When is St Nicholas’ Day, you ask? It’s the 6th of December, and I have written a wee explainer article for Premier all about St Nicholas, Santa and Father Christmas. Enjoy!
As I did last year, I’ve given book-rating site Shepherd a rundown of my top three books from October 2024 to September 2025, ready for people who are buying or requesting books ahead of Christmas. This year they include a murder mystery, a book-based fantasy and a non-fiction exposé of social media.
Twice in the last couple of weeks, I have gone out Latin dancing. As many of you will know, I love to dance, but I hate going out when it is cold and dark so, except when it’s summer, I mostly just dance around the living room. However, after talking about it since the start of the year, I finally went out with some folks (well, one person) from my church missional community (read: house group) and we had a fab time! Muscle memory is a wonderful thing, and even though I may not have danced salsa or bachata in about a year, my feet still remember what they are supposed to do.
This one is mainly for the members of my missional community (read: church house group) who are mostly based in Dennistoun, eighth coolest neighbourhood in the world, according to Time Out. We sometimes call it “the Den” for short. I have a habit of changing the lyrics of songs, as my nieces can testify, so here is my alternative version of Freddy Mercury’s Living on my Own. If you’re not familiar with the song, there’s a lyrics video at the end.
I’m in St Andrews for the umpteenth time but with me this time is my niece Susannah, who has never been before, so this post is going to be me interviewing Susanna about her first impressions of St Andrews.
Me: So, Susannah, what strikes you most about St Andrews?
Susannah: I think what struck me most was the fact that it’s sunny in Scotland!
Me: Was there any other weather today? *knowing full well that we got blown sideways on the West Sands*
Susannah: Yes, there was quite bit of wind and rain when we were on the West Sands.
Me: That’s one of the three beaches in St Andrews, and what are the three main streets called?
Susannah: North Street, South Street and Market Street.
Me: Well done! And what’s the other one at the side?
Susannah: The.. Something?
Me: That’s right 😂, The Scores. What do you think of the shops we’ve seen so far?
Susannah: Yeah, there seems to be a lot selling souvenirs and also some shops saying some pretty random things as well.
Me: Yes pretty, random things. Lovely. And we went out to a restaurant for dinner which was called Mitchell’s. What did you think of dinner?
Susannah: It was delicious but it was quite small.
Me: Yes it was it was quite small – and my fish was greasy. The chips were good, though.
Me: We’ve seen a few different university departments, mostly from the outside. We’ve seen Languages and Theology, Psychology. We’ve seen a lot of the halls of residence as well. Oh yeah, where are we now?!
Susannah: We are in one of the halls!
Me: Which is officially called McIntosh Hall but everyone here calls (or used to call) it Chattan, for a reason I don’t know. What do you think of the hall?
In Chattan
Susannah: It’s quite nice. The rooms have got a lot of space and the bathrooms are quite clean.
Me: We’re not inside the room just now, we’re in the living room, or the common room, or the TV room, or whatever you want to call it. We have it entirely to ourselves and it seats what would you say, 15 people?
Susannah: Probably, yeah.
Me: Maybe more, and we have it entirely to ourselves, which is nice. (Some people came in but quickly ran away when they saw it was occupied.) What do you think of how long the days are in June?
Susannah: I think it’s quite surprising really that it’s like 9 o’clock at night and it’s still light, but I suppose being this far north it does tend to happen.
Me: So why are the two of us in St Andrews anyway?
Susannah: Because I want to go to St Andrews, the university, because I think it’s very good university and it’s also just a great town.
Me: There’s a good advert! And you would be studying – what is the current plan?
What a relief to get out of Brussels! I walked out my smelly hotel, past all the sex shops and the sanitation workers cleaning the streets of the previous night’s litter, and went to Hotel Mozart for the free breakfast I had been promised.
I had intended to get up at 7.10, but the nearby church thought I should get up at 7 to be on the safe side. I think its bell chimed 40 times. I expect it was to call people to early mass, but it worked very effectively as an alarm clock.
Budapest was nice enough but it’s good to be heading to somewhere with an easier language. Hungarian almost defeated me. However, on my final morning, waiting at the station for my train to Austria, I manage to order and pay for a coffee entirely in the Magyar tongue. Take that, Hungarian!
Today is mostly a Buda day. My hotel is in Pest, the station I arrived in is in Pest, and the boat trip went from that side too, but today I’m venturing across the river.
My new hotel has a light on the smoke alarm that flashes so brightly, I can see it through my eyelids, and people upstairs in the dentist’s (I think) decide it’s a good idea to move furniture around at 5am, but I have cunningly brought an eye mask and earplugs with me – essentials for travel.
K C Murdarasi 