View from the First Floor

I’m sat on the upper floor of a Starbuck’s on the [Royal Mile](http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=55.9505555556,-3.18555555556&spn=0.01,0.01&q=55.9505555556,-3.18555555556 (Royal%20Mile)&t=h "Royal Mile") in Edinburgh, watching people come and go in the grey drizzle, while I catch up on my e-mail. And yes, I know it’s been a long time since I posted. There was a death in the family, you see, and that’s the sort of event that always puts a different perspective on things. Blogging, for a while, seemed unimportant.

Anyway, life moves on, and sometimes good news follows bad. One Woman will shortly be Dr One Woman, after sailing through her PhD viva with flying colours. After six years of effort, that’s good news. Last night was spent celebrating this in a Lewisham hostelry, and now I’m in Edinburgh. My, what a dynamic, cosmopolitan life I live.

I like coming to Edinburgh, and the east coast of Scotland generally. I grew up not far from here, you see, and there’s something about the accents, and the landscape, and the colour of stone used in the buildings, and the temperature that says “home” to me. I can feel a little stress slipping out of me every time I leave London, but Scotland magnifies the effect, as do Suffolk and the West Country.

It’s nice just chilling out with a (decaff) coffee and watching the world go by.