RANDOM!

1) I called and wished my mom a Happy Mother's Day today! In Scotland, it falls in March and I am always fearful that I will forget it! I honestly thought it was today. I even sent an email to my brother so he wouldn't forget too! So Happy Mother's Day!!

2) Yea! We have petrol now. Prices keep going up, so now unleaded costs £1.07 per liter...

So let's see £1.00 = $1.98 and 3.785 L = 1 US gallon...


So roughly, I am paying $8.03/gallon!! WHAT THE!!! I think I will stick with thinking in pounds per liter!

3) Today was the first beach volleyball day! It was a little windy, but we stayed out and played for 4 hours. I am a little sun-kissed, but in Scotland, you can say I am BURNT! Yea, my first sunburn of the year! I hope it is the first of MANY!

4) I also babysat a house rabbit this weekend!

I am sure their are more random things to come...

NO FUEL!

"There is NO Fuel in St Andrews", a coworker told me Thursday afternoon. I am going to school in St Andrews, a small town that has only two "petrol" stations. In fact, the problem stretches across Scotland and will probably effect the whole UK.

Who knows where the nearest petrol station is that has fuel? and even if you find a station, how long will you have to wait?










(Photo from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7368318.stm)

Why is there no fuel?

Environmental reasons? NO

High Prices? NO

Union Strike? YES

Here are two articles for more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7366367.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7368318.stm

I am pulling for the workers. I hope they get their pensions! True, I have only read articles written in support of the workers, but I am tired of (especially oil companies) raising prices and reporting the highest profit margins. Something has to be done.

Luckily, I still have a half a tank in my car and really, I can walk everywhere I want to go. But what about other people? Delivery trucks to grocery stores or businesses (Food!), public transport, people who live out of town that either run businesses or teach at the university. They are urging people not to panic buy, to go on with life as normal, and we should have enough fuel, but it is hard to sit back and wait. They want people to take public transport, but supposedly the buses will run out of fuel by Sunday. The workers are also threatening to shut down a major pipeline that supplies 1/3 of the UK's fuel...

I guess we will see what happens. Until then... Guess it is walking for me! :)

Like I said... Always an Adventure...

So my friend Matt and I decided to go for a small drive in the country side to see an old derelict church. When we got there, we walked around for a bit, but there wasn't much to see. It was cool, but not photogenic as we had hoped, so we went for a wee drive. We continued on and came to the river Tay, and Matt took some pictures. There were tons of pheasants (I could only think of pheasant season). I made Matt take pictures. We saw a hawk and other wildlife. We came up to the dairy farm, and all of these cows were eating. I said "Wouldn't a cow photo be great."
Matt took one and I said he should go to the end and take one down the row. So we backed up and he got out and left the door open, because he was just going to be a minute. As we were backing up, the black lab puppy came running up to us. I told Matt to be careful that he didn't get attacked. He laughed and got out of the car. As I was sitting there, I looked over and the dog came and put his head where the passenger door was. Before I knew it, the little bugger jumped on my passenger seat and laid upside down so I would pet him! He didn't want to get out.... There was mud all over the seat. After my initial bit of shock, I just laughed. Matt got some photos. Crazy, who ever heard of some random dog jumping in a car so he could be stroked.

I'm a FlyMoer!

Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, What you see before you is an infamous Flymo. Just the mention of the Flymo will make most UK men sweat, will make boys whine to do anything, will make long grass blades tremble at its feet... Yes, this Flymo isn't a toy. Many of you may ask, What is a Flymo...


Yes, it is an electric lawn mower!

I decided that my lawn was getting a little long, so I went out to the garden shed to get the lawn mower that I knew was out there on the wall. As I pulled it out, I realized that it was electric and there are no wheels. The air generated from the blade lifts the mower off the ground. It actually reminded me of vacuuming. It was quite the experience mowing my lawn, especially the BIG hill. Here are some pictures of my lawn. See the white thing in the top picture? That is the extension cord. I had to call my neighbor/coworker Paul to see if he had an extension cord. The one on the mower just wasn't long enough!!




After mowing the lawn, I felt very independent. There is nothing more fulfilling than Flymoing!