Dear Online Diary:

   A few days after my most previous entry I was innocently munching on my daily apple unaware that the smooth yet discoloured patch on the skin was indicative of horror within. I bit right into this apple on that patch and retrieved a mouthful of mushy, brown rotteness which pervaded the apple to its very core. The irony was not delicious. In anguish I discarded it. Needless to say my passion for apples has lessened in intensity. 

 In other news I do not have one specific thing to muse on, only bits and pieces of my week. I've decided to return home in October after visiting my human brother and parents in Dublin-it'll be an 80% family reunion! So I've mostly been busy having a grand stressful time with trying to fit one suitcase into another and getting luggage within the strict limits of RyanAir's carry on policy.  And, in the year and a bit that I've been abroad I've put off purchasing souvenirs for everyone, so that's a definite order of business.

 I did however find time to visit Rosslyn Chapel in the town of Roslin with some friends. Since its use as the supposed ultimate resting place of the bones of Mary Magdelene  in the Davinci Code Rosslyn Chapel has gone from receiving around 30 thousand visitors to 170 thousand a year. It was crowded enough yesterday that rather than being led around the room everyone had to sit on the pews and the tour made less sense-Damn. However, I got to sit next to a sleeping kitty cat-Yes! But I wasn't allowed to pet it-Damn. I don't know why this lady brought her cat with her to a church, but she is most definitely my new role model.

 The Chapel isn't as steeped in Priory of Sion symbolism as Dan Brown made it seem. It is decorated all around by faces of the Green Man, a pagan myth representative of man's relationship with nature and aging. There are hundreds of faces all together connected by a vine, all done in 14th century mason work. Apparently though, the Green Man was a popular figure at the time and is featured in many churches across Europe. In any case the Chapel was full of fascinating stories and depictions, some mysterious and eerie. It was well worth it and afterwards we went to check out the local castle which turned out to be a wall. Still we had fun exploring the surrounding forest and getting a glimpse of the Scottish countryside.

 Earlier today a friend and I ascended the magnificent Sir Walter Scott monument, which has around 287 spiral steps. I've climbed higher heights but never in such narrow or disorganized passages. Frequently while going up we would nearly collide with other visitors going down and we'd have to budge up against the wall while they squeezed past us being careful to not to miss the edge of the narrowed steps. On the highest flight of stairs a girl went balistic and for a few minutes could go neither up or down; her boyfriend had to lead her down step by step.  The view at the top was glorious and from there we listened to a guy on the street play "Thunderstruck" on bagpipes. I will miss Scotland.