Lately I've been listening to NPR news on WNYC via the web. Not quite BBC, but it's nice to keep up with the latest happenings in New York. However, I've never been quite so depressed by weather forecasts. It's not that I don't love Edinburgh, but I've got a whole suitcase full of shorts and summer dresses that have barely ever seen the light of day. I'm still in jeans and fleeces, whilst it's 85 in New York City. Can't you send some of that heat our way?!

Weather aside, I'm not sure I'd ever want to trade in Edinburgh in for New York. Where else would I have a castle outside my flat? As you can seen from the above picture, it's a pretty darn impressive castle too. It even comes complete with two weeks of the Military Tattoo in the summer, which means enough fireworks and bagpipe music in 14 days to last a lifetime.

Did I mention that the picture was taken at 9:20pm?! Our long summer nights are quite a bonus. Right now the sun doesn't set until after 10pm and by June 21st, on a clear night we'll still a have a bit of light on the horizon at 11:30pm. Not quite 'white nights', but especially north of here, it never gets completely dark in June. Early summer nights can be pretty spectacular. This evening the high clouds were tinged with a gentle blush of colour reflected from the blue sky and the evening sun. It looked like a something out of a Michelangelo painting and you almost expected a chubby cherub or a triumphant archangel to pop out to complete the image.

Before I sign off, one fun website - http://indexed.blogspot.com/