the ghosts. Next weekend we head north for a different kind of Scottish national touring: distillary visits!

And our diary is filling up. (Apparently we don’t use calendars, we use diaries.). We’ve already had one successful outing with friends from Edinburgh who met us halfway to spend an afternoon in Dundee. We have friends in Dundee who are heading north shortly, friends from Stirling who maybe our first overnight guests, and then we head to the west coast to visit my family. And that doesn’t include the travel we have planned over the coming months (Grand Canaria in February, Switzerland in March, Florida in April, Philly in May). Those adventures will be outlined in the travel blog so you’ll need to check that out later.

And the obligatory “photos of us having fun” to go along with the post.

Before we turn the page

And our first Christmas holiday in our new place is done. It was a crazy, challenging, joyous, amazing, frustrating, wonderful time. And now it draws to a close and we prepare to find a rhythm and routine for the new year.

After a very bad start to our stay, we seem to have turned a corner. We were able to move out of our little temporary space into our larger and cosier space the week of Christmas. Because who doesn’t flit (read: move house) 4 days before Christmas! But when you only have 6 cases worth of stuff plus a few boxes off odds and sods you have accumulated over the first month, it doesn’t take long.

What takes longer is learning new stuff all over again: how to work another microwave; which is the best setting on the washing machine; how to keep the bedroom warm; etc. Since everything is still new, we have no habits to break. And we were lucky enough to have one of our two wonderful children to visit. After many changes to plane tickets to avoid the massive winter storm in the US, Jesse arrived at our tiny Aberdeen airport just before Christmas. We had a week of eating too much, walking a lot, visiting folks, setting up the apartment, trying to cook family favourites in a still unfamiliar kitchen, and many other adventures. We ate fish and chips, take-away Chinese and Indian, several bar lunches, and entire tin of Cadbury’s Heroes.

And then after a week of endless eating, drinking, playing games and watching all the Shrek movies, we are back to being just the two of us. Now to figure out what “normal” might look like – once I actually go back to work that is. I *love* the fact that the university just closes for a fortnight so there’s no guilt about taking time off. And I might actually be a little bored by the time I get back to the office. 🙂

But for now, I share some photos of our joyful holiday and hope that you and yours had a similar wonderful time. And of course, I wish you all the happiest of new years!

The best laid schemes

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men

          Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

          For promis’d joy!

Robert Burns, To a Mouse

You may have noticed an interuption in the planned cadence of posts. The original idea was that once a week, probably on a Monday, I would wax eloquent (and hopfully somewhat humerously) about how things were going as we settle into a new place, a new routine, a new life. Following that schedule, I would have posted a short update last week about some new milestones: a new car purchase, a row with the local boat club on the river, etc. However as the poet says, the best laid schemes….

Instead, we dealt with tragedy. Facebook friends may already know that we lost our beloved Buddy to a traffic accident last Monday. While on our usual morning walk, our angry little man was so incensed by the pernicious precence of a bull dog across the busy street that he absolutely had to take action. That action, unfortunately, was to try to get to the offending canine by running across the road in front of a truck. I was unable to reel him back in time and while we were able to get him to the vet, he had internal bleeding that would have required surgery. He went into cardiac arrest before the surgery could be performed. We are heartbroken, devestated, and gutted as folks around here would say.

But with nought but grief and pain, we try to move forward to find the promised joy. So to avoid an utter maudlin manuscript, I’ll instead regale you with the resulting interaction with the National Health Service. While I was safely away from the truck, the hand holding the lead was fairly badly damaged from the pull of the cord, the subsequent fall, and the unfortunate bite I took when trying to get Buddy to the vet. It was my left hand (which I would say contributed to the event since I am useless with that hand and couldn’t retract the lead in time but nevermind) so I still had use of my exceptionally dominant appendage but the swelling and pain in the left had was not to be ignored. Although I did try to ignore it. But the lovely man who owns our AirBnb flat has a partner who is a nurse so she stopped by the flat and pronounced it in need of medical care. So the adventure began.

Instead of heading to the A&E (emergency room in the US), there is a national triage number to call for assessment and further direction. I suspect this was instituted during covid to keep waiting rooms from becoming superspreader locations but it is still in place and IMHO fairly effective. I phoned about 8am to see what to do next. Yes, I had to wait 20ish minutes for a nurse but then I was deluged with questions and given a 10:30 appointment at the Minor Injuries unit at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. I arrived a bit early, masked up, and was seen promptly at 10:30 by a clinician who took all my details, cleaned up the various bloody and pussy places and went to fetch the nurse practitioner. To be honest, it took Frank longer to find a parking space by the hospital than it took me to be seen.

The NP took further details, did some mobility and other tests to asses the damage and became concerned that there might be a fracture in my wrist. She diagrammed the injuries (on a piece of paper with a drawing of a hand!) and then sent me off to Xray. A short wait there and I had 5 snaps taken of the hand and wrist. Return down the hall to the minor injuries unit where Frank had finally joined me (with a coffee thank goodness!) Another short wait (enough time to finish the latte) and I was back in the treatment room to get the verdict that there didn’t seem to be any fracture but a splint (provided) and bandages for the deep laceration on my pinkie (provided) would be necessary for the next 5 days. In addition, a full course of antibiotics (provided) to treat any infection resulting from the dog bite would be necessary as a precaution. I was done by noon.

I don’t claim that this was a typical encounter but I have zero complaints about my treatment. I have MANY complaints about the fact that I didn’t know the generic name for Augmentin – which is what they gave me – so I couldn’t ask for an alternative. If you’ve ever taken it, you can feel my pain. The first two days involved digestive distress that is too disgusting to commit to words. A course of probiotics has been most helpful but taking the last dose today will be an absolute joy. (Not that I mind the nearly half a stone of “weight” I lost from the rapid passing of all solids through my system!)

A few more days of healing and the visible marks of trauma will be gone. The invisible pain will stay forever.

So as a tribute, here are some of my favorite photos of Buddy Cannon, Beagle/Jack Russell mix, taken from us too soon. Smile down on us Budster. We miss you.

Adjustments and aggravations

We’ve had our first full week in our new space and everyone is still adjusting – especially Buddy who no longer has the run of a four bedroom house with an acre of land. Now he’s stuck in a two bedroom flat where he’s not allowed in the bedrooms or on the furniture. Sad doggie – he didn’t sign up for this. Now he’s stuck going for walks where there is lots of pavement and lots of other dogs. Oh how we HATE other dogs. They are an existential threat to his humans. And now they are everywhere. Even in pubs and restaurants and shops. Now his humans leave him in the car when they go places so he can’t protect them. They tried leaving him home but his anxiety was WAY too high and his bedding in his crate is now just fluff. Poor Buddy.

But he’s not the only one feeling flummoxed. While Frank was born and raised here and we have spent countless weeks and months visiting, it’s not the same when you try to settle in. And of course it’s the little things that get you. Like the ingredients for a recipe that you assume will be available but aren’t. (No fire roasted tomatoes anywhere.) Or the fact that your dog doesn’t realize what traffic really is since he’s only ever walked in a quiet suburb so you have to constantly watch to make sure he’s not going to run in front of a bus to get to the dog across the road. Or the fact that we now carry two cell phones each because we’re trying to get used to having a UK number but don’t want to give up the US number yet because there’s still too many things in flux.

But we know we’ll manage. It will just be harder than we thought. For example, we are waiting for the boxes we mailed to ourselves to arrive. We know they are in the country but we don’t know where they are. We are waiting for a notice to say how much customs duty we owe – which is none because we have a Transfer of Residence exemption but we need to file that paperwork. Of course we haven’t gotten any notice yet because some of the postal workers were on strike.

Then there’s the money thing: we are unlikely to be able to buy a house anytime soon. We can’t get a mortgage without 3 years of residency. In fact, I had to pass a credit check to get a cell phone plan that costs £20 month. Our incredible credit record in the US doesn’t count for diddly here so it’s like we are starting all over again. I’m worried we will have challenges even renting some where but we haven’t looked into that yet. Even moving money from our US accounts is a PITA. We can do it but at a cost. It took an hour with a “customer relationship manager” to open joint current and savings accounts! I could open one online myself but to add Frank took an unbelievable amount of paperwork.

And of course the technology issue: while I officially started work last week, I haven’t actually done much work because my IT account wasn’t set up correctly so I have no email no way to log into my university-issued laptop. So I’m “working” from home the best I can but that just means more time in our tiny flat looking at the sad eyes of my dog. Except that the sun is out today and there’s no snow on the ground and I can go for a lovely run along the river which will cheer me up immensely. Too bad Buddy can’t go with me – too many dogs!

Heilan coo outside Ballater
Buddy trying to identify coo
River Dee for run

Phase 4 (Transit and arrival): Complete

Well the week of transition is drawing to a close. After the hullaballo of getting out of the house and down to VA, we finally got Buddy to the pet travel company (can’t recommend Pender Air highly enough!) while we ran our last few errands and headed to the airport ourselves. For some reason, our TSA Precheck didn’t come through as it usually does with Global Entry so I had to take off my shoes for the first time in forever – oh the shock! But we had plenty of time and ended up in the Lufthansa lounge celebrating with double G&Ts and real food (Frank says chicken schnitzel was pretty good!). Then to our upgraded first class seats for the short hop to JFK. We got to the gate and they were volunteering to check bags to your final desitination for free. Yay! I would have happily checked all the bags but Delta does draw the line at how many bags you can check before charging you. Apparently the combination of first class upgrade and the Delta AmEx card puts that limit at 3. So I gladly took that tag and left the bag on the end of the jet bridge. What happened to it after that became quite the mystery.

The domestic leg was uneventful and we had lots of time to change terminals and get to our flight to EDI. I spent some time chatting with the lovely retired gentleman from Boise across the aisle from me who was going to visit his daughter who married a Scot and was living in Falkirk. Then after a passable meal and better-than-mediocre wine, I actually managed to get 3 full hours of sleep! (Frank says I was actually snoring but who would believe that!) The immigration folks didn’t seem interested in my work visa (!) so we wandered to the baggage claim where our 6 bags checked in Dulles were in the first bunch off the plane. What was missing? The gate checked bad. The Delta app indicated that it was still in JFK and would be on a flight to Amsterdam first thing in the morning. ARRRRGGGGHGHHH

So I went to the lost baggage office – a very small window in the baggage area – to find not a soul in site. Instead there was a sign that says most airlines lost baggage were being handled by Swissport and please scan this QR code to file your log bag report. Which I did. And the app told me that I had to call Delta. Which I did. And the person on the other end of the phone told me to report it to the office. Which I could not. When I tried to explain that, she hung up on me! Rude! While I had gotten about 3 hours of sleep, I was still not my perky lovable self so you can imagine how this went over. Meanwhile, Frank was arguing with Avis (whom we always get good service from!) about the “upgrade” they were giving us that we didn’t want – mostly because we weren’t convinced that VW Golf would take all the cases that had managed to arrive. Of course they didn’t have anything else besides a 7 seat Mercedes van – at an extra £60/day. Um, no. We had a wonderful friend waiting to help us get the cases to Aberdeen if necessary and that was the only reason we needed the larger car so there was no way on this earth I was paying an extra £1300 for that. A little more discussion found a car of the right size for an additional £15/day and would actually take all the cases and be able to park in a normal parking space. So we were set.

Off to Stirling to pick up my BRP (Biometric Resident Permit – like a green card) and an old iPhone from Frank’s brother. A quick stop for lunch in Perth and we finally made it to Aberdeen in the early afternoon. We got the tour of the flat – which didn’t take long because it is very SMALL – and started to unpack. And that’s when we realized that all the “downsizing” we thought we had done was not going to be enough. We quickly ran out of hangers and drawer space. The first was easily remedied; the second will take some creativity. We had a quick dinner and managed to stay awake until all of 8:30pm!

A good nights sleep was just what the doctor ordered and then we had one day to prepare for Buddy to arrive. He landed in Manchester at 8:30 am and then got his doggy limo for the 6 hour trip north – arriving about 24 hours after us. It was so nice to have him arrive safe and sound! Of course he is very confused and doesn’t understand where his toys are or why he can’t sleep on the bed and what is all this nonsense about not barking? But he gets lots of rides in the car and now that we’ve customized our flat just a bit, it is feeling more like home. Of course it will be a while before we are really settled but stay tuned and we’ll tell you all about it. 🙂

PS. Yes, the errant bag arrived safe and sound (and completely drenched!) several hours after Buddy did. Not sure why it needed to make a pit stop in Amsterdam but some things will remain a mystery…..

Phase 3 (Packing and parting): Complete

It is remarkably unfair to lump something as emotional as saying goodbye to years of good friends with the mundane task of trying to get the suitcases to zip, but it’s necessary for me to keep my emotions in check. After all the FB Marketplace folderole, the DOZEN or so trips to Goodwill, and the foisting of our belongings on to friends and family, it was time to actually pack. We did a test run to try to get everything we wanted to take with us in the suitcases and it didn’t take long to realize there was no way on God’s green earth we were going to get everything in the cases we had. One of them was quite small so it became my carry on and Frank was off to Tuesday Morning to try to find a “cheap” suitcase. Luckily, he found a 28″ hard side which didn’t break the bank and we tried the whole “stuff everything in 6 cases (!?!)” thing again. Nope. Wasn’t going to work. So we shifted some stuff from the “packed” to “shipped” pile and thought we were fine.

Except for one thing: all the Christmas ornaments were in the “shipped” pile and we don’t expect to see the shipped goods until the new year. So they needed to get pulled out and put into the “packed” pile. But there was truly no more room there. So a new pile was born: to be mailed! Yes, we did go there. A small shipping box from the USPS would take the Christmas stuff (and some sweaters and other bulky-but-not-heavy items) so that solve that problem! Or so we thought….

The movers came on Thursday (3 hours late!) and packed up way more stuff than we put on the insurance forms (shhh! Don’t tell anyone!) And then the house really felt empty. Except that it wasn’t. As anyone who has ever moved knows, crap breeds in dark closets when no one is looking! So even though we *thought* we had the amount of stuff under control, it wasn’t even close, Jesse even came from Boston and took and entire car load of stuff back to Boston – and her wonderful partner took more than her fair share of stuff to try to save us. But alas, it would take 2 more boxes and about $500 in postage to get everything that wasn’t in our 6 suitcases to Aberdeen. Yes, we did walk into a UPS store in VA with a variety of things that were stuffed loose into the back of the rented minivan but would not fit in any of the cases. And yes, a kindly UPS employee packed up the crap that needed to go and shipped it from me to me. And yet we still had 2 of our 6 cases come in at more than 50 pounds. AAAAHHHHHH!

In the midst of all this was the packing for Buddy. All the paperwork finally came through and after a small screwup that meant that he got more than one de-worming treatment, he was ready to hit the road with us. Our rented minivan was chock full of cases and a monster dog crate and the canine king. We spent two nights in hotels along the route and he was beside himself, taking up a full half of the king sized beds while Frank and I shared the other half. But after all was said and done, he made his way to the pet transport lounge and was safely awaiting his flight to Frankfurt.

And while all this was going on, we had a parade of “lasts” – last row on the canal, last race with RBC, last dinner with this friend or that, last day of work, last time we’ll do XXX in Rochester. We managed to get through most of them without tears – or at least without anyone seeing our tears. While we enjoyed the place, the people are what we’ll miss most. Here is a small sample of the parade of important people. Please don’t feel that you didn’t rank if you aren’t in these photos – these are just what we could come up with between the laughter and the tears.

Of course it decided to snow the day we left so it felt like the appropriate way to say goodbye. See you all soon!