Well, it has already been one month and two days since I arrived in Melrose, home of the sevens rugby, burial ground for the heart of Sir Robert the Bruce, location of the first Sir William Wallace statue, (Braveheart?), and the site of an ancient roman village!! My how time flies!!Work is going along as per usual, the pints are flowing and the Scottish rains have arrived. I have done a bit of exploring in the neighbouring border towns, and been up to Edinburgh for the
festival. I climbed the Eidon hills, without being blown off by the gusty wind or freezing up in the cold, and when I reached the top the view was expansive and the quiet solitude amazing. (A different kind of solitude from the "where are all the under 50's!!" solitude) Life as I know it consists of trying to understand the Germans, Italians, Bulgarians, and other various Europeans that pass through, whilst also getting my ear around the various Scottish accents that I sometimes think are a whole nuther 
language in themselves.In light of the drama that has unfolded with the terrorist bomb scares that have thrown airports and airlines into a high security frenzy, and the Turkish blasts in Istanbul and other tourist spots, it makes the fact that I am in a sleepy little Scottish town as opposed to my plans of Turkish teaching seem not so bad at this point in time. I have realised how far removed we are in NZ.
SMALL TOWN CRIME BUSTER 
The morning started off with the appearance of the constable at Burt's. By the afternoon, Nick (proprietor) was sitting on bleeding Dave (a disgruntled employee that had been fired the previous day but had been hanging around drunkenly) out on the street in an effort to restrain him, which was followed by the police slapping on handcuffs and hauling him away. Later that evening, his friend was thrown in the "chooky" (South African for jail apparently) for stealing alcohol from Walters, one of the
three supermarkets in Melrose. (Why there is three, literally within metres of each other, I don't know) Oh the trials and tribulations he he : )
A SIGN OF THE AGES
Whilst Auckland has recycled shops with names like The Paper Bag Princess, Scotland has thrift shops called "Care for the Aged", "Heart foundation" "Cancer Foundation", and other charitable things.
I currently have my eyes set on Morocco in a couple months, and
reuniting with one of my dearest friends who will be on this side of the world, both of which should keep me going through this aging town, he he and the increasingly cold weather (goodness knows how I am going to get through winter!).
SELF IMPROVEMENT
After each shift we get a free pint of something on the tap. As you may or may not know, I am addicted to diet coke, thus, the diet pepsi has been my beverage of choice (ordinarily I wouldn't
drink it back home as I have an aversion to the syrup types, but it tastes better here!). But as I calculated, at the rate I am going, by the time I left, I would have had 120 pints of the intestinal rotting poison!! So, I have switched to a pint of soda water with a slice of lemon. Essentially, I am getting free bubbles, whooop! But I am sure that in 20 years my insides will thank me : )
The morning started off with the appearance of the constable at Burt's. By the afternoon, Nick (proprietor) was sitting on bleeding Dave (a disgruntled employee that had been fired the previous day but had been hanging around drunkenly) out on the street in an effort to restrain him, which was followed by the police slapping on handcuffs and hauling him away. Later that evening, his friend was thrown in the "chooky" (South African for jail apparently) for stealing alcohol from Walters, one of the
three supermarkets in Melrose. (Why there is three, literally within metres of each other, I don't know) Oh the trials and tribulations he he : )A SIGN OF THE AGES
Whilst Auckland has recycled shops with names like The Paper Bag Princess, Scotland has thrift shops called "Care for the Aged", "Heart foundation" "Cancer Foundation", and other charitable things.
I currently have my eyes set on Morocco in a couple months, and
reuniting with one of my dearest friends who will be on this side of the world, both of which should keep me going through this aging town, he he and the increasingly cold weather (goodness knows how I am going to get through winter!).SELF IMPROVEMENT
After each shift we get a free pint of something on the tap. As you may or may not know, I am addicted to diet coke, thus, the diet pepsi has been my beverage of choice (ordinarily I wouldn't
drink it back home as I have an aversion to the syrup types, but it tastes better here!). But as I calculated, at the rate I am going, by the time I left, I would have had 120 pints of the intestinal rotting poison!! So, I have switched to a pint of soda water with a slice of lemon. Essentially, I am getting free bubbles, whooop! But I am sure that in 20 years my insides will thank me : )
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