The date for my official relocation to Edinburgh is fast approaching (4 weeks from today, if the plan stays in place), and it occurs to me that I’m overdue for a Life in Plaid update...so, allow me to highlight some adventures of the past several weeks.
1) Work...and lots of it: month-end, quarter-end and year-end reports; auditors anxious for investment details to scrutinize...many hours of resolving issues and trying valiantly to meet expectations (my own possibly highest of all) and deadlines accurately and without yelling and/or crying.
Happily this crunch has passed and we’re down to tying up stray requests and reporting on January. Subsequently, I’ve been able to become more involved in overseeing some of the initiatives that will bring work in my team (Client Reporting, in both Edinburgh and London) from other teams. Essentially, this is the scope of work I said ‘yes’ to taking on when I came over to the UK, and I’m pleased to finally dig into the new challenge of assessing the big picture and mapping a plan that will (hopefully) ensure we’ll achieve our goal on-time and with limited trauma.
2) Winchester: late in January I took a one-hour train ride south to the historic city of Winchester. I met there a friend and colleague of Moorestown neighbors, Colin, who very graciously shared his day with me. The big draw (for me) is Winchester’s Cathedral:
1) Work...and lots of it: month-end, quarter-end and year-end reports; auditors anxious for investment details to scrutinize...many hours of resolving issues and trying valiantly to meet expectations (my own possibly highest of all) and deadlines accurately and without yelling and/or crying.
Happily this crunch has passed and we’re down to tying up stray requests and reporting on January. Subsequently, I’ve been able to become more involved in overseeing some of the initiatives that will bring work in my team (Client Reporting, in both Edinburgh and London) from other teams. Essentially, this is the scope of work I said ‘yes’ to taking on when I came over to the UK, and I’m pleased to finally dig into the new challenge of assessing the big picture and mapping a plan that will (hopefully) ensure we’ll achieve our goal on-time and with limited trauma.
2) Winchester: late in January I took a one-hour train ride south to the historic city of Winchester. I met there a friend and colleague of Moorestown neighbors, Colin, who very graciously shared his day with me. The big draw (for me) is Winchester’s Cathedral:
There has been a Cathedral in Winchester since about 648 AD. The foundations of the current Cathedral were laid out in 1079 by Walkelin, the first Norman Bishop. To this new building (consecrated in 1093) the relics of St. Swithin were solemnly transferred, 15 July, and the `Old Minster´ was torn down. The Norman cathedral measured 535 ft (164m) in length, the longest then in existence. 
The Cathedral has also been remodeled and extended over time. It features stunning carved wooden screens. The beautiful stained glass West Window was destroyed during the English Civil Was in the 1600’s. The Window seen today was pieced back together by the locals using glass they were able to recovered after this destruction.
Winchester Cathedral's power and influence came to an end with the Reformation in the 1500s and the Dissolution of the Monasteries during Henry VIII's reign. The scale of the Church's power can be imagined when it is considered that it controlled one third of the country's wealth before Henry VIII stripped it of much of its lands and privileges. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/architecture_cathedral_01.shtml
Fun Fact: in the early 1900’s, the Cathedral was saved for imminent collapse (as it was sinking into the peat), by the efforts of a diver, William Walker. 235 pits were dug on the southern and eastern sides of the building, where Walker dove 6 hours a day in complete darkness, in depths up to 20 ft, to shore up the foundation with concrete and bricks. Once stabilized, the groundwater was pumped out and the foundations restored.
3) Musical Theater: Also in late January, I attended a concert at the Garrick Theatre, in the West End, to celebrate the release of Lance Horne’s CD, First Things Last. I didn’t know Horne at the time - though he is an Emmy award winner - but was drawn in by the headliner Alan Cumming. Cumming is an Olivier and Tony Award winner you might know from stage (Cabaret), TV (The Good Wife, The Tin Man) or film (X-Men 2, Sweet Land, The Anniversary Party). He is a charming Scotsman, chock full of talent, and it was a joy to be in the intimate setting of a small theater for his performance, along with about a dozen others talented artists from Broadway and the West End.
4) Miscellaneous fun! It seems it’s finally sunk in with my teammates that they constitute the majority (if not all) of my social invitations, and they’ve decided I’m a worthy companion. =) I’ve been invited to tag along to birthday drinks for a colleague in another team, and several happy hours for less official reasons (ie, Fridays). I’ve seen new pubs, wine bars, restaurants and a club. The kind of club that most women over the age of 25 or the size of 4 decline to attend: our names were on guest list, there was a steep cover charge and even steeper cost to drinks, loud music and pulsing neon lights. Definitely an experience outside of my norm!! It’s a pleasure to get out and about and get to know my teammates in a new, social, light. I am hoping that many of them will visit me in Edinburgh for more adventures.
With any luck, I’ll soon have a new flat to show you, including guest room for friends and family...who’s ready to see Scotland?!
3) Musical Theater: Also in late January, I attended a concert at the Garrick Theatre, in the West End, to celebrate the release of Lance Horne’s CD, First Things Last. I didn’t know Horne at the time - though he is an Emmy award winner - but was drawn in by the headliner Alan Cumming. Cumming is an Olivier and Tony Award winner you might know from stage (Cabaret), TV (The Good Wife, The Tin Man) or film (X-Men 2, Sweet Land, The Anniversary Party). He is a charming Scotsman, chock full of talent, and it was a joy to be in the intimate setting of a small theater for his performance, along with about a dozen others talented artists from Broadway and the West End.
4) Miscellaneous fun! It seems it’s finally sunk in with my teammates that they constitute the majority (if not all) of my social invitations, and they’ve decided I’m a worthy companion. =) I’ve been invited to tag along to birthday drinks for a colleague in another team, and several happy hours for less official reasons (ie, Fridays). I’ve seen new pubs, wine bars, restaurants and a club. The kind of club that most women over the age of 25 or the size of 4 decline to attend: our names were on guest list, there was a steep cover charge and even steeper cost to drinks, loud music and pulsing neon lights. Definitely an experience outside of my norm!! It’s a pleasure to get out and about and get to know my teammates in a new, social, light. I am hoping that many of them will visit me in Edinburgh for more adventures.
With any luck, I’ll soon have a new flat to show you, including guest room for friends and family...who’s ready to see Scotland?!
