Edge of the Map

It’s 11pm, I’m cosied up in bed with the kitten and a hot ribena, and I don’t have much to say apart from recently I have been indulging in two of my favourite things. Tea, and going on adventures.

After discovering Teapigs in a lovely little cafe in Brighton last year, I hadn’t drank them again until earlier this week. Looking for a new travel mug, I ended up on their site making an impromptu order. £37 later I had said travel mug, a pack of their everyday tea, an eco shopping bag, and a mix and match pack of sample selections from the whole range… Woops.

Dexter having a wee sniff – they do smell awesome. For someone who drinks so much tea and has a tattoo dedicated to the stuff, I actually never tend to branch outside of your average english breakfast. Shock horror! Greig took me to Tchaiovna in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago and introduced me to some insanely good teas. Which I otherwise would not have ventured for on my own! So I tried to steer away from playing the safe card with this selection. I seem to be pretty stuck in my ways but I’ll let you know how I get on. Have you ever ordered from Teapigs? Have any other wee things like this you like to indulge in?

Almost two weeks in to my BBC job now, with another 4.5 to go. This weekend is the last one I’ll have both saturday and sunday off until we’re finished the programme, so I will be certainly making the most of it. Last weekend I had two days off in a row too, so John and I went on a wee overnight trip to stay in a Wigwam in Machrihanish with his close friends.

Packing the car bright and early on saturday morning.

The little car on my satnav driving on water while we took the ferry.

Love him ♥

3 hour journey ahead of us. Let the nonsense commence!

John on the top deck.

An un-manned honesty box on the road to the camp site, with fruit, veg, jam etc from local farmers. John got some eggs and they were amazing.

One of these wee cuties was Phil, Jen and her little boy Blairs for the night.

Our home for the evening 🙂

Exploring the beach, five minutes from our campsite.

Phil on his board! I’ve surfed on a beach nearby to here a couple of years ago. We’re going to head back and get some surfing done soon.

Jen and Blair playing on the beach while we watched the guys surf. It was chilly…

But when the sun came out from behind the clouds, absolutely glorious! I sat on our blanket and chilled, enjoying some peace and quiet. I absolutely adore being by the sea, it makes me feel so calm and I’d love to live by the ocean one day. I felt as proud as punch wearing my new Ray Ban Clubmasters from The Sunglasses Shop all weekend. These are the fourth pair of sunglasses (and Ray Bans) that I own, mainly because I have such an odd shaped head (genuinely) and feel like these are the only ones that actually suit me. Even my reading glasses are Ray Bans. I know what you’re thinking – this girl got ISSUES. Big face issues! Anyways, I was super impressed how quickly they arrived in time for my weekend away, and although I went for the tortoise-shell there were so many more colours to choose from. I normally get quite nervous ordering clothes and accessories online, as I really like to try them on first. So I was pleased when they arrived and fitted me perfectly/suited me well. I think they are my most loved so far, but there are some more gems on the Sunglasses Shop website, so even though that time of year is slowly drifting away from us I can see a wishlist post coming soon. Maybe something movie inspired?! The Lost Boys (which really helped the clubmasters gain their status) is one of my favourite films of all time. I think I felt just as cool as Michael hanging out by the beach. But no vampires please.

‘One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach… all the damn vampires’

We spent saturday and sunday around the beach and campbell town, and John and I had to leave on sunday afternoon unfortunately because I was back at work on monday. We could have stayed so much longer, it was lovely. We sat up on saturday night drinking and eating, and having a BBQ and a good giggle together. John then decided to try and freak me out in the wigwam when it was time for bed. But that backfired and I think he ended up scaring himself more 😉 Silly, silly boy.

Just before we left on sunday we all went for lunch at the Bluebell Cafe in Campbeltown, and bought some nice sweeties and chocolate for the drive home. I ended up sleeping pretty much the whole way back, and so was wide awake and hyper when I came home greeted by the piggies and Dexter on sunday night. I think Dexter quite enjoyed it though, we are normally sleepy and hyper at the exact opposite times. Mind you, I’m getting sleepy now as I come to the end of writing this and he is snoozing quietly next to me 🙂

I think this bottle above is the reason why we got such a good sleep on saturday night! I’m not normally a fan of rum, but have been drinking Kraken recently and it is yummy. Have you tried it before? I love the bottle and label design too, and I recently booked in to get my sleeve started, but all I’ll say for now is that it will have a bit of the Kraken and under the sea theme as inspiration. I can’t wait to tell you more once I get going!

As I mentioned before, this weekend is my final two days off in a row until the end of this job, so I am fully taking advantage by having a busy wee time planned ahead. Friday night I’m going to a gig at Nice and Sleazy’s, saturday night I’m going out to the Cathouse for Katrina’s wee brothers 21st birthday, and sunday I will be having the laziest of days in bed with my fella watching more episodes of Dexter (we’re at the doomsday killer episodes at the moment) Saturday during the day I am hoping the sun will stay out, as we are going through to Edinburgh for the Sky Ride. I’ll be honest, my running has been lacking lately so I am using this weekend to boost myself back into exercise and give cycling a go for the first time in years. Here is our route:

If you’re not doing anything else on saturday please come and join us! We’ll be getting the train through from Glasgow to Edinburgh about 11am, and it should make for a good (healthy…) wee day out. Edith Bowman is supporting the event, and I also believe Sir Chris Hoy might be there too. It is totally free – all you need to do is register 🙂 The last time I rode a bike was in Interlaken, Switzerland, on my travels two years ago. So I am a bit nervous but think this will be the perfect chance to get my confidence back and feel comfortable when it comes to riding a bike again. They say it is a skill you never forget, but riding on the road is another thing! Something that I am totally clueless about, and probably the main reason why I have avoided it for so many years. The roads will be closed specially for this event but I’d really like to find out what the law/rules are when it comes to riding your bike on the road. Safety gear, pavement vs road, lights etc? Can anyone fill me in? Be sure to send me a tweet if you think you’ll be going. I fully intend to burn off all those calories in advance for a few Kraken’s and coke on saturday night ♥

Ayden x