Happy Birthday Morph!!!

Look at the lovely cake I baked
stole from flickr (Image ©2006 Alice Robison)

Seriously though, happy birthday x

Title sums it up nicely i think.

Brings a whole new meaning to taking the dog for a walk… Morph goes for a walk, and takes Bruce… who, erm, doesn’t walk.

We got a few strange looks walking around Rouken Glen like this though .. Bruce seemed happy enough, I guess in his old age he doesnt want to do all the hard work himself anymore… know the feeling

We started packing away various little things today, to try and empty the place a bit to make it easier to work on and to prepare the flat for it’s eventual place somewhere in an estate agent’s window when it goes on the market within the next month or so.

It’s feeling less and less like home now… more like I’m living in the middle of a building site. The 100s of ornaments and candles that decorated the place are slowly dissappearing into boxes until they get home, wherever that may be.

We’re still searching for our new home… we’ve seen a few that might work, but until this one is closer to completion and valued we can’t actually commit to any of them

Looking forward to being home again.

Seems strange not having Mandy around after her being here for the month or so it’s been since her questionable landlord on Wilton Street forced her to leave.

Also worryingly I thought her leaving would reduce the amount of clutter in the bedroom, but you can’t actually see any difference despite the fact she filled her Mum’s car with bags and boxes earlier this evening.

Hopefully she’ll come back now and then to help out with stuff

On the plus side we’re back to a Windows-free network in here now that her laptop isn’t connected to it! (Sorry Mandy, much as we all like you, you really have to stop using Windows :P)

…Morph takes great care not to get caught exceeding the speed limit.

Full size version of this image is at http://iross.net/morphdrivesp.jpg

One room of the flat is now almost complete…. problem is it’s a cupboard measuring 1.89m x 0.97m… Not exactly the biggest achievement (or for that matter the biggest cupboard) the world has ever seen but for us it’s a damn good start

It’s painted and everything

Now only the main hall, the small hall, the lounge, the kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom to go and it’s ready

…. Morph’s running around on them!

But, seriously, congratulations to Morph on passing her driving test today with only 6 minors and despite the rather hellish weather Well Done!!!!!

I passed by Ruthven Lane today, another reminder of a West End that is rapidly changing. I spent a lot of time in Ruthven Lane over the last few years… from DiMaggios when I first moved here (and could afford to eat out reasonably regularly!) and obviously through becoming involved with ThinkMac, which became JustMac.

I remember first hearing of the “Phiten” shop ran by David and not knowing what to expect…He and his store rapidly became an important (and friendly!) part of Ruthven Lane. Then he brought along Alfie - the adorable labrador pup!

Times have changed however, after 10 years of there being a “mac shop down the lane” JustMac closed, Phiten has also gone on to bigger and better premises, now being part of Debenhams in Glasgow’s City Centre (although I doubt that Alfie is still turning up to work!).

Today, Ruth - the shop’s “adopted” cat who would greet me every day was nowhere to be seen, having obviously got fed up waiting for us to come and let her in the back door for a heat by the Calor Gas fire. The Phiten unit, along with Number 18 and the old Aspire building all lie empty, and I can’t wonder how far behind Relics et al are now that the lane has changed hands.

We have some fond memories of Ruthven Lane; Refitting the shop as a surprise for Mike when he was at in the Park, numerous midnight shop-fittings, the many times we had dinner delivered to “the lane” and sat in the middle of it on big fold up chairs… etc…

Ruthven Lane is far from dead, rather parts of it are rising like the pheonix. The old solicitors office’s are being redeveloped into Ruthven Mews which will hopefully attract new little niché shops and businesses who can take their first steps on Ruthven Lane as we once did, and that (while it will never compete with Ashton or Cresswell Lane) it continues to be a thriving part of the West End for the next 10 years.

The photo gallery has been re-organised slightly so it should be easier to find things (and there’s not 30-odd albums on the front page) everything is now split into categories including;

• Trips - Anywhere i’ve been that i’ve had a camera from Loch Lomond to London!
• Events - Anything notable e.g. New Year, Birthdays, Weddings, Heriot-Watt Blowing Up…
• Theatre - Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Other Venues (incl stuff from HGS)
• Mobile - Cameraphone pictures - usually just random signs and other things that catch my eye.

The rest of it’s still disorganised and JustMac and GUST both still get their own categories because I can’t think of anywhere else to put them.