On travelling North

This past weekend Janet and I took a day trip up to Aberdeen. We arrived at lunchtime and spent the entire day in pubs/beer gardens, followed by a nice Chinese meal. It was great to meet up again with Craig, Tosh, Steve and his girlfriend Kerry. The conversation flowed like the beer and it was just like our student days again, though with less Monty Python quotes.

A trip to Aberdeen always produces a mixture of emotions. On the one hand it is always nice to get back to familiar territory and meet up with old friends that I don’t see enough of. On the other hand the territory becomes less familiar each time as bars and shops are replaced with new ones that don’t have links to important times in my life.

However, if life has hammered one thing into my head repeatedly over the past few months, it is that change is inevitable. After many years where little changed other than my employer and (less often) my clothing style, 2008-09 has seen a massive amount of change. Firstly there were the kind souls who burgled our flat last June, enabling us to change all our electrical goods. Then there was the renovation of our flat in preparation for its sale. Just as that sale was being completed our beloved family cat Pyewacket died after contracting cancer. Finally the move out of the old homestead came in late June and with it a complete change to our daily lives and routines (mostly for the better!).

Change is something that should be embraced and despite my sentimental nature I am really enjoying the opportunities these changes have provided to break out of old routines and start anew. Soon enough we will be doing it all again and the cycle will repeat. I will aim to take the positive aspects from each cycle and apply them to the next in some sort of lifestyle samsara.

Aberdeen’s changes have been for the best. Old haunts have gone, but they were for the old me. The new ones will do fine for me now. And as with all things Aberdeen’s face may change, but the heart stays the same.

All hail the quiz kings!

After a seven week hiatus, our quiz team reconvened at the Chanter last night for a stab at the £50 bar tab prize. Going by the name “Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal” we performed well, finishing with a storming movie/movie quotes double round to take the prize!

We beat regular quiz winners The Slackers much to Quizmaster Jules’ delight, Bagpuss were surprisingly crap and as usual the giant team of 12+ students failed miserably. (Can’t use your iPhone on the audio rounds guys ;) )

I think we knew we were onto a good thing when the first round was on Heavy Metal, and the first question “Which of the following band’s lead singer is homosexual?” was answered before Jules even gave the options. The answer was Judas Priest – I was wearing my Judas Priest t-shirt. All team members performed heroic question answering feats, we were like a well oiled machine!

The only downside to attending the quiz now is the hour drive home, meaning we only got home at 12.15AM. 6 hours sleep later it was time to get ready for work again, bah!