I’ve been wondering if it’s geeky of me to be reading The New Penguin History of the World.

Then yesterday I got a total thrill hearing that the mummy of Hatshepsut’s been found.

And I didn’t have to wonder anymore.

I have a friend who’s looking for a freelance designer to develop a logo and graphic templates (stationery, web design) for his company. Enquire within.

UPDATE: position filled, thanks.

Jonathan and I babysat the lovely Daisy over the weekend, which left us thinking about getting another dog. Comet would be less lonely, and having a dog each is fun when we go out. However, we thought, the Boston Terrier is the best dog for our lifestyle, and we could not possibly improve on that. To be as good as a Boston, the other dog would have to be short-haired, same size or smaller (because the jobbies are big enough as they are), happy in an apartment without a yard, and quiet. Moreover, to use the litterbox like Comet, it would have to be female (as males raise the leg).

The next morning, my production manager happened to mention that her friend is trying to give away a female chihuahua. This sounded like it fit all the criteria, so Jonathan and I debated it at length. Maybe it’s a sign that we’re ready. We’d be doing it for Comet, but we don’t know how she’d react. We couldn’t take a chihuahua camping. Eventually we got tired and stopped, having resolved nothing.

And then I got another e-mail from Annie. “Oops, it’s a chinchilla, not a chihuahua”.

Just goes to show (again). Ignore the problem long enough and it goes away.

After several late evenings of frustration and tweaking, and with a final little help from blog superhero Patrick, Jonathan has finally put his blog online. Go have a look!

Last month, Jonathan and I went to visit his family in Scotland. In preparation for this, in April I churned my way through a heavy and long biography of Mary, Queen of Scots. As a result, the one place I really wanted to visit was Holyroodhouse Palace, where Mary witnessed a brutal murder and got married twice (out of 3 times). However, the current queen was in residence so we couldn’t get in.

For consolation, while driving to Edinburgh for a couple of days, we decided to stop by Lochleven, a castle on an island considered a much less important landmark in Mary’s life. It was there that she was imprisoned for a year, was forced to abdicate and miscarried twins. She eventually escaped by charming two of the castle staff into helping her commandeer a rowboat, sabotage the other boats and get away.

To get to Lochleven, we had to drive through the tiny village of Kinross, constantly thinking we were lost before finding another tiny sign for the hidden castle. Eventually we got to the shores of a lake, with hardly anything to indicate we had found our way. A ferryman in a small motorboat waited patiently for his next fare. It was really exciting to have found a bit of history that wasn’t completely overrun with tour buses and souvenirs. Lochleven showed nothing of its importance as it stood humbly in the distance.

When we got there, we had the run of the island and castle, all to ourselves. We stood in the room where Mary lost her twins, saw the window from where she bitterly watched fireworks celebrating her infant son’s coronation, following her forced abdication. She would never see him again, and he would be raised by her enemies.

I’ll visit Holyroodhouse next time I go to Scotland, but I doubt it will be as exciting as this impromptu visit. As is often the case when travelling, the unforeseen events that throw you off the planned path always lead to the best discoveries.