Edinburgh

It's late and I'm preparing for my second batch of nights which start tomorrow, but I shan't bore you with more about the life of a baby doc - instead about my new home, Edinburgh.

What I found promising before coming here were the responses to "I'm moving to Edinburgh". No one ever replied with an "oh" or "OH". Instead there would usually be something along the lines of  "Oooh I love Edinburgh" or "it's such a nice place", to which I would smile with relief at my decision being reaffirmed that maybe it was the right one.

Then when I came, I loved that the locals also loved their city (NB there's a lot of loving in this post!). In fact I distinctly remember my landlady chanting the same words I had heard from the taxi driver the day I signed my contract "I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world." Very promising! And you know, today as I was driving across the Forth Bridge (thinking to myself who needs San Francisco with this?!) to venture into what is signposted the "Kingdom of Fife" (no joke), I could totally see why they wouldn't.

Edinburgh is a lovely old yet new place. In the Old Town the architecture is quite gothic as my sister puts it, dark and towering spires in every corner but also mysteriously beautiful. Then of course you have all the new glassy modern buildings that every other European city has too, reminding you not to forget this city is also a part of the 21st century.

Then there are the people here, who are so much more friendly than I've ever been used to. People say thank you when leaving the bus (something thought of as profoundly strange in London, not that I've seen it much done!), people smile at each other on the street, greet each other in hospital, help each other without being prompted. Talking of helping each other, a new neighbour knocked on the door today, wearing no shoes, locked outside his flat! We agreed to lend him a pair of our flatmate's flip-flops so he could retrieve keys from a friend down the road. This is the second neighbour to knock on our door with a slightly random request! But here, helping one another, even if you haven't met before really isn't a strange thing. In fact, as I write this I realise writing about it at all is such a sad thing. This should be the norm!

There are literally umpteen other reasons as to why I love it so much already... great food (even for a choosey foodie!), the countryside, beach and mountains on your doorstep, a short, relatively stress-free commute to work, pop up ever-changing festivals and markets, standalone cafés and shops, a culture that embraces keeping fit... the only downsides really are the unpredictable weather and my family being 4 hours away! But I'm getting accustomed to both those things... and actually next week I'll be in London - my first trip "down South" since the big move. I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but I have to say though I know I love it too, I'm not actually missing London, yet! I'm sure the time will come but for now, (with or without independence), it's Scawwwwt-luund all the way!