Yeah! and no cocktails

Dear all,

First of all: my last essay was described by my supervisor as "excellent"! Another A! I can't believe it... :)! Enough bragging eh?

Last Friday Derek and me went to Leith docks for the elusive cocktail party. First of all I forgot to take the invitation, so we had to race back and just managed to be at the station on time, only to discover the train was 15mins delayed. At Edinburgh it took ages to get a ticket (we didn't get one on the train and you need one to get out the station), as there was only one ticket place. Really annoying if you want to be on time! We got into a taxi with a crazy Italian at the wheel who drove recklessly while shouting, with his head out the window in true Italian style, to all other road users holding him up. At the docks we took a wrong turn, as the invitation was not very clear, and 15 pounds poorer and 10mins late we finally arrived. We were welcomed by marines with flags and one with a gun, which made me feel a bit weird... The ship the party was on was an Estonian naval ship called the 'Admiral Pitka'. The party was the 'launch party' for the ship's mine sweeping mission. The crew was mostly Dutch, with some Danish, Estonian and English. The ship will eradicate the last mines from the North Sea. A few months back a Dutch fishery boat pulled out a bomb or mine, and the thing blew up, killing three people. That is one of the reasons to (finally!) do something about it. Derek and me talked to some Dutch navy people, drank free wine and beer (no cocktails!) and had some nibbles. The ship was not as big as we had expected, but it was nice all the same. Unfortunately I didn't talk to the Consul. I did talk to the lady that I had talked to at the consulate, and she told me that they are hoping to expand. Bureaucracy is holding them back apparently. Maybe one day they will call! After the cocktail party we were invited to come to another ship for a disco, but the music sounded like Dutch dance and the thought of spending an evening with 98% men did not exactly appeal to Derek. It was funny to see some slightly older women flirt with all these young, I'm talking 18/19/20-year old, guys;). We decided to meet up with my Dutch friend Barbara in the city centre. Was nice for her to finally meet Derek. We had a few drinks and a late night snack and then we took the last train home.

On Saturday we went to Joe and Liisa's goodbye party at the Counting House. That was nice. The atmosphere was great in there as Scotland had just won its match against Moldova. Lots of people in football gear singing, shouting, honking.

On Monday we went to the Graduate Fair at the SECC. Was not terribly usefull for me, but Derek got lots of information about companies he might be interested in (he's better be thankfull I told him to come, as he wasn't going to;)!).

Since then I've been trying to revise hard again (well as you can see I am doing this in stead at the moment)! The A for my last essay has made me realise I don't realy have to worry about it! Doing a great job would be fab though, so bck to the hard graft!

Hope you're all alive and well!

Love