Edinburgh, Scotland, The World, The Universe

Just had a bollocking from Charles about not blogging so with extreme guilt we can continue.

What is it with Monday holidays? They’ve followed us around since we left Greece and personally I’m sick of them. Left Sorbonne and managed to get a metro even although there was a strike. What is it with strikes? They’ve followed us about etc etc etc. Plane was due to leave Charles de Gaul at 4.20 so of course due to the strike it didn’t. Luckily we found out about it literally just before we were due to go through customs into the EasyJet waiting room and we all know what we’d find there. Nothing! No toilets, no food, no shops. Heh heh some rugby supporters who’d been drinking found out the “no toilets” to their cost (you aren’t allowed back once you’re through customs) so the bus to the plane was delayed another 10 minutes while….. You know….
22 degrees in Paris which was cool but Edinburgh? Kerriist…. End of May and it’s about 6 degrees. 28 years since we stayed in Edinburgh for any length of time and Liz goes to Ireland! …well it’s called Stranraer but it’s as close to Ireland you can get without falling into the sea.
While Liz/Mum was in Ireland I caught up on museums. Bus to George Street Museum and walked a mile or so because I got off on the wrong stop. CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS UNTIL 2011. No worries mate… Chambers Street Museum here I come. 20 minute walk wahey…they seem to have put up barriers for some reason. CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS UNTIL 2011. This is one of the largest museums in the British Isles by the way.

So I went to the pub at Greyfriars expecting the dog to have been taken away for renovations.

Liz/Mum still in Ireland so I went to Murrayfield for the final IRB sevens tournament. Brilliant…it was actually open. It was freezing in the stand so I did the following: hid under the oven behind the hamburger café.

Here's a picture of what the discerning man about Edinburgh is wearing for headgear these days.

Today it’s been a brilliant sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. It’s about 3 degrees centigrade and I’ve got proof that Scots are mad. I’ve got film of millions of people sunbathing in Princes Street Gardens. Mum went off to buy buses for you lot while I decided to go and find a sauna. Note: even the hot taps are cold.!

So far the score is: 2 white pudding suppers (me), one baked potato and haggis (mum), 2 Indian meals and three black pudding, potato scone, bacon, sausage and egg breakfasts. Not one pizza has been eaten since we arrived in Edinburgh (because they're utterly awful things and bear no relationship to any pizza made anywhere outside a chippie).

We went to Edinburgh castle today and I'm afraid immediately left because of "tat".

Tomorrow we get kicked out of probably the best hotel we’ve stayed in so I’d better try and find somewhere to stay where it's hot.... probably the sahara desert.