After the day promenading York and sightseeing, it was time to see some other sites – from the train – on Day Soixante-Six. Kay had recommended taking the National Express train up to Glasgow because not only did it have free internet, it had some gorgeous views of the coast, as you can see here.
The ride up was a bit long, but when you know that going in, it’s not too bad. I met my friend Danielle, who I was in the Tintamarre theatre troupe with at MTA, at around 5.15pm at Glasgow Central. We then headed out to Paisley, just outside of the metropolitan centre and then walked to her house. It was a bit of a trek with the bags but I’m pretty much getting used to them.
This evening, my first in Scotland in many years, was Guy Fawkes night. Long story short: gunpowder plot to blow up the parliament. So everyone burns things to celebrate the night. We went downtown in Paisley and saw the fireworks which were set to music… so wonderfully done! I was very impressed, even when we found a place away from the rest of the crowd. 
Day Soixante-Sept I was on my own to explore Glasgow. After purchasing a few more train tickets for points in France and Germany, I was off around half ten and got into Glasgow around eleven. My first stop was the museum of transport, which featured, among other things, this car. Can you movie buffs tell me what the context is, from a movie that was originally released in 2002 and is part of a series of films?
Following the Museum of Transport, I trudged through the rain over to BBC Scotland. I was hoping to get on a tour for the next day but no dice, and Danielle’s connection at the Beeb was busy so it just means I’ll have to return!
Day Soixante-Huit was spent at casa Danielle in the morning. I spent a good chunk of time hanging out with her step-daughter, Sarah, who enjoyed the fact that I could make funny faces!
At around 1 pm I headed off to Edinburgh for the afternoon. I had been there before so my first stop was revisiting the City of the Dead tour. It brings back chilling memories… 
… and because there were no tours, I took a pass and headed off to meet up with Charlotte!
Charlotte and I worked together eight years ago when I first started as a teaching assistant back in Ontario. It was the first time we had seen each other since… and it was great to catch up! We met up with her flatmate and went out for coffee at this really nice coffee shop. I got a white chocolate hot chocolate which appeared like this –
Points for artistry, for sure! Charlotte was also good enough to tip off where I should dive when I go to Australia in the new year. Just before we parted ways, she dropped me off at a little café, where, yes, I actually ate a deep fried mars bar!
The first picture is the completed product. It wasn’t as battered as I thought it would be (I figured it would be like a chicken strip, just with chocolate inside) so it was actually quite tasty and easy to finish off. Here’s the halfway through picture.
And shortly afterwards, it was finished, and so was I, so I headed back to Glasgow, caught a train home to Paisley, hung out with Chris (Danielle’s husband), and then started surfing the web. And made an interesting discovery.
Those of you who know me know that I like to participate in speed stacking competitions, and I fancy myself quite good at it. I was in a tourney in Cleveland back in January ’09 and then again in one at Canada’s Wonderland in June ’09. At both tournaments, in my age group, I came second in each of the three events (3-3-3, 3-6-3, and cycle). Which was a bit of a bummer, because there weren’t that many involved.
On the right is my 3-6-3 time which is an Ontario provincial record… and on the left is my 3-3-3 time which is a CANADIAN NATIONAL RECORD!!!! How about that???? I can now say “Ryan Vickers, National Record holder” and not be lying!
Not a bad way to end the evening!
Day Soixante-Sept I was on my own to explore Glasgow. After purchasing a few more train tickets for points in France and Germany, I was off around half ten and got into Glasgow around eleven. My first stop was the museum of transport, which featured, among other things, this car. Can you movie buffs tell me what the context is, from a movie that was originally released in 2002 and is part of a series of films?
Following the Museum of Transport, I trudged through the rain over to BBC Scotland. I was hoping to get on a tour for the next day but no dice, and Danielle’s connection at the Beeb was busy so it just means I’ll have to return!
The nice thing about travelling alone on holiday is that you can pretty much do what you want when you want it. As such I got home at around half three and just took it easy. That evening though Danielle and I went to a jazz concert at the local arts centre. It was actually quite good – topped off by the fact that the artist was a great singer and by joking that “don’t I look like a student” got Danielle and I four pounds off each of our tickets! Bonus.
Day Soixante-Huit was spent at casa Danielle in the morning. I spent a good chunk of time hanging out with her step-daughter, Sarah, who enjoyed the fact that I could make funny faces!
At around 1 pm I headed off to Edinburgh for the afternoon. I had been there before so my first stop was revisiting the City of the Dead tour. It brings back chilling memories…
… and because there were no tours, I took a pass and headed off to meet up with Charlotte!Charlotte and I worked together eight years ago when I first started as a teaching assistant back in Ontario. It was the first time we had seen each other since… and it was great to catch up! We met up with her flatmate and went out for coffee at this really nice coffee shop. I got a white chocolate hot chocolate which appeared like this –
Points for artistry, for sure! Charlotte was also good enough to tip off where I should dive when I go to Australia in the new year. Just before we parted ways, she dropped me off at a little café, where, yes, I actually ate a deep fried mars bar!
The first picture is the completed product. It wasn’t as battered as I thought it would be (I figured it would be like a chicken strip, just with chocolate inside) so it was actually quite tasty and easy to finish off. Here’s the halfway through picture.And shortly afterwards, it was finished, and so was I, so I headed back to Glasgow, caught a train home to Paisley, hung out with Chris (Danielle’s husband), and then started surfing the web. And made an interesting discovery.
Those of you who know me know that I like to participate in speed stacking competitions, and I fancy myself quite good at it. I was in a tourney in Cleveland back in January ’09 and then again in one at Canada’s Wonderland in June ’09. At both tournaments, in my age group, I came second in each of the three events (3-3-3, 3-6-3, and cycle). Which was a bit of a bummer, because there weren’t that many involved.
HOWEVER at the Canada’s Wonderland event, they did a separate filming apart from the normal events to determine qualifying times for records. Knowing that my competitor got the record for the cycle I was disappointed and didn’t figure that I would be in the running for anything else. But googling on Day Soixante-Huit lead to discovering the following bit of a pdf file…
On the right is my 3-6-3 time which is an Ontario provincial record… and on the left is my 3-3-3 time which is a CANADIAN NATIONAL RECORD!!!! How about that???? I can now say “Ryan Vickers, National Record holder” and not be lying!
Not a bad way to end the evening!
Cheers,
Vick.
Vick.
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