The best part about plenary having taken place is that there is much more work to do now- most of it quite juicy. Of course, I can't reveal any specifics, but I am fascinated by many of the topics brought up in plenary: flooding, teacher abuse, health statistics, health resources, poverty, the economy, the environment, fuel...
Imagine my delight when some of my research on the environment and health statistics popped out of my AMs' mouths!
This morning, an article on which I worked quite intensely appeared Online: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/09/24/planning-for-a-future-without-oil-91466-21884205/.
My favorite part of researching peak oil was watching a video about how Cubans handled the onset of an artifical peak oil crisis. The video was made by an organization in Yellow Springs, Ohio- mere minutes from my life-long home- yet I had to come all the way to Wales to see it.
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Last night, my roommate and I joined the two male interns for an excursion to a rowdy pub in Cardiff Central to watch the Cardiff-Swansea football (soccer) match. Despite the fact that I've never seen either team play before, I became incensed when the Cardiff team made some basic errors- bunching up like grapes, not covering the opposition and getting in the goalie's way.
My roommate sat next to Cardiff's goalie, Peter Enckelman, on her plane over here, se we were all watching him very closely. For the most part, he was decent. He only missed one shot, and that wasn't really his fault.
And, to be fair to Cardiff, the referees were definitely favoring Swansea.
Still, the game resulted in my fury and the night ended less than ideally.
At least there was no semblance of violence on my part; apparently, the game's aftereffects were horrendous.
According to an article on WalesOnline, "Officers were filmed using batons to try to quell the trouble and keep fans apart."
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Enough of that, though. This weekend involved a quick (about six hour) train ride to Edinburgh, Scotland! In two days, I visited two museums and a castle, went on a whisky tour and two ghost tours, saw Macbeth, went to the World's End, had the best glass of whisky of my life (Superstition from the Isle of Jura), and learned a few little lessons.
1. I could never have been a knight in the 16th century. Here's why:
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2. Writers can have real adventures, too! Sir Walter Scott (of Ivanhoe fame) rediscovered Scotland's crown jewels, and the Scots built this monument for him:
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3. If you hear "Gardy loo", do not look up. I repeat, do not look up. Run away and pray you've run far enough. "Gardy loo" is a corruption of the French "garde l'eau", meaning to mind the water or some such thing. In the old Edinburgh before sewer systems, folks threw their waste out their windows (Edinburgh had some of the first skyscrapers in the world, so we're talking multiple layers of throwing here), shouting "gardy loo".
The whole waste thing hasn't become entirely extinct in Edinburgh, though, it's just changed. Instead of minding the skies, mind the corners: I saw at least five men just whip it out and pee on walls in front of me.
So, even if people aren't yelling "gardy loo", don't step on the water!
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And more pictures for your viewing pleasure:
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