Home "Suite" Home

Our Scottish home!  Here is where we have lived for almost a month now, come on along for the tour.

Flat 1. 18 Park Circus Glasgow G3 6BE.  Front door is in front of the white car.

Front door - I think there are 6 apartments in here.

Entry Way ceiling

Entry way that is shared and not this clean!  It is full of LIFE - including bikes, prams, mail and packages.

The living room is huge with at least 18 foot ceilings

Jackson's bedroom.  Up a floor from the kitchen

Master bedroom - down a floor from the kitchen.  In the basement.  All bedrooms are en-suite, meaning they all have their own bathroom.  There are 3 bedrooms in total here.

The kitchen is massive.  Same tall ceilings and the water dispensing fridge, which is our favorite part.

This is the kitchen looking back to the living room.

Private garden shared by the building, but nobody goes in here, I've weeded it once.

Kitty:   When we arrived in Glasgow, I was really keen to get to the house.  It was beautiful in the pictures, but that is all we had to go on. One of the places that I saw in March when I visited, was the one we really wanted.  It was .3 miles from Levi's school, had 4 bedrooms and it seemed like the perfect fit.  We filled out the application, had a Glaswegian friend call them to vouch for us, and we got excited about our move.  After filling out the application and waiting about 4 days, we were summarily turned down.  WTH?!?!

(and that was just the beginning, I was starting to realize how the rental properties in Glasgow really work.  I had a LOT to learn)

I was completely shocked!  I even offered to pay 6 months of rent in advance in a 'hail mary' email to the letting agency, but it did not even garner a reply.  After my initial hurt, confusion and sadness set in... I started to panic.  I soon realized that finding an apartment is a tough and competitive market, especially for non student, 3-4 bedroom accommodation.  

What I started to realize is that the rules here are HUGELY in favor of the renter.  The biggest one being that you don't have to sign a year lease.  You can, at any time, leave the property with 28 days written notice.  WOW - I'd hate that if I were the landlord.  But the laws go on and on in favor of the renter.  Great for us, but it means that the landlord is really picky on who they rent too.  And since the market had been shut down for so long and there was a plethora of people bidding on these places, it meant that we were up against some stiff competition.  Not to mention that I don't have renter references from anywhere in Scotland, a Scottish bank account or even a big corporation behind me.  This was going to be work, but thankfully, I like a challenge.  Even if it does keep me up at night!

Offers of tenancy are what you need to proceed, and flat after flat, we weren't getting any.  That's when my Tony Robbins friends stepped in and made it happen.  I love having such an awesome network around the globe.  Without their help, there is no way we would have gotten an apartment to start out.  

Park Circus was an airbnb that was being converted into a rental (since nobody is traveling), so we scooped it up, ever so quickly and hoped we would like it upon arrival.  I mean why wouldn't we, as the pictures are lovely!!?! 

Jackson: Our house is located on a big hill beside Kevlingrove park. The park is quite large and has a skatepark and other cool statues in it. Whenever I go on a run I run through the park and around the skatepark. Inside, we have a large living room and kitchen. My room is located on the second floor. Levi originally said that he wanted that room but when he saw that it was smaller than the other room he decided he wanted the bigger room. We also have a park across the street from our house that is gated but its nice and quiet inside. (when you jump the fence).

The garden is opened with a key, similar to 44 Fitz in Dublin.  Yet, the gates are low (very different from Dublin), so it isn't too hard to get in if you really want too.

The door to our house.

It doesn't seem very highly used, but every once in a while people (who have keys) with their dogs are in there.

 Levi:  We also have a door on the lower floor or the house that leads into a back sitting area outside with a table and four chairs. The house is really cold though and I don't think the heating works exactly as it should. We have a lot of blankets though so it's all good.  (side note - the room he turned down and gave to Jackson is the warmest in the house!)

So there it is, our home in Glasgow.  Stay tuned....because we've given our 28 days notice....

kitty crocker's cooking korner

Yup, that's me - Kitty Crocker.  And if you want to know the background story to that moniker, then just ask Oma, Ruth Ann &/or Pennie!  (my Verlinden BFF Beth will know too). It's a good one.....if you want a laugh at my expense!

Thanks for all of the recipes friends!  I am loving this huge kitchen and putting it to good use.  I started with the Mahi Mahi recipe from Cindy Brannan and it is a winner!  Cindy, the salsa is FABULOUS and because we eat salsa like it's going out of style, it was not to much.  I did marinate the fish overnight, but I couldn't find Mahi Mahi, so I used cod and I don't even know what else.  It worked and still tasted great.  I also cooked rice for the first time EVER!  I swear I am in Cooking 101 here and if it weren't for Google and Oma, I'd certainly fail.  Right now I'm giving myself a solid C+, but remember, I'm up for the challenge and I like to get A's.   

Jackson has been an excellent sous chef, because it seems like all you do is chop for hours!  This one I even started with corn on the cob, and squeezed 1/4 cup of lime juice (that is A LOT of limes, lesson learned).  In the end it was all worth it as Jackson and Levi both liked it and joined the clean plate club.  Cindy for the win!!!  

Next up is white chicken chili - recipe from Paul Stabile!  I can't wait.  

Until then, keep your dishes clean and your pots boiling,

ciao

KC

Levi's walk to school + Indian Dinner!

Levi:

 My walk to school is a very scenic route and is very pretty, I first leave the house and get to walk through a park and get to see a lot of animals and plants! Then I walk by a few dozen shops and stores and see many very, very nice cars! (Bentleys, Aston Martins,) I even saw a Lamborghini last week! After the cool cars and a very ancient church building, I get to the Botanical Gardens, a truly amazing sight and I love walking through it and seeing all the things it has to offer, many animals, people, even a small cafe! One of my favorite things to walk by in the gardens is this big plant that has leaves about 3 feet long, it's interesting to learn about plants since they have little boards next to some plants saying what they are and where they originate from! After the astounding walk at the gardens I get to Kelvinside Academy and start my day. The only bad thing about walking is that one of my shoes is really tight and hurts my heel, it's hurt my heel and doesn't feel too nice. But my mom generously got me some plasters (as they say it in the UK) and now the pain is gone! But yeah my walk to school is very nice and calming!

We live on a hill, so the first thing you see when walking to Levi's school is Glasgow Uni. It is a stunning view.  They are on the next hill over.  It's only 10 minutes away, but a bit of a workout.  I never knew Glasgow was so hilly until I started walking it!  (Kitty)

This is the Great Western Road.  It's like a parking lot in the morning, with tons of cars and traffic.

Botanic Gardens and rhubarb(?) that looks like it is on steroids.  

The Kelvin Walkway.

Botanic Gardens

Inn Deep, a cool restaurant under the Great Western road and on the Kelvin Walkway.

Post box built into the hedges.

Third day with the tie.  Should it really be that long?  (mom asks Levi).  Nobody really cares. (Levi answers)

This is the Kelvin Walkway, an alternative to walking the Great Western Road.  It really is a beautiful way to go if you don't want to walk on the city streets.

Jackson:

Today we had Indian food for dinner. My mom and I made it starting with some chopped up onions and cumin. We added some Vindaloo spice paste to 250 ml of water and added the chicken that I had prepared earlier by soaking them in salt water then cooking them with a spice mix that had salt, pepper, and paprika. With that we also had rice and some naan bread we got from Tesco. It was a very tasty meal and we had raspberries for dessert!

Wooooohoooo!  Thanks everyone for reading the first blog.  I was actually totally shocked at how many people read it.  I'm feeling a bit of pressure now going into the second publication!  

I thought that this week we would give you a taste of Levi's walk to school now that he has done it for 6 days.  Here is my viewpoint. From where we are at 18 Park Circus on a hill, it takes 10 minutes through Kelvingrove Park, 10 minutes on Great Western Road, and then 10 minutes through the Botanic (I always say botanical- but that isn't what is on the sign) Gardens.  It is really quite lovely, but it is a full 30 minutes that gets more complaints from Levi than he mentions above!!!  Especially when he started walking with a club foot on day 2, stating if he did that then his heel didn't hurt.  There were many stares and girls turning around to see what was up with the clomping noise.  Oma immediately told me a story of how I would do this in the mall when I didn't want to walk and would rather be carried.  Kitty's karma in full bloom!  The plasters (once he agreed to them) helped. 

There is an alternate route that is almost the same amount of time, it is walking by the River Kelvin, called the Kelvin walkway. That is my favorite way to go if I don't need to stop at the grocery store. It is a piece of heaven right in the middle of the city.  Jackson and I walked Levi to school every day except for Friday, which is the first day that Levi walked home alone.  It is quite a work out if you do both the drop off and pick up.  I didn't measure in steps (maybe 150,000?!?! that is what it feels like anyway), but it is about 2+ hours there and back twice in a day.  Needless to say, I'm ready for Levi to walk it by himself this week (especially if he is club-footing it!).  But, looking at the bright side of things, it is nice to get such a good workout in on a daily basis!  

On another note, we are trying to make better meals for ourselves here as J outlines above.  Whew, this cooking thing takes a LOT of time!  Who knew?!?!  (like everyone except me surely).  Please send easy recipes for us to try. I can't promise much, but we are trying our best.  My spice rack is actually getting quite full, surprisingly!  I am loving the homemade meals, they taste so much better, I just wish I wasn't the one who had to cook them........

cheers,

Kitty

Levi's first day of school!

So here it is, the long awaited blog that hopefully doesn't bore you all silly!  All 5 of you that plan to read it anyway!  hehehehe. We have been talking about publishing this for a while now, but we were bantering about with the names. Here are some of the options we came up with:  The Glasgow Gang, The Cairns Clan, Two Glasser in Glasgow (and a mum).  There were more, but you get the drift.  I liked the last one the best, but the boys thought it was stupid and wayyyyy toooooo long (their comment: 'it is 5 sentences'. huh?). I thought it was like 2 men and a truck (me being the truck!). 2 Glasser in Glasgow and a mum. You can see with the Scotland Squad, that I was out voted. Nothing new here!  My views are much too antiquated..

Today was Levi's first day of school as outlined by the 2 Glasser's in Glasgow, below.  The mum's point of view is that I really loved every minute of it. From getting J's help with the tie, to taking 100 pictures (per the exhausted new student Levi on the walk), to meeting our new friends the Kelly's for coffee and talking until noon, then to an amazing Indian dinner for first day celebrations. I just love this life!  It's so great to be back in Europe again and Scotland is a dream come true!  

Life is good!  Stay tuned and we will keep you informed of our foibles and triumphs of an American's every day life in Glasgow. 

Kitty

Today Levi had his first day of school. Jackson woke up early in the morning to help him with his tie. 

Levi:

My new school is called Kelvinside Academy located in Glasgow, Scotland. I have to wear a blue uniform and have a blazer and a jacket, I can take the jacket off in classes though. My first class was Spanish, my second class was Computing, third english, fourth english, fifth PE, sixth chemistry, and seventh and eight are business management. My first day was very confusing, but eventually I got the hang of it, my classes are 40 minutes long and I get to sit down and learn. At lunch the whole school goes to the lunch room and crowds the place up, its hard to get around but the food is good. Also the principal/rector is really nice and helps kids out when needed, I really like the school.

Jackson:

After Levi got home from his first day of school, we went to a new Indian restaurant called Chillies and is located in the West End. It was only a 7 minute walk from us and was part of the UK Government plan with restaurants to offer people 50% off in order to help restart the economy after COVID. We got papadums to start then we ordered our food. 

For dessert, I got Gulab Jamun which is a milk-solid-based Indian sweet. It was very delicious it tasted like maple syrup. 

Cheers for now!