As predicted, it did snow while we were in Edinburgh - but while we were asleep. By the time we woke up on Sunday morning it had melted away, but in the countryside between Edinburgh and Carlisle it was still thick on the ground.

As for Edinburgh itself, Rob and I have decided we much prefer it to London, and we’ll be moving there in August-September so I can start my MSc Architecture (Research) course at Edinburgh University. My future supervisor was great and it sounds like he has some amazing contacts which he’s promised he can set up meetings with to help with my thesis. Plus there’s the side issue that rent is half of what it is in London…

I have a lot of work to catch up on so here’s the weekend in dot points:

• Friday night staying in Carlisle, we (Rob and I, and our friends Ben and Sarah), realised that it really is home of the scallies. There was an equal number of police officers and club-goers out on the streets. Also, Carlisle really needs to get some more restaurants.
• The countryside between Carlisle and Edinburgh is beautiful, and Sarah and I had lots of squealy moments over the lambs in the fields.
• Edinburgh is gorgeous. I want to live there. Period.
• The Grand National, which we watched in a basement pub off the Royal Mile, seems to me to be over-hyped. Ben made a profit of £3. Sarah placed her bet by selecting the horse with the best star sign.
• Pizza Express restaurants are elusive - just when you’re looking for one, you can’t find one; when you’re not looking they’re everywhere.
• Whichever government department is in charge of putting up signs to interesting sights should rethink their handling of Hadrian’s Wall - rather than putting a sign up at every turn off along the road between Carlisle and Brampton, why not just put up a sign to the visitor’s centre? Also, Hadrian’s Wall - which I’ve now stood on - is really quite unimpressive.
• What is the proper ettiquette for walking into a pub which is evidently hosting a private function just so you can use their bathroom, even though you spotted the sign on the door that says, ‘Toilet Facilities for Patrons Only’?
• Tangfastic Haribo is the best.

Back to the real world now, and back to work.