a sojourn in glasgow

I've been promising my pals who live in Glasgow's West End to visit for the whole year, and this week I finally got around to it. I'm so glad I did! I've been to Glasgow a handful of times, and never new how lovely it was. I spent a happy morning wandering around the Kelvingrove with Rachel, looking at the Glasgow Boys and Scottish colourists. 

 

We meandered through vintage shops (I may or may not have bought a coral 50s prom dress) and second hand book shacks. 

And drank 'faerie's blood tea' in a tiny old cottage by a river. 

I also got to catch up with Natalie in the botanics, after a massive lunch at Ketchup. 

It was great to explore somewhere new and catch up with old friends. 

soakings and puppies!!

In St Andrews we have many traditions. At the end of April and the start of May, we process down the pier with flaming torches and party all night, before running into the north sea at dawn. We avoid stepping on the letters "PH" set into the stone by the quad, or aforementioned "May Dip" is considered obligatory (it's that or failing your degree.  We adopt children, engage in foam fights, and indulge in an "academic striptease" with our red gowns as we progress through university. But my newest tradition is SOAKING! 

This entails waiting for your friends outside their very last undergraduate exam or assignment hand-in, and drenching them with water - if they're lucky.  Some unfortunates may receive glitter, feathers, flour, or foodstuffs. Lucky ones get champagne. 

 

Lorraine and I were pretty lucky we got a sunny day...  

I have to say my friend Bee's soaking was the best. Her dad brought up the family's new puppy to say congratulations! He's still as yet unnamed, so until then, hello Mr BoyBoy Pupsy-Button! 

We had a great time playing with him and thinking up names - Basil, Cliff and Winston seem to be in the running. 

Let's hope the cutie doesn't suffer an identity crisis.

ushering in a new era... with lobster

Exams are over and I'm back after a long leave of absence! Various factors contributed to blog silence. It started with terrible weather. It was compounded by complete dissertation panic mode and melt-down. It was finished off by an after-party that somehow - through the machinations of rum, an open fire and piano-playing - finished at 7am and led into a dawn walk along the pier, and my camera being flung off the end of it into the sea. Fail. 

But! I'm lucky I have such nice friends. Rohan, my co-conspirator in the camera incident, brought me back a new one from the States after Easter, and I'm only now (after dissertation hand-in and my last undergraduate exam EVER!!) putting it to good use. To celebrate our new-found freedom, we dined in true St Andrews style - with lobster and warm white wine in glass mugs by the harbour.

All you have to do is call Pat down in the ice cream shack a few days in advance, and ask her to get the fisherman to bring you one back! 

Then, simply sit back and enjoy the sun! Or, mess around with your pashmina like Angela. 

I've only ever had lobster with pasta, covered in tomato sauce and garlic in Sicily, so I felt very new to the experience still. The bad boys were fresh from the sea, bright red and accompanied by big papers of chips with salt and vinegar.

His wee face!! 

 

 

 

For pudding, we decided on 40p bags of sweets to be eaten in the sun, and escaped to Regulus Halls' 'secret garden', accessed by hole in a hedge. Bring on summer, daisy chains, reggae and sun tans! 

tentsmuir again

My high school bessie and all-round chum Rachel came up to St Andrews for a flying visit this week. We rambled around in the freezing wind in Tentsmuir Forest catching up. 

We tried and failed to use my camera's self timer... 

After a while we got it right.  

As seems to be the case with old friends, we quickly reverted back to our fourteen-year old selves. We finished our walk with chat, tea and scones at Bibi's, and tried to behave like grown-ups. 

an evening in barranco

For our penultimate night in back in Lima, we decided to spend the evening in Barranco, the most bohemian and artistic district of the city and popular with surfers too. The aristocracy seemed to like it in the 19th century, as it's filled with colonial houses like this museum. 

I couldn't stop fantasising about the parties you could throw here! 

We walked down into the Bajada de los Banos, a beautiful walkway running to the sea. 

People had gathered to watch the beautiful sunset - even a man who proposed to his girlfriend right next to us. 

As the sun went down, we walked back up to the Puentede los Suspiros, or the Bridge of Sighs, so called because of a beautiful girl living in one of the grand houses either side of the ravine, who fell in love with a street sweeper. Forbidden to marry him, she waited as a spinster at her window, nd those on the bridge could hear her sighs. 

We ate anticuchos de corazon and picarones with fresh frozen lemondade, then wandered back to the main plaza.