Potpourri...

We're catching up on some items that probably would have deserved their own post over the last little while.  We've been busy with a little side project or two, plus a lot of work, both at the office and here at home.

Item number 1: our new car.  We were looking for something with four doors and little bit of room in the boot - we're expecting visitors, right?  Plus it had to be fuel efficient and easy to handle on these cramped roads.  And it had to be affordable, as we don't see much point in paying a lot for a c

ar if we're going to be moving on in three years.  So we abandoned my original idea of an Audi TT convertible roadster and settled on a Renault Scenic.  We had driven one as a rental and liked it quite a bit.  A co-worker of mine, soon to move on to Cairo, just happened to be selling hers.  So we closed the deal.  Attached is a picture of Fiona's new car ...

Item number 2: snow.  Last weekend we had a good old fashioned snow storm.  It starte

d Friday night and by Saturday morning a good foot of snow had accumulated.  It was the right kind of snow too, good for snowballs and snowmen.  In fact our neighbours soon started a snowman making competition, the Italians on one side and the Dutch on the other.  I think the Dutch snowman was superior, with a carved face and clothespin lips.  To be fair, I don't think Italians get too many opportunities to build snowmen as kids.  The next night it rained and all was gone.  It was cool while it was there, though.  Fiona managed some pics ...

Item number 3: today's activities.  In honour of St. Andrew's Day, Aberdeen hosted an International Market.  It was a beautiful day, what the locals call "sharp".  Nice and sunny but with a bite in the air that works on your ears.  The market was crowded but fun.  They had a few stalls from several European countries, although the German sausage guy apparently merited 2 stands.  The French guy was impressive with a 4 foot wide wok cooking something which I can only assume is what angels eat in heaven:  it listed the ingredients as cheese, potatos, bacon, cream and onion.  In order to resist temptations such as this, we had eaten just before the market, and weren't quite ready to take on an extra 14, 000 calories.  We had to stop at the Dutch stand, though.  They were selling poffertjes, little bite sized pancakes.  You could get them in the traditional sense, with butter and powdered sugar and non-traditionally, with heaps of melted Nutella.  We went traditional, of course, because we're traditional poffertjes kind of people.  We also picked up some chocolate sprinkles, hagelslag, for morning toast, and some gingernuts, pepernoten, in order to be prepared for Sinterklaas this week.  No pictures, though.