Edinburgh 2004
New Years Hogmanay Festival
Concert in the Gardens
Blondie and The Scissor Sisters
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When I say that this has been the BEST New Years yet, im not joking!

UHHHRRGHHH me laddies!!! We had a brilliant time...

Flew out of Dublin via Aerlingus for €110 return to Edinburgh on the 30th Dec...we were all pretty excited since it meant a couple of days off and a very exciting new city to visit that none of us had been to previously...

The flight was pretty turbulence infested...and let me tell u, turbulence is not my best freind, like i wouldnt go out for drinks with turbulence if u know what i mean actually, i try to stay AWAY from turbulence and not pick up the phone or email back as little as possible...so the flight was not the best...it was so windy when we got to Scotland that the plane was really ditching and diving when we were trying to land in Edinburgh...well, thanks God we landed safe and got off the plane and into the wind and the cold...man, was it cold...

Our hostel was a pretty cool place...it sounded like a farm barn animal shelter but it ended up being a really cute quaint little apartment private and clean...it was called "Cowgate Tourist Hostel" and close your eyes cos im going to be telling you the price...it cost us €71.60 a night EACH, yep, let me say it again, EACH....it usually cost €20 a night normal nights, but judging that this was ABNORMAL tourist galore night, they decided to charge us more than triple the amount, dodgy b&%$ards i say...and it was a 6 bed dorm too! but this was the only place left and we had to go to Hogmanay because apparently this is one of the biggest most important festivals in europe for N Years.

Before heading out of Dublin we decided to do something "wacky" so we bought fur material and made some shawls which were like shoulder throws...they turned out great! mine was red and so was Anns, Anitas was blue...

The night of Hogmanay...people were everywhere!! we decided to go to Thai before hand and it wasnt the best i gotta say but it would do...and then we walked down to Prices St to show off our concert tickets and get a nice view to the stage...we flashed our wrist bands and waltzed in with, a lot of the people could only get into the street party and not the concert but we were lucky, it worked out better for us because the street party tickets were all sold out...they were 2 pound 50 each and we had to pay 30pounds for our concert tickets which ended up being grand cos the concert was immaculate and the people on the street couldnt see it, they just had music playing...

We waltzed up to our place in the line to get into the gardens, people were commenting left right and centre about our "funky" shawls! we were so proud cos we had each stitched on the ribbon to the fur on our ownsome...and were starting to feel better (and not geeky) for wearing the shawls...it was a lot of fun! and a good way at keeping an eye on each other and not getting lost!

Blondie was really good!! she was wearing some sort of funky looking scottish kilt dress and it was interesting..not my style but interesting...singing her songs and stuff...you know "call me!" thats the song that stuck out the most to me...
Scissor Sisters were interesting, really weird and new funk band...i think half of them are gay and some are just weird, i have no idea, they had these funky outfits on as well...we were all bopping up and down and jumping to see the stage and the Edinburgh Castle glowing orange in the background the whole time..it was amazing! we made freinds with these awesome british people a bunch of guys and girls and they were so much fun! we were mucking around with them and singing with them and taking photos and talking non stop! going to the bathroom wasnt the funniest of fun things to do when your in a crowd of over 250,000 people, let me tell you...people wouldnt let you through! they would stand their ground and tell you to get lost! man, some rude people had flown from County Rudeville just to be there...seriously, they had something stuck up somewhere i dont wanna know...

The fireworks were immaculate!!! they went off! but seriously, after youve seen one, youve seen them all, it was the people we were surrounded with and the huge crowd and the weather and knowing your overseas that did it for me...it was perfect weather, we were worried it would get cancelled like last years because of bad weather, but nope, God was with us and we were having the time of our lives!! and plus some of the vodka we had was keeping us warm...lol!

After partying a bit more and dancing and singing to the remaining acts and songs we said bye to our new freinds and skipped off, we had another invite we had to fulfill! we were going to Kates house for a house party (skotish people looove house parties) and we met up with Anns freinds and Nerida and Brett and Bernie, Belindas and some other girls...they were all cool and had all met each other while overseas...most from Aus...they ended up being a lot of fun and we hung out with them half the time we were in Edinburgh...

Before hand we even trried to get into the Aussie of Aussie places thats all around europe, "The Outback" or whatever its called, Ann hates it, but we couldnt get in cos the line was too long and so we celebrated at another bar (cos one of the girls HAD to down a beer before aussie 12am) this is when i talked to my loved ones back home on my mob! everyone was at our house and had just celebrated new years! i miss them all! but it was so good to hear their voices and know that they were having fun...it was grand...Hovs voice sounds so more mature and older, couldnt recognise it! i miss him the cutie...

oh oh oh oh oh!!! i bought a sword!! i bought a sword! ive always wanted to buy a sword and i finally have one! i got it shipped home from the shop and man was i excited...i cant wait to see it back home and ill prob hang it off my wall in my room, im pretty happy about that buy and i hope it gets home ok fingers crossed...should be fine though...

The weather started getting colder and it even snowed a bit, not too bad since i wont be seeing Christmas snow ever again perhaps, so i wasnt complaining. Our jackets werent warm enough though and i eventually got a throat cold...and man was it hurting, i was snoring like an esh with its head stuck under a cows vor...so not too fun for my roomies...

Oh, for those curious people (like me) you know that question about if skottish men wear anything under their kilts? well, they dont...
ok ok, before you get to excited I will tell you how i know...I was looking out my hostel window one night when we were all really tired and decided to sleep early...and our street is full of pubs and bars and clubs and right outside this window was the "3 sisters" and outside this pub a group had gathered (they had been kicked out actually) and 1 of the boys was wearing a kilt and OHHPAH!! he decided to do a little handstand that showed that scottish chamiches were definatley out that season no matter how cold the weather...his freinds started slapping his vorig and slap hard they did! people were looking and this guy was forced to stay on his hands by his freinds and they were slapping hard! man it was funny! and the thing was that he was wearing a scottish kilt hat with fake orange hair sticking out the end and it made it all the funnier... i think he got a bit embaressed but 5 mins later when the attention was off his hand stained bum, he decided to flash his chamiches and vorig to the crowd! he'd lift his skirt and shuffle his feet and move his wig around and man it was funny! then the police waltzed over and pulled his skirt down...he looked like a little defeated transvestite school boy with his head down sulking...hehehhe, man that was funny! i dont know how his toosh doesnt fall off from the cold! anyway, that was one night to remember...

All in all it was a great couple of days where we learnt a lot about our surroundings and ourselves and as well as the festive periods and how to shop even more and also how to sleep in and recover...sheesh, just like school eh? but after our shopping escapades we were all shopped out and decided on doing some touristy stuff on the last day...but we still have a lot more to see...but that can be done another time i guess...

Ok, the annoying bit...our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:45pm...we caught the airport bus at 8pm, got there around 8:30 and told that our flight was 20mins delayed...then another 50mins got added onto the 20mins and we boarded the plane at 10:30 and we left at 11pm. NOw the reason for our delay we later found out was due to the strong winds in Dublin..the winds were absoultley frantic! the 40min flight took 1.5hrs! we were approaching landing when the plane started rocking and swaying and dropping and my not so favourite freind turlbulence came by again, and this time twice as worse...first try, we couldnt land!!! i felt the plane rise up and turn around...then the captains voice " ummm, hello...as you have noticed...ahh, we havent landed yet [dur really] and this is due to the very strong winds and we cant land because its stonger than normal landing regulations so we ahh, have to wait 5-10mins HOPEFULLY the wind will die down, thankyou" HOPEFULLY??? are you normal, is he normal? hopefully? man, can u just land the plane and then talk please? sheesh, and already the stewardess who talks over the loudspeaker had stuffed up so many times, she was a definate trainee and was stuttering and spitting everywhere, people were tired, i wanted less turbulence Anita and Ann wanted sleep cos they had to work the next day early...

Well, eventually, we landed....tried again after 15mins and after a rough turbulence way down, the landing was perfect and my heart was in my eyelid...sheesh...that was the toughest plane ride ove been on, thanks Aerlingus! the captains did a great job though and the stewardess ended off with "thankyou for flying with Aerlingus on this SHORT ride" umm, SHORT...she even said it twice and people on board laughed...yup, 1.5hrs instead of 40mins is pretty short...geeks...oh well, thank God it all ended well...got to bed pretty late, but slept as good as u can with a sore throat...

WHAT an experience!

Scotland is definately the place to be for New Years!