A busy and productive day, but not as productive as I had hoped of course. To begin, I awoke with the normal morning rumblings of my flatmates about 9:30 or so. I made sure to wait until they had all left and finally decided to rouse myself out of bed. When I did awake, I basically took a shower and messed about on the internet for a little while. After getting essentially ready, I decided to leave and go to get my visas and shots for Africa, as well as go and procure a place for my belongings while I am gone there this winter. Additionally, I got my tickets to go to Ely, and Warrington next weekend and I was very happy to buy a first class ticket for almost the same price as the standard class on the way back. So this was a good thing, it cost me about £59.00 or so, which was more than I expected but not too bad.
I did not, contrary to my desires get my visas today, but I do have the addresses and I hopefully will get it all done Monday. The reason why for this is mostly because when I left, I forgot to bring my passport with me, to these places. I did drop by the STA office to get my further immunisation shots, but they did not have an opening today, so I aim also to go on Monday at noon as I have an appointment at that time. Aside from that, I did allow myself a luxury I don’t generally here, and that is to eat out at Subway, which cost me £6.80, so not cheap. I had made a system a few days ago, though, and basically it permitted me this expense because I allotted myself £10.00 per day with which to eat, but have been spending significantly less than that. So I figure I had some extra to use, plus between that and dinner I did not use today’s quota allotted anyway. Anyway, I went to school and did some things on the internet including sending some important emails to people concerning my visits next weekend. When I finished that, I went home and at home I basically typed out yesterday’s journal entry and luckily posted it before I left so that I do not bombard too much with this weekend’s events when I return to London. Following this, I went and got on the tube where I had to stand for nearly the whole time with the usual problems but managed to get to King’s Cross two minutes before I needed to. Once there I bought a sandwich at Boots and found which platform the train was leaving from and headed that way. Boarding the train, I discovered my seat was at a table in the train with electricity supplied, so I plugged my laptop in, watched some more “Bridge on the River Kwai” and then heeding the call of work started writing this that’s where I am now, with the ambition to finish this in Edinburgh.
So, I am now typing this in my room in Edinburgh. It is great to be back in Scotland, and I am happy to have such a great city around me. While on the train here, I basically talked to the two guys with whom I was sitting at the table, and it was quite interesting. Before that I attempted to write more of my political opinions, but unsatisfactorily only writing my opinion on homosexual marriage. The problem, I believe is that I use too much historical precedence to justify my opinions and not to say that history has no relevance, but it is a less direct approach to explain my views than I would like. It is after all, truly why I think what I do, but simultaneously, it seems less than convincing for other people than I should like to present as my reasons. I am often of the thought that when I have convinced myself of something, ultimately everyone I speak with about it should find my reasoning as logical as I do, and if they do not, they are either being irrational themselves or my logic is off. I am grateful for this as it allows me to change my opinions to be better, but I like my axioms to be so self-evident that there is little use in arguing with them. Of course, I also realise that I by no means have all of the answers and I am all too glad to change my opinion according to what is right or better. But I digress. So, after the long train ride, we got to Edinburgh which was in fact sufficiently cold, and we then walked to our hotel which was fairly centralised. I was so happy to see the city, and the castle on the hill again, Edinburgh to me is magical and I am really excited to be here, I just hope that tomorrow is sufficiently warm to be comfortable. When we got to the hotel, I found myself in a four person room with three nice chaps, it seemed a bit hostel-ish but the room itself was very nice and quite large. My roommates left and a bit tired and cold myself I thought it wise to stay in and conclude this entry so thus I am. Most likely for the rest of the night until I decide to submit to sleep I shall basically write many necessary things and finish the Bridge on the River Kwai.