August Rush

An update from Edinburgh, which is where I am planning on living until the end of November.

I finally have a roof over my head, an agency that doesn't seem to have any problems placing me in jobs and just enough money in the bank account that I can still afford to eat.

Internet access has been limited in Edinburgh, and my web time has been dedicated to job and apartment hunting - not too much has changed in that department, except that my current job allows for some free time online. Hooray!

Life in Edinburgh is... a vibrant, lively grey. Like the clouds that perpetually exist just above the city skyline, Edinburgh is a city with a million different tones, shapes and shades all concealed within the same colour - grey.

There is a rather dramatic beauty in clouds. At a glance they may appear oppressive, overbearing and dull. Yet they are alive, moving, changing all the time. Sometimes they float, sometimes they roll, sometimes they're harbingers of a booming doom, other times they're merely the gateway to the paradisiacal blue above - there's a diversity in their consistency. They're always there, but if you look closely there is always something new to be found in the way they move, in the shapes they make, in the tiny gaps between.

The weather here might be rather dull, but that isn't Edinburgh's most prominent feature (although it might be my most prominent point of complaint). With the world's largest festival just coming to an end, Edinburgh is taking a new shape. As the crowds fade and the party-goers leave, the city is coming into its own and revealing the calm beauty that exists even after the excitement has left.

The drama of a castle perched atop the crags, the gentle, green roll of Arthur's Seat (Edinburgh's highest hill) and the concrete crassness of the eternally-busy Princes Street form just three sides of a city with many. The fact that Edinburgh is a town whose city boasts not one but two ground levels for many of its buildings is rather indicative of the vibe of this place - you can walk in on ground floor, and leave on ground floor, but end up in an entirely new place. Like the shifting shapes of the clouds overhead, Edinburgh is a city to be explored and enjoyed by those with an appreciation of their own imagination.

And for those with patience.


I wish those clouds would hurry up and disappear, I miss the sunshine.