A Sample of Christmas Music

These are the most popular Christmas song over here, hands down - people can't seem to get enough of them and they are played non-stop on the tele, radio and in the shops. Maybe it is a generational thing, but I had never heard either until I came here.

Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade


Fairytale of New York by The Pogues


Note the second to last verse of this second song - If that ain't the Christmas spirit, I don't know what is...

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

Merry Christmas/Chanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus

Hope everyone is having a Happy Holiday regardless of what or where you are celebrating.
I have 2 weeks off of work but am planning on sticking around Edinburgh for the most part. It's just too expensive to travel anywhere at this point in time without having anything planned ahead. One of my flatmates, Donna, is in Morocco for the week and my other 2 flatmates are staying with family for Christmas and Boxing/St. Stevens day. I'm holding down the fort on my own again this year.

When everyone was around last week we decorated the flat a bit and had a great Christmas dinner (including mini link sausages, which apparently go along with the traditional meal here). Also, I got a last minute invitation to my office Christmas party last Friday. I wasn't really expecting much, but it turned out to be a great, free, drink-filled night.

From what I have been told, and experienced so far, Christmas is fairly low-key in Scotland. It is New Years/Hogmanay that is the highlight of the Holiday Season. This is a bit different from the way things are run in the rest of the UK. For example, England and Wales have the Christmas Day (Trading) Act which prevents shops from opening on Christmas Day. It's not law that Scottish stores have to close, but it seems like most do.
The other difference (don't remember if I mentioned it in a previous blog post) is that in Scotland we get January 1st and 2nd off. Presumably so that people have 2 days to recover from their first hangover of the year...

I don't have much in the way of other news. I'm going to spend the next few days watching movies, reading and planning my next bit of traveling. My contract ends at the start of April and I am planning a week-long bus tour around Scotland before spending a couple of weeks backpacking through Scandinavia.

Hope everyone is happy, healthy and surrounded by those they care about.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight.

Happy Festivus

In your honor a donation has been made to the Human Fund.

For years, the Human Fund has been fulfilling our motto, "Money for people," by giving money to people who need money. We will honor your name by continuing this fine tradition.

Thank you for helping to get money to the people who need it most.

Trevor

Christmas Party

Last night my recruitment/temp agency was having their Christmas party and I figured it was in my best interest to go (plus, there was a full spread and free drinks from 6:30-8:30). A few people from my new job were supposed to be going, so it would be a good chance to meet them.
When I got there I stuck on my name-tag, grabbed a beer and started talking to a few people. The woman I was sitting beside looked vaguely familiar, and even more so once we started talking and I found out she was from Vancouver (Kits). She only had her first name written on her name-tag, so that was no real help, but it eventually came out that her brother was Ross Rebagliati - they look identical.
I managed to meet a few other people, but nobody from my new office showed up. Once the last call of free drinks ended it was decidedly time to leave. One of the guys I was talking to was going to head over to an Irish pub so I joined him and listened to a bit of electric fiddle over a few more pints.

PS. I made my homemade egg nog and survived, but is just wasn't the same as the store bought stuff...

Invoicing and Achievement Log Administrator

Yes, I finally got a job and that is my new title - I have a feeling it will be just as interesting as the name implies. After not hearing back from any jobs for weeks I went for an interview Monday morning and was offered the position in the afternoon. It just figures that today, after accepting the job at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, I received 3 calls asking me to come in for interviews at other places... I think this is still the better job anyways.
I'm still considering picking up a bit of weekend work, or something temporary over the holidays (the office is closed between Christmas and New Years).

I'm going to try my hand at some homemade egg nog tonight seeing as you can't buy it in any of the stores, but I am a bit psyched out about the raw eggs. If you don't see a new post from me in the next I think it is safe to assume that the salmonella did me in.