well it's been a week since we arrived on edinburgh's doorstep and we have managed to tackle a lot of obstacles in the past few days. dustin is settled into work and busy catching up from a week out of the office. it sounds like his team is relatively young and energetic - they have all been very helpful with our transition. monday i set out to conquer the postal service and did so with ease. we will see just how long it takes to get a package across the ocean...hopefully faster than sending items from italy! it took nearly an entire day to babysit a second load of laundry in that damn machine so i went to read in st. stephen park - the sun was out and felt soooo good! we made italian for dinner and used all the kitchen appliances like pros. :)
tuesday (6/17/08) i met a letting agent just beyond the new town in an area called stockbridge/comely bank, to look at a flat for let. it was about a 15 minute walk from our current apartment, but felt a little longer since it was all new scenery. the flat was right by a school and beside a grocery but was a bit large - 2 bed/2bath - and had the most atrocious furniture i had ever seen. something my mom calls 'early hurricane'...wicker and pastel floral prints. it was a true test for me but all the other elements seemed great - until we found out what council band tax it was in. each property here is associated with a council band (which corresponds to size of property and neighborhood prestige) which you pay annually for services like trash pick-up. the property was in one of the most costly bands so despite allowing dogs, we had to keep looking. tuesday evening we had a great visit from the atkins, who came and dropped their paris suitcase off at our apartment. they'll be traveling light through the highlands for the next week.) we had a beer at a local pub called the wally dug and afterwards met two other couples who they will be traveling with. after mr. atkins and mr. mc vickar introduced dustin to scotch, we took cabs to a fabulous restaurant for dinner recommended by the hotel, called no. 3. the conversation and food were both unforgettable! we finished up at nearly 10:30 and opted to walk home since it was still light out and we had just consumed our weight in food and drink. :) so now the six of them are off traveling and we'll see the atkins again on sunday for an update on st. andrews golf, lochness, and stirling castle!
i spotted lots of doggies and bicycles in stockbridge!
random garden along comely bank road...so beautiful! (no drought here.)
they made a 'meat purse' for mrs. atkins' leftover steak. :)
yesterday (6/18/08) was a big dustin and i! we were online all day setting up flat viewings, canceling flat viewings (when they found out we had a dog) and rescheduling flat viewings. we ended up viewing two excellent flats in the evening - both nearly the same price (and in our budget!) and both very close to one another. the first one, a first floor flat in stockbridge, was owned by a sweet husband and wife, had a beautiful private garden, spacious rooms, but virtually no internet/television/phone connectivity. (if you could have seen dustin's perplexed face, like it was the dark ages!) after passing time at a coffee shop, we headed to the second flat in new town at 7pm. the place was fantastic...AND and if you can believe this - dustin's colleague at concept systems, robbie, actually knows the owner of the flat! it was the craziest coincidence and was very helpful in the end. the owner is a young engineer, so the first thing we saw was a flat screen tv (obviously fit with cable) and a wireless laptop on the coffee table. (you know dustin was already in heaven.) the furniture is pretty contemporary, but the flat feels small and cozy with great window views! it also happens to be in a moderate council band due to its smaller size, so we were really happy to hear that. we had no idea how the owner, ross, would feel about the possibility of us having rex, but dustin and i had to be up front with him about it. he was unsure at first but we assured him that rex has been an 'apartment dog' since birth and we agreed to pay a slightly higher monthly rent to cover any unexpected expenses when we move out. so...it's a done deal! we'll be living at 77 cumberland street in edinburgh as soon as we return from san antonio in july! next monday we'll go over and sign the lease and make it official. apparently ross is living there now, so in order to give him some time to relocate, we aren't going to live there until july 14th, when we return. we'll have to store some of our things while we're in texas, as our current apartment will expire before we head overseas. all that aside, we are really excited! the new place is very close to where we are staying now, and is centrally located...we couldn't have asked for a more ideal location. in terms of walking times, it is 12 mins from dustin's work, 12 mins. from princes street/castle, 7 minutes from stockbridge, and 15 minutes from the botanical gardens. lasts night, after all the persuasion (!) and walking, we came home completely exhausted but very relieved.
the exterior of our building (faces north) on 77 cumberland street.
church across the street from our flat...apparently one of the many festival venues close by!
today (6/19/08) we'll experience yet another first...the trash man comes. i can't wait to see how a trash truck is going to get in and access our bins - the tiniest drive ever. the sun is shining and it's time to head out and soak some of it up. we keep getting warnings about the short amount of winter daylight - don't want to waste what's left of the scottish summer! we hope you all are well and appreciate your well wishes and prayers over this first week. we are feeling thankful for skype, email, and the eurocup to keep us connected and reasonably distracted. :) love to you all.
i spotted lots of doggies and bicycles in stockbridge!
random garden along comely bank road...so beautiful! (no drought here.)
they made a 'meat purse' for mrs. atkins' leftover steak. :)
yesterday (6/18/08) was a big dustin and i! we were online all day setting up flat viewings, canceling flat viewings (when they found out we had a dog) and rescheduling flat viewings. we ended up viewing two excellent flats in the evening - both nearly the same price (and in our budget!) and both very close to one another. the first one, a first floor flat in stockbridge, was owned by a sweet husband and wife, had a beautiful private garden, spacious rooms, but virtually no internet/television/phone connectivity. (if you could have seen dustin's perplexed face, like it was the dark ages!) after passing time at a coffee shop, we headed to the second flat in new town at 7pm. the place was fantastic...AND and if you can believe this - dustin's colleague at concept systems, robbie, actually knows the owner of the flat! it was the craziest coincidence and was very helpful in the end. the owner is a young engineer, so the first thing we saw was a flat screen tv (obviously fit with cable) and a wireless laptop on the coffee table. (you know dustin was already in heaven.) the furniture is pretty contemporary, but the flat feels small and cozy with great window views! it also happens to be in a moderate council band due to its smaller size, so we were really happy to hear that. we had no idea how the owner, ross, would feel about the possibility of us having rex, but dustin and i had to be up front with him about it. he was unsure at first but we assured him that rex has been an 'apartment dog' since birth and we agreed to pay a slightly higher monthly rent to cover any unexpected expenses when we move out. so...it's a done deal! we'll be living at 77 cumberland street in edinburgh as soon as we return from san antonio in july! next monday we'll go over and sign the lease and make it official. apparently ross is living there now, so in order to give him some time to relocate, we aren't going to live there until july 14th, when we return. we'll have to store some of our things while we're in texas, as our current apartment will expire before we head overseas. all that aside, we are really excited! the new place is very close to where we are staying now, and is centrally located...we couldn't have asked for a more ideal location. in terms of walking times, it is 12 mins from dustin's work, 12 mins. from princes street/castle, 7 minutes from stockbridge, and 15 minutes from the botanical gardens. lasts night, after all the persuasion (!) and walking, we came home completely exhausted but very relieved.
the exterior of our building (faces north) on 77 cumberland street.
church across the street from our flat...apparently one of the many festival venues close by!
today (6/19/08) we'll experience yet another first...the trash man comes. i can't wait to see how a trash truck is going to get in and access our bins - the tiniest drive ever. the sun is shining and it's time to head out and soak some of it up. we keep getting warnings about the short amount of winter daylight - don't want to waste what's left of the scottish summer! we hope you all are well and appreciate your well wishes and prayers over this first week. we are feeling thankful for skype, email, and the eurocup to keep us connected and reasonably distracted. :) love to you all.
1 comment:
That place is perty!
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