Thursday, February 04, 2010
All change
Interesting times.
So, at the tail end of last year, my good friend - and flatmate of the past three and a half years - Hamish very nervously told me that his partner had been invited to apply for a job in Wick and that they were seriously thinking about moving there. Late last month they went north to see the place, and for Craig's interview and (unsurprisingly to anyone who's heard him talk about his work) Wick have snapped him up. They're relocating in April.
After some thought about what to do next, I've decided that I'm moving too. Our flat in Stockbridge is lovely, but it's at the upper end of what I can afford* and Edinburgh is teeming with other lovely places to live. Also (at the risk of jinxing things) I hope to be moving in with my partner before too long, and his pets are apparently not welcome in the flat by our current landlord. So while initially staying put seemed the ideal, on consideration it seems less attractive than taking the opportunity to move somewhere new.
It's funny how these unexpected changes can turn into really exciting possibilities. Nothing (except moving out) is set in stone yet but plans are coming together. It looks like, come April, I'll put myself in a kind of "parking orbit" around Edinburgh. All being well I plan on putting the bulk of my belongings into storage, and temporarily moving in with another friend who has a small (and cheap) furnished room going in her flat. I'm excited about that in itself because we've lived together before and enjoyed it, and because - while the room will be small - the flat is lovely and very well located for me. I'm also excited about the sense of potential that kind of a temporary move will open up in front of me.
Not everybody 'gets' this but I get very excited about possibilities... I love the thought of spending a few months not really tied to anywhere, looking around for where to make my next home, not least because (I hope) that home will be shared with Joe and - as well as being the most exciting prospect of all! - that will make it a completely different shape to anywhere I've lived before...
So its all change for my physical home... and this morning I learned of developments which will change my electronic home too. After six and a half years of publishing this blog through Blogger, the FTP publication channel that I use is being closed down. Apparently I'm one of only 0.5% of Blogger users relying on FTP publication and supporting us is hampering their plans to develop the platform so from next month it'll no longer be possible to update Blogger blogs over FTP.
I'm fine with that.
It would be easy to get all bent out of shape about the change, but I can see how my use of their tools isn't really what they were designed for, and (like with the flat) I'm excited about looking for a way to do this differently - right from day one** the beginning my blog has been structurally a kludge and to be perfectly honest I'm surprised the basic form of the blog has lasted this long***. Time for something new... though I don't know what yet - suggestions welcome!
Wherever "splateagle.com - blog" finds its new home the chances are that you folk out there on the other side of the screen will notice little if any visual evidence of the change. There'll probably be some different typesetting and that little orange logo (which you hadn't noticed anyway) will disappear from the top right of the page. Happily one big difference to moving house online over the real world is that the address travels with you, so while the blog will have a new home, your route to come and visit won't change.
So, so long Blogger, and thanks for all the fish.
*mid-range for the city, cost-wise and imo very reasonable for what it is... although my recent searches have turned up some similar places for markedly less. Probably reflects the change in the economy since we signed our lease **I didn't get the blog part of the site up and running until a month of so into the life of the website and (sadly) the wonderful wayback machine didn't notice and record splateagle.com until a few months after that... I think it's still fun to see back in time like that though, even if though the great web archive doesn't save the old graphics... ***Another reason I really don't mind being turfed out of my blog's electronic home since 2003, is that Blogger are very kindly helping me pack, they're offering a range of migration assistance for us tiny percentage of affected users, and I can take all my archives with me when I go. Very nicely handled if you ask me.9:51 AM0 Comments
Sunday, January 17, 2010
new old content
I missed having them to point to so I'm putting back the photo albums of my old house and the renovation I did. It might seem odd since the oldest of them goes back around 8 years now but I like having them there.
Two new style albums are planned, the first one is up now with a handful of scanned photos from the earliest stages of the project. It's as close as I can get to "before", I'll bung up the "after" album later but right now I'm late for doing things out in the real world.
Going back over these photos reminds me how much I enjoyed working on the house. Hopefully I'll get to do that again someday (only with the benefit of everything I learned from the first one!)
3:41 PM0 Comments
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Guisachan album
How on Earth is it December?!
Right. Still haven't written all the comments for that last Japan album (sorry!) but I have knocked together a collection of snaps from mine and Joe's little holiday in the highlands last month, you can find it linked on the pictures page, but be warned: there are a few gratuitous happy couple photos in there.
8:52 PM0 Comments
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Joe
Up until now I've held off blogging about this. Mostly I think because I've been busy but also in part because it's kinda personal, and because I didn't want to sound daft... but thinking about it today I realised that one of the main purposes of this page (if it can be said to have one) is for me to be able to read about past points in my life. I really enjoy dipping into the archives now and then and I'm certain that in years to come I'll want to revisit this point in my life often.
So enough with the sidelong references and coyness. Here's a little post about my fella.
Two months ago (on my birthday) a man I didn't know sent me a message on the internet. At the time that wasn't in itself unusual, but the message was. Straight away I got a sense of someone different, and interested in getting to know me, and who I was very interested in getting to know... Hindsight is 20/20 but I'd like to think I recognised something special even in those few lines of text. We chatted online for a little while, then spoke on the phone, all the while with this exciting sense of having met someone... well, exciting.
A few days later we met in person, we'd arranged to meet for a pint at my local in the evening, after I'd got back from a few days away with work... meetings ran over and I wound up having to catch a later train, the journey North felt the longest it ever has even though I've spent more time travelling it on plenty of occasions. We rescheduled from an optimistic 6pm to a more realistic 7, giving me time to drop my bags at home, shower, change ...and breathe.
I reached the pub first, ordered a pint of Trade Winds, and had just taken a mouthful when Joe walked in. He says that's his enduring first impression of me: man supping a pint. I reckon it's a fairly accurate one. I'm not describing for you lot my first impression of Joe because it's private and I won't need reminding. It always makes me smile thinking about that moment.
We spent a wonderful evening together, both with a growing sense of having stumbled into something special and unlike anything that had come before... That same feeling keeps growing as we get to know each other better... One of my Dad's many wise -isms has been echoing in my head a lot lately: love isn't something you fall in, it's something you make. The feeling I have around Joe is that we're making something amazing together.
So two months in, we've each met the other's families, and each felt welcomed and at ease. We've begun introducing each others' friends to each other and so far they all seem a very compatible bunch which is fun since (for both of us) they're very important. I like the idea of his friends and my friends gradually just becoming our friends...
Speaking of friends they've all been really lovely with Joe so far too... in fact a few of them were invited along to his birthday last weekend and Hamish (who by dint of being my flatmate as well as my friend has seen more of Joe than anyone else in my life so far) made him a card:
Inside the card Hame thanks Joe and calls him "heaven sent" for making me so happy. So no pressure then :D ...but seriously it's wonderful to me that all the other important people in my life (who've met him so far*) seem to enjoy this man's company almost as much as I do.
This Friday Joe and I are going on holiday together. We're off up into the highlands for a few days. I'm giddily excited about it, even though I fully expect constant rain. With luck we'll manage to take some photos and if we do I'll post an album** so those of you who live far away can see this man I'm talking about... In the meantime there's a new reason for my long lapses between posts (not that I needed one). Sorry about that, but if it makes it any better it is a very happy one.
*I'm acutely aware of the important people in my life who - due to geography - might not get to meet Joe for months or even years... I'm not forgetting you guys, and I'm looking forward to you meeting him too **along with the long delayed last Japanese album, promise!11:45 PM3 Comments
Monday, November 09, 2009
Is it that time already?
Winter it seems. Well late autumn certainly. Frost greeted me for the first time in months when I opened the blinds this morning. I smiled. Last night I'd finally got round to taking down the hanging baskets from either side of our front door (they've been giving a good show all summer in spite of suffering with some nasty root eating bugs early on) and rescued the four (of six) surviving fuchsia, potting them up as houseplants to over-winter. Fingers crossed they'll do well, but I'm dead chuffed I got them in before the first frost.
In other news I'm eagerly anticipating a short holiday with my man at the end of the month. We went walking boot shopping together on Saturday to get his first pair of proper hillwalking boots. Exciting stuff. It is November so we're unlikely to do anything too challenging but being properly shod matters.
Oh yeah, did I mention I'm in love? ;) I'm not going to go on about it at length partly because I've already bored most of you about it in person/via email/on the phone quite enough, and partly 'cus there's not much to say beyond that he's called Joe, he makes me happier than I ever imagined possible, and he tells me the feeling is mutual.
8:30 AM1 Comments
Monday, October 05, 2009
with a hey ho the wind and the rain...
Had another fantastic weekend, totally indolent on Friday night and all day Sunday but Saturday was spent walking in the rolling hills of the Borders while the weather tried alternately to bake, drown or ... damn I can't think of a metaphorical way of saying blown off the hill by gale force winds :D
We knew it was going to be windy before we set out but there kept being these tantalising sunny spells and it just felt like a day to be outside. Happily we didn't go anywhere with a lot of high ground or I think I really would have been blown away, but we battled through the teeth of the gale and into a brilliantly lit wooded valley with a grand house and a ruin hidden away in it. It rained on us at intervals but they were short ones and we didn't mind.
I've been meaning to explore the Borders more for years - it's a very pretty part of the world, and right on my doorstep, but left to my own devices I've always gravitated north in the past so it's good to have an excuse to discover some new ground...
8:52 AM1 Comments
Sunday, September 27, 2009
breathless
I've been having an unutterably wonderful time the past few days... I'm struggling to put anything into words that even begins to express just how good I'm feeling, but the title is a start.
I want to mark this point in my life somehow and at the same time there are details that I'm not ready to share here yet. Since my blog is - in ways - a selfish exercise (written as much for my future self as for any present reader) I'm conscious that this means some people will find this (and possibly a few more) entries frustratingly cryptic. Some of you will know what I'm on about and perhaps read this and smile knowingly (or shake your heads wryly, depending on how much of my optimism you share) others will be totally mystified! To anyone in that second group, I'm sorry, bear with me. I'll explain myself in time... If you like guessing then conjectures can be drawn from certain changes to the links and about me pages that I made this morning... if you don't like guessing of course you can phone up and ask me what on earth I'm blethering about... or (if you don't have my number) you can just wait and see ;)
I'm supposed to be working (yes, on a Sunday, damnit! This is not the source of my joy...) I'll get back to it in a second but I needed to put something down about this even though I'm not really saying anything, otherwise I'll just spend all day staring into space with a mad grin on my face.
