Last day in Edinburgh
Angela called Doug on Saturday evening to ask him if he was going to be over for a cookout, because he’d said the last time he was here that he’d have to grill me some hamburgers before I leave to go back to Oatridge. I went out for a little while to buy something, and wandered about the Royal Mile and Princes Street and George IV Road and Chambers Street. I got back at around 1:30 and Doug was already there. I told Angela that I wished I could go up to Hollyrood again since the weather was beautiful and the sky was crystal clear, and she surprised me by saying, “Sure, we’ll drive up there!”
Angela, Doug, Vanessa and I left for Hollyrood in Doug’s car only to find that the park is off-limits to cars on Sundays. If we wanted to walk we were perfectly welcome to, but I think I was the only one in the group that was up for a little bit of climbing. No way I felt like going all the way to the top due to time and energy and hunger constraints, but I might have taken a stab at it. It really was a beautiful place.
Instead we headed up to a place called Prestonfield, where I got to see a male peacock erotically (if you’re a female peacock) flashing his beautiful tail feathers at us, as well as a pair of Highland cows and a young man in a kilt, with whom Angela insisted I have my picture taken. After that we went to a place called Dobbies (the house elf?), which was like a furniture store, café, deli, produce stand and seasonal shop all rolled into one. It was pretty neat, and all the food looked amazing! We stopped in the café for scones and tarts and juice and lattes and hot chocolate (between the four of us), then headed over to the foodmart area. They had a special area set up to sample various flavored olive oils with bits of bread, and I’m pretty sure I sampled the garlic oil at least 6 times, maybe 7, just to be sure. It was good every time. Angela and Doug each bought two cute little glass vial things full of oil while I took some pictures of the place.
We dropped Vanessa off at her friend Sadie’s house, then stopped at Tesco for some ingredients Doug needed for couscous and burgers, plus some Bailey’s (nom nom nom) for me. After that we went off to a place called B&Q, which I suppose is kind of like a Lowe’s or a DIY sort of place, and got a small grill, some charcoal and lighter fluid (we were apparently not nearly as prepared for barbecue-ness as I had imagined we were). After we got back and I changed, I brought my laptop down to the dining room to play some Irish tunes and helped Doug put the grill together (unlike a lot of men, he both welcomed my help AND followed the directions).
I worked on a blog (this one, as a matter of fact) while listening to Irish music colored by the sounds of Angela and Doug bickering like best friends in the kitchen. I giggled more than once.
We had a delightful dinner – Doug’s couscous were way better than the stuff that LEC gives us – and I spent some time sharing pictures with Angela and Courtney, mostly from my laptop’s “Hawtness” folder, because I figured we could all use a boost in morale, you know?
After Courtney and Angela went to bed (it was only 9:30 or so) I stayed up and talked to Doug about being an American in Scotland and finding cheap transportation. I also filled him in on what the Hanson brothers have been up to since their “disappearance” from the “scene” in 2000. He needed to know.
I miss the softness of the bed, and the fact that it’s a real mattress and not a plastic one, the awesome shower (it’s amazing compared to what I’ve been dealing with at Oatridge) complete with detachable shower head, the full-length mirror, the feeling of having a surrogate family, the convenient buses, the beautiful views, the plethora of nooks and closes to explore, the ease of locating a T-Mobile, and, more than anything else, the AMAZING home-cooked meals.
I missed my Heritage peeps, but otherwise I did NOT want to come back to college.
WAAAAAAH!!!
♥
SM