Family, festivals and finding a job.

Hullo there ma wee blog.

Not posted for a while as the lovely G and I have been busy with the usual mundane daily rituals of work - her not me - and home - definitely me - and the festival.

Edinburgh Festival is in full swing and the whole city is stuffed with tourists - see previous entry - and of course I am partaking of the opportunity to get a wee bit o' culture myself in between job hunting and stuff. I love Edinburgh at this time of year. Its absolutely at its best, even with all the upheaval of the new tram works which have left half the city roads closed off and dug up, making driving and parking even more impossible than normal. I always feel that during the festival there is an excitement in town I find hard to resist.

Being a bit of a bookworm I love the Book Festival - Edinburgh Festival is actually 10 different festivals running at the same time { so I found out from the TV anyway } Edinburgh International Festival, The Fringe, The comedy Festival and The Book festival to name but a few.

In the Book Festival lots of authors come to give readings, be interviewed and have question and answer sessions with the audience and its become a tradition for me to go and see as many of my favourites as I can { or afford }. I usually get a couple of tickets for each author and persuade a friend or member of the family to come along with me. Everyone seems to enjoy it and its a nice way to spend some one to one time with friends or family at a different kind of experience. Usually it takes in dinner and drinks either pre or post event and as each event lasts an hour there is usually time for a drink or coffee after and a chance to talk about the show and life in general.

So far I have seen Ian Banks with my brother in law, Ian Rankin with my brother and Gerald Scarfe with the lovely G. Still to come are Christopher Brookmyre with my sister in Law, Gryff Rhys Jones with the lovely G, and Michel Blanc with my sister in law. Ian Rankin, Ian Banks and Christopher Brookmyre are old favourites and never fail to entertain, real highlights in my festival each year. Gerald Scarfe was also riveting, really entertaining, scathing, acerbic and witty in his description - or dissection - of politics and politicians.

On Sunday my cousin Elspeth and her husband Dave arrived for a short stay till Tuesday, and had time to visit the town and take in the sights. Elspeth is a probation officer, the daughter of Dads twin brother Bill, and this was the first time we had spent any real time together as adults as that side of the family live in Leicestershire. It was really Mum and Dad that visited most often. Gordon or I visited only for infrequent short stays and had seen Elspeth and her family only for a couple of hours at a time within the wider family circle. It was good to see her and to get to know her as an adult, and to find out that she is the kind of person I can get on with.

As Dad died recently we spent a lot of time talking about family connections and history and reaffirmed many of the shared memories of our childhood back in rural Ayrshire before they moved south. She called it reshaping our relationship, I teased her that I was not one of her clients and we had a good laugh. They left saying they felt chilled and refreshed and promised to come again. I hope they do.

Next weekend our Dutch friends arrive for a short break from their farm near Eindhoven.Its been a couple of years since we saw each other and are looking forward to them coming again, even though this time their two daughters cant come with them.

On the job front I have applied for a couple of positions, one with the Parole Board for Scotland { long shot I know } and with the NHS as a controlled drugs inspector.

I am determined to go for jobs I really want to do and fortunately our redundancy cover gives me the opportunity to do this. These kind of jobs are few and far between and I desperately hope something comes along soon. I am just not cut out for not working. I feel my self confidence very low some days.

ah well better go.

see you soon.

listening to Talk Talk by Talk Talk..........