Civilized travel



I am just back from spending a day and night in Edinburgh.  I have to go there every so often to meet up with colleagues and for training or meetings.  Since I will always be a tourist at heart, this is not a problem to me.  And I have a friend who lives there so I can enjoy seeing her and not have to get up at the crack of dawn to get to Edinburgh!

On Tuesday, Alan dropped me off at the train station and I "commuted" to work!  How very nice!  All of the jobs I have held since moving here have required the use of a car. But it is such a pleasure not to drive.  I am going to price this to see if it might be worthwile to "commute" instead of drive on days I know I am staying in the office.

It just got better too.... I use a website called thetrainline http://www.thetrainline.com/ and it gives all different ways and times to get where you want to go.  I noticed a train that left Glasgow Central for Edinburgh that only took one hour and 7 minutes.  I got burned one time getting on a train bound for Edinburgh from Central - it took 2 hours or more to get there and there was a Guide unit waiting for us on the other end.  So I was quite skeptical at this new information. But sure enough, it looked safe enough to follow up on! 

The usual way to get to Edinburgh is a 10 minute walk from Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queen Street, where a train leaves every 15 minutes.  So I figured the 67 minutes predicted for the train leaving Central Station would really not take any extra time at all. 

Arriving at Central, I was so pleasantly surprised to see this beautiful, streamlined, shiny, crosscountry train headed to Birmingham New Street.  Again, I read and re-read the itinerary to make sure I didn't really mess myself up, but it was ok.  This was so much better than traipsing across town with a suitcase!  I will have to watch out for connections like that in the future.  (However, being on such a nice train going to a new place made me really want to just stay on!)

Arriving in Edinburgh, with my friend waiting - fantastic!  And I get a tiny budget for "hospitality" if not staying in a hotel.  So Cathy had the option of deciding how we should spend this windfall. She chose taking a taxi home.  She had had a rough day and the thought of waiting for her train to get us to Portobello was just too much.  I was happy to oblige and got a taxi! 

Once at her house, the wine was ready and dinner was bubbling away.  Fantastic! Not only do I feel spoiled when I visit her, but she also enjoys cooking for people.  Her husband is working away and her kids are the same age as mine, so she only has cats to keep her company just now!  What a wonderful evening and dinner.

To top this off, we walked down to the beach. Can you imagine, a city the size of Edinburgh with a beach!  It really does feel like a beach resort in this area too!  We hoped to catch a glimpse of the planets - Jupiter and Venus.  And so we did!  The sky didn't look as cloudy as these pictures show, but we were very lucky to have a relatively clear sky anyway.  If I had been at home....Alan told me there were only clouds to see!

We travelled back to city center in the morning and I meandered down to the CAS building.  It was a lovely walk and I enjoyed taking my time and also a few pictures!

Nice looking building on the way

Part of a Louis Vuitton window display

LV must be really into arrows this year!

Beautiful church with a bus stop at its side, I gave up waiting for the buses to go away and just took it from a bit higher up!

Reminded me of the "doors of Dublin"

old fashioned looking shop

little street just before I got to the CAS building

Our work get together was good, but nice to end that too.  Walked back to the station, via some shops!  Didn't buy anything though.  I am really saving as much as possible for my trip home.  With being 2 dress sizes down, I am in need of ALL new clothes. What fun! And I want to do that in the US!

Stopping off in Glasgow and making the walk between stations, I decided to shop again.  And again, didn't buy anything. Although I was very tempted when I saw a new shop called "Americandy".  Woo hoo, what would be in there that I am missing?  And I WAS hungry.....Unfortunately the shock of how much things cost in there took away my appetite.  4oz Flips, those chocolate covered pretzels I love - £5.  A small bag of M&M's ( and they had so many varieties) £2.  So not worth it.  And what a disappointment.  Oh well, got home to a lovely home cooked dinner by my husband and no guilt with eating something I didn't need!!

"Avoid any diet that discourages the use of hot fudge."  ~Don Kardong

Burns Beer Festival 2012

Last Friday I stumbled upon a post on Facebook stating that the bar would open in 4 hours for the Burns Beer Festival!  Considering I live in the area, I found it quite surprising that a beer festival snuck in like that!  Looking back, I thought I had taken action quickly enough, but I only contacted my husband.  And we could not go on Friday, luckily they also ran the festival on Saturday.

Having never been to a beer festival before, I was really looking forward to going to this one, especially since we could walk there. The setting was perfect, right in the grounds of Robert Burns  Cottage!  I was surprised to see so few people and then realized we were not the only ones who did not know about this local event. So Alan and I phoned our friends: not only did they not know, they also could not come.

There was a great selection of beer and ale, actually I don't know which was which and considering it was a beer festival - maybe they were all beer....?  Alan prefers lager so he got 4 different selections of the lighter beers and I like dark beer like Guinness, so I got a selection of darker beers.  We both tried to avoid the Ayr Brewing Company because we can get that locally.  We also avoided the Arran Brewery because we are planning on going to Arran soon.  It helped to have some reason not to choose some because there were so many!

I did try one of the Ayr Brewery beers though because it was specially brewed for this festival - the Peck O Maut, couldn't pass that one by!

If you look closely, you can see the design that is on the flyer.  These are half pint glasses and it will be nice if we will be able to make a collection of these in the coming years!

Alan and I had a relaxing afternoon, from about 2 - 5, we could have stayed longer, but decided just to go on home.  However, with a bit of planning and more friends, this would be a fantastic day out.  Plus there was a celidh starting at 8pm, in the same place.

me with a half pint of The Grace

 I have given feedback to the facebook group advertising this that I hope there will be one next year.  The response was they do too!  So maybe the lack of crowds this year will not cause the festival to fade away!

"There's some are fou o' love divine, There's some are fou' o' brandy."

 Robert Burns

Conference

View from my hotel room

Here I am in Glasgow, with the chance to sleep a bit later yet up at 6am.  Every year Citizens Advice Service has a conference and I have been privileged to attend every one since starting with CAB!  In addition to spending quality time with the people I work with every week, I also get to catch up with the small number of people who actually do my job all over Scotland.  Our job is a lonely role since there is usually only one person in each health board doing this.  So the few times a year we get together is great!

All the Ayrshire delegates, both North and East Ayrshire!

We had a great time at the dinner/dance last night.  It is usually just ok, with good food and a disco. But last night, it was a ceilidh! And for the first time in years, I was able to dance virtually every dance!  (One of the many benefits of going to Weightwatchers!)  The only thing that held me back was lack of partners! 

After the dance, we ended up in our hotel bar until the very wee hours of the morning, so there is no excuse for me to be so awake at 6am!



I will have to look up this band's name, they were really good!

Reflections on the River Clyde while walking back to the Campanile Hotel

Our dinner/dance was at the Crown Royal right on the River Clyde.  It was a lovely night and Christine and I walked back to our hotel along the river.  I am certain Alan would have gotten better photos, but I enjoyed trying!

Drink, and dance and laugh and lie,
Love the reeling midnight through,
For tomorrow we shall die!
(But, alas, we never do.)~Dorothy Parker