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Nancy

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

I'm a full-time adult education worker living in Edinburgh, Scotland with my two wonderful sons (when they feel like it) and two geriatric corn snakes I've had since they were wee hatchlings.I write poetry (and some short stories and articles) and have had work published in various mags and anthologies. I'm a member of a group which puts on poetry and music events most months of the year (shorepoets.org.uk).I escape up to the Isle of Mull and Iona whenever I can. Fell in love with the place after working a summer season with the Iona Community. Get a lump in my throat when I see a Calmac ferry!Other travels: Visited Pakistan (and very briefly Afghanistan) in 1993-94 - amazing! Travelled through the Khyber Pass on the roof of a bus. Loved Australia when I was there in 2005; just back from beautiful New Zealand/Aotearoa.Other than that, mainly Europe: Germany, Italy, Austria, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Canaries, France - I love Brittany, esp Finisterre. Have been to Belgium a few times for some strange reason probably the beers!My history: Born and raised in Glasgow. Sang in a few bands in my teens and twenties, best known probably Candy Floss.Married in 1975 and moved to Edinburgh in 1979. Twin sons born 1981. Divorced in 1989.Two other things happened which enriched my life: in 1987 I started going to Central Writers Workshop, then led by Alan Spence, and have been writing ever since; and the same year I got involved in the world famous (!) Adult Learning Project the same year, through its writers workshop... and have been an ALPer ever since.Went to Heriot Watt Yooni and graduated in Community Education in 1994. To be continued...

My Interests

Politics, literature, music, wildlife, Scotland, social history, language, cinema, sci-fi, herpetology, having a good discussion and a laugh with friends over a pint or two. Researching my family history.

I'd like to meet:

Interesting, creative people who enjoy life and can live with the contradiction of taking it seriously while laughing at its absurdities.

Music:

Can't imagine life without: Radiohead, Moby, Richard Dawson, Martyn Bennett, Buffalo Tom, Malcolm Middleton, The Waterboys (Mike Scott's voice!), Michael Marra, Aztec Camera, Paul Mounsey, Sandy Denny, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Eels, Isley Brothers, k.d.laing, Seal, Alan Stivell, Van Morrison, Talk Talk, Dylan, Beatles, Blue Nile, SAHB, The Pogues, Incredible String Band, Bonzos, Snow Patrol, The Specials, traditional Scots, Irish and Breton music, the Robert Fish Band, Shooglenifty, Kathleen MacInnes, Deaf Shepherd, Ceolbeag, XTC, Sheila McWhirter, The Tartan Gussets, Horse McDonald, Captain Beefheart, Crowded House, Hendrix, Led Zepp, Talking Heads, Squeeze, The Cure, KLF (in an ironic, knowing kind of way), Roxy Music, Blur, Pink Floyd, Portishead... How long have you got?

Movies:

My Brilliant Career, White Palace, Atonement, Brokeback Mountain, Dogma, Clerks, Clerks 2.. (Any KS film!) Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet... (Any BL film!), Blade Runner, Casablanca, Catch 22, Doc Hollywood, Donnie Darko, Fearless, Good Will Hunting, Hero, A History of Violence, I Know Where I'm Going, Inventing the Abbotts, It's A Wonderful Life, Jaws, La Reine Margot, LotRs, Office Space, Once Were Warriors, Pump Up the Volume, The Right Stuff, Star Wars, Still Crazy, Subway, This Year's Love, To Kill A King, Turkish Bath, The Wind and the Lion, Young Frankenstein, The Life of Brian, Amistad, Joe's Apartment, Gladiator, Stage Beauty, Dangerous Beauty, American Beauty, Orlando ... and many, many more

Television:

I never watch television! ...Oh, all right then - Dr Who, Green Wing, Heroes, Life On Mars, Monty Python, The Office, Father Ted, Extras, Black Books, Absolutely, Still Game, Early Doors, QI, Buzzcocks, Springwatch, Big Cat Diary, Tutti Frutti, GBH, Jake's Progress, The Secret Life of Us, My So Called Life, The Crow Road, Clocking Off, Psychos, Rome, Shameless, Shaun the Sheep, anything written by Paul Abbot, Alan Bleasdale, Alan Plater. Wildlife stuff, Horizon type documentaries, drama, comedies...

Books:

A Star Called Henry (Roddy Doyle), The Dark Twin (Marion Campbell), Under The Skin (Michel Faber), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon), Gate of Dreams (Charles Beattie), The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets - non-fiction (Barbara G Walker), anything by Iain Banks and Iain M Banks, Annie Proulx, James Robertson, Small Island (Andrea Levy), Woman on the Edge of Time (Marge Piercy), It's Colours They Are Fine (Alan Spence), How Late It Was, How Late (James Kelman), Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance (Robert Pirsig), Catch 22 (Joseph Heller), anything by John Irving, likewise Terry Pratchett and Bill Bryson, Here Before Kilroy (Su Walton), Dune (Frank Herbert) ... I'll be adding to this!

Heroes:

Edwin Morgan, Paulo Freire, Stan Reeves, Joseph Campbell and.. therr's only wan Noam Chomsky... and of course Hiro.Sheroes: Mairi Mhor (Big Mairi of the Songs), Hypatia of Alexandria, Elsie Inglis, Horse McDonald.

My Blog

My weekend

Well, I know it's Tuesday now but I had such a good time at the weekend I thought I'd share it.On Friday night, I'd arranged to have a couple of drinks with a couple of friends at 4.30pm after work, b...
Posted by Nancy on Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:07:00 PST

Book Group

Hi,Just back from my Book Group meeting. We were reading 'Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys, which is the story of the first Mrs Rochester (from Jane Eyre) - the 'mad woman in the attic'.We meet about ...
Posted by Nancy on Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:34:00 PST

PS Iona

Forgot to mention one of the things that happened on my way back from Iona the other weekend.Well two things actually; one was seeing a golden eagle from the bus as we were driving across Mull. It wa...
Posted by Nancy on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:28:00 PST

Iona last weekend

Went up to Iona last weekend with my sister-in-law, my brother's widow.Had a lovely time there as always, sitting on deserted beaches, walking around the island and listening to the corncrakes. Even ...
Posted by Nancy on Sat, 24 May 2008 02:40:00 PST

Graphic Novel Workshop

I went to a graphic novel workshop at the National Library of Scotland today. It was led by Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy (Batman, Judge Dredd, Star Wars, etc). The first part was them talking about th...
Posted by Nancy on Sat, 23 Feb 2008 03:57:00 PST

Christmas and New Year

Hope you all had a good Christmas and are looking forward to the new year.I checked out the resolution I made about a year ago; it was to get my first poetry collection together and published. Well, ...
Posted by Nancy on Sun, 30 Dec 2007 03:41:00 PST

Heading for New Zealand/Aotearoa

All booked up for a trip to New Zealand/Aotearoa next Spring - woohoo ;o))...more to follow
Posted by Nancy on Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:15:00 PST

New job

Well, I started my new job today and it was fine, apart from the fact that none of the computers in my new base will let me log-on.I was told back in February that my job in adult education was being ...
Posted by Nancy on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:04:00 PST

Mull and Iona last week

Had a great break on the Isles of Mull and Iona last week with three of my friends.We drove up to Oban, then took the ferry to Craignure on the Isle of Mull then drove to Tobermory. Had delicious foo...
Posted by Nancy on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 03:44:00 PST

My busy week

Have had quite a busy week:Last Sunday I went to Shore Poets; a good night, with fine poetry from Bill Herbert, Angela MacSeveney and Dorothy Baird, and music from members of Edinburgh's Youth Gaither...
Posted by Nancy on Sun, 01 Jul 2007 02:53:00 PST