Only about 45 minutes to write this entry before the library computer lab closes and I have lots to recap on. This past weekend was the 4 day easter weekend, which I had mistakenly assumed would be a quiet holiday, so I planned a trip to Edinburgh in Scotland. Unlike Easter in the states which goes by relatively unheeded except for maybe a visit to the church, the Easter weekend in the UK consists of Good Friday and Easter Monday making a four day weekend and one of the most travelled weekends of the year. So to my surprise, but no one else's, I was not able to find cheap housing in Edingburgh and ended up paying 50 pounds for a night's stay in a hotel next to a nightclub/bar. The city itself was beautiful, though, seemed haunted which maybe I mistook for old. The buildings in the old part of town called the "old town" were built in the 1300s said the bus tourguide, with some buildings as old as 1100. The "new town" as it were was built in the 1700s. The new and old towns are separated by a wide swath of depressed green land that was once the castle moat. The Edinburgh castle sits atop the rim of a volcano towering over the city and provides the primary defensive position for the city until tdday where an active Scottish regiment still resides. I spent several hours just walking around the old and new towns, taking a city bus tour and visiting the Edinburgh castle. The highlight of the trip was probably seeing the Scottish Crown Jewels and jumping at the loud cry of the protector of the jewels "NO PHOTOGRAPHS PLEASE. THANK YOU!" when a tourist tried to snap a photograph. The Jewels are only viewable after meandering through a series of wax-like exhibits depicting the origin of the jewels and their various adventures through centuries of strife. Apparently the Jewels were given to the Scots in the 1400s by the Pope, consisting of a sword and a scepter. I'm not sure whether the crown was also given by the pope or fashioned by the Scots. There is also the King's Stone, or something like that, that is purely Scottish and dates back to the earliest periods of recorded Scottish history that is basically a rectangularish stone upon which new kings were seated when anointed. That was kind of neat to see. All of these Crown Jewels were hidden from Oliver Cromwell who wished to destroy them as he had destroyed the English Crown Jewels, but two peasant women smuggled the Jewels out into the countryside where they remained safe. After unification of the Scottish and English parliaments, the Crown Jewels were locked away in a wooden box as remnants and reminders of a past era. However, some bloke in the 19th century got permission, from whom I don't know, to open the box and brought the Jewels back into light. During WWII the Jewels were again hidden within a wall of the castle just in case the Germans invaded Scotland. After the war they were taken back out and are now on display at Edinburgh castle. So that was my trip to Edinburgh and the Crown Jewels was the highlight. But the highlight of my weekend was not Edinburgh, but the trip to Edinburgh, during which a particuarly pretty college girl sat in the seat next to me. She was one of those women who cause men's head to turn when they don't even know why. Her figure and perhaps her scent can catch the periphery of your senses and force you to find the source. So she was when she walked onto the train, and it was apparent that every man on the train was looking at her. A middle aged man twice her age was ahead of her and smiled at her as she placed her luggage on the rack near my seat as if he was about to speak to her, but she didn't respond. Instead she sat next to me, without paying much attention to me at all. A blonde haired dude, probably another tourist/backpacker from the US, changed his seat at the next station so he could get a better look at the girl from the diagonal table seat across from us and he sneaked peeks every 30 seconds. It was quite obvious to me because I was sitting next to her and it must have been quite obvious to her as well. Anyway, as the train moves along, I'm trying not to be so obvious, and I haven't even seen her face yet, but I'm sure it would be perfect. I have seen her legs, and most of them, because she was wearing a skirt that barely covered her thighs. It was the kind of short skirt that looks like it might be a pair of short shorts, but when you look closely (and I did) there was no fabric between her legs. So there I sat shifting in my seat uncomfortably for 30 minutes, when I start to feel warm and achy so I stretch my back by turning around as if I wanted to see who else was on the train and I surreptiously took a glance at her face. She had a girly girl face with a mole on her cheek, a permanent smile and big blue eyes. I guess she had noticed me shifting about and when I turned, she accidentally invaded her space with my elbow and said, Sorry. She interpreted this to mean that I wanted to get into the aisle so she stood up. I was embarassed, but had enough courage to make eye contact and blurted out, No I didnt mean to get out, I was just shifting. She smiled and maybe thought my comment was more clever and flirtatious than I had really intended. I had meant it to be a purely explanatory statment, I had been shifting around. Ah, but WHY had I been shifting? In that moment of panic, I could not anticipate that question. So that was the end of the conversation for the next hour. After about an hour and a half I leaned over and said, Ok I really have to get out now. And she again got out of her seat and let me through. When I got back she had a sweater over her legs, so I thought this was a bad sign, maybe she thought I was some kind of perv who kept asking her to stand so I could see her legs. But a few minutes after I got back she initiated a conversation by asking me whether I knew where the train had originated. Apparently she writing a text-message on her phone to whoever was going to pick her up and wanted to let them know what train she was on. I thought this was a good sign, which it probably wasn't, a sign that is, but just a question, but I interpreted it as a sign and continued the conversation by asking her how much each text-message costs in the UK. She asked me whether I was from the states, and voila a real conversation was born. Of course every single person who was sitting near us was eavesdropping, wondering what this Oriental was doing talking to this babe, and the blonde American kid across the aisle was ready to scream it seemed. So we had a nice, albeit awkward flowing conversation about how she was from Edinburgh and I was not, and what I should do with my one day there. Nothing else came of it, but I was happy to have made a connection with someone for the first time in the UK with whom I had absolutely intended to make a connection with. That is, it was not one of those random encounters that just happen. This was something that I had planned and thought about every second while she was sitting next to me. Of course the fact that she was sitting next to me was purely an accident. Well, enough about Edinburgh, let's talk a little about Kinder Scout before I get kicked out. Kinder Scout is a large hill or a small mountain in the Peak District only 10 minutes away from Sheffield. It is the tallest peak in the area and has many hiking trails around it, one of which is called the Pennine Way which seems to be the English equivalent of the Appalachian trail. So I went to the little town of Edale on Monday, which is the starting point of the Pennine Way intending to follow it for a little tiny bit. Interestingly, the Pennine Way goes straight to Scotland where I had just come back from. But I only walked less than half a mile, but still it was quite beautiful to be out in the country amongst sheep and rock walls and hills and clouds. I met an old man on the train there who I asked if the train was going to Edale, which I pretty much knew it was. Again, the old stupid question trick. So we had a little conversation at Edale about what to do there and he told me how to get to the Pennine Way and other hiking paths that might be more interesting. He also told me about a bus that I could catch that would take me to Castleton and back, but why would I want to take a bus in a circle from a place I had just taken the train to? It didn't hit me immediately, but the old man probably wanted company because that was what he was intending to do. It didn't hit me until I had walked a bit on the Pennine way and realized that it was not suitable for old men, as it required the frequent and fun climbing of rock walls, navigating slippery muddy thin paths, and stepping up steep slopes. So while I was having fun, I thought of the old man and wondered whether he had wanted company on his bus ride, which I'm sure would have been very beautiful and had I not been set on hiking and been having such a good time on the Pennine trail, I would have turned around and waited for the bus at 1:40 which I said I would. I hope he was not waiting for me there at the bus stop. I hadn't promised to take the bus, and he hadn't even said that he was intending to take the bus, but in retrospect, I recall that he stopped off at the visitor's center and indicated he was going to stop there for a while when we separated. He must have been biding his time for the bus and he probably does this all the time. Wow, so that was another "almost" connection I made on Monday. I had 2 "almost" connections this weekend, which is pretty good for me. I'm hoping to build on the momentum and build up my courage and skills to start conversations. The "stupid question" trick seems to have worked 2 out of 2 times so far, though I know I have to develop more refined tricks if I am going to be successful and develop full connections. Hmmmm... things are looking better, not only personally, but also at work, and also in regard to my residency situation in Minnesota, but I don't have time to go into that right now. I'm signing off for now. Cheers.