thinking about home

I just opened the BBC news site and saw what has happened...Yogyakarta, the city where my very good friend Adelle currently lives was hit by a severe earthquake last night, over 3000 people killed. Adelle's dad has kindly put a message on her blog to say she's OK, her area wasn't hit as badly as others. All my thoughts go out to the people in Yogyakarta. It's funny how we can watch the news and see such devestation without feeling very much...it's not until you know people who are there that you realise just how devestating things can be.

Also thoughts going out to Jaanie who's in hospital again... keep on fighting and I'm sure you'll be out and feeling better soon!

Love Becky.

to eat, or not to eat (meat)

Yes Jaan, I am aware of the contradiction in my 43 things. I've actually been meaning to change the haggis one to vegetarian haggis.

Yes, believe it or not, I've decided to try to not eat meat. I never ever thought I would do this, I love meat almost as much as Jaan, my family knows me as quite a defiant carnivorous...but the thing is, the lambs that I saw on the Isle of Arran were just so cute...and then I saw them taken away for slaughter and I thought 'do I actually HAVE to eat meat?' This is something I thought of by myself, it was not an emotional reaction and I haven't been influenced by anyone...

So for two weeks now I've eaten almost no meat, which really isn't hard while living in the UK, I actually wasn't eating it much anyway (it's really expensive and really crap). I unfortunately wasn't strong enough and ate meat on Wednesday night...and guess what it was....lamb! I do however have a pretty darn good excuse...My Icelandic friends Solla and Gulli invited me over to their house under the castle for a night of opera, singalongs and dinner before they go back to Reykjavik for the summer. Gulli cooked us lamb that Solla's grandmother brought over to Edinburgh from Iceland...smuggled frozen in a suitcase! It was soooo delicious and a very fun night. But alas, now I'm back to not eating meat (hate the term 'being vegetarian' but think I'm going to have to start using it) which means my aim of eating proper Scottish haggis before I leave will not come true...but hey, I didn't really want to eat it anyway.

spring is here again...

So spring's been here for a while and apparently summer is on it's way...the Meadows are lined with gorgeous trees in full pink bloom, the lambs are out and about being very cute (in the countryside, not in Edinburgh) and the sun has been shining quite consistantly for a few weeks.

I've been trying to save money and plan for the summer, still want to do a fair bit of travelling before I head back to Australia. The plan at the moment is to backpack through more of Europe in early july, meet up with Mum and Nigel in Paris and then make our way up to Scotland for a bit of a road trip. The Edinburgh Festival starts as they leave and continues right through to the beginnaing of September. By this time though I'll be making my way from Montreal to New York, probably via Toronto and Niagra etc.

I'm going to miss Edinburgh... people here are so polite on the bus, the castle is there every day looking gorgeous, dogs sit outside of internet cafes barking like mad.

I can't take this barking. Will write again soon.

set the date

After a fair few phone calls I got my round the world ticket updated...I'm now leaving London on August 24 and arriving in Adelaide September 20...1 year, 6 months and 1 day after I left. I'm really exciting about travelling through the US and Canada, and of course I'm excited at the prospect of seeing my family and friends... however the idea of being in Adelaide for a long time again does not appeal...

arran

help
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Last weekend I went away with some lovely girls to Arran, an island of the west coast of Scotland, just over an hour from Glasgow.

This photo is on top of the biggest hill/mountain on Arran, called Goatfell. We spent the first day climbing this then the rest of the weekend frollicking with sheep & relaxing. It was the best weekend I've had in ages...I love Edinburgh but needed to get out of town after being there for so long. We stopped off at Glasgow on the way home for some shopping which was excellent - it's much more metropolitan than Edinburgh and made me miss London a tiny little bit. Definitely going to try to get to Glasgow more often.

This photo shows from left-right me, Diane, Lauren & Gill. Thanks to Michelle who took this pic on my SLR.

lauren & michelle lindyhop on top of goatfell

This is a favourite of all the pics that I've taken... I used Michelle's camera and the photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/sholybonoly/. Michelle has some classics from our weekend at Arran on this site, many more than on my photostream so make sure you check them out!

me on the bus rollercoaster

Becky on the bus rollercoaster
Originally uploaded by Sholybonoly.

Taken by Michelle

I love this pic...we had fun on the long coastal bus loop of the Isle of Arran...lots of beautiful hills and plenty of lambs to go 'awwwww...' at!

album cover

Adam, Dammo and me. Taken by Claire

adam & claire visit me

Adam Claire Arthur Seat 2
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Thanks to Adam & Claire for these photos and letting me play with their camera for a little while... I think people are starting to learn not to give me their digital camera as there is a risk of not getting it back.

This is the gorgeous view from Arthur's Seat looking over Edinburgh. Had an excellent weekend with them. Very happy to finally climb Arthur's seat...i'd been saying I was going to do it every weekend since I got here. Funny thing is, it wasn't even very hard.

my week

I'm not copying Adelle, I just really don't want to take longer than 5 minutes on this blog entry - need to go home, eat dinner and get some sleep!

Sunday - Saw Tarnation & Grizzly Man (both v. v. good)

Monday - My first two swing lessons. Learnt the Charleston and the Shim Sham

Tuesday - Quiz night

Wednesday - Found out Ben & Sarah's baby Thomas was born

Thursday - Found out we're getting kicked out of the flat at the end of the month

Friday - Realised I forgot to go to the Mogwai concert on Thursday

Saturday - Toured Edinburgh with Adam & Claire

Sunday - More touring, more pubs, finally climbed Arthur's Seat, went to the Beltane Fire Festival

Today - Back to work. Yay!