Christmas 2009

Seth's Christmas concert was held during the day (don't know why they don't have an evening one so that the working parents could attend, but that's another story). Kim and I were able to skip a couple hours of work, and were fortunate to attend. Here, Seth is singing away, in a sea of much taller girls. His school is made up of Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 students, with a couple classes of each. On the right side (off camera), the Reception children had a nativity scene, and the Year 2's would sing songs to accompany the play.

We were a bit early to see Santa (he was out feeding and watering his reindeer). Here is Seth getting ready to see Santa.

While we were waiting, Seth decided to help the Elf's create and finish several gifts. Seth had a little talk with them, so that they would put "something extra" in his stocking.

After queuing for what seemed forever (about 5mins), Seth was able to see Santa.

Trip North - We had 5 days off together (which is a lot for us) at the end of December, so we decided to take a quick trip "up north". We were going back to Scotland for the first time since we'd moved south. I heard that the UK made the Canadian news with all our bad weather. We even got snow in Bournemouth, and in certain areas, they had several feet. Our first night, we stayed in Manchester where I almost slid my Honda into a Lexus at an impressive 3mph! With 6 inches of snow on the roads and no road crews, all UK roads were in a horrible state. At the hotel that we stayed, a couple days before, there was a conference for Man U players and staff (that's Manchester United for all non-footie types. That's the team that Becks (Beckham) played for). Since it had snowed, the parking lot was filled with Jag's, RangeRovers, Porsche's (and my P Reg Honda), as the footballers were to wimpy to drive their cars in the snow. Poor babies. You'd think with a Chelsea Tractor, they'd be able to make it home, but NOOoooo. While we were in the hotel, we did see several famous footballers. I'm not a football fan, so I have no idea who they were (and didn't bother taking their pic). I think I was of the few that wasn't gawking over them. When we arrived in Glasgow, we had tea with our old neighbours and caught up on news. We only had one day in Glasgow, and then it was off to Edinburgh for a couple nights. If you ever get the chance to go to Edinburgh around New Year / Hogmany, definately spend a couple days there. We were able to get a room with breakfast on the Royal Mile for 35 pounds, which was quite cheap compared to other places.

The following picutre is taken with the Edinburgh Castle in the centre and the Royal Mile behind those buildings on the left.

In this picture, we have "The Gothic Rocket" in the centre, Europe's tallest mobile ferris wheel to its left and the swings and a large slide to its right. Did I mention it was freezing there. Yes, I know that it was in the middle of winter, but, cammon -- it's the UK - we don't have cold winters! Just outside the train station, there is a flury of doubledecker open top tourist busses. Fortunately, we'd already been on them before, so we didn't have to experience the freezing Scottish weather at 30mph. There'd be no people up there in a kilt, I'd tell you!

Off in the other direction, is the observatory, the Nelson Monument, and Calton Hill. This monument for Nelson, was created before the Nelson Monument in London.

One of Seth's pasttimes is rides / slides / well, basically anything fast and fun. Here is a real old slide, that he's managed to climb up, and within seconds, has shot his way down.

We have been to Edinburgh many times, but we didn't know that you could actually climb up the Gothic Rocket. When we went past, there were brochures by the door, and I walked in the entrance. From there I discovered that we could climb it, so up all three of us went. The tower is 200feet high. Not high in modern building standards, but impressive for being so old.
PS: The Gothic Rocket isn't its official name, just its nickname. It is really called "The Scott Monument" which is a Victorian Gothic monument dedicated to the famous Scottish author Sir Walter Scott.
Gothic (because of the era it was created) Rocket (because it looks, well, like a rocket)
I know I mentioned that it was freezing above. Did I mention that as we started our ascent, that it started to snow? And not just any snow, but freezing to the bone snow. You can just make out the outline of the castle.

Remember I said that was Europe's tallest ferris wheel? Well, we've just passed the top of it.

The slide and swings (bottom centre) are getting smaller each step we take up. Did I mention it was snowing?

Is it me, or is the ferris wheel getting smaller? Obviously, we're still going up and up the Gothic Rocket. When will it stop going up? (We did keep asking ourselves that, as each level, we thought we were at the top).

One last picture of what may or may not be the castle. I'm sure it's in there somewhere in that general direction.

Compare that picture above, with a picture taken later - can you see the difference???

The snow has finally stopped. We decided to head into Jenners department store (on the left) and try and thaw out. The Gothic Rocket is obvously not as tall as a modern building, but I dare you, no I double dog dare you to go up there when it's cold and slippery. After climbing all the way to the top, I was amazed at the design of the rocket. You can get right up to the tippy top of it, so much that both your shoulders are touching both sides of the stairwell (mine, not Seth's) and you have to hunch down on all fours to climb up. Definitely glad we did it. Next time, I'll do it in the summer.

Here is Seth in his element. As above, he loves rides. On this ferris wheel, you could rotate the cars around to get a better view. Or, in Seth's case, he wanted me to spin the car as fast as I could. It's ok to spin at ground level, but a little unnerving at 100+ feet.

In the centre we have Edinburgh Castle, on the right, we have Princess Street, and down below, we have the rest of the carnival including the skating rink. Scroll to the right to see the entire pic.

This was taken from the ferris wheel. You can see the top viewing platform about an inch from the top of the pic. If you had 3, maybe 4 people, they could wrap their arms around the rocket. Did I mention it was scary going up? We were sure glad to get back to the ground.

Across the way, the rides continued. The tall steeple of the church is on the Royal Mile. It's kinda hard to see from here, but if you moved to the right -- you see the building with the two towers, third building from the right. That is the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland. Now, here's where you have to imagine. If you line yourself, so that the steeple is inbetwen the twin towers, it would look like a grand cathedral. This was done on purpose. If you go onto Hanover Street on Google Maps down to the ground level, you can see what I mean -- it's a blury picture, but you'll get the idea.

As it gets a little darker, the ride lights start to come on.

Even though Seth loves his rides, he also loves his funhouses. In Stockholm, Seth used all of his, half of mine, and half of Kim's tickets by going into the fun house over and over. Today was no exception.

Over New Year's, Edinburgh is a great place to be. These were taken on Dec29, and they had a torchlight procession from the High Street to Calton Hill, where they set off their fireworks. There are other celebrations including Hogmany, fireworks, street parties and street dancing. We were only here for the one day, so we did the best we could.
These people aren't being chased by an angry mob, but are just coming down from the Royal Mile onto Princess Street, torches in hand.

As above, we started our walk on the Royal Mile, and it snakes down to Princess Street, then the procession concludes at Calton Hill. The problem is, there are hundreds of thousands of people, and with all the people, we were unable to get onto the hill itself. Even with all those people, everyone was in a good mood - instead, we decided to stop here, just under the tower. Before the fireworks, they had a lone piper, totally lit up with spotlights. We had a pretty good view of the fireworks, and it was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hogmany from us in Edinburgh.