What's a Canadian doing in North Carolina?
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
More pictures from Scotland
Ok ok, yeah, we’ve been home nearly a month, and I just now got around to uploading the last of the digital pictures from Edinburgh. There’s nothing on TV now, so I figured I’d do it ;-)
So anyhoo….here’s a pic of the Princess Street Gardens, and I like to call it “Where’s Waldo?” :-) Its not often I guess that Edinburgers (is that what they’re called?) get to sit out in the sun, but the week we were there was mostly in the mid to high 70sF
Before this was a city garden park, it was known as Nor Loch (North Lake), and its where they used to toss witches to see if they float. If she floated, she’s a witch. If she sank, oops, an apology was made to the family. Tho apparently everyone would secretly hope that she sank, even if they knew she wasn’t a witch. Because if she floated, then obviously she was a witch, held up by the hands of the Devil himself, and of course the rest of her family would be witches as well, and would be burned at the stake at the gates of the Castle.
Here’s the Wiki entry about the Nor Loch
It was filled in sometime in the 19th century and turned into the park we see today. It’s a beautiful place. I wish we could have seen more of it. We only walked thru a couple of times, never really stopped to look around much or get a feel for its history. Maybe next time.
Next up is a shot of Arthur’s Seat. I’ve no idea why they call it that. It’s an extinct (we hope!) volcano, twin to the Castle Rock, also a volcano, upon which Edinburgh Castle is built.
I got that picture as we were walking to Discovery Earth, where we take a trip thru time from the Big Bang to well into the future. A Scottish, much cooler version of the Science Centre! One room is particularly cool, there’s an actual chunk of a glacier there!
And here are a few new bronze friends we met there.
James, tweeking a saber tooth tiger in the nose!
Me, hugging a cave woman. She actually growled at me when I put my arm round her!
And a couple of dead Dodo birds
I’m really very sorry there are no more Dodo birds on the planet. They, like the duckbilled platypus, are examples of The Creator’s sense of humour ;-)
And last but not least, Sunset over Old Town
That’s about it. We took dozens and dozens of pictures, but I can’t possibly post them all.
I wish I could go back, we missed so much. And I miss it already.
*sigh* ¶ 11:53 PM 0 Comments
So anyhoo….here’s a pic of the Princess Street Gardens, and I like to call it “Where’s Waldo?” :-) Its not often I guess that Edinburgers (is that what they’re called?) get to sit out in the sun, but the week we were there was mostly in the mid to high 70sF
Before this was a city garden park, it was known as Nor Loch (North Lake), and its where they used to toss witches to see if they float. If she floated, she’s a witch. If she sank, oops, an apology was made to the family. Tho apparently everyone would secretly hope that she sank, even if they knew she wasn’t a witch. Because if she floated, then obviously she was a witch, held up by the hands of the Devil himself, and of course the rest of her family would be witches as well, and would be burned at the stake at the gates of the Castle.
Here’s the Wiki entry about the Nor Loch
It was filled in sometime in the 19th century and turned into the park we see today. It’s a beautiful place. I wish we could have seen more of it. We only walked thru a couple of times, never really stopped to look around much or get a feel for its history. Maybe next time.
Next up is a shot of Arthur’s Seat. I’ve no idea why they call it that. It’s an extinct (we hope!) volcano, twin to the Castle Rock, also a volcano, upon which Edinburgh Castle is built.
I got that picture as we were walking to Discovery Earth, where we take a trip thru time from the Big Bang to well into the future. A Scottish, much cooler version of the Science Centre! One room is particularly cool, there’s an actual chunk of a glacier there!
And here are a few new bronze friends we met there.
James, tweeking a saber tooth tiger in the nose!
Me, hugging a cave woman. She actually growled at me when I put my arm round her!
And a couple of dead Dodo birds
I’m really very sorry there are no more Dodo birds on the planet. They, like the duckbilled platypus, are examples of The Creator’s sense of humour ;-)
And last but not least, Sunset over Old Town
That’s about it. We took dozens and dozens of pictures, but I can’t possibly post them all.
I wish I could go back, we missed so much. And I miss it already.
*sigh* ¶ 11:53 PM 0 Comments
Friday, May 26, 2006
These are my neighbours
:-(
Chesterfield Man Sentenced For Cross Burning
By Staff Reports
news@morganton.com
Thursday, May 25, 2006
MORGANTON - A Burke County man will spend 20 months in federal prison for burning a cross near a neighbor's homes.
Grady Allen Carswell, 36, was convicted this week for the June 2004 cross burning near Gloria Dula's home on Bristol Creek Avenue in the Chesterfield Community.
Carswell, of 3282 Sheely Road, Lenoir, lived on Bristol Creek Avenue at the time of the incident.
In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Lacy H. Thornburg sentenced Carswell to three years supervised release and to pay Dula $2,196.57 in restitution.
"Cross burning remains a vicious symbol of hatred and cannot be tolerated," Wan J. Kim, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, said in a press release. "All American families have the right to live where they choose, undisturbed by racist threats."
According to reports in 2004, Dula found a 12-foot cross engulfed in flames across the street from her house.
Carswell told Judge Thornburg that he was responsible for burning the cross, but says he burned it because of a land dispute with another neighbor and that racial discrimination was not the reason.
Thornburg rejected the argument, according to information from the Department of Justice.
from Morganton.com
*sigh* We gotta get outta this place... ¶ 10:55 PM 2 Comments
Chesterfield Man Sentenced For Cross Burning
By Staff Reports
news@morganton.com
Thursday, May 25, 2006
MORGANTON - A Burke County man will spend 20 months in federal prison for burning a cross near a neighbor's homes.
Grady Allen Carswell, 36, was convicted this week for the June 2004 cross burning near Gloria Dula's home on Bristol Creek Avenue in the Chesterfield Community.
Carswell, of 3282 Sheely Road, Lenoir, lived on Bristol Creek Avenue at the time of the incident.
In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Lacy H. Thornburg sentenced Carswell to three years supervised release and to pay Dula $2,196.57 in restitution.
"Cross burning remains a vicious symbol of hatred and cannot be tolerated," Wan J. Kim, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, said in a press release. "All American families have the right to live where they choose, undisturbed by racist threats."
According to reports in 2004, Dula found a 12-foot cross engulfed in flames across the street from her house.
Carswell told Judge Thornburg that he was responsible for burning the cross, but says he burned it because of a land dispute with another neighbor and that racial discrimination was not the reason.
Thornburg rejected the argument, according to information from the Department of Justice.
from Morganton.com
*sigh* We gotta get outta this place... ¶ 10:55 PM 2 Comments
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Well, we start over again
A couple of days before we left for Scotland, the franchise owner in Wisconsin whose store we were going to take over decided that he wants to keep it for himself afterall. So, now we’re looking for other available stores.
First decision point is the sale price of the store of course. James scratches out any store listed at more than $100,000, unless it’s a package deal of more than one store.
One of the main decision points of course is dog friendliness of any given area. If there is an off-leash dog park, perfect, or if there is one nearby, or even if they just allow dogs in the city parks on-leash. You’d be surprised at how many cities do NOT allow dogs at all in city parks. We rule out those cities entirely.
Second decision point would be cost of real estate and cost of living. If real estate is reasonably priced, we will look further at that city. If the real estate is affordable, And they have dog friendly parks, that’s 2 points in favour.
Another decision point, for me anyway, not so much James, is travel time for me to be able to visit family. There are a couple of opportunities in Washington State. The stores themselves are affordable, but real estate is particularly grossly overpriced, and by plane, it would take over 4 hours to get to Toronto and that branch of the family. However, I have an Aunt, Uncle and a bunch of cousins (from both sides) in British Colombia. I’d be able to visit with them a bit more often maybe, just take the ferry up. The real estate costs however scared us away from those stores.
So, that leaves us looking at a couple of stores in Michigan and Ohio.
In favour of one in particular in Michigan is its proximity to both a Tim Horton’s donut shop, and only 4 hours and 45 minutes drive to Whitby where my family is. There’s also a dog park only half an hour away. Real estate is fairly affordable, but one down side is property taxes are really high! Plus, it’s a suburb of Detroit. Winters will be cold, and summers likely stiflingly humid and hot. But, I’ll hazard a guess, summers don’t start in February like they do here in Western North Carolina!
The other shop in Michigan is over the other side, about a 6 hour drive to Whitby, and I dunno where the nearest Tim Horton’s is. I can’t seem to find information about dog parks, or dog friendlieness of the area, so I’ve emailed the Chamber of Commerce. Couldn’t find a contact for Parks & Rec.
In Ohio there are 3 stores within our price range that look ok. One is in Akron, which I think would be ok for me, but it’s a fairly large city and James may not like it there. But, they’ve got a dog park, and real estate is reasonable. It would be a 6 hour drive to Whitby, and a couple of hours to the nearest Tim Horton’s, which is I think in Erie, PA.
The other 2 are in smaller cities, which both look ok, but I can’t find information on dog friendliness and their Parks contacts have not responded to my email enquiry. Which in and of itself tells me we wouldn’t want to live there ‘cuz they’re rude :-p
Or, we could just suck it up and stay here. Where there’s no jobs, and its not very dog friendly. We may be moving into James’ parent’s house in a few weeks so that we can finish fixing up this place and not have to live with drywall dust and tripping over boxes and whatnot. We’ll have to build a fence over there first so there’s someplace for the dogs to go out and we won’t have to worry about having to tie them up and them tangling each other. I’m not sure I like that idea, it sounds kind of permanent to me, but James insists it isn’t. Oh well, what can ya do eh?
In the meantime, James isn’t working, and I’m down to only 2 or 3 - 4 hour shifts per week. Not much to live on that’s for sure. If we stay, James will have to find a new job, or go back to working for the Domino’s franchise here. Which I know he is loathe to do. The new GM at the store for some reason doesn’t want to use me as an Assistant Manager as I’ve been trained, but just as a CSR. He still has to pay me the Assistant Manager wage however, which costs him too much, hence the cut in shifts. I can only assume why, but for whatever reason, he won’t schedule me to run a shift, despite the fact he knows I can, and have done in the past.
I’ve considered looking for other employment, but I have no idea how long we’re going to be sticking around here, and I’m going home for a visit the first week of July. Its difficult to go look for a job and say “but I need a week vacation to start out”. Most employers around here don’t even grant vacation time until you’ve completed your first year. And even then sometimes they don’t. Labour law here in NC is geared toward the employer, rather than the employee from what I’ve seen so far.
Not to mention of course, school is out this month and I’d be competing for the same jobs that the college and high school kids would be going for. There’s really only retail jobs and retail food jobs around here. I could work at a grocery store maybe. I don’t think I could work for Domino’s as well as some other fast food, but it would be a conflict of interest to one or the other. Or both. Maybe K-Mart or Dollar General er summat. *sigh*
I wanted to BBQ some ribs this evening, but its going to rain. And I forgot to take them out the freezer.
What to do, what to do? ¶ 4:20 PM 1 Comments
First decision point is the sale price of the store of course. James scratches out any store listed at more than $100,000, unless it’s a package deal of more than one store.
One of the main decision points of course is dog friendliness of any given area. If there is an off-leash dog park, perfect, or if there is one nearby, or even if they just allow dogs in the city parks on-leash. You’d be surprised at how many cities do NOT allow dogs at all in city parks. We rule out those cities entirely.
Second decision point would be cost of real estate and cost of living. If real estate is reasonably priced, we will look further at that city. If the real estate is affordable, And they have dog friendly parks, that’s 2 points in favour.
Another decision point, for me anyway, not so much James, is travel time for me to be able to visit family. There are a couple of opportunities in Washington State. The stores themselves are affordable, but real estate is particularly grossly overpriced, and by plane, it would take over 4 hours to get to Toronto and that branch of the family. However, I have an Aunt, Uncle and a bunch of cousins (from both sides) in British Colombia. I’d be able to visit with them a bit more often maybe, just take the ferry up. The real estate costs however scared us away from those stores.
So, that leaves us looking at a couple of stores in Michigan and Ohio.
In favour of one in particular in Michigan is its proximity to both a Tim Horton’s donut shop, and only 4 hours and 45 minutes drive to Whitby where my family is. There’s also a dog park only half an hour away. Real estate is fairly affordable, but one down side is property taxes are really high! Plus, it’s a suburb of Detroit. Winters will be cold, and summers likely stiflingly humid and hot. But, I’ll hazard a guess, summers don’t start in February like they do here in Western North Carolina!
The other shop in Michigan is over the other side, about a 6 hour drive to Whitby, and I dunno where the nearest Tim Horton’s is. I can’t seem to find information about dog parks, or dog friendlieness of the area, so I’ve emailed the Chamber of Commerce. Couldn’t find a contact for Parks & Rec.
In Ohio there are 3 stores within our price range that look ok. One is in Akron, which I think would be ok for me, but it’s a fairly large city and James may not like it there. But, they’ve got a dog park, and real estate is reasonable. It would be a 6 hour drive to Whitby, and a couple of hours to the nearest Tim Horton’s, which is I think in Erie, PA.
The other 2 are in smaller cities, which both look ok, but I can’t find information on dog friendliness and their Parks contacts have not responded to my email enquiry. Which in and of itself tells me we wouldn’t want to live there ‘cuz they’re rude :-p
Or, we could just suck it up and stay here. Where there’s no jobs, and its not very dog friendly. We may be moving into James’ parent’s house in a few weeks so that we can finish fixing up this place and not have to live with drywall dust and tripping over boxes and whatnot. We’ll have to build a fence over there first so there’s someplace for the dogs to go out and we won’t have to worry about having to tie them up and them tangling each other. I’m not sure I like that idea, it sounds kind of permanent to me, but James insists it isn’t. Oh well, what can ya do eh?
In the meantime, James isn’t working, and I’m down to only 2 or 3 - 4 hour shifts per week. Not much to live on that’s for sure. If we stay, James will have to find a new job, or go back to working for the Domino’s franchise here. Which I know he is loathe to do. The new GM at the store for some reason doesn’t want to use me as an Assistant Manager as I’ve been trained, but just as a CSR. He still has to pay me the Assistant Manager wage however, which costs him too much, hence the cut in shifts. I can only assume why, but for whatever reason, he won’t schedule me to run a shift, despite the fact he knows I can, and have done in the past.
I’ve considered looking for other employment, but I have no idea how long we’re going to be sticking around here, and I’m going home for a visit the first week of July. Its difficult to go look for a job and say “but I need a week vacation to start out”. Most employers around here don’t even grant vacation time until you’ve completed your first year. And even then sometimes they don’t. Labour law here in NC is geared toward the employer, rather than the employee from what I’ve seen so far.
Not to mention of course, school is out this month and I’d be competing for the same jobs that the college and high school kids would be going for. There’s really only retail jobs and retail food jobs around here. I could work at a grocery store maybe. I don’t think I could work for Domino’s as well as some other fast food, but it would be a conflict of interest to one or the other. Or both. Maybe K-Mart or Dollar General er summat. *sigh*
I wanted to BBQ some ribs this evening, but its going to rain. And I forgot to take them out the freezer.
What to do, what to do? ¶ 4:20 PM 1 Comments
Monday, May 22, 2006
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Immigration Reform
Ugh…did you watch that speech by the president the other day? What a git! Really, he said a lot of stuff, but really isn’t helping himself out any. Apparently reactions to his speech are mixed, by both sides. The conservatives think its not enough, the liberals think its too much. Its on the White House website if you want to watch.
Here’s my thoughts on it….
He said he’s not going to offer “amnesty”, however, he did say that any illegals who have been here several years and put down roots, will simply have to pay a fine (of unknown amount) and then submit application for citizenship. If that’s not amnesty, what the heck is it?
As an immigrant to the US who had to jump through a number of hoops to get here legally, I take offence to this “fast tracking” that he’s allowing (or rather plans to allow) currently illegal immigrants to take. How is this fair? Why the hell did James and I go through all that crap, when I could have just come for a vacation and stayed?
We first saw an immigration lawyer in March of 2003. For some odd reason, she didn’t do anything with our forms and information at all for several months, and any attempt to reach her went unanswered. We gave up on her and James found another lawyer. Who unfortunately for us was also incompetent, promising the moon, and really he didn’t know anything at all about immigration law. He mis-filed the forms, and we gave up on him, after our forms were lost in the ether somewhere. He continued to send invoices though, even after we fired him.
Finally in January of 2004 we gave up trying to locate our lost forms, and I did them myself and sent them in. At the time, the processing timelines for K3 (spousal) non-immigrant visas was at about 3 months. Then once again, something happened to slow the process, and our petition got lost, and nothing was done with it until June. We even had to call the NC senators for assistance. The democrat senator never returned calls, which was kind of stupid on his part, considering he was running for Vice President, and he was on the immigration committee! The republican senator’s office was more than helpful, and was able to locate our petition, which was then put back into the line where it should have been.
After well over a year of paperwork, I got my visa in September of 2004, and was able to move in with my darling husband in October, very near our 3rd wedding anniversary.
Then came the application for Adjustment of Status (green card) which took another year and a bit to get, after more mess ups with immigration losing our forms, and once again involving Senator Elizabeth Dole’s office.
The cost of all of this was quite a lot. There’s the processing fees for the petitions I-130, and I-129F, the visa itself, plus the medical exam, plus travel and overnight stay in Montreal for the consular interview. Not to mention the several hundreds of dollars spent on incompetent lawyers (I’d advise anyone immigrating due to marriage to forego the lawyer and just do it yourself), then application forms for employment authorization, and adjustment of status, and yadda yadda yadda.
Will the “fine” that current illegals have to pay in order to be eligible to apply for naturalization equal what my husband and I have paid for our immigration ordeal? Will the pain and suffering of this “not amnesty” be equal to what we, and several thousands of other couples every year, have to deal with in order to be together legally?
Should we have just by-passed the system and waited for the “non-amnesty” that we knew was coming? Or, as several people are wondering, will this “non-amnesty” be equal along race lines, or is it only available to Central & South Americans? Who, according to the President himself, are doing jobs that Americans just won’t do! I really do wonder at his speech writers!
I honestly do not know what to think of this administration anymore. What the heck is he trying to do exactly? He says he doesn’t want to encourage further illegal immigration, and yet in the next breath he offers “not amnesty”. WTF!?
Ugh…
Well, anyway. Check out this link to find out if you would pass the citizenship test. I passed with 7 out of 10 correct. Not that I plan to apply for citizenship, but its interesting to see who can pass this and who can’t. On a marriage based immigration forum that I frequent (where this was posted) even some born and bred Americans didn’t pass.
One of the main reasons I do not plan to apply for naturalization to the US is the oath
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
I will not at any time renounce my Canadian citizenship. And as of now, that particular part of the oath is not enforced. There are thousands and thousands of US citizens who also have citizenship to their home country. I can’t even choke it out, so I won’t say it. If I can’t say it, then I can’t be a US citizen. I honestly don’t trust that it will not always be not enforced (if that makes sense). If at some time in the future the US decides that any dual citizens in the US MUST formally renounce their homeland, then I won’t do it. I will move back to Canada and renounce the US.
If an American citizen were to apply for citizenship in another country, must s/he give up the U.S. citizenship? If not, what are the conditions? What about dual citizenship?
If one takes up citizenship in another country, then the U.S. will consider that person to no longer be a citizen. Incidentally, the same is not necessarily true the other way around. If a person of another country becomes a U.S. citizen then, depending upon the laws of the home country, that country may still consider her/him to be a citizen. There are situations where the U.S. may recognize dual citizenship. For example, a person may have acquired U.S. citizenship through a parent and still be a citizen of another country. The dual citizenship situations generally pertain to citizenship-by-birth, not when the U.S. citizen naturalizes in another country.
from here
(it is worth noting however, that there is a formal procedure in order to officially renounce US citizenship, but be careful if you are an American living elsewhere with dual nationality!)
The oath of citizenship in Canada is:
swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen
In 1998 there was a proposed change to the oath and it was tabled in 2002:
From this day forward, I pledge my loyalty and allegiance to Canada and Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada. I promise to respect our country's rights and freedoms, to defend our democratic values, to faithfully observe our laws and fulfill my duties and obligations as a Canadian citizen.
I don’t know if the change was made, I can’t find anything more of it on the CIC website.
The official Canadian stance on dual nationality is that they know that people will have at least a minimal allegiance to their country of birth, so they do not require renunciation of your home country.
I guess my point is, how is the US so arrogant as to believe (by law) that they are “the” country to be a citizen of, by making new citizens renounce their homeland, and by considering their own citizens no longer citizens if they move abroad and have dual citizenships? Seriously! I do find it arrogant and unless the oath changes, I won’t raise my right hand to say it, even if the fingers of my left hand are crossed and behind my back!
To some this may sound as if I’m being nationalistic toward Canada. I guess it could sound that way, but I was born there, raised there, and lived there for 37 years. Its as much a part of me as I am of it. To be expected to just give that up, to renounce my Canadian-ness is arrogant. And if we had been able to go the other way, and have James to move to Canada, I would not have expected him to take the oath of Canadian citizenship if it meant there was even the slimmest chance he’d lose his American citizenship and he didn’t want to, or if there was something in the oath he found just as vile. Like perhaps the allegiance to the Queen. I can understand how that would turn off a new citizen of Canada. A purely outdated position, why the heck do we need monarchy anyway? Why do we need to profess allegiance to her? *shrug* (I’ll probably have MI5 and ICE knocking on my door tomorrow for such inflammatory comments toward the US and UK! ;-) )
The cons of applying for citizenship outweigh the pros at the moment. Sure, I would be able to vote, and do jury duty (honestly some people say that’s a pro!). But I would also have to file tax returns to the IRS in perpetuity, even if I leave the country for good and have no US income. I’d be able to come and go as I please, rather than having to worry about being out of the country too long and perhaps losing my green card. Like if we decide to move to the UK for a few years, I’d have to re-apply for permanent residency to the US if we moved back here.
But I just can’t choke out that oath. So, as long as they will keep renewing my green card, and there is no requirement to apply for naturalization after X number of years, I’ll just remain a legal permanent resident. Unless they change the oath. And the current stance on “not amnesty”. :-p ¶ 12:33 PM 0 Comments
Here’s my thoughts on it….
He said he’s not going to offer “amnesty”, however, he did say that any illegals who have been here several years and put down roots, will simply have to pay a fine (of unknown amount) and then submit application for citizenship. If that’s not amnesty, what the heck is it?
As an immigrant to the US who had to jump through a number of hoops to get here legally, I take offence to this “fast tracking” that he’s allowing (or rather plans to allow) currently illegal immigrants to take. How is this fair? Why the hell did James and I go through all that crap, when I could have just come for a vacation and stayed?
We first saw an immigration lawyer in March of 2003. For some odd reason, she didn’t do anything with our forms and information at all for several months, and any attempt to reach her went unanswered. We gave up on her and James found another lawyer. Who unfortunately for us was also incompetent, promising the moon, and really he didn’t know anything at all about immigration law. He mis-filed the forms, and we gave up on him, after our forms were lost in the ether somewhere. He continued to send invoices though, even after we fired him.
Finally in January of 2004 we gave up trying to locate our lost forms, and I did them myself and sent them in. At the time, the processing timelines for K3 (spousal) non-immigrant visas was at about 3 months. Then once again, something happened to slow the process, and our petition got lost, and nothing was done with it until June. We even had to call the NC senators for assistance. The democrat senator never returned calls, which was kind of stupid on his part, considering he was running for Vice President, and he was on the immigration committee! The republican senator’s office was more than helpful, and was able to locate our petition, which was then put back into the line where it should have been.
After well over a year of paperwork, I got my visa in September of 2004, and was able to move in with my darling husband in October, very near our 3rd wedding anniversary.
Then came the application for Adjustment of Status (green card) which took another year and a bit to get, after more mess ups with immigration losing our forms, and once again involving Senator Elizabeth Dole’s office.
The cost of all of this was quite a lot. There’s the processing fees for the petitions I-130, and I-129F, the visa itself, plus the medical exam, plus travel and overnight stay in Montreal for the consular interview. Not to mention the several hundreds of dollars spent on incompetent lawyers (I’d advise anyone immigrating due to marriage to forego the lawyer and just do it yourself), then application forms for employment authorization, and adjustment of status, and yadda yadda yadda.
Will the “fine” that current illegals have to pay in order to be eligible to apply for naturalization equal what my husband and I have paid for our immigration ordeal? Will the pain and suffering of this “not amnesty” be equal to what we, and several thousands of other couples every year, have to deal with in order to be together legally?
Should we have just by-passed the system and waited for the “non-amnesty” that we knew was coming? Or, as several people are wondering, will this “non-amnesty” be equal along race lines, or is it only available to Central & South Americans? Who, according to the President himself, are doing jobs that Americans just won’t do! I really do wonder at his speech writers!
I honestly do not know what to think of this administration anymore. What the heck is he trying to do exactly? He says he doesn’t want to encourage further illegal immigration, and yet in the next breath he offers “not amnesty”. WTF!?
Ugh…
Well, anyway. Check out this link to find out if you would pass the citizenship test. I passed with 7 out of 10 correct. Not that I plan to apply for citizenship, but its interesting to see who can pass this and who can’t. On a marriage based immigration forum that I frequent (where this was posted) even some born and bred Americans didn’t pass.
One of the main reasons I do not plan to apply for naturalization to the US is the oath
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
I will not at any time renounce my Canadian citizenship. And as of now, that particular part of the oath is not enforced. There are thousands and thousands of US citizens who also have citizenship to their home country. I can’t even choke it out, so I won’t say it. If I can’t say it, then I can’t be a US citizen. I honestly don’t trust that it will not always be not enforced (if that makes sense). If at some time in the future the US decides that any dual citizens in the US MUST formally renounce their homeland, then I won’t do it. I will move back to Canada and renounce the US.
If an American citizen were to apply for citizenship in another country, must s/he give up the U.S. citizenship? If not, what are the conditions? What about dual citizenship?
If one takes up citizenship in another country, then the U.S. will consider that person to no longer be a citizen. Incidentally, the same is not necessarily true the other way around. If a person of another country becomes a U.S. citizen then, depending upon the laws of the home country, that country may still consider her/him to be a citizen. There are situations where the U.S. may recognize dual citizenship. For example, a person may have acquired U.S. citizenship through a parent and still be a citizen of another country. The dual citizenship situations generally pertain to citizenship-by-birth, not when the U.S. citizen naturalizes in another country.
from here
(it is worth noting however, that there is a formal procedure in order to officially renounce US citizenship, but be careful if you are an American living elsewhere with dual nationality!)
The oath of citizenship in Canada is:
swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen
In 1998 there was a proposed change to the oath and it was tabled in 2002:
From this day forward, I pledge my loyalty and allegiance to Canada and Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada. I promise to respect our country's rights and freedoms, to defend our democratic values, to faithfully observe our laws and fulfill my duties and obligations as a Canadian citizen.
I don’t know if the change was made, I can’t find anything more of it on the CIC website.
The official Canadian stance on dual nationality is that they know that people will have at least a minimal allegiance to their country of birth, so they do not require renunciation of your home country.
I guess my point is, how is the US so arrogant as to believe (by law) that they are “the” country to be a citizen of, by making new citizens renounce their homeland, and by considering their own citizens no longer citizens if they move abroad and have dual citizenships? Seriously! I do find it arrogant and unless the oath changes, I won’t raise my right hand to say it, even if the fingers of my left hand are crossed and behind my back!
To some this may sound as if I’m being nationalistic toward Canada. I guess it could sound that way, but I was born there, raised there, and lived there for 37 years. Its as much a part of me as I am of it. To be expected to just give that up, to renounce my Canadian-ness is arrogant. And if we had been able to go the other way, and have James to move to Canada, I would not have expected him to take the oath of Canadian citizenship if it meant there was even the slimmest chance he’d lose his American citizenship and he didn’t want to, or if there was something in the oath he found just as vile. Like perhaps the allegiance to the Queen. I can understand how that would turn off a new citizen of Canada. A purely outdated position, why the heck do we need monarchy anyway? Why do we need to profess allegiance to her? *shrug* (I’ll probably have MI5 and ICE knocking on my door tomorrow for such inflammatory comments toward the US and UK! ;-) )
The cons of applying for citizenship outweigh the pros at the moment. Sure, I would be able to vote, and do jury duty (honestly some people say that’s a pro!). But I would also have to file tax returns to the IRS in perpetuity, even if I leave the country for good and have no US income. I’d be able to come and go as I please, rather than having to worry about being out of the country too long and perhaps losing my green card. Like if we decide to move to the UK for a few years, I’d have to re-apply for permanent residency to the US if we moved back here.
But I just can’t choke out that oath. So, as long as they will keep renewing my green card, and there is no requirement to apply for naturalization after X number of years, I’ll just remain a legal permanent resident. Unless they change the oath. And the current stance on “not amnesty”. :-p ¶ 12:33 PM 0 Comments
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
More Pics
We found the CDs with the other photos on them, that we had taken with actual film. So for your viewing enjoyment, more photos from our adventures in Scotland. Most are of me, because James had possession of the camera. ;-)
I have no idea who took this one, I don’t remember, but here’s us together at the wedding.
this one is either in Floors Castle, or in Edinburgh Castle, I can’t remember which. I’ve slept since then.
These next ones were taken at Lauriston Castle, just outside the city limits of Edinburgh.
This one you can see the smoke in the trees. The groundskeepers had a rubbish fire burning, and the smoke was mingling with the mist off the Firth.
This is part of the Japanese garden at Lauriston
And me in a tree
Here’s a couple of the bathroom at Lauriston. They were one of the first homes in Edinburgh to have indoor plumbing and electricity. Mrs. Reid’s family had a plumbing business, and Mr. Reid’s family had a cabinet making business, and they also outfitted several luxury trains and ships.
And this one here is definitely from Edinburgh Castle. I remember him leaning over the wall to take this (being 6ft 2in, he can do that) thinking he was going to drop my camera down the cliff. I wanted to smack him, but then he would have dropped it!
Here’s some more of those inexplicable cows throughout Edinburgh
Here’s the back of my head, to show off my new hair thingy. Its leather and has Celtic knotwork engraved on it
Here’s me trying to figure out how to load the canon. But then I realized it’s a front loader, not a breach loader!
and last but not least, me sitting on some balls at Edinburgh Castle
TTFN, I’ll have some comments later about President Bush’s speech last night regarding immigration reform, but I don’t want to sully my vacation pictures for him :-p ¶ 3:02 PM 1 Comments
I have no idea who took this one, I don’t remember, but here’s us together at the wedding.
this one is either in Floors Castle, or in Edinburgh Castle, I can’t remember which. I’ve slept since then.
These next ones were taken at Lauriston Castle, just outside the city limits of Edinburgh.
This one you can see the smoke in the trees. The groundskeepers had a rubbish fire burning, and the smoke was mingling with the mist off the Firth.
This is part of the Japanese garden at Lauriston
And me in a tree
Here’s a couple of the bathroom at Lauriston. They were one of the first homes in Edinburgh to have indoor plumbing and electricity. Mrs. Reid’s family had a plumbing business, and Mr. Reid’s family had a cabinet making business, and they also outfitted several luxury trains and ships.
And this one here is definitely from Edinburgh Castle. I remember him leaning over the wall to take this (being 6ft 2in, he can do that) thinking he was going to drop my camera down the cliff. I wanted to smack him, but then he would have dropped it!
Here’s some more of those inexplicable cows throughout Edinburgh
Here’s the back of my head, to show off my new hair thingy. Its leather and has Celtic knotwork engraved on it
Here’s me trying to figure out how to load the canon. But then I realized it’s a front loader, not a breach loader!
and last but not least, me sitting on some balls at Edinburgh Castle
TTFN, I’ll have some comments later about President Bush’s speech last night regarding immigration reform, but I don’t want to sully my vacation pictures for him :-p ¶ 3:02 PM 1 Comments
Sunday, May 14, 2006
More on our adventures
As I was going thru our lot of souvenirs last night, I remembered a few other places we visited that I forgot to mention in my other post. So I’ll just go thru the Edinburgh Pass book to try to remember it all. The 3 day pass cost ₤45 each, and includes bus fare on the Lothian buses for those 3 days, plus a return AirLink ticket.
So here is our list, not in order of how we saw them, just in order of how they’re laid out in the book ;-)
Cadies & Witchery Ghosts & Gore tour (reg. admission ₤7.50, free with pass card)
Camera Obscura (reg. admission ₤6.95, free with pass)
Dynamic Earth (reg admission ₤8.95, free with card)
Edinbugh Dungeon (reg admission ₤10.95, free with card)
Lauriston Castle (reg admission ₤4.50, free with pass)
Mercat Tours – Vaults Tour (reg admission ₤6.50, free with pass)
Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre (reg admission ₤8.95, free with pass)
3D Loch Ness Experience (reg admission ₤4.95, free with pass)
Café Hub – 20% off total bill
Hard Rock Café – free hot fudge sundae with adult main course
There are dozens of other things included in the pass, but there’s just not enough hours in a day to see it all. Plus there are discounts in several shops and restaurants.
Each pass cost us ₤45, and just visiting the traps and tours, we would have spent ₤118.50 on admissions, plus ₤2.30 for the bus each, which we only used one day. So we saved ₤33.10, not including the free ice cream and discount at the restaurants, and the free dram of scotch and take home glass we got for breakfast at the Scotch Whisky centre ;-) We likely would not have been able to see nearly as much as we did had we not had the passes.
Things we did that were not included in the pass was one of the ghost tours (the one thru the cemetery) and something else that escapes me at the moment. The Ghost tour was about ₤8 each I think. There is another tourist pass which does include this tour tho, but I don’t know where to get that one, or what its called. Edinburgh Adventurer er summat.
If and when we go back, I would buy the pass again, and see all the other traps we missed this time. Like Holyrood House, the Museums, the Zoo, the National Galleries, etc etc etc…We’d also like to get up to the Highlands, and of course, the real Loch Ness rather than just the cheesy 3D movie ;-) And next time we may try to find a hotel closer to High Street (The Royal Mile) to save us some walking.
I still have some photos to upload from my digital camera, but I’m feeling lazy and I’m hungry and we need to go grocery shopping. I’ll get them up later. ¶ 11:11 AM 0 Comments
So here is our list, not in order of how we saw them, just in order of how they’re laid out in the book ;-)
Cadies & Witchery Ghosts & Gore tour (reg. admission ₤7.50, free with pass card)
Camera Obscura (reg. admission ₤6.95, free with pass)
Dynamic Earth (reg admission ₤8.95, free with card)
Edinbugh Dungeon (reg admission ₤10.95, free with card)
Lauriston Castle (reg admission ₤4.50, free with pass)
Mercat Tours – Vaults Tour (reg admission ₤6.50, free with pass)
Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre (reg admission ₤8.95, free with pass)
3D Loch Ness Experience (reg admission ₤4.95, free with pass)
Café Hub – 20% off total bill
Hard Rock Café – free hot fudge sundae with adult main course
There are dozens of other things included in the pass, but there’s just not enough hours in a day to see it all. Plus there are discounts in several shops and restaurants.
Each pass cost us ₤45, and just visiting the traps and tours, we would have spent ₤118.50 on admissions, plus ₤2.30 for the bus each, which we only used one day. So we saved ₤33.10, not including the free ice cream and discount at the restaurants, and the free dram of scotch and take home glass we got for breakfast at the Scotch Whisky centre ;-) We likely would not have been able to see nearly as much as we did had we not had the passes.
Things we did that were not included in the pass was one of the ghost tours (the one thru the cemetery) and something else that escapes me at the moment. The Ghost tour was about ₤8 each I think. There is another tourist pass which does include this tour tho, but I don’t know where to get that one, or what its called. Edinburgh Adventurer er summat.
If and when we go back, I would buy the pass again, and see all the other traps we missed this time. Like Holyrood House, the Museums, the Zoo, the National Galleries, etc etc etc…We’d also like to get up to the Highlands, and of course, the real Loch Ness rather than just the cheesy 3D movie ;-) And next time we may try to find a hotel closer to High Street (The Royal Mile) to save us some walking.
I still have some photos to upload from my digital camera, but I’m feeling lazy and I’m hungry and we need to go grocery shopping. I’ll get them up later. ¶ 11:11 AM 0 Comments
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Travel Album
So sorry I didn’t update at all during our trip, it turned out that our hotel didn’t have wireless access, and dial-up would have cost us 39p per “unit” plus ₤1 connection fee. Considering the cost per “unit” was at the discretion of the hotel, determined by where the call was placed to, we didn’t want to chance the extra cost. Which saved us quite a bit of money I’m sure!
So, here are some photos of our trip. I’ll start with these few from our arrival in Edinburgh. We landed at about 10am, and had to take the AirLink bus into town, so that we could catch the Munro’s bus to Kelso. (kinda like a Greyhound company).
Here’s James on the AirLink
And a few observations on our walk from the Waverly Bridge to the bus station.
The Scott Monument
cuz there’s so many bison in Atlanta!
Here we are on the Muno’s bus
the road to Kelso
Scotland is a beautiful country
a wind farm
We did see the aquaduct bridge that was used in a scene from Harry Potter (where Harry & Ron are flying the car to school) but I didn’t get my camera up in time and we’d rounded the corner.
The bus ride is about 2 hours through lovely countryside, and rather precariously narrow streets through small villages! Kudos to the bus drivers for not killing us. ;-)
We arrived in Kelso and had to find a taxi to take us to the B&B, as Chris’ mobile phone wasn’t getting a signal up there, so when I called him for a ride, there was no answer.
Margaret, our land-lady of Goldilands B&B is a wonderful lady, always helpful, and a great breakfast cook! She drove us over to the hotel our first evening so that we could get to the rehearsal, and then drove us over on the morning of the wedding, and her husband drove us to town on Sunday after we’d checked out even! The bedrooms are small, but when all you need it for is sleeping, it works out just fine. At ₤25 each per person per night, which included tea when we arrived, and full breakfast each morning, its well worth it! I’d have paid more even. I highly recommend this B&B if you ever visit Kelso. Tell Margaret we sent you. ;-) (we did get pics of it, I just can’t find the CD at the mo, will post later)
I won’t post any of the wedding day because I forgot to get permission of the guests and bride & groom and I don’t want to piss anyone off by invading their privacy. I will find out from them later if they mind having their pics on the internet, and if no, I’ll post them then. Needless to say it was a beautiful ceremony, held outdoors in the garden of the Roxburgh hotel.
Luckily the rain held off until well into the evening reception when we were back indoors. The only drawback to the outdoor ceremony was the wind, which loosed the bride’s veil. Other than that, all in attendance agreed that it was lovely. Including the “pagan-y” portions ;-) Which were oddly not recognized traditions by most of the families. And also oddly, I didn’t fumble or cry during while performing the handfasting for them. Although my shoe heals sunk into the grass, I just removed them so I wouldn’t fall over!
The ceremony was followed by champagne and strawberries, and horse-drawn carriage rides for all. Here’s one photo for you of me and James in the carriage, with thanks to the best-man Jay, brother to the groom for taking this for us. Like my hat? :-D
After the carriage ride was lunch, which was very tasty rack of lamb. Even James ate it, which was surprising, considering how “pink” it was. He prefers charred meat.
Between lunch and the evening reception was some time to go back to the B&B where James and I sat talking with Chris’ (the groom) youngest brother Mark.
The evening reception was drinks and snacks, with a guitarist and magician as entertainment. The entertainment was followed by the groom and bride playing music from their laptop for dancing. The groom’s father drove us back to our B&B because it was pouring rain, and there we packed up to get ready to head to Edinburgh the following morning.
Graham (Margaret’s husband) drove us to town, (us being me, James, and 2 friends of the bride and groom, Katie and Claire) and then we found a taxi to take us up to Floors Castle. Of course we had our luggage with us, as there really was nowhere to store it after we’d checked out of the B&B. We got to the castle and the ladies at the front door (who take the admissions fees) asked if we were staying and they hadn’t been advised! Apparently this has happened often enough that it doesn’t phase them, the Duke of Roxburgh and his family still live in the castle. We said we’re not staying, but can we leave the luggage somewhere whilest we tour the castle and grounds. They said sure, leave it there under the table out of the way, and we paid our fees and off we went. We walked thru the public portions of the castle (no photography allowed) then went to have lunch in the restaurant. I had the game pie, which was HUGE and very yummy.
After that, we walked down the outdoor path to look at the grounds map, and decided we’ll need our jackets to stroll through the gardens and headed back to the front entrance. This is where our day gets comical. The front desk lady was all surprised to see us, apparently they’d been looking all over for us, calling round to all the employees (except obviously the restaurant) because the Duke’s butler had seen our luggage in the entryway and said this was absolutely unacceptable, and we must get our stuff and leave immediately! Hmph. But really, how many people can say they’ve been kicked out of a Scottish castle eh? *snarf*
However, when the taxi dropped us off we had asked him to return for us at 4:30. It was only 3:45 or so when we got kicked out, so we had to sit on a bench and wait. Which was fine, it was a nice day and we got some pics of the outside of the castle and dreamed of some day owning our own so we could have our personal butler kick tourists out! ;-)
The taxi showed up right on time, then took us back to town where we caught the Munro’s bus back up to Edinburgh. We were all quite exhausted so decided to just meet up the following morning to tour the next castle, and see if we can’t get kicked out of another. ;-)
Edinburgh Castle is absolutely HUGE. Its more of a small village than a single castle, and only one resident, the Governor of Edinburgh Castle. So, no luck in getting kicked out, his private residence is not open to the public. ;-)
This cross is outside the castle, in the parking lot (car park as they say in the UK)
and here’s me, just inside the castle walls, waiting for the next guided tour to start.
This here is called “The Lang Stair” or, long stair
And this is the Oldest remaining building in all of Edinburgh, Mary’s Chapel, built in 1096.
the most interesting places for me were the Great Hall
and the war prisons
and the Soldier’s Dog’s cemetery
Here’s a view of the rooftops of Edinburgh, looking down the barrel of a canon
And this is the old castle hospital, which was last used during World War II where they housed and cared for injured prisoners of war, if I remember correctly.
There are 5 gift shops within the castle grounds, all of which caught us for something. Especially the Castle Bookshop where we spent over ₤70! Well worth it though, as these are books we’d not likely find in North America.
We finished up our tour and said good evening to Katie and Claire, so that James and I could go meet up with our internet friend Elizabeth. We met her at the pub Rose Street Brewery. Unfortunately my one memory card was used up, and my spare for some reason decided it didn’t want to work, so the pictures we took were lost. There was a good one of me eating my haggis, and of course a pic of the 3 of us that the waitress took. sigh so now there’s no proof that I actually tried, and liked! the haggis! Oh well, we’ll have to go back. Hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with ‘Liz again sometime, either here or there.
The next day James and I picked up our Edinburgh Pass at the Princess Street tourist centre, then started planning our touristy adventures. There is seriously waaaaaaaay too much to see and do in Edinburgh, but the pass does help out extremely well in saving some money. We got the 3 day pass, and with all the sights we saw, half way thru day 2 both passes were more than paid for.
First stop was the Edinburgh Dungeon. A blissfully cheesy tour of the seedier and darker side to Edinburgh’s history. We go underground for a guided “tour” with costumed actors, starting out with The Judge, who accused me of witchcraft and dancing naked and conjuring a man. Not far from the truth really! ;-) Another accused tourist was a Russian man who was accused of cross dressing, and when he was put into the prisoner box, his wife had to shout out translations to him from the benches. LOL!
We also had a “boat” cruise underground to search for vampires; or as they were called “Bobhan Sidh” (spelling?). Plus I got to assist with an autopsy, and the body was supplied by none other than the notorious Burke & Hare. We also met cannibal Sawney Bean in his cave. The tour is meant to be scary, but its really quite funny. To those of us who are de-sensitised by horror movies and goth clubs that is. ;-)
After the dungeon we took a city transit (Lothian) bus to Lauriston Castle. (Lothian bus passes are included with the Edinburgh Pass).
This is the view as you walk up the drive, thru a canopy of trees
The left most portion of the castle is the original tower built in the 1590s, then added on to over the centuries, mostly in the 1800s.
The last private owners were Mr and Mrs William Robert Reid, who lived there from 1902 to 1926. When Mrs. Reid died in 1926 she left the castle to Scotland because she and her husband had no children, with the stipulation that everything in it be left as it was. The interiors are a snapshot of the early 1900s, and very very interesting. The bathroom particularly is enviable!
The surrounding gardens are gorgeous and the view across the Firth is lovely. On a clear day. Unfortunately, it was a bit misty over the water, so I won’t post those photos ;-)
(I don’t know what happened to my memory card on this day, but I somehow managed to get double exposures!)
After we toured the house, with a very knowledgeable guide, we got back on the bus to the city centre, returned to our hotel room (Thistle Hotel) and snoozed for a while to wait for Katie to call as we were to meet her and Claire at a pub somewhere. She called just after 9, and we headed out to the Sandy Bell’s, a wee pub just off the Royal Mile where they have live traditional music every night. The piper that evening was obviously still learning, I think he must have killed at least 6 cats in just 10 or so minutes, before the barman himself took up the pipes and played a tune, much to our pleasure! There was also a fiddler and some great beer.
The girls were flying home the following morning, so we only stayed til about 11pm. All in all, a very busy day. We slept in the following morning.
Armed with a vague plan on what to see we headed up to the Royal Mile (which, I believe, is slightly more than a mile to today’s measurement, but it’s the road leading down from the castle to Holyroodhouse palace at the other end).
Here’s a picture of Mercat’s Cross (the market cross) which is where they used to nail people in the middle ages and into the 1700 who’d been charged with various crimes, ranging from thievery, lying, and witchcraft. Today it is topped by a cow in “braveheart” costume and blue facepaint. Much to the confusion of Edinburgers! No one we asked has any clue why it was put there, just days ago.
This is a view of the town council building, across from Mercat cross
Our first tourist trap for the day was 3D Lock Ness, another blissfully cheesy trap wherein you put on 3D glasses and headphones to watch and listen to some “scientist” go on about the proof of the Loch Ness monster. ;-)
After that, we joined up with a Mercat tour of the Vaults. These “vaults” were re-discovered under the streets of Edinburgh in the 80s and 90s, and thus another tourist trap was born! Its very interesting tho, people used to live and work there because the city was so overcrowded. There was no more room to build out or up, so they built under.
Here’s an example of how close together the “tenement” buildings were/are in Edinburgh. The alley-ways between the buildings are called “closes”. Most are given names after something or someone of the history of Edinburgh.
We also toured a bunch of the shops along the mile. Up and down probably twice! ;-)
From there we decided we were hungry and headed to a cafe called The Hub. With our Edinburgh pass we received a discount on our bill, which saved us a further ₤8 and change for the day. I’d highly recommend this pass to anyone planning a trip to Edinburgh!
Here’s our plates. I had the grilled halibut with, I believe it was hollandaise sauce, and James had the steak with sausage and bacon plate.
On this day in particular my digital camera went thru 3 sets of batteries. Whether this was because I got a bad batch at SuperDrug, or I had a ghost on my shoulder the entire day (one set lasted all of 5 minutes!) we don’t know, but I have no pictures of our evening tour of Greyfriars cemetery because I had no batteries left. We did experience something while there. I had someone or something breathing/blowing on the side of my neck. There was noone there within reach, and James was facing the other direction, nowhere near my neck. James said he also felt someone or something playing with his ear around the same time. Thankfully no one on our tour was attacked, which has apparently happened before. People have been pushed, and scratched and one woman claimed to have been near suffocated, with some unseen hand over her mouth and nose while it pinned her against a wall. *sigh* All I got was heavy breathing. ;-)
On our third day using the Edinburgh pass (5th day in Edinburgh) we started out by touring Camera Obscura, http://brightbytes.com/cosite/2edinb.html which, other than the Castle, is Edinburgh’s oldest tourist attraction.
Here’s a view of the Royal Mile, Castle Hill from the top of the observation tower
Now, during our travels of the city, several times tour guides and friends mentioned the ancient call of “Gardy Loo!”, which of course during the middle ages and likely well into the late 1700s was used to warn people below that you’re about to toss the contents of your chamber pot into the street! Now you can’t read this very clearly, but here’s yet another commemorative plaque about the ancient cry. *snarf*
A view of Edinburgh from the top of Camera Obscura
We walked around some more, poking into corners and closes just waiting til evening when we had planned to join another ghost tour.
Here’s a picture of a door frame in another close, leading toward the Writer’s Museum (which sadly we didn’t find until too late in the day, it had already closed)
And a lament left on the step of the Mercat Cross
This is in the courtyard/quad of the town council building. I have no idea the significance of these cows in Edinburgh, but there are a few of them.
closer view
and closer still
Well, that’s about all the pics for now. I think there may still be more on my camera that I need to upload, and of course the 8 or 9 rolls that James took! We had 8 rolls processed in Edinburgh on our last day, and put on CD so that we wouldn’t lose any to the x-ray machine. 8 rolls of film put on CD cost us just over ₤28!
Our last evening in Edinburgh was spent on a Witchery Tour, lead by our guide, Alexander Clapperton (deceased). Then we returned to our hotel to get all packed up, because we had to be up to get to the airport at the ungodly hour of 5:45. Our flight was at 9:10. We had a connection in Newark, NJ and we finally landed in Charlotte at around 4:55. We picked up the dogs at the kennel at 6pm and we had pizza for dinner. We wre both crashed on our couches by 9pm. So there you have it. The (believe it or not) Reader’s Digest condensed version of our adventures in Scotland.
We’ll be going back some day, perhaps for a visit, perhaps to live. We haven’t decided yet. ;-) ¶ 3:16 PM 6 Comments
So, here are some photos of our trip. I’ll start with these few from our arrival in Edinburgh. We landed at about 10am, and had to take the AirLink bus into town, so that we could catch the Munro’s bus to Kelso. (kinda like a Greyhound company).
Here’s James on the AirLink
And a few observations on our walk from the Waverly Bridge to the bus station.
The Scott Monument
cuz there’s so many bison in Atlanta!
Here we are on the Muno’s bus
the road to Kelso
Scotland is a beautiful country
a wind farm
We did see the aquaduct bridge that was used in a scene from Harry Potter (where Harry & Ron are flying the car to school) but I didn’t get my camera up in time and we’d rounded the corner.
The bus ride is about 2 hours through lovely countryside, and rather precariously narrow streets through small villages! Kudos to the bus drivers for not killing us. ;-)
We arrived in Kelso and had to find a taxi to take us to the B&B, as Chris’ mobile phone wasn’t getting a signal up there, so when I called him for a ride, there was no answer.
Margaret, our land-lady of Goldilands B&B is a wonderful lady, always helpful, and a great breakfast cook! She drove us over to the hotel our first evening so that we could get to the rehearsal, and then drove us over on the morning of the wedding, and her husband drove us to town on Sunday after we’d checked out even! The bedrooms are small, but when all you need it for is sleeping, it works out just fine. At ₤25 each per person per night, which included tea when we arrived, and full breakfast each morning, its well worth it! I’d have paid more even. I highly recommend this B&B if you ever visit Kelso. Tell Margaret we sent you. ;-) (we did get pics of it, I just can’t find the CD at the mo, will post later)
I won’t post any of the wedding day because I forgot to get permission of the guests and bride & groom and I don’t want to piss anyone off by invading their privacy. I will find out from them later if they mind having their pics on the internet, and if no, I’ll post them then. Needless to say it was a beautiful ceremony, held outdoors in the garden of the Roxburgh hotel.
Luckily the rain held off until well into the evening reception when we were back indoors. The only drawback to the outdoor ceremony was the wind, which loosed the bride’s veil. Other than that, all in attendance agreed that it was lovely. Including the “pagan-y” portions ;-) Which were oddly not recognized traditions by most of the families. And also oddly, I didn’t fumble or cry during while performing the handfasting for them. Although my shoe heals sunk into the grass, I just removed them so I wouldn’t fall over!
The ceremony was followed by champagne and strawberries, and horse-drawn carriage rides for all. Here’s one photo for you of me and James in the carriage, with thanks to the best-man Jay, brother to the groom for taking this for us. Like my hat? :-D
After the carriage ride was lunch, which was very tasty rack of lamb. Even James ate it, which was surprising, considering how “pink” it was. He prefers charred meat.
Between lunch and the evening reception was some time to go back to the B&B where James and I sat talking with Chris’ (the groom) youngest brother Mark.
The evening reception was drinks and snacks, with a guitarist and magician as entertainment. The entertainment was followed by the groom and bride playing music from their laptop for dancing. The groom’s father drove us back to our B&B because it was pouring rain, and there we packed up to get ready to head to Edinburgh the following morning.
Graham (Margaret’s husband) drove us to town, (us being me, James, and 2 friends of the bride and groom, Katie and Claire) and then we found a taxi to take us up to Floors Castle. Of course we had our luggage with us, as there really was nowhere to store it after we’d checked out of the B&B. We got to the castle and the ladies at the front door (who take the admissions fees) asked if we were staying and they hadn’t been advised! Apparently this has happened often enough that it doesn’t phase them, the Duke of Roxburgh and his family still live in the castle. We said we’re not staying, but can we leave the luggage somewhere whilest we tour the castle and grounds. They said sure, leave it there under the table out of the way, and we paid our fees and off we went. We walked thru the public portions of the castle (no photography allowed) then went to have lunch in the restaurant. I had the game pie, which was HUGE and very yummy.
After that, we walked down the outdoor path to look at the grounds map, and decided we’ll need our jackets to stroll through the gardens and headed back to the front entrance. This is where our day gets comical. The front desk lady was all surprised to see us, apparently they’d been looking all over for us, calling round to all the employees (except obviously the restaurant) because the Duke’s butler had seen our luggage in the entryway and said this was absolutely unacceptable, and we must get our stuff and leave immediately! Hmph. But really, how many people can say they’ve been kicked out of a Scottish castle eh? *snarf*
However, when the taxi dropped us off we had asked him to return for us at 4:30. It was only 3:45 or so when we got kicked out, so we had to sit on a bench and wait. Which was fine, it was a nice day and we got some pics of the outside of the castle and dreamed of some day owning our own so we could have our personal butler kick tourists out! ;-)
The taxi showed up right on time, then took us back to town where we caught the Munro’s bus back up to Edinburgh. We were all quite exhausted so decided to just meet up the following morning to tour the next castle, and see if we can’t get kicked out of another. ;-)
Edinburgh Castle is absolutely HUGE. Its more of a small village than a single castle, and only one resident, the Governor of Edinburgh Castle. So, no luck in getting kicked out, his private residence is not open to the public. ;-)
This cross is outside the castle, in the parking lot (car park as they say in the UK)
and here’s me, just inside the castle walls, waiting for the next guided tour to start.
This here is called “The Lang Stair” or, long stair
And this is the Oldest remaining building in all of Edinburgh, Mary’s Chapel, built in 1096.
the most interesting places for me were the Great Hall
and the war prisons
and the Soldier’s Dog’s cemetery
Here’s a view of the rooftops of Edinburgh, looking down the barrel of a canon
And this is the old castle hospital, which was last used during World War II where they housed and cared for injured prisoners of war, if I remember correctly.
There are 5 gift shops within the castle grounds, all of which caught us for something. Especially the Castle Bookshop where we spent over ₤70! Well worth it though, as these are books we’d not likely find in North America.
We finished up our tour and said good evening to Katie and Claire, so that James and I could go meet up with our internet friend Elizabeth. We met her at the pub Rose Street Brewery. Unfortunately my one memory card was used up, and my spare for some reason decided it didn’t want to work, so the pictures we took were lost. There was a good one of me eating my haggis, and of course a pic of the 3 of us that the waitress took. sigh so now there’s no proof that I actually tried, and liked! the haggis! Oh well, we’ll have to go back. Hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with ‘Liz again sometime, either here or there.
The next day James and I picked up our Edinburgh Pass at the Princess Street tourist centre, then started planning our touristy adventures. There is seriously waaaaaaaay too much to see and do in Edinburgh, but the pass does help out extremely well in saving some money. We got the 3 day pass, and with all the sights we saw, half way thru day 2 both passes were more than paid for.
First stop was the Edinburgh Dungeon. A blissfully cheesy tour of the seedier and darker side to Edinburgh’s history. We go underground for a guided “tour” with costumed actors, starting out with The Judge, who accused me of witchcraft and dancing naked and conjuring a man. Not far from the truth really! ;-) Another accused tourist was a Russian man who was accused of cross dressing, and when he was put into the prisoner box, his wife had to shout out translations to him from the benches. LOL!
We also had a “boat” cruise underground to search for vampires; or as they were called “Bobhan Sidh” (spelling?). Plus I got to assist with an autopsy, and the body was supplied by none other than the notorious Burke & Hare. We also met cannibal Sawney Bean in his cave. The tour is meant to be scary, but its really quite funny. To those of us who are de-sensitised by horror movies and goth clubs that is. ;-)
After the dungeon we took a city transit (Lothian) bus to Lauriston Castle. (Lothian bus passes are included with the Edinburgh Pass).
This is the view as you walk up the drive, thru a canopy of trees
The left most portion of the castle is the original tower built in the 1590s, then added on to over the centuries, mostly in the 1800s.
The last private owners were Mr and Mrs William Robert Reid, who lived there from 1902 to 1926. When Mrs. Reid died in 1926 she left the castle to Scotland because she and her husband had no children, with the stipulation that everything in it be left as it was. The interiors are a snapshot of the early 1900s, and very very interesting. The bathroom particularly is enviable!
The surrounding gardens are gorgeous and the view across the Firth is lovely. On a clear day. Unfortunately, it was a bit misty over the water, so I won’t post those photos ;-)
(I don’t know what happened to my memory card on this day, but I somehow managed to get double exposures!)
After we toured the house, with a very knowledgeable guide, we got back on the bus to the city centre, returned to our hotel room (Thistle Hotel) and snoozed for a while to wait for Katie to call as we were to meet her and Claire at a pub somewhere. She called just after 9, and we headed out to the Sandy Bell’s, a wee pub just off the Royal Mile where they have live traditional music every night. The piper that evening was obviously still learning, I think he must have killed at least 6 cats in just 10 or so minutes, before the barman himself took up the pipes and played a tune, much to our pleasure! There was also a fiddler and some great beer.
The girls were flying home the following morning, so we only stayed til about 11pm. All in all, a very busy day. We slept in the following morning.
Armed with a vague plan on what to see we headed up to the Royal Mile (which, I believe, is slightly more than a mile to today’s measurement, but it’s the road leading down from the castle to Holyroodhouse palace at the other end).
Here’s a picture of Mercat’s Cross (the market cross) which is where they used to nail people in the middle ages and into the 1700 who’d been charged with various crimes, ranging from thievery, lying, and witchcraft. Today it is topped by a cow in “braveheart” costume and blue facepaint. Much to the confusion of Edinburgers! No one we asked has any clue why it was put there, just days ago.
This is a view of the town council building, across from Mercat cross
Our first tourist trap for the day was 3D Lock Ness, another blissfully cheesy trap wherein you put on 3D glasses and headphones to watch and listen to some “scientist” go on about the proof of the Loch Ness monster. ;-)
After that, we joined up with a Mercat tour of the Vaults. These “vaults” were re-discovered under the streets of Edinburgh in the 80s and 90s, and thus another tourist trap was born! Its very interesting tho, people used to live and work there because the city was so overcrowded. There was no more room to build out or up, so they built under.
Here’s an example of how close together the “tenement” buildings were/are in Edinburgh. The alley-ways between the buildings are called “closes”. Most are given names after something or someone of the history of Edinburgh.
We also toured a bunch of the shops along the mile. Up and down probably twice! ;-)
From there we decided we were hungry and headed to a cafe called The Hub. With our Edinburgh pass we received a discount on our bill, which saved us a further ₤8 and change for the day. I’d highly recommend this pass to anyone planning a trip to Edinburgh!
Here’s our plates. I had the grilled halibut with, I believe it was hollandaise sauce, and James had the steak with sausage and bacon plate.
On this day in particular my digital camera went thru 3 sets of batteries. Whether this was because I got a bad batch at SuperDrug, or I had a ghost on my shoulder the entire day (one set lasted all of 5 minutes!) we don’t know, but I have no pictures of our evening tour of Greyfriars cemetery because I had no batteries left. We did experience something while there. I had someone or something breathing/blowing on the side of my neck. There was noone there within reach, and James was facing the other direction, nowhere near my neck. James said he also felt someone or something playing with his ear around the same time. Thankfully no one on our tour was attacked, which has apparently happened before. People have been pushed, and scratched and one woman claimed to have been near suffocated, with some unseen hand over her mouth and nose while it pinned her against a wall. *sigh* All I got was heavy breathing. ;-)
On our third day using the Edinburgh pass (5th day in Edinburgh) we started out by touring Camera Obscura, http://brightbytes.com/cosite/2edinb.html which, other than the Castle, is Edinburgh’s oldest tourist attraction.
Here’s a view of the Royal Mile, Castle Hill from the top of the observation tower
Now, during our travels of the city, several times tour guides and friends mentioned the ancient call of “Gardy Loo!”, which of course during the middle ages and likely well into the late 1700s was used to warn people below that you’re about to toss the contents of your chamber pot into the street! Now you can’t read this very clearly, but here’s yet another commemorative plaque about the ancient cry. *snarf*
A view of Edinburgh from the top of Camera Obscura
We walked around some more, poking into corners and closes just waiting til evening when we had planned to join another ghost tour.
Here’s a picture of a door frame in another close, leading toward the Writer’s Museum (which sadly we didn’t find until too late in the day, it had already closed)
And a lament left on the step of the Mercat Cross
This is in the courtyard/quad of the town council building. I have no idea the significance of these cows in Edinburgh, but there are a few of them.
closer view
and closer still
Well, that’s about all the pics for now. I think there may still be more on my camera that I need to upload, and of course the 8 or 9 rolls that James took! We had 8 rolls processed in Edinburgh on our last day, and put on CD so that we wouldn’t lose any to the x-ray machine. 8 rolls of film put on CD cost us just over ₤28!
Our last evening in Edinburgh was spent on a Witchery Tour, lead by our guide, Alexander Clapperton (deceased). Then we returned to our hotel to get all packed up, because we had to be up to get to the airport at the ungodly hour of 5:45. Our flight was at 9:10. We had a connection in Newark, NJ and we finally landed in Charlotte at around 4:55. We picked up the dogs at the kennel at 6pm and we had pizza for dinner. We wre both crashed on our couches by 9pm. So there you have it. The (believe it or not) Reader’s Digest condensed version of our adventures in Scotland.
We’ll be going back some day, perhaps for a visit, perhaps to live. We haven’t decided yet. ;-) ¶ 3:16 PM 6 Comments
