Category: neighbourhd

bookmark_borderOur new local shop

Posted on by thomas


Waitrose, Otley
Originally uploaded by reinholdbehringer

They’re building a lot of houses, business premises, a school and some roundabouts on some fields between us and the motorway. (That is, they started building them a couple of years ago, but most of them seem to have put on hold when the recession started to bite.)

The posters also seemed to indicate that there would be some kind of shop.

I always thought it was a great location because it’s so close to a motorway onramp, but I didn’t know what kind of chain that would go for this.

Today we got the answer:

In 2011 Scotland’s biggest Waitrose will open there, just five minutes’ walk from our house.

I’m not sure we can afford to make that our main shop for groceries, but I’m sure it’ll be a good place to get certain products, so I’m looking forward to it!

bookmark_borderOur address in Gaelic

Posted on by thomas


The house we’re buying
Originally uploaded by viralbus

I was trying to figure out what our address is in Gaelic.

“Glasgow” is of course Glaschu, and according to Wikipedia, “Newton Mearns” is Baile Ùr na Maoirne.

According to the same source, “Kinloch” is normally Ceann Loch (“head of the loch”).

However, I’m not certain what “Kinloch Road” would be. “Road” is of course rathad, but what about the genitive? “Kinloch Castle” is Caisteal Cheann Locha (although some sources add the article and don’t aspirate: Caisteal Ceann an Locha), so that is probably the best pattern to follow.

Our address is thus:

27 Rathad Cheann Locha (or 27 Rathad Ceann an Locha)
Baile Ùr na Maoirne
Glaschu G77 6LY
Alba

bookmark_borderBird’s Eye

Posted on by thomas


Houses and cars
Originally uploaded by viralbus

I just discovered the other day, that Multimap have added a wonderful Bird’s Eye view to their maps.

It basically means the photos are taken from an angle, rather than directly above – see the examples next to this.

I find this much easier to recognise and understand, but of course it means some objects are invisible because they’re obscured by other objects.

Our house looks pretty much as it did when we bought it in the summer of 2007, and our car is not there.

On the other hand, there’s a car that looks a lot like ours in two places: In front of our old flat in Rose Street, and in front of Phyllis’s parents’ house.

Funny how it makes Scotland look like a sunny place, by the way.

bookmark_borderCorner shop burglary

Posted on by thomas

Corner shop break-in
Originally uploaded by viralbus

Phyllis and I woke up in the middle of the night due to an alarm going off. Shortly afterwards, we also heard a bump within the house.

However, it didn’t seem to have anything to do with our house or car, so we went back to sleep.

In the morning, Marcel then told Phyllis that he had made the noise when he got out of bed to investigate the alarm. Later, we realised it was the corner shop on the other side of the road that had be burgled.

Yes, I know, not the most interesting of blog postings, and the photo is pretty crap, but I haven’t experienced anything else today so far.