One especially quaint aspect of living in Edinburgh is that all of the houses are named. At this point, the preponderance of these very large houses have been split up into flats, but still the names remain, usually etched on the glass above the main entrance. It’s pretty amazing actually that these names have carried on through the years.
I live in the Heatherlea. The Heatherlea has not been divided into flats, rather the Heatherlea served for a long time as a bed and breakfast. A few years back, the owner decided on a new business model as there are roughly as many B&Bs as people in Edinburgh. It is now a B&make-your-own-B. He rents the rooms long term. According to Al, he runs an "English school." He seeks international residents who come to study or work in Edinburgh for an extended period of time. This way, no one knows English and they can all learn English from each other? The English School isn’t exactly accurate. Yesterday, while I ate dinner in the rather small kitchen, there were two conversations going on, one in Polish, the other Korean. There were two people in a different room speaking English, but that was their native tongue.
I chose to live in the Heatherlea for a few reasons. It was convenient to already have internet set up and such. I would have access to the kitchen and nothing to worry about when traveling. It would give me time to find a nice place for the family. It would save me money in a variety of ways, not the least of which is rent. In Edinburgh, rent is the same in magnitude, or possibly a bit higher, than in say St. Louis. Unfortunately, the scale is different as the Pound Sterling is (today) 1.63 times the US Dollar. So, a rent of £700 per month is unfortunately $1141 per month. Plus, you have to pay a zillion taxes to the council, which is apparently an elected trash collection agency as I see no other services provided by this piece of government.
Anyway, the Heatherlea has the added benefit of being, well, very international and often entertaining. The current occupants are mostly between 19 and 23 years old I would guess:
Elodie – a French woman
Lina – a German woman
Claire – an English woman (probably about 40)
Jenny – a Korean woman
Yumi – another Korean woman
Edit - a Hungarian woman
Raddick – a Polish guy
Jeff – a fantastically handsome American (probably not yet 35)
Then there is the owner Al and his partner, who might be named Amanda. She’s nice, but was the first person I met. When she told me her name, I was more concerned with if I had found the right home. She made me pasta and I forgot my own name, let alone hers.
Oh, the Heatherlea has a flat in the basement which is rented to two Aussies, probably around 25; I think they’re married. They appear at random in the kitchen. Jaime and Gwen I think.
I argued for and received a clean, small mini-fridge, got some cupboard space, and have cooked for myself precisely once. That lasted two meals. Otherwise it has been the three S’s: sandwiches, salads, and cereal. This taking care of yourself is not all it’s cracked up to be. It is fantastically time consuming. I’m not that experienced on this front as you might already know since I married Amy six weeks after moving out of the dorms. Since then either Amy, the Army, or a restaurant has fed me. Okay, not exactly, but pretty much.
Tonight I decided I would cook some stir fry, chicken and prepackaged veggies. Then I went into the kitchen, saw that I still had lettuce, cut up some cheese and lunch meat, and drizzled on some oil and vinegar. Salad two nights in a row.
So that’s where I live. I hope the Heatherlea is a source of entertainment to my two blog followers and the occasional passer by.
Here is a the ad for a room to rent which I post if want to see pictures of the Heatherlea. A few notes, that’s not my room and I can’t see Arthur’s seat from my room (i.e. the view shown is not what’s out my window).
Tomorrow, coffee @ the Heatherlea!
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Did you bring your own cereal or do they have similar brands. Have you seen any eating establishments you want to try? I have heard that the Scots LOVE fried food.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, you live in a house with 6 younger (than us) co-eds? I have to ask. What is the bathroom situation? Do you share?
And now you have 3 followers.
Very intersting and I will try to get Dan onboard as well since he thinks of way more interesting thngs to ask. I have a lot of the questions of your friend Matt there. I read a book(fiction) awhile back set in Scottland and I also found that interesting that all the houses have names. It makes them seem cozier? maybe.
ReplyDeleteCereal:
ReplyDeleteThey have similar brands, but they just can't name them well. Instead of Honey Nut Crunch they have Kellogs Flakes of Corn with peanuts and honey. Stupid. Anyway, they have cereal, but seems the selection is limited. I last purchased the riveting Bran Flakes. This morning, I realized why they were on sale.
Bathroom Situation:
This was a B&B for 60 years. In order to get a 1 star rating, most of the rooms were converted with their own "en suite" bathrooms. So the Heatherlea has only two rooms that do not have a shower. I honestly don't know who uses that shower and I think it would be creepy to wait around to see who comes out. In my room, I have a very small bathroom. It is literally 2.5 ft across. The shower is 2.5ft x 2.5 ft. It isn't the Ritz, but I am able to take showers. So, I'm not sharing a bathroom with 6 women.
Eating Estalishments:
Having been here four times (maybe 5) prior to my arrival, I had done lots of must do tourist eating things. For example, I ate at a Scottish resaraunt (which means lots of vennison, lamb, pheasant, ... gamey stuff) and I tried the Haggis. If no one had ever explained to me what it was, it would have been better. It's realy not so bad.
But the fried food thing is probably true. I can tell you this, hitting up a fish and chips place is expensive, but worth every pound (both in currency and weight). I've only been to one actually, but it is so fabulous. I'll post about it.
Last night I ate at a fancy place with a math group and had sea bass - fantastic. The main problem is that it is too expensive to eat out. Menu prices, like rent, have the same numbers but with £ instead of $.
House Names:
So, I wandered back off some of the main streets. I guess I exaggerated the ubiquity of the house names. It is not all, but still, my friends have lived in all named houses.