Monday, September 26, 2011

Nail polish dreaming.

So here I am in Edinburgh. I managed to leave all my nail polish behind - which was a huge disappointment - as well as all my cuticle sticks, my nail oils, my moisturisers, nail art brushes, decals and...well...everything. I didn't even have a chance to paint my nails before I went because I spent the day before I left packing. Oh, no, sorry, I spent the day I left packing.

Which was when I learnt a valuable lesson. If your suitcase is too full, and you *have* to take out clothes...you don't necessarily want to take out all your shirts and just leave underwear. Which is pretty much what I did. Reasoned, of course, that underwear is small while shirts are big and take up more room. So when I got here, I had enough socks and undies to fill up a drawer, and 4 shirts. And 3 pairs of jeans, 2 coats and some shoes. The worst bit was that I actually took out all my long sleeved shirts so I arrived, in Scotland, at the start of autumn, with 3 tshirts, and one long sleeved shirt. My problem,in all of this, was there were things I *had* to have. I had to have my white cord jeans, because I can't live without them. I *had* to have my red coat for exactly the same reason. And the coat will be very useful, just as soon as it warms up a bit. And possibly starts raining. It's a great jacket - it's waterproof - it's just not very warm.

The flight here was insane. I had a bad moment, sitting at Brisbane airport, and wondering if it was too late to just go back. Seriously, can you go back past security? I couldn't help wondering. But I got on the plane, and found myself between a Swiss woman, and a nigerian man. Both very nice people, but it's hard to get comfy in the middle. Both ways I turned, when I was trying to sleep, left me facing someone. Plus the nigerian guy tended to take up space. He wasn't fat, he just took up space. Like both his arm rests, with his elbows into my chair. But at least the conversation was interesting. And I got lots of exercise, every time either I or he decided to go to the toilet. The worst bit about it was that it was 14 hours. It's so depressing - you watch a movie, and then another movie and think "woo, I just got rhrough 4 hours of flight" and then you realise "there's another 10 hours on this plane, and then another 7 or 8 on another plane". And that's when you cry. No, kidding, but you get extremely depressed and start watching more movies. And Friends. I watched every episode of Friends they had on offer.

The stop at Dubai consisted of meeting a girl from Hong Kong, who grew up in Canada, and now studies in Durham, who gave me a headache tablet for the severe migraine I had coming on. That was a weird moment. You probably shouldn't accept drugs from strangers, especially when you don't recongise them, but sometimes depseration just drives you on. Plus, in Dubai, swiss woman bought me a bottle of water. Which was so kind, as the first plane had been very hot and I got through my bottle. As fot the 8 hour flight, it was awful. My screen wouldn't work, so I couldn't watch movies. My neighbour didn't want to talk so I didn't even try. Thankfully I had a book, and spent the entire time reading it. Until I finished it with an hour to spare.

And then, Newcastle. Possibly not the best place to come in, because they didn't have much in the way of Immigration. Just 4 people processing all these incoming students and holiday makers coming home. Standing in line for 50 minutes, watching the UK and EU passport holders sailing through beside me. And I saw 3 plane loads come in and go through quicker than me. Only to get there and have to show proof that I am actually going to uni here. Thankfully I remembered to pack it. Seriously, I nearly forgot and shoved it in my bag last minute. My last day in Brisbane was not well thought out or reasoned. As I realised when I got here and found I forgot loads of things I wanted to bring.

I had a great trip up from Newcastle to edinburgh. I love the scenery here, so I just sat back, ipod in ears, and enjoyed the trip. Didn't enjoy the 'getting off the train with heavy roller luggage' bit, and really missed my 13kg backpack, which had waighed less and was easier to cope with.

And as for Edinburgh itself. It's beautiful. It's just stunning and I love it. Ok, it's hard to find vegemite, and impossible to find milo or timtams. We're not allowed a toaster in case we accidentally set off the fire alarm and evacuate tbe building, but that's the main downside. My flatmates are great, my neighbours are excellent, and there is a guy from brisbane living downstairs. So I have the accent of home around me whenever I want. Plus a girl from Melbourne upstairs. So it's win win really.

The weirdest thing though, is that I keep meeting people who say (and I kid you not) 'oh, my best friend is from brisbane", or at least "I have a friend from Brisbane". I don't know what people from brisbane do, but we really get around. But it's nice that people have heard of it, even though I still have to explain where it is.

But of course, I am here to talk about nail polish! I obviously don't have any of mine here, so I've had to buy some. And I had no nail polish remover so I had to buy some of that too. I got these fantastic nail polish remover pads here. I've never seen them back home, but I will admit to massive OPI bias. But they're just cotton pads, soaked in remover. And they don't even smell too bad. And, being me, I took a picture.

Ok, ok, not much to look at. But I was excited.

And then, I went back to Boots and bought nail polish. I found an emerald green, like I've always wanted , and a nice purple, and a good pink.


So now I just have to decide whether I need more nail polish or not. I think, for now, that I'm going to see how much I can do with just three colours. I'm already planning something called "pink and purple polkadots'. And, I have nail polish buddies, so I will be knocking on their door when I need something a little extra. I think my neighbour Heather has something to go perfectly with that Green. I just need to check it out.

And I need to select a new nail painting day. Though, without any oils, basecoat or topcoat, it probably won't be such a lengthy process as it would be at home. I already miss having variety though. And it's been a fortnight - this doesn't bode well...