Tuesday 26th May

Well here I am in Glasgow, doing battle with my little notebook computer. When I bought it in the shop they promised me it was a normal sized keyboard, and for the most part it is, but the wretched side keys are in just the "\" keeps getting in the way!
Well getting up here was certainly fast. As my normal means of getting here is the train, it had a certain blink and you miss it quality to it, once I'd got past the unbelievable tension of getting off the ground. It was a very small plane, and the take off felt like it was near vertical, but in reality - ie, out of the window, was somewhat less so. That didn't stop me from jerking like a baby at every single jerk and toss of the turbulence, and yep, I did feel the wheels going up and down. I thought I'd only been up there for fifteen minutes, and the captain's saying if you look out of the window now you'll see the Lake District, (one of my fave parts of the world!) and then suddenly we were landing. Extraordinary. Needless to say it was raining, and today I've been soaked three times. I kid you not. It felt like every time I put my head out of doors the heavens opened, but it can't have been that deliberately organised. Clearly it was simply accidental, but it felt like - am I absolutely sure about this???!
Anyhow, I went to see the little flat that I've been "watching" on the web for the past three weeks. Amazing place, really huge, vast place with enormous storage cupboards etc. But, and isn't there always some buts, anyhow the first but was that the kitchen had barely a cupboard in it, and nothing but bare boards on the floor, and secondly, and premier but of the lot, the carpet in the living room was either sticky with vileness, or (and my personal front runner) sopping wet with damp. You could never take the amount of books I've got into a place like that, and get out with them intact within what, a week? Shame because it's a great little flat, and the rent was unbelievable (coming from Bristol that is) but I'm going to have to give that one a miss. But I did like the area, and I'm going back there tomorrow to have a better look around, and a good look at the local letting agents shop. Very quiet streets, lots of greenery and trees, even a local recycling centre, including a clothing drop off point, combined with a bright and lively high street, and a very good bus service. Can't ask for more really can you? It is a bit far from the university, and I guess that's something I need to think about, but with the transport the way it is, I'm not so sure that's a real disadvantage. They do very good combined bus and rail tickets up here, and it's a reasonably quick whizz into town.
Ah well, I need an early night, I'm exhausted after trekking around most of the day. Catch you later!