I had resolved that I would never use this opening line, but here goes. It's been a long while since I wrote something here. Have been struggling to find something to mock, and when I am unable to do that I end up writing silly poetry. When you are faced with a block, you start by writing simple things about simple things; unless you are an Intelligent Robot, in which case you simply pick up the block or navigate around it. I am not an intelligent robot (although I have, on occasion, failed the odd Turing test), and hence I shall proceed to write simple things about simple things.

The simplest thing that presents itself is my day today, and being that the most interesting thing that happened was the cup of tea I had in the morning, I shall refrain from engaging in further discussion about it. So let me generalize a bit and talk about a typical day faced by a typical student studying at the University of Edinburgh.

The day begins for our hero not by waking up, but by being helped home (not necessarily the hero's) and put to sleep by his more sober friends after a night spent getting sloshed at the local pub. He is up at noon. Attendance in lectures is optional, so the occasional missed class is not a problem. Even if you miss it as occasionally as every day. But his favourite Society meets today for lunch, and oh boy, that is not to be missed at any cost. The University has about a hundred and fifty different Societies; if you can find ten people with a common interest, you can go and form a society. It can be anything - the Zulu Dance Society, or the Windows Vista Appreciation Society or the Old Chinese Proverbs Society. By a strange coincidence, the meet is in a pub. Every society has its own patron watering hole. They religiously stick to it. So it is a nice lunch, with a pint or two to down it all, with some pleasant conversation about the Rugby and the party last night. Or was it the previous night? Anyway, that's the afternoon taken care of. Maybe it's time to get some work done for the day. Our hero heads to the computing facilities. The next hour passes by reading and forwarding emails. Soon he thrashes out a few pages and graphs for the assignment that is due in two days. That is a lot of work for one day, and with a sense of achievement, he flies out of the lab, runs into a few buddies with whom he goes for a walk across the Meadows. All roads lead to a bar in Edinburgh, and there ends another day.

They love their drink here. Every occasion begins and ends with a drink at the pub. A two cows description of Edinburgh would go something like this: "You have two cows. Yeah, whatever. Fancy a drink?"

So those were my simple things about simple things. On second thoughts, the next time I am faced with a block I better simply pick it up or navigate around it.