Culture weekend

Ok so Friday night pub trip, not so cultured, but the title will make sense if you keep reading. But Friday I have to mention because having had a couple in this v quiet little old man pub, we went to an Irish pub. An Irish pub run by a real Irishman, tho the other 2 bar staff were American. It felt very ex-pat in there as we met a yorkshireman, right up to a real Swedish moment – scarf on fire!! Almost everywhere in Stockholm has tea light candles. They’re just one of those things that are always there, and ppl apologise if they aren’t lit. So it was interesting to see on Friday night a plume of smoke suddenly appear by the window inside the pub. And the reason I would call it truly Swedish – no one panicked, no one else really seemed to notice, and the girl who owned the scarf blew out the fire really quickly, and then apologised for the smell!! Amused me greatly. The people here are lovely. And it did make me wonder how come that doesn’t happen more often, the candles really are everywhere!! 

 So then Sat night was culture night in Stockholm. Which meant that a large number of museums and public buildings had events on between 6 and 12, all of which were free. As tourists we obv wanted to get in on this. So me Hugo and jess started out by going back up to the city hall. We were aiming to go up the tower but it turned out the tickets were all gone before we got there. So instead we went round the rest of the inside. It has some massively impressive bits. Like the gold hall, which is fully tiled in shades of gold but with images on it which looked in some ways quite Egyptian. Then we got stuck in a queue which reminded me about my britishness. I stopped when the people in front me did, the ppl behind, clearly not British, tried to start pushing past even tho there was nowhere to go to. I was less than impressed!!

So from the city hall we went to listen to an organ concert in a church. That was kinda good, tho we accidentally managed to sit under the organ so we couldnt see anything. From there we went to find some jazz. Unfortunately that place was on the over full side so we made up for it by sitting having a coffee (or hot chocolate in my case) before we headed back to the church we’d come from for a viol concert. Turns out the viol is the precursor to the cello. Or the bass one is, and that’s what he was playing. It was really good and made me remember that I am a strings girl, I miss string music. 

So from there, jess went home while me and Hugo went up to meet Nick and his wife Charlotte at the Romanian institute since they were doing a tango night which I assumed from the phrasing would include a class. It did not tho, so I watched a couple dance for a while and then we headed up to the Nobel museum. That was exactly what I think all museums should be like – regular museum with a dj and a bunch of craft tables around for folks (not just kids) to get involved in. nick and charlotte watched a v old film which looked highly amusing. I saw bits of it, including bad special effects – worse than old doctor who bad!! Then I wandered around the exhibits, and we managed to hang about till half 11 which wasn’t a helpful time since I wasn’t quite ready to go home but didn’t wanna trek back into town (which was where the only things lasting past 12 were). So instead Hugo and I headed down to an Irish pub which did have live music playing in it when we went in, unfortunately it all finished up shortly after we sat down. 

 To round of the weekend of culture, on Sunday 6 of the 7 of us went to see the St Matthew passion which was being played (and sung) in a local church. That was long. Very long. Or rather I think it felt so long because we were sitting on uncomfortable wooden pews for 3 hours. I’m sure it would have been much more enjoyable with a cushion.

So yesterday I met Rob Butler. He’s in charge of the Northern region for Ramböll UK. And the one thing that I’d discussed about where I go next was being told that I would still count as northern region, so it would be him I’d need to discuss this with. So him me n Paul went for drinks/dinner and had a bunch of good conversation about people moving about the company. The thing was I was expecting the situation to be this is where we have space so this is your choice. His response was where do you want to go? And that I should tell him and he’ll try to make it happen. My total unpreparedness for this made me think where do I want to live. Currently RUK has offices in Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, London, Leeds and Winchester. I crossed off Manchester and London immediately, and have to cross off Leeds and Cardiff based on the size of office/they don’t have structures teams there. Which leaves me with Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Winchester. From what I’ve heard, Cambridge doesn’t sound like my scene, tho I no the dancing there is good. And Winchester is a small office and small town, so that’s probably not my place either. Which begs the question, do I want to live in Bristol or Scotland. I don’t have any ties to any of these places. I know there's dancing in all 3. And while I feel like I may like Glasgow cos my Granny was born there, I’ve never actually been.

I also know that the office in Bristol doesn’t really want any extra engineers, whereas both Scotland offices could use some extra. So the question really is, which is better (as a place to live) Edinburgh or Glasgow?? opinions on a postcard please (emails and comments also accepted...)