*Reminiscing of a summer past*

After my recent jaunt of being a penniless traveller, I am slightly overwhelmed with the amount of clutter I have accumulated in my room. A major clear-out is in progress and between the stacks of sheet music and pressed flowers, I found this note. It's dated a few days after my return from my trip to Scotland in 2007, my first ever trip away from home and was scribbled in the wee hours of one of my jet-lag induced sleepless nights.

'I am missing Edinburgh. I miss cold, stone buildings and misty meadows and twenty different shades of lush green. I miss the buzz of learning and laughing and singing. Excitement and pleasure and feeling as though I have never been happier than at this very moment. I miss Carly and Liza, Amir and Tashi, Roxanne and Will and my Spanish senoritas. I miss feeling dumb and inspired and light and slightly beautiful. Also, the lovely sensation of belonging. I miss Japanese tourism, pillaging, dancing and discovering.

I miss being the Pied Piper and the lone Australian. I miss being Red. I miss being a mystery. Life without chores and T.V. and my cellphone (but not facebook...that I could not live without). I miss early morning lectures and frosty nights and terrible cafeteria food. I miss grumpy old ladies and blistered ankles and broken glasses.

I miss defiant graffiti!

I miss sparkly red Dorothy shoes and terrible pick-up lines and even worse poetry scribbled in the sleepy aftermath of a beautiful dream. I miss having beautiful dreams. I miss the colourful Indian shops, cluttered second-hand bookshops and classy vintage stores.

Like that place where you bought your kilt from.

I miss being able to get away with wearing pink snakeskin ballet slippers and shiny blue tap shoes. Roald Dahl coffee mugs and C.S. Lewis biographies. Being defiant and cheeky and indulged enough to get away with it. I miss sharing secrets and wicked whispers in dirty pubs and trendy coffee shops and having my grammar corrected. Persian and Hebrew, Spanish and Gaelic. I miss feeling alive.'

The Weird and Wonderful folk of Edinburgh!

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in one of my favourite coffee shops along Nicholson street. I was in one of the booths facing the street and was thoroughly intrigued with the people I saw passing. Nowhere in the world have I loved people-watching as much as I have in Edinburgh. Old Town especially seems to have an abundance of people who simply like being a bit quirky and off-beat. These are just a few of the people that I saw during the course of two hours and three regular lattes:

~ A young woman of about twenty appears in the window of the second-storey flat above Tescoes directly opposite me. It is possibly one of the busiest places on Nicholson street, yet she doesn't seem to realise this as she throws the curtains open with gusto, wearing nothing more than a pale blue T-shirt that reads 'Little Miss Naughty'.

~ A 'Kirstyn Knowles' look-alike (maybe even her!). She has dark auburn hair worn down over her shoulders with bright turquoise eyeshadow. But her most distinguishing feature! A pair of apple-green stripey 'Wizard of Oz' tights. If she had been carrying an electric guitar in her hands, she would not have looked at all out of place.

~ During the course of the morning, a black jacket is dropped on the pavement. This presents a fascinating dilemma! Will someone pick it up and keep it? Put it on a bench to stop it from getting dirty and stepped on? Ignore it and blatantly step on it? The young student who looks like she will become a nurse or a vet such her innocent eyes and kind face dodges it like a dog poop in her path. The grandad with the cuddly jumper and jelly belly actually stopped and stood on it for a while. It turned out to be a tattoed hobo with one massive dreadlock running down his back that picked the jacket up and folded it neatly onto the bus bench for the owner to find.

~ The strangest little woman just walked past! She must have been well into her sixties with white, white hair and a pin-striped business suit. However, underneath the jacket, she had on a pink and silver ruffled satin blouse with a matching bag. Not pretty, lacey satin that could look quite feminine underneath a suit jacket. The kind of cheap, trashy blouse that you would buy in less reputable shops. The frosted pink eyeshadow painted up to the pencilled eyebrows and letterbox red lipstick added the finishing touches to the whole ensemble.

*Why are there so many people walking around with guitars here?*

~ I take it back! I have now seen the strangest woman in Edinburgh! She is a tiny, hunched-over lady supported by what looks to be her daughter or maybe her carer. She is wearing a midnight blue velvet cloak that could quite easily be mistaken for a magician's cape. Perhaps she is in the theatre? Sticking out from the hem of her cloak are the thinnest, spindliest legs I have ever seen. And I don't mean 'lolli-pop lady' thin - I mean 'where the heck are your bones' thin. You might think that she would be wearing comfortable, flat leather granny shoes. Her frailty might excuse her wearing slippers even. No, this little lady had on nothing short of the sparkliest, brightest, cherry-red stilletoes I have ever seen.

~ A genuinely pretty girl is walking along by herself. Every detail of her is perfect, matching, clean and crease-free. Her hair and make-up are immaculate. She obviously puts a lot of care into her appearance. Either that or she is extremely meticulous. Her eyes are glued to the pavement as she walks along with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She peeks out from under her fringe and, seeing someone glance in her direction, blushes terribly and walks faster.

*Scratch what I previously said. Edinburgh is just plain full of weirdos. Some guy just walked past, stopped dead in his tracks in front of me, stared intently for a good thirty seconds and then yelled 'nice laptop! with two thumbs up! Haha!*

~ I love the boldness of this one girl dashing down the street in the rain! Her outfit clashes horribly but she certainly makes a statement! She is wearing a red trenchcoat with flat red pumps. Underneath, she has on a royal blue dress with little red hearts all over it. Finally - the killer detail and the cause of the outfit clash - royal blue tights!