Saturday 17 February 2007

Glasgow or Edinburgh

Have arrived back in England after having had my fix of the Mother Country. Visiting friends and family, eating, drinking, shopping and having the luxury of speaking at my own speed(courtesy Billy Connolly) Brought back the pornography of my choice - property porn both the GSPC and the ESPC. I salivate at the thought of schedules.

Spent time in both Glasgow and Edinburgh both this week and in life, conversely I love both. Born and grew up in Glasgow and then from age 21 spent 13 years living in Edinburgh, when I moved there my mother used to tell people " Oh I've another daughter but she lives in Edinburgh" like it was Australia, for the non scots who may read this Glasgow and Edinburgh are really different and sometimes Glaswegians are really chippy about Glasgow being much better and not the capital.

When staying in Glasgow, I drove around near the University, round Kelvin Park, The Kelvingrove Museum and then parked up and wandered round Byres Rd, Ashton Lane etc. The pubs I used to drink in when I was a Student Nurse at the Western Infirmary are still there, Curlers, Bonhams, the Exchequer on Dumbarton Rd is gone though. All 4 schools I attended are no longer there and 3 of them are now housing developments. It was really nostalgic and some of the architecture around the University and Park area is stunning. I absolutely love the blond sandstone tenements and have a real hankering to live in one with a bay window and a view on Glasgow life.

When staying in Edinburgh, I stood on George St at the junction of Hanover St and looked down to see one of my favourite views, all the beautiful buildings right down to the Forth. I love George St. Within a short distance there is a Starbucks, The Living Room, the ESPC and then in an almost unbroken run an LK Bennett, Hobbs and a Jigsaw, how good is that !!!!!

This rambling kind of brings me to the point, I need for my own self to come home and live in my own country and I need to decide where to live. For the very few people who read this and know me they will know that decision making isn't the strongest suit in my skill set. Not to put too fine a point on it I am really crap at decisions whether big or small. If I live in Glasgow I have my family and could afford a nicer house, if I live in Edinburgh I have my friends but a much smaller place. I need to be in a good school catchment area which automatically pushes up the price and I have no liberal wishy washy Guardian reader type angst about buying into a school area. I want the best school for them and if I could afford it I would live where I liked and send them private, but that's not the case. So now comes a year of trying to decide.

A great big thank you to my family for having us to stay and to my lovely friends who made time to see me. As usual I apologize for drinking too much (3 glasses of the red on Thurs ) and the recurring theme of too much wine = too much information. Again I behaved like an over excited child at a birthday party and it is my usual excuse of I don't get out much because of the children and I get overgiddy when I am with the grown ups. So next time when the barmaid asks small or large glass of the red and I look at you to make the decision for me, you may change your mind and go for the small.

No comments: