A time for change

This morning I decided to do something that was perhaps a bit risky. I decided to give myself my first fringe (for north americans: bangs) in about 10-15 years. I had originally wanted to go to a professional to do it, due to how long it's been since I had fringe, but I simply cannot afford it at the moment. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. All I needed was a pair of scissors . . . unfortunately, the only ones I could find belonged to my first aid kit. Not to worry, I thought - if it looks horrible, I am sure I can just pin them back or something.

I started to cut my hair. I ended up taking a good 3 inches off and partway through I thought to myself that I just may be making a terrible mistake! But, after I dried my hair I think it turned out pretty well. And, I've been getting compliments on it all day, which must be a good sign! Well, almost everything I heard was a compliment. My friend Andy took one look at me and said "Did someone do something to your hair?" and he followed that question swiftly with another one "Do you want me to get them for you?" :)

I can drive again!

This week, in the post, I finally received my UK driver's licence. It has taken forever and much hassle due to people who work for the DVLA giving me the wrong advice. But it's finally been straightened out, although I received no apology from the people that be. As a Canadian you can actually exchange your Canadian licence for a british one (as long as you do so within a year of entering the UK) for a grand total of £50. However, you are then only able to drive automatics unless you can prove that you took your test using a standard/manual. If you can't prove that then you need to take a test to prove that you can drive a standard (which costs more money) and I don't really know the full details of that yet. I am currently only able to drive automatics, which suits me at the moment as I have never learned to drive a standard. But I will need to learn soon because almost all the cars over here are standards!

I am just happy because I can officially go on the road again which I am most looking forward to. I love to drive and being without a licence since March has been most restrictive. I don't have a car here yet or anything, but there have been times when I would have liked to rent a car and go for a drive and not been able to.

I have visited the future

At least I felt like I did. I recently visited my local library here in Edinburgh and I have to say that they have the most futuristic way of taking out books that I have ever seen. Now, you may think that I am being overly dramatic here, but I contend that I am not. I see myself as a rather savy person when it comes to technology and new gadgets, but this machine has baffled even myself. My library has a self-serve check out, which I had never tried before so I thought it would be an adventure (rather like the self-serve checkouts at supermarkets like Tesco) and I wasn't to be let down. I set my books on top of the desk and the computer asked me to scan my library card which I easily accomplished using the scanner on the desk. Next, I was asked to enter my library pin, which again was easy to do. What happened next is what surprised me. Suddenly the titles and authors of the three books I had just happened to set on the desk appeared on the computer screen! I did not scan them or touch them in any way, and there was no obvious way of detecting them that I could see. How did the computer know what books I wanted? If I hadn't set them on the desk by accident, could the computer have still detected them? The whole process was most impressive and slightly overwhelming all at the same time! I look forward to my next trip to the library as I try to discover the secret to the all-knowing computer!