Photo of the day - Monkeying around

You can't tell from this photo, but it is a bobble-headed monkey.  Its perpetual motion, makes me smile.

More nights oot...

Tuesday 17th we were off oot again, this time to Phil Cunningham's Christmas Songbook at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh.  Had a brilliant time, singing along to some great songs.  Phil's jokes were as bad as ever and Karen Matheson and Eddi Reader were brilliant.  Surprise visit by Santa himself....

Someone else has posted a clip on youtube from the gig the night before we went - enjoy ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ1rWlFT0go

Friday 20th was Christmas lunch with my new colleagues at work.  We started before lunch at Bar Kohl, Edinburgh and enjoyed a cocktail or two before moving on for lunch at Maxies Bistro.  Relaxed atmosphere, great food and plenty of wine, what more do you need?  No photos this time and I was quite restrained for once, they are new colleagues after all!

Busy week

Well, it's been a busy week.

Monday,  I started a new post at work, back to being the new girl learning the ropes rather than the old hand who knows the issues inside out.  Spent most of the time trying to look busy, while masking the fact that I don't have a clue what I should be doing.  I know from past experience though that before long I'll be so busy I won't have enough time to do it all in.  Two meetings on Wednesday, including a trip to Glasgow.

On Wednesday I also took my mum to the new SSE Hydro in Glasgow to see Andre Rieu.  I knew nothing about him, but my mum's a fan and it was a birthday present.  I could appreciate the musicianship and the showmanship, but it's not really my cup of tea.  The audience loved it though, he really has some serious fans.  I thought a woman was going to faint when Andre was first waiting to enter the arena!  Here's a picture of the man himself (from the big screen)...

As for the Hydro, there was plenty of legroom but boy are the seats uncomfortable.

Saturday, I went to the Christmas Market in Edinburgh, got there early so it wasn't too busy and the weather wasn't that bad.  Had a good look around, but didn't buy anything.  I did have a Bratwurst though, what's a trip to a Christmas market without one!

This week, I also finally managed to get a picture of Charley where he's almost smiling...

Out and about

I've not been stuck at home with maths books and a whiteboard all month.  Hubby and I paid a visit to the National Museum of Scotland, not been since it's been done up.  Very impressed I was too, spent an enjoyable few hours wandering around the exhibits.

Light and airy inside thanks to this ceiling 

Interesting way to exhibit artefacts

We also visited the palace at Linlithgow.  Another interesting building, ruins unfortunately, but one of the few that you can walk through all the rooms on one level so that you do a whole circuit of the building.

The Great Hall - with its large fireplace

M208 - Pure Maths

Well, how's the maths going you might ask.  Ok, first assignment went well - 97% - but included a very silly error where I said the cube root of 64 was 8!  Second block of the course is on group theory.  No idea what it's used for but I much preferred all the talk of groups, subgroups, symmetry, Caley tables and cosets to the content of the first block.  Second assignment sent off, result should be back in a couple of weeks.

Someone on the student forums talked about how useful they found using a whiteboard during the course.  I thought, what a good idea so here's my whiteboard...

Focussed so much on M208 though that I've been neglecting the stats course M346.  So I'm switching to stats for the next week with an assignment due on 10 December.  Wish me luck!

No. 48 Go to a fireworks display

Another one of my 101 things to do in 1001 days achieved - went to a fireworks display for bonfire night. Cold, but a good display which lasted 30 minutes.

Hobonichi Techo

I'm a bit of a stationery addict, well I say a bit of an addict - I have secret stashes of stationery hidden around the house and smuggle it in so my husband doesn't see it!  I don't know what possessed him but he sent me a link to a popular Japanese planner, the Hobonichi Techo that is now available in English.  Well I couldn't resist and ordered one.

After an impatient 5 weeks, it finally arrived this week (the less said about parcelforce's worldwide clearance fee the better).  It's small, but feels lovely and I like the tartan cover I chose (well what else would a Scottish lassie opt for).  Here's some photos...

The box

The cover

The planner itself

The planner in its cover and a plastic cover to protect them

Daily pages on grid paper

The planner starts in December 2013 and runs through 2014, so I can't actually use it yet, but I'm looking forward to it!