summer time and the living is easy

It's summer in Scotland. Well as summer as it gets here. The temperatures are rarely higher that 20C and there is no guarantee that there will be sunshine, but we appreciate every bit of it and the parks are full of people and BBQs as soon as you don't have to wear gloves and a winter coat anymore.

At the beginning of June we had the Medow's Festival, a volunteer run free festival with lots of music, all kinds of food and lots of stalls that offer arts and crafts and vintage goods. On Saturday it started out really nice, the sun was shining, the music was good, we brought blankets and drinks and were having a ball. Unfortunately we weather suddenly turned and it started raining like it was the end of the world. And it didn't stop. For hours.

Our blankets became rain ponchos, sitting on the ground was a no-no and half of us just went home, because... well, they're afraid of water coming out of the sky....

But in the end some of us ended up staying till almost the very end and it was so worth it, because we ended up dancing to some ska band in the mud and the pouring rain and it was so much fun.

I mean we were soaked afterwards. I could literally wring my dress afterwards and when we got home we all went straight for the showers so we could warm up.

But that didn't keep up from going again the next day. And this time the weather was fabulous, I might have even gotten a little sunburn.

This time we actually really had a look at all the stalls and I am really hoping I will have the resources next year to have a stall of my own. We bought hundreds of Trivia Pursuit cards, because we love to have little quiz nights and we watched people dress up in card board armor and beat the shit out of each other. Which really looked like a lot of fun.

It is incredible what the Medow's Festival team organises each year for absolutely free. You really have stuff for every one. There are dog shows, kids areas, carnival rides, lots and lots of music, arts and crafts and vintage stalls, local food, hair dressers and so much more.


If you are ever in Edinburgh at the beginning of June make sure to catch the Medow's Festival. It's a blast!

around the world

I have friend. Her name is Shannon. She is from Canada. She used to live in the hostel. She has a blog, too. She talks about hostel life, too. And traveling in general. She's been on the road since February now. In Europe, Israel and Morocco.She takes lots of pretty pictures. Sometimes I even end up in some of them.

Here's the link:

http://travellingcanuk.blogspot.co.uk/

Have fun!

the music should groove your bones

I just got out of the shower and was about to get ready to go to a wee free festival, just a 10 minute walk from my house(yeah... hostel). So I thought I could listen to some music that would get me in the mood.
Back in 2006 I lived and studied in Germany and had just moved into a new flat with a new flatmate and it turned out we were rather perfect for each other. We were so similar! Same hair, same body type, similar clothing. My mom even asked, if I had been cloned. At some point, one would say what the other one thought and we even invented our own secret code.
But also a very similar taste in music. From some old school goth stuff to the singer/songwriter stuff I was into at the time.
In fact, before going to Uni I had spend a couple of months in Ireland and I fell in love with the country and its music scene. I still keep going back every now and then.
So back in our flat I would play my favourite bands and singers all day long, to the point where she knew them, too. Because I was missing Ireland a lot, we kept going to an Irish pub in our town and two Irish boys were playing every weekend, and we became kind of their fans. They must have thought we were nuts, well they weren't far off.
Around the same time the singer of a German punk rock band died. I had not exactly been friends with him, but since we lived in the same city we ran in to each other here and there. And it hit me hard! So we bought a bunch of their CDs at a car boot sale I think. We listened to them a lot, too.
It's crazy thinking about this time now. It feels like it's a million years ago but on the other hand a lot of memories are still fresh and they are very precious.
I know that I have not always been the best friend. In fact I have been a proper bitch in a certain situation. And I still think about what would have happened, if I hadn't been. But I guess you can't change the past, so I try to go with the good stuff. And I am very glad, that I was forgiven.
Anyways.... the playlist I stumbled upon on my search for upbeat music was a playlist of a bunch of our favourite songs. And as I was listening I got in a really good mood, started dancing in my wee room and all the memories came back to me.
It is a real gift to a soundtrack to that time.

And here is the playlist:
The Bates - Donna Clara
Declan O'Rourke - your world
Mund - July
John Byrne - (I am sorry, I don't know the title)
Roesy - Naughty Girl (Beyonce)
The Frames - Finally
The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
Juliet Turner - Toxic (Britney Spears)
Paddy Casey - Sweet Suburban Sky
Brian McGovern - Scars
John Byrne - You'll Never Know
Declan O'Rourke - Sarah
Mundy - Healthy
The Bates - Ich bin nicht verliebt
Bell X1 - Like I love you (Justin Timberlake)
Myself - Go back (yes, I used to make music....)
The Bates - Immer weiter

all my children

In a lot of hostels they distinguish between people who just stay for a couple of nights and people who stick around for a few weeks, months or in my case even years. You hear different terms in different hostels but they all describe more or less the same thing. One hostels called people like me weeklies, because we would pay our rent on a weekly base instead of daily. The hostel I am staying in now calls them longtermers. I think the word explains itself.
Us longtermers usually get to know each other pretty well after a wee while and often become some sort of dysfunctional family, specially in the smaller hostels.

The people in my hostel seem very tight at the moment. They all arrived around the same time, they are about the same age and they seem to enjoy each others company a lot.
I don't really feel like a part of that group, since I am a bit older, have been in the hostel a lot longer and I really don't enjoy the pubs and clubs they go to on a regular base. Also, I just don't drink as much anymore... But in a way they are my kids.
I am the night porter in the hostel, which means I usually work, when they drink and party, so more often than not I have to tell them to be quiet, wash the dishes they leave behind, kick their friends out who don't stay at the hostel and every now and then I have to clean up after them when they had to much alcohol.
It's a bit like they are on a never ending school trip and I am one of the teachers.
Don't get me wrong, they are a lovely bunch and they make up for all their little faults by making you tea when you're sick, lots of cuddles and sometimes simply being a bunch of funny loonies.

And just like children you can make them happy or calm them down by giving them something to do. One day for example of "my kids" was quite a bit hyper and annoying everyone, especially the manager so I simply gave him some paper and pencils and he was happy drawing away for an hour.

Another way to entertain the kids is the massive dress up box. Just open that thing and start putting hats on people or maybe put a pile off clothes in the middle of the room and you can be sure they will come up with the weirdest combinations. Quite often some kind of cross-dressing is involved.
Here are some examples: