Brief Update and Trip to Roslin

So I checked up on the science event manager job and it won't start until middle of November and from the management skills it requires I'm not likely to get it. I'm going to apply for it anyway, but I'm going to look for some other work anyway since middle of November is a long way off. I'm phoning and e-mailing around about live-in jobs at some small hotels here-and-there. I think I'm going to go to Glasgow tomorrow mostly for a change of scenery and that will put me closer to any of the jobs I'm looking at anyway.

I went to the village of Roslin yesterday to see Rosslyn Chapel, which is described by some as a gothic building but then by others as not conforming to any architectural label. It was built starting around 1446 by the Prince of Orkney and it is very ornate, with carvings on every surface imaginable. The most famous is the Prentice Pillar, which even gained a mention in the DaVinci Code as the chapel is the location the protagonists end up in at the end of the book. Since it was mentioned in that book the number of visitors to the chapel has shot up, and the tour guide joked about it by pointing out the carving of one head as being Dan Brown's.

I managed to spot the engravings of cacti on one archway; there is supposedly also engravings of corn as well (which I didn't manage to spot) and these images are considered as indication that the Norse had landed in North America before Columbus (the Prince of Orkney would have had some connections to Norway since it was a region controlled by them).

Anyway, the chapel was quite pretty, but did smell a bit musty and damp, which can be explained by the fact that there's been a problem with algae growing on the ceiling of it and so there is a large metal canopy over the chapel to protect it from the rain so that it can dry out.

It rained quite a few times yesterday, the first time it's done that since I got here other than a light shower one evening. Today is a little overcast and it must have rained overnight since the park benches are wet.