Averagely Adventurous

Last week Pedro contacted the landlord, D, about adding my name to the lease.  There was a bit of back and forth about how to go about it.  D said he could add me as an occupant or create a whole new lease.  Pedro responded that it was for my proof of address, so we weren't sure if adding me as an occupant would suffice or not.  To our surprise, D contacted lawyers to check.  They said an occupant addition is too informal, so we need a whole new lease which will cost £60, half of which D is willing to pay for.  Kind of him, honestly, and we gotta do what we gotta do.

I'm freeeee! I got my BRP! No more house arrest waiting on the courier! 

 I'm writing this in bed since I've hardly left it in my current state. I'm so tired and so sore after yesterday. I had over 30,000 steps on my smart watch by the time we got home.  Worth it.

Edinburgh trip!!  That's ed-in-burah, not like Pittsburgh. And we are officially going this weekend! After some research, we decided to try and stuff it all into this Saturday.  We could always go back on Sunday because the cost of two round trip train tickets for two days is still cheaper than one night stay at a hotel within walking distance of the downtown area. And the train station lets off right next to the Royal mile.  I worked out a (slightly) jam-packed itinerary for an entirely walkable tour of the city.  

 Pedro woke me up with the idea of walking through Dawsholm Park and possibly seeing some highland cows.  The park is a very short walk, right before the vet school. The park itself was huge, with a bunch of connecting paths, and views of the city along the way.  Through the breaks of the trees and a few open field, you could see the city was in a valley, surrounded by low mountains. I got a few good pictures of the valley, but there is this one building that has bothered me since I got here. It is a tall, modern boring building right next to an old stone church.  It's in every skyline and just disrupts everything!  I managed to avoid it in my shots, but I've been so frustrated with it I decided to name it Azkaban, because whoever came up with the idea to put that building right there deserves to go to there. 

Didn't take too long to get a response from the BRP people! They even said my new card was in the mail, wow.  I expected sooo many more hoops to go through.  I still won't believe it until it's in my hands with the proper information, but it's looking good. 

 Yesterday, we finally made it to the café where Pedro found out about the local apartment website. Annie's Coffee House. Absolutely darling. 

 I knew this would happen... Pedro went to pick up my BRP today.  Can you guess? It was the same BRP he identified as the wrong one when he picked his up.  The school couldn't do anything, couldn't even report that it was the wrong one because they are only the destination location for pick up.  The card came in an envelope with instructions on its use, storage, and what to do if there is a problem with it. So I went to the website to report the issue and it was the same UKVI people I had to hound for my replacement visa. Ugh.  I went through an automated system to report the issue (just my working rights, thank goodness nothing else) and they had a tiny text box to explain everything.  Man, I packed that thing. I tried to explain everything, how they messed up, twice! Once I submitted the form, the confirmation email came in.  Surprise, surprise -"We are currently experiencing very high volumes of requests. It is taking significantly longer than usu...