Getting home among chaos

We woke up around nine, after everyone had left the flat, and ate yesterday's lunch for breakfast. We had intended to walk along the Water of Leith walkway to have a look at the Brittania before going to the station (I also wanted to check out Grassmarket), but due to the chaos and the cancellation of trains, we instead spent the morning trying to work out how to get home. The hire car option won, and Christian spent ages on the phone, finally booking one quite nearby. I was uneasy that we were abandoning our paid-for first-class train fare, and the comfort of an easy trip and food put on, and worried about the pressure on Christian to do so much driving (I couldn't because my licence was too new). But we couldn't take the chance, as trains were being cancelled all the time.

We finished packing up, left a note and the key for Georgia and John, and headed to the car hire place. The woman on the phone had given us the wrong quote, but they honoured the amount, and we were soon on our way in a brand new white Corsa. We stopped for fuel just outside the city, and drove south-west until the end of the A702, at which point we headed south-east on the M74. The weather was less than impressive - possibly the edge of the storm that had hit down south, but the scenery was very nice. We stopped at Gretna for a late lunch, found out our train had been cancelled anyway, and then continued on the M6, and then the M40. It was mostly an easy drive, but Christian got tired and headachy on the M40.

We got home around 8pm. Don't go anywhere, Edinburgh, we're coming back soon.

Edinburgh: The Blue Bear, walking lots, and the Sheep Heid

We had a lazy morning. We'd planned to meet Nikki at 2pm, and so felt obliged to have breakfast at the Blue Bear. It was nice, but not as wonderful as Georgia had made it out to be. I had scrambled eggs with a side of haggis, and Christian had the full breakfast, kindly sharing some black pudding and sausage with me. We walked on into town on a mission to buy me some waterproof trousers, and succeeded in finding some on sale in Nevisport. Win. We walked the length of Rose Street, which was very pleasant. There were interesting markets at the end, the owners of the stalls of which were frantically trying to stop them from blowing away. We turned north, passing some even more amazing markets with great food, and then joined the Water of Leith walkway the long way back to Inverleith Terrace. It was a lovely walk, and showed me a lot of Edinburgh that I hadn't already seen.

We hung around a bit in the flat, got ourselves ready, and went back out to meet Nikki at the Playhouse. The weather was looking less and less friendly. We met up, and Christian and I grabbed some sandwiches to have at some point on the walk. We walked south through the city, and then east into Holyrood Park. Nikki and Christian were not keen on the fact that it was raining and windy and suggested going around Arthur's Seat instead of up it. They asked me, as I was the tourist. I said I wanted to go up. We donned full waterproofs and started to ascend just as the weather got really horrible. We followed Nikki up the steep stepped path - it was fun, apart from the slipperiness of the stones. There was a green plateau after the first ascent. Then it got really steep. And windy. We scrambled up, and had a rest. There was a trig point, and a map of our surroundings. Nikki took a picture of Christian and me on the trig point, holding on for fear of being pushed over. We ate some biscuits. I'd never doubted my balance as a result of wind before, but it was so strong that I had difficulty walking and standing. I took a panorama of shots as best I could, but my hands were being blown around, and I had to move vantage points to see the horizon from every angle. It won't be very good. I went up the map with Nikki, and we looked at the map, again holding on for grim death. Christian took a video of us.

There were big black clouds advancing, and so we headed down, via a path that was rather easier than the way up. We sorted out which direction the Sheep Heid was, and made for it, via the road around the bottom of the hill. We were there quickly (at that point, we had covered 4.6 miles), and got a table. We had beers, and I had haggis, neeps, and tatties (again), and the other two had roasts. It was very nice. Nikki showed me skittle alley - it was amazing! It's a big, old-fashioned tenpin bowling alley, which you can book for functions. So atmospheric!

We donned our outdoor gear again, and headed out into the night. There was talk of maybe getting a bus, but apparently that was more trouble than it was worth. It wasn't raining as we started, but it started howling and bucketing quite quickly. Christian stopped to put his waterproofs on, while Nikki and I went on ahead, and she made her feelings about Scotland's elements known. We continued through the city, together most of the way back to Georgia's flat, and then we parted company.

Christian and I decided to walk past the Roamin' Nose, as Georgia said there was a banjo quartet there and it sounded interesting. We looked through the window: the band was on a break; there was only one banjo; there were no seats; we were tired. So we went back to the flat. John was there, just on his way out to join Georgia. Christian and I sat down and watched Ghostbusters and relaxed. Christian noted that due to the massive storm expected down south that the trains were likely to be interrupted. The others got home in time for Downton, and we watched it together. We met Al, who's a lovely guy. We went to bed soon after.

Edinburgh: Cufflinks, Perth, and the Roamin' Nose

We got up at about 8am, having not slept well, had showers, and were out the door before 9. We walked to Princes St, as Christian had forgotten to bring cufflinks. We tried a few shops, and were ultimately successful in Jenners (Edinburgh's main department store). We kept on to the station, and got tea/coffee while waiting for our train at 10.35. The platform was eventually called, and we made our way to the train. The signalling was broken, and so reservations had disappeared, and the station list on the screen was nothing like what what was passing the window, but the journey was nice - over the Forth bridge, and through increasingly hilly country.

We disembarked at Perth and made the short walk to the Queen's Hotel. In the foyer, we met Noel and Trina (Trina came to speak to me immediately), and Catherine and Brian, and Peter and Perry, and others. We were called upstairs, and had a pre-lunch glass of wine, and spoke to yet more old blues including Ian and John Cugley. They were all lovely, and interesting. It was a pleasure to finally meet John Shippen - he was very sweet.

We selected our meals (I chose smoked trout, chicken chasseur, and sticky toffee pudding), and settled down to chat. I was sat between Catherine and Christian (John had tried to engineer Christian being next to him, but someone else had taken the place). The most recent old blues (Rachel and Jacob) gave the toasts, and we ate. Catherine swapped places with Noel, and so I got to hear some extraordinary stories from him, including during the war when a German pilot had landed his plane in the grounds of the school, and the home guard (the older teachers and the older students) surrounded the plane not knowing what to do, and being at CH at the same time as Colin Davis, and hearing him play the clarinet and declaring that he'd be a conductor when he was older. Amazing. So interesting to talk to Noel.

After we'd had lunch, we had the address from Perry Kitchen, which was interesting and entertaining. Most notable was him giving the context for the foundation of the school by Edward VI in 1553. It was right before he died (aged 15), and after he had introduced compulsory church services in English as part of the Reformation, and the significant migration from the ecclesiastical musical world of Tavener and Fayrfax to that of Tallis, Shepherd and White. Much was also made of music and theatre at CH, which was nice. He gave the Housie toast. John Shippen gave news of those who couldn't make it, added to the music and theatre dialogue, and gave a toast to the guests. The group sang the Votum energetically, and then the party broke up. Christian and I decided to walk around a little of Perth, seeing a nice church, and an awesome playground. Back at the station, we had about 40 minutes to wait, and so we sat talking to Rachael until it came. Then we spoke to Heather (?) on the train. She'd been at CH in Hertford 1943-49. Christian asked about her life, and she told us a fascinating story about her journey through publishing. She encouraged me to contact Heinemann to try and get a job with them.

We got off the train at Waverley, and walked back to Georgia's (my feet were killing me). She had booked a table for us at the Roamin' Nose. We met John at the flat, got ready, and went out again. The restaurant wasn't far away. We sat down, and Georgia negotiated a tapas-style taster of starters and all the mains. We ordered a bottle of prosecco, and settled down to a fun and very tasty meal. I was most keen to try the seafood, and it was very good, though I got prawn juice all over my upper arm (John did too). Christian couldn't finish his dinner, which was unusual, but he and I paid as a thank you to John and Georgia - it was a very reasonable meal, at £15/head for the food. We wandered back to the flat, sat for a while in the living room, and went to bed.

Edinburgh: the Castle, walking in the sun, Mary King's Close, and dinner with Georgia

Christian woke me with a kiss just before we had the knock on the cabin door to wake up. Our tea and coffee was delivered, and we dodged each other around the cabin trying to get dressed before arriving in Edinburgh. We pulled into the station just before 7.30am, and deposited our luggage in the left luggage office.

Edinburgh was dark and grey and damp. We walked uphill from Waverley to the Royal Mile for breakfast at Garfunkel's, as that appears to be the only thing open before 9am in Edinburgh. The city seemed completely deserted. Breakfast was nice, though two coffees was something of a mistake. Of the two staff on duty, one was Australian, and of the six or seven punters, besides me, there was also an Australian family. We had a good percentage. We planned what to do that day, deciding on the castle first.

We walked up the rest of the Royal Mile, having a look at things on the way. I was frustrated because it was impossible to get reasonable photos of the sights, and it all looked a bit miserable as well. I particularly liked the black spires. We decided to go back to the National Trust's Gladstone's Land after the castle. There was a queue at the castle gate, which went through at 9.30. We followed them and bought our tickets.

The castle wasn't laid out how I expected it. It's basically a big circular walk uphill, with various museums and displays on the way up. We saw a war history museum, then a museum of the Royal Scots Regiment, as well as the war memorial (built in 1927 despite outward appearances), the tiny St Margaret's chapel, the crown jewels, and the great hall. We passed on the expensive afternoon tea. The castle was worth seeing, but wasn't overly exciting. And it just kept raining. Christian bought a tartan umbrella that broke as soon as he put it up.

We had planned to meet Alex for lunch, and so we walked down from the castle through a mostly retail area to the convention centre to find him (he was an a Linux conference). We waited with all the techies in the foyer with the funky furniture until Alex arrived. We went down the road to Thompson's Bar (I think), and got burgers for lunch and had a catch up. It took a while to get our food, but it was good when it came. He went off to the afternoon session, and we set off with the intention of going back up to the mile to see Mary King's Close. Trouble is, the sun came out brightly right then, and I couldn't bring myself to go underground. So we decided to wander until as late as possible.

Suddenly Edinburgh looked happy and friendly. We decided to go to look at the Meadows, via the Princes St gardens. To get to the gardens, we went through St Cuthbert's graveyard. A lot of the stones had been pushed over. Strange, or tragic. The gardens were lovely, especially with the castle behind them. To get to the Meadows, we went past the cafe in which J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter, through the university area, with Bristo Square, and Potterrow, and Christian showed me all the Fringe venues, including Bedlam, on the wall out of the front of which he'd met Nikki. This area looks completely different outside Fringe time - Christian couldn't get over it. There were some new buildings, and we went into the Potterrow Student Centre building to use the conveniences. It was very nice. We then went to look at the Meadows, and did a small walk around the edge, before heading back up Middle Meadow Walk, seeing the Doctors' pub, which used to be a University Savoy Society hang-out, past Bedlam again, then up Chambers St and South Bridge to Black Medicine, a coffee shop that Christian wanted to visit. There is debate about whether it's the best coffee shop in Edinburgh. He had a smoothie and carrot cake, and I had chai and a chocolate rice bubble mars bar thing.

We headed back to the mile, and found Mary King's Close, a tourist experience showing the streets of Edinburgh that were built over. We bought tickets for 5.15, and sat in their cafe while we waited for the tour to start - Christian had potato and leek soup. We met the group at the appointed place and time, and our guide, dressed in mob cap and other appropriate garb, gave us the spiel about how the old streets had had their tops demolished and new buildings put on top, and showed us a model. The streets had been open to the air in the sixteenth century, much like the other closes that lead off the mile, but the solution to overcrowding in the city had been to keep building up, so the lowest parts of the mile had seven storeys by the end. The guide took us through various rooms, explaining how the plague had hit Edinburgh again and again, and how it was dealt with; a little about Mary King (a businesswoman), Mary Queen of Scots (who'd been held there overnight once), and the kinds of families who'd have lived there; some of the ghost stories that had developed; and dispelled the myths about people having been buried alive. It was very interesting, and the way it was done made you feel a little like you were back in the past. There was one AV display, which was quite clever, having different characters talk to each other from separate TV screens.

We went back out into the evening (in which there was a bit of light left), and went to find some dessert for Georgia. We walked down one of the closes on the way. Though intending to get something from M&S, we ended up getting a ridiculously decadent cake from Patisserie Valerie. I'd always wanted to try one. We retrieved our luggage from the station (after walking down the stone/marble steps that happened to be an art installation), and headed for Georgia's flat in the new town. With my luggage, it was a somewhat miserable trudge, as I was very tired by then, and my feet hurt. At least it was downhill.

We got to Georgia's, on the corner of Inverleith Terrace and Inverleith Row, and gratefully dropped gear, removed shoes, and sat down. She'd had a disrupted day, due to John-deprivation-induced insomnia, and so was still a bit harried when we arrived, but she kindly cooked us dinner (a delicious Italian vegetable pasta), chatting the whole time. Georgia made me cut the decadent cake, and we moved into the (huge, high-ceilinged, massive-windowed) living room, and chatted some more. We decided that it was bedtime around 10, and went to bed. Christian and I bravely attempted to share a single bed.

Travelling in romantic style on the sleeper train

Christian was coming from Hayes, and I was coming from Cambridge, and so we arranged to meet at Euston station, and made it there at about 7.15. We decided to eat at Prezzo across the road, and it was a nice meal. We mooched back to the station, and sat in another cafe until the train was ready to board. It seemed to take ages, and I was very tired. It was finally ready at about 11.15, and we went to get on the train, the Caledonian Sleeper. We were in coach M.

We ordered breakfast beverages, and found our cabin, which was smaller and more cramped than I'd imagined, but it was pleasant, and had everything we needed, including straps to ensure that you don't fall out of your bunk. We got ready for bed, and were tucked up before the train started moving at 11.50pm. The train didn't move very fast, and the motion was quite irregular, which took me some time to get used to. I did sleep, though, waking up a couple of times.