on holiday!

Hey there. I have no excuse for going so long without making a good post, since I've been on vacation for the last couple weeks. The best I can say is that I have been enthralled in several good novels since the semester ended, and that, between a series of nasty colds has drawn my attention elsewhere for a time. Hoping everyone has had a very nice Christmas. We spent Christmas eve gorging ourselves on Indian food, egg nog and all sorts of sweets with our friend Sean. Christmas day, we went over to our friend Hope's house and had a very nice dinner with some other American and British friends. Ryan and I purchased new cell phones for Christmas gifts to each other. They are Motorola Razrs with all kinds of bells and whistles. I like the slim design and have been enjoying being able to send Ryan text messages all the time. They are tri-band phones so that we can use them in the US when we get back. For those of you who might want to call me or send a text, my new cell phone number is 01144 795 058 3158 (dialing from the US). Ryan's number is 01144 795 058 4699.

Overall, the holiday was very quiet and restful for the both of us. For Hogmany (New Years) we will be attending a street festival and likely several other parties. We have heard that the fireworks will be a sight to see. We will take pictures (don't worry, we will also be posting pictures from our Christmas dinner when we get them) of everything to share. Ryan will be continuing to work for Betfred, as the Recycling job he was hoping to get fell though. Still, there seem to be very good prospects for promotion and he will be able to transfer to London (we hope) this next fall, which will make things easier then at least. For my part, I have decided to start doing some tutoring on the side to earn a little extra dough. Come summer we are hoping to do some camping in the Scottish highlands, a rock climbing trip is already in the works (with some Scottish friends) once the weather dries out and warms up a bit.

Winter in Edinburgh is a lot like Oregon, about the same temperature and moist. Christmas eve was almost magical, as this thick fog descended onto the city and wrapped itself around all the buildings. The castle and all the church steeples were entirely concealed by the mist and everything had a glow to it. I was very glad to spend the evening indoors munching goodies by candlelight! (We sadly didn't have a fire in the wood stove after all, because the door leaks and needs repair. So after hauling home a 23 pound sack of wood and kindling by myself over a mile!! it has ended up unused in a nice stack. At least I got a good workout!) The heavy winds we were having for a while seem to have died down a bit, and except for fog, it has been pretty dry the last week. Good weather for running, too bad I have been sick, which has caused my asthma to flare up and put a real dent in my training schedule. Oh well, at least I haven't had a migraine in ages thanks to my strict (however miserable) adherence to my no cheese, no chocolate, no tomato and no meat diet... I have to stay staying away from the cheese is the hardest for me, especially with all the fine vintages available over here. I have to confess I do take a good sniff now and then but not being to have even a bite feels like torture. Life could be a whole lot worse though so I try not to think to much about my austere diet these days.

Well then, after such a long rant I suppose I should be ending this post. Hopefully I will have more exciting news to share next time!
love Alletta