One of our Pandas is missing!

This poster has appeared around central Edinburgh, Scotland, stating a sad tale of love and loss.

It tells the story of Squeak a six inch toy panda, aged 20 years, who has been mislaid by her owner on Sunday 3rd June 2012.

She was last seen on either the Airlink airport bus or the Three Sister pub - won't ask, hope it was a fun weekend.

Squeak has brown eyes, a broken nose, and is wearing a red and gold ribbon around her neck.

We love our pandas in Edinburgh, real or otherwise, so if you have any information please go to www.facebook.com/haveyouseenthispanda

Whip crackaway!

Oh joy!  For those of the Glee persuasion who love musicals, and just can't help joining in, the Filmhouse Edinburgh have a Calamity Jane - Sing-Along screening on Saturday 28th May 2011.
Discard your Sound of Music nun's habit and your Rocky Horror suspenders.  Strap on those chaps and whip-crackaway down to Lothian Road for a great afternoon out.

Salty, bitter and very addictive

Fish and chips have long been a stock meal in the UK due to the rapid development of trawl fishing in the North Sea and development of railways connecting ports to cities during the second half of the nineteenth century.

During World War II fish and chips remained one of the few foods in the United Kingdom not subject to rationing.

Traditionally it has been regarded as a useful quick meal for those who eat fish on Friday.

In Edinburgh a combination of Gold Star brown sauce and water or malt vinegar, known either simply as "sauce", or more specifically as "chippy sauce", is very popular as it is salty, bitter and very addictive.

Does fashion have a future

The latest development on Princes Street is the demolition of the former Littlewoods department stores premises which is to be replaced with a Primark.  On Edinburgh’s most prominent retail thoroughfare it will be joining a range of chain stores including GAP, House of Fraser, Marks and Spenser and H & M.

Edinburgh’s city centre is well supplied with all the major high street retail chains but there is a growing frustration amongst a sector of the trade that independent retailers are being pushed out.

Laura Davidson, 26, from Lasswade, is in the process of establishing her clothing line If my name was….

She said, “After being based in London I am keen to live and work in Edinburgh, but it’s very difficult to establish a business here.”   

At present Ms Davidson has stock on display at Cookie in Cockburn Street, Edinburgh and also sells through ASOS Marketplace, an online retail outlet.  “The city doesn’t have anything like Camden Markets in London, not even remotely.  There are occasional events but what we need is a location for a regular weekly market.”

for a longer version of this story visit   http://footstepsofdavidhume.blogspot.com/

Tram Ride to Nowhere

Edinburgh is a city made up of the Old Town a medieval city based around the Royal Mile and the New Town in all it's Georgian splendour.
It's never been ideal for car driving and there has never been much parking but Lothian Regional Transport, who run the city buses in Edinburgh, are an award winning company and many travellers were perfectly happy with the public transport available before the whole trams fiasco even started.

The authorities, which means of course ultimately the taxpayers, have now spent £402m of the £545m budget, with a new estimate cost of £600m.
The construction work should be almost completed BUT just 28 per cent has been finished.

Here is how the saga unfolds.

• October 2007 - Approval given to Final Business Case for Trams Project
• December 2007 - Approval given by the Council for TIE to sign contracts with for supply of vehicles and design, construction and building of network
• April 2008 - Contract negotiations are concluded
• June 2008  - Construction of the network commences
• November 2008 - Willie Gallagher steps down as executive chairman of TIE
• April 2009 - Phase 1B of construction project is cancelled due to financial problems
• May 2009 - Richard Jeffrey becomes new executive chairman of TIE
• January 2010 - Important milestones of construction schedule slip by up to two years
• March 2010  - Announcement that construction work will be delayed by a further 30 months
• June 2010 - Project costs rise to £600 million or more
• July 2011  Original estimated completion date
• 2014  Current estimated completion date

  

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Minister-rules-out-takeover-of.6710017.jp

Edinburgh - a view of two cities

After a dark and snowy time over the last few week the weather is finally lifting in Edinburgh.  It's still a little cold but the days are getting longer so time for some retail therapy.
One of the best views in New Town has to be from the cafe at the top of John Lewis department store and it only cost the price of a cup of coffee.
Now that the snow has lifted you can see all the way north to the Firth of Forth and Fife.
Other great views for free

• the Esplanade at Edinburgh Castle (Old Town and New Town)
• Ramsay Lane at the top of the Mound (fab view of Princes Street)
• Regent Road overlooking the Old Carlton Burial Ground toward the Old Town (you might recognise this from the BBC drama North and South with Richard Armitage).

So you want to go to Uni

The UCAS deadline has been and gone - if the application isn't in now, well it's probably too late.  So here are some handy tips for January 2012.

Hobbies – How you spend your time.  Unfortunately in this case Xbox and X Factor don’t count.  Never fear you have a few months to take up something impressive.

How about Falconry to demonstrate dedication and empathy?  You could try Morris Dancing – you won’t be the coolest applicant but it does show team spirit and no fear of mockery.

Achievements – Come on, anything?  What have you been doing with your time, apart from exams, assessments, coursework and endless paperwork?

Well, dredge through your past there must be something.  100 metres swimming?  Well done, that’s an achievement.  Scout Badge for Whittling a Woggle from Wood?  That will do
.
Of course something more substantial would be better, so if you’ve been digging wells, teaching English or climbing Kilimanjaro then all the better. 

By the way being potty trained before you went to High School is not an achievement you should boast about – no matter what your mother says.

Skills – Driving, diving and data-crunching are good.

Learning to work the washing machine is bad.  I am very pleased that you have mastered this tricky piece of technology and your undergarments are no longer varying shades of pink but this is not suitable for your application.

Always remember your reader.  An admissions tutor with a working partner, three teenagers and an incontinent Labrador at home will expect more to be impressed.

Ambitions – To have an aim in life shows that you have put a bit of thought into the process.  However, this is not the time to be honest.

• What you should say is –“I want to be a useful, caring and constructive member of society who will benefit greatly from everything that your esteemed institution can offer me.”
• What you want to say is – “I want money, fame and more sex than you can shake a stick at.  How can I slide through your classes without too much work?”

By the Way - If you need assistance filling in your name, address and telephone number then I suggest you seriously reconsider whether Uni is for you.

Finally should you follow this advice and not get the place you want I will leave you with the following observations.

• What do I know – I’m in the same boat as you and anyway all I want from life is money, fame and more sex than I can shake a stick at.
• Uni is about independent thinking as well as learning.  Fill in the damn forms yourself.

McDonalds and Tesco are hiring so, cut out the middleman, avoid the student debt and go straight to your future employer.

Good Luck!