"She lives in Madrid"

Hello! Happy New Year everyone. Hope you're not struggling through today.
I had no hangover! Good start to the year, smug me.

I suppose compared to last Hogmanay- singing outside the Pantheon, looking down to the sparkly Eiffel Tower- Melrose is a bit tame, but they did have fireworks and the drinks at our wee pub are considerably cheaper than any Paris bar. And it means that I've started the year in a proactive manner, replying to an email I got in early October, printing 3 flight boarding passes, eating 2 pieces of fruit, making a birthday card, finishing reading my first short story in Spanish. This is boringly smug, sorry. Can't remember what I was going to write, but it was a bit more interesting and less self-congratulatory.

Anyways last night I met some friends of a friend, and was introduced with "she lives in Madrid", which makes your life sound really exciting and exotic! Until they ask if you're fluent in Spanish or have a Spanish boyfriend or if you have a job that doesn't include singing 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' with the actions over and over.

A great thing happened the other day. I was in Edinburgh, hanging about after I got my haircut before meeting a friend to go to the Portrait Gallery, and just right as I turned onto Princes Street very loud, cool music started blasting out. For a minute I thought I was in my own film, it was brilliant. They were testing the sound system for the Hogmanay street party, but I like to think it was just for me.

The Portrait Gallery has been done up and it has a wall of "Hot Scots", which is fun.
Something to aim for.