the scottish flat: unwrapped

I sat on the floor with a lair of coins in front of me this morning telling myself it could be worse. Euros, pounds, pence, francs and quarters swam in a pool of tarnish, and as I counted and bagged them, I turned to Walker and informed him I never imagined my life holding such a task. The coin-sorting machine technology hasn't made it to the UK yet (a little irritating), and yet, one of the best things about living internationally is that it makes me, control-freak extraordinaire, adapt.

It’s no secret I’m nostalgic already, for the evening light and the yellow, buttery potatoes. But there also are the things I’ve adapted to that I’ve forgotten, that are now part of life. This might be the stupidest post you’ve ever read, so feel free to stop anytime, but here's what went down: I went on a little outing (or inning?) around our flat documenting the things I touch dozens of times a day that I won’t see in a month. Because I'll miss them. You can laugh at me for missing light-switches, but at least I'll have the security blanket of this post to turn if I can see past the tissues in a few months. So, then here is a wee tour of the most boring objects you’ll ever see on a blog. Welcome to life in Scotland: unwrapped.

Starting with the aforementioned light-switch, which looks so sleekily modern. This switch also appears next to all the outlets in the house. It lets you turn off the power for that outlet (a safety and energy-saving feature I love). And I’ll be honest about the next secret: it was a secret to me until I asked Walker for things to take photos of. Apparently, this is called a bayonet-cap in contrast to the American screw lightbulb, or so says Mr. Fix-It who knows his stuff when it comes to these things.

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Ladies and gents, the washer-dryer-combo, creator of both contentment and dread. Throwing a load in and taking it out dry seems glamorous until you realize it can take up to 2 hours to wash and 9 hours to dry. Another fabulous feature of this lil guy is that he sits in the kitchen, and is smaller than a dishwasher, which makes washing sheets amusing: they come out with a permanent pattern similar to the cartography of a map. The right photo is our heat control, which is attached to 4 individual room heaters that work like a charm. I kid you not, sitting next to our living room heater has made this year like a live sauna: bliss. Our heat is still cranking out these days.

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We move on to the bathroom. I wish I could tell you our baby-sized sink with separate knobs for hot and cold water was unique, but it's not. Water comes out of the tap boiling on the left side and icy on the right, so we’ve perfected the art of handwashing by sliding our hands back and forth to simultaneously kill germs and stop the burn. Moving over, that little button is the toilet flusher. Apparently, one side sucks harder, but I have never figured out which side, and that's all I have to say about that.

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These are simply the socket and the plug. Why they are 3 times the size of American plugs, I can’t tell you.

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Although bathrooms do not have the luxury of a bathtub, we do, as all bathrooms in the UK, have a towel heater. Sadly, I’ve never figured out how to get it on. It’s intention is noble, considering that in the damp weather, towels very rarely dry by the next shower. Our doorknob and lock are probably normal, but I want to remember them.

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There are also things like temperatures and weights being different in the kitchen, and the clock being different, but that won't be missed. So there you have it, and there I have it documented for future days of normal level light switches and screw-cap bulbs. Thinking about such trivialities helps me avoid the inevitable: I am leaving the most beautiful place in the world to me in a few weeks and a whole life behind. I will survive keeps playing in my mind, for some reason.

We had a blissful weekend, including a trip to the cinema (how I love the red velvet, gold railings and popcorn smell in the air), a walk on the beach (requisite indeed), and time to chat and do some apartment searching online. It was just the time I needed to vault me into another week of packing. And tonight, oh tonight will be epic. Dinner club and a theme that will leave our other dinner club parties in the dust.

A lovely week to you all!