Kat's Backpack: Forgotten Posts, Full Frontal Fringe, and Fort William

Hello, hello, hello! My goodness, it's been a long absence on my behalf and I do want to take this opportunity to apologise! (I have been scolded through Facebook about my lack of posting of late). There is no real excuse for it really, except to say that I have been BUSY! I have started (and never quite finished) several well intentioned posts commenting on things like the Canadian Election, Thanksgiving, My ONE year anniversary of moving back over to the UK, and the US Election, but alas all have been lost, as it seems rather pointless to comment on those items now. Well, okay, maybe just a quick synopsis:

Canadian Election: boo Harper!

Thanksgiving: I missed eating turkey (they don't have thanksgiving here)

One Year in the UK: Yay me . . . I am now one step closer to dual citizenship!

US Election: Yay Obama! (Interestingly, Obama's whole platform was about creating change and I would just like to mention that a good American friend of mine who had been unemployed for about 8 months, suddenly got a job after Obama was elected - coincidence? I doubt it! haha)

Life has been good, but dominated by work. I now have three jobs (I think that also happened during my temporary hiatus) so you can imagine that life is busy. But, that's just how the cookie crumbles. I am trying to save money so that I can go home next summer and to pay off some debt that I have from moving 12 times in 5 years! Hence, the extra jobs. Also, given all the doom stories about financial meltdowns and credit crunches and what not, it just seemed sensible to get as many jobs as possible in case one of them disappeared suddenly!

A while ago I posted about taking the "plunge" and getting a fringe (aka bangs) again. I meant to post pics, but never got around to taking them . . . until today. Voila . . . below please find an image of my First Aid Scissors Massacre:

A few weeks back I planned a last minute weekend away, since I'd managed to score return tickets to anywhere in Scotland for just £15. I chose to go to Fort William and planned a wonderful weekend of sightseeing and hiking. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a simply awful weekend, as about an hour before I was supposed to board the train, I was running to catch a bus and I felt something "go wrong" in my back. It was pretty painful, but I didn't have time to think about it as I had to rush home, pack (I am slightly famous for my last minute packing, eh V?), and then catch the train. Unfortunately, five hours later when the train arrived in Fort William I couldn't stand up straight and could barely walk. I spent the weekend in the hotel room not being able to move without being in serious pain. I did force myself out for a short and slow walk at one point just so I could say I "saw" some of Fort William (my 3 photos from this journey are displayed below). When I got back to Edinburgh I went to see the doctor who told me that I had most likely torn a muscle in my back (no wonder I was in so much pain!). It's almost back to normal now though, thank goodness, but I can't help but wonder if this back injury is a sign that I am getting old???