"Caroline, Caroline, where have you been? I've been to Scotland to visit the Queen."

My mother and grandmother are part of what I would imagine is a dying breed in modern day Canada: both are loyal fans (or at least enthusiastic observers) of the British Monarchy. For as long as I can remember, bits and pieces of Royal gossip could be found around our house: a paperback beach-read about Diana, or a documentary on the Princes William and Harry. The Queen, starring the queen of graceful aging Helen Mirren, was eagerly watched and loved by all.

So it really came as no surprise, then, that as soon as I voiced thoughts of moving to the UK, my mother began sending me links to job vacancies at Buckingham Palace and not-so-subtle hinting that I follow in McGill alum Autumn Kelly's footsteps and bag a prince. Granny kindly advised me as to how to act should I ever be invited to one of the Queen's garden parties (among the tips: "she must speak first and you address her as 'Ma'am', not Madam"). We spent our family trip to London on perpetual royal watch - my mum swears she glimpsed Camilla and Charles in a car stopped at an intersection near St Paul's.

Only a few months later, and I've really one-upped my mother. Three weeks ago, my friend Robin had just arrived for a short visit. On Sunday morning I decided to show her around. As we walked down the Royal Mile, we noticed a crowd assembled outside Canongate church. My family trip to the Royal Mews in London had trained me well: I noticed the Royal insignia and flag on the Rolls Royce parked outside, and surmised that the Queen was inside attending a service. It helped that I had read in the paper that the Queen had been in the area the day before to attend the Royal Highland Show. Robin and I had no plans, and decided to wait around and try to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty.

Our patience paid off. After about 45 minutes, the congregation began exiting the church. Two ladies in fancy hats headed towards the car, followed by HRH Queen Elizabeth II herself. She stopped to talk to some people who had attended the service, before heading over to our section of the crowd. I had guessed earlier that this might happen, as the older ladies standing in front of us had brought bouquets to give to the Queen. One woman also gave the Queen a framed picture of the Queen, which was a little too meta (and bizarre) for me. Also a little bizarre was the decision of the Spanish tourist behind me to bellow "YOUR MAJESTY" at the Queen when she walked over (obviously he hadn't read my granny's etiquette tips). Her reaction was priceless, though: a slow glance upwards, followed by one of the most cooly dismissive looks I have ever seen. Sorry mate, but this is not the red carpet at a movie premiere - no matter how loud you shout, you won't get an autograph.


At any rate, the fact that these women had flowers meant that the Queen only came over to our section of the crowd... and Robin got some uber close up pictures!



(Ok, so she wasn't that close - this is zoomed in, as Robin didn't think we'd get as close as we did!)

(This more accurately depicts our distance from the Queen. Still pretty impressive, I'd say!)

It also meant that the AP photographer chose that moment as his photo op - meaning that Robin and I (well, the top of my forehead) were featured on the BBC website!

Before I had time to register what had just happened, the Queen motored down the street to Holyroodhouse.


According to my mother, I can now move home from the UK whenever I want to, as I have experienced what is, according to her, the ultimate British experience - I have seen the Queen, Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, in the flesh. In a way, it suppose should also be the ultimate Canadian experience - though it may seem archaic to many, the Queen is still our Head of State. It may be because of my family bias, but I kind of like the fact that we still have a monarch - it's one of the things that gives us a slightly different flavour from the Americans. That, and Tim Hortons, federally legal gay marriage, poutine, saying "sorry" to anything and everything... don't get me started - I'm still high on Canadiana after watching One Week last night. I want to share my rave reviews with you but alas, it's dinner time - so I'll save it for the next post.

(And for those who, like my family, are keen on royal-stalking, behold: TheBritishMonarchy is now on Twitter. Sadly, I don't think the Queen does the tweeting herself.)

A Day at the Seaside

Though Scottish winters are, in my opinion, far more bearable than Canadian ones (aside from the lack of daylight hours - having the sun set at 3:30pm for three months is highly depressing), Scottish summers have nothing on Canadian ones. I currently have two weather eye programs set up on my desktop - one for Guelph, and one for Edinburgh. Though I was quite gleeful to see Guelph's -21 sitting next to Edinburgh 9 or 12, to now be faced with a reminder that while today - a beautiful, sunny day - it is 18 in Edinburgh, it is 8 degrees warmer in SW Ontario. I miss hot (not warm) summer days, days which require shorts and tank tops and flip flops, even if you are no where near a beach. But alas, Edinburgh is maritime and temperate and has only had plan old scorching days two or three times this summer - one during an apparent UK "heat wave."

All this is to say that this afternoon, I headed to the seaside with high expectations - visions of a lazy afternoon spent sun tanning in minimal clothing. Our destination: Portobello Beach, a stretch of sandy beach along the Firth of Forth east of the city centre. Once a hotspot for working class holidaymakers (as they say here), Portobello is long past its prime. Back in the glory days of seaside resorts (i.e. the Victorian Age), the beach also featured a fun fair and outdoor pool heated by the spare heat of a local power station. Walking along the promenade today, we only came across a few chippies and a medieval themed arcade/casino - which was, sadly, filled with people, in spite of the clear skies outside.


I can't entirely blame them for seeking refuge indoors. What I had envisioned as a balmy day at the shore ended up being a windy day on the North Sea. A cool breeze coming off the water kept me swaddled in my hoodie, for warmth, and for protection from the blowing sand, which managed to get in my mouth within minutes. Despite the deflation of my unrealistic expectations, the afternoon was actually rather nice in the end. I nostalgically watched a windsurfer get his sail up, and ate a surprisingly satisfying ice cream cone from a somewhat dodgy fish and chip counter.


Plus, it's always nice to get out of the central Edinburgh bubble - and even nicer to be reminded that Edinburgh is, in fact, a coastal city. (Although this point was also brought home by the invasion of the eerie haar a few weeks ago.)



The weather for the rest of the week is supposed to be more typically Scottish - rain, variably cloudy, rain, rain - but I'm still hoping for another scorcher before the summer is through, so that I can have my stereotypical day by the sea.

The Return of the Blog

After a long lapse, I've decided to give this blogging thing a go again. If I am to stick with it, I think a few changes are in order - if the other blogs I've been reading are any indication, I think the keywill be writing shorter posts, more often. When it comes to photos, I will probably link to my facebook albums instead of embedding the pictures throughout the post. All in all, I'm aiming for something that's easier to write - i.e. less time-and-energy consuming - and, as a result, easier to read. Let's see how it goes - hopefully some people out there still have an interest in hearing about my life over here in Och Aye land (to steal a phrase from the teenage Bridget Jones-eque heroine of Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging).

I won't get into all the recapping of the last five unblogged months of my life just yet - baby steps, ok? For now, a State of the Union is in order:

• Officially, I am at the beginning of the third month of working on my dissertation. Actually, I took most of May off, spent June reading a researching, and have about 250 words written - out of 15,000. But - BUT! - my supervisor likes my ideas (upon which I will elaborate at a later date) and thinks I am on track. July is writing month - in other words, a perfect time to start writing my blog again....
  
  
• As I write this, thunder cracks outside my window amidst a sudden downpour. This past week we have had strangely Southwestern Ontario weather - warm, sometimes even hot, days, high humidity, sudden downpours, and even thunder - apparently quite rare in this neck of the woods. I suddenly realize that I am only on bullet point no. 2, and already I am talking about the weather. This is a bad sign.
  
  
• Yesterday, I said goodbye to my aunt, uncle, and cousins who had swung by Edinburgh as part of a larger Euro vacation (more on their visit to come). Now that they have come and gone, I am faced with a strange situation: no pending visitors! Though a few parties have expressed interest in coming to see me eventually, I currently have no booked-and-paid-for visits, for the first time since October. I also have no trips of my own on the horizon. Far from being depressing, I find both states of affairs strangely calming - what with my dissertation to write, and the fall to sort out, it's kind of nice to know I'll be in the same place for an uninterrupted while. And while I love having visitors, it is nice to have a bit of a break before I have to wear my tour guide hat again - especially since that break falls during a time in which the city becomes swamped with tourists.
  
  
• And lastly, speaking of the fall, it looks like I will be staying here after I finish up my Masters, as long as I can find a decent paying job and a decently priced apartment. Though I miss Canada terribly, I feel like I have yet to make the most of my time here - there are still many places in the UK and elsewhere which I would like to visit, and I'm interested to see what it's like to live in Edinburgh while earning some sort of significant income.

So that's my life-right-now in a nutshell - keep your fingers crossed that I follow through on my promises of more to come.