Music has a magical ability to take us back in an instant. It is a gift that is not paralleled by any medium except smell. One whiff of jasmine and I’m five again, playing with my cousins next to my grandparent’s fence, the smell of fresh braai meat wafting past.

This week, since I am doing a very repetitive job (opening and closing documents and collating the info contained therein) I have indulged in a little nostalgia- listening to the most random songs I can think of. If it pops into my head I’ll listen to it- Indecent Obsession, Bon Jovi, Phil Collins- it instantly takes me back. The Daniel Bedingfield playing in my headphones at the moment makes me almost able to taste the dodgy R7 vodka lime and sprite from the Union.

I’m no psychotherapist, but the desire to indulge in a bit of nostalgia is probably a result of a series of changes and upheavals. To whit: new car, new house (next month), new housemates (next month), and new family role as my sister counts down the last 30 days til the birth of Jethro. Although these are all exciting developments, sometimes there can be a sense of needing to stop, take a deep breath, and remember where I came from before moving forward. Today is one of those days.

It’s May Day, and that means out with the old and in with the new. The end of winter and the beginning of summer. The time of re-birth- it’s all blissfully symbolic.

Last night we went to the epic battle between summer and winter known as Beltane, on Calton Hill. Beltane is a fire festival that celebrates the coming of summer, and is the Celtic/Gaelic (too lazy to look it up) word for ‘May’. Each year the Beltane Fire Society (mostly made up of Edinburgh University students) creates a massive production up on the hill- massive bonfires and effigies, loads of drumming, naked pagans dressed only in body paint- basically, all the ingredients needed for a good party. It was quite a spectical, and hopefully we will have some blurry pics up on Ducklight soon. As an aside- although Rhodes had some very active societies, they didn’t ever have one that burned effigies while frolicking in the cold in only body paint and chaps. I think they should take a long hard look at themselves with a view to rectifyng this as soon as possible.

You may have also noticed the glorious blue and white of our Costa Blanca photos. We journied to Spain two weeks ago for some much needed R&R, and it was splendid. We took advantage of a misloaded offer on the Travel Republic website, so that a room in a four star hotel with full board was cheaper than the bed and breakfast option. It was spectacular. Obviously the scenery was great too, but the food! For breakfast there was bacon, eggs, omelette's, mushrooms, tomato, cold meats, fruit, about 10 different kinds of pastry and a selection of fish (Spaniards…). For lunch there was a glut of chicken, meat and fish dishes, cold meats and salads, fruit, and an entire dessert table. Supper was the pinnacle with everything from garlic and chilli prawns to lamb shank, roast rabbit and crème brulee. Then you get the blue skies, the gentle sea breezes, the iridescent blue of the Med and the endless whiteness of the pebble beaches and you have a simply magnificent place. Of course, the 2 euro beers didn’t hurt either. I would go back in a heartbeat. Spain is absolutely beautiful.

Looking forward Heather climbs on a plane this afternoon and will arrive tomorrow afternoon in bonny Scotland…just in time to say hello to the rain. Don’t tell her though, cause the weather has been brilliant up til now. Next weekend we head off to Milan, Venice and Verona for a whirlwind trip. It should be brilliant.

You may or may not have noticed that the brand new Ducklight Travels is up. Kyle has been slaving away at it, and now for the first time we can exclusively answer all the questions you may have like ‘Does the haka summon the loch ness monster?’ and ‘Do Highland Coos get itchy?’.

And they say you can’t learn anything from moving pictures. Enjoy!