Euer, Oliver, myself and Simone at the restaurant yesterday

Not having gone to bed too late on Saturday (it must have been 3am or so), I got up and checked out of the B&B, then strolled down Gilmore Place. I bought the Scotsman On Sunday at what used to be my local corner shop, but unfortunately didn't recognise anyone at the till. Spotted the hairdresser still there, another corner shop now converted into a Costcutter, and noticed the famed ice cream shop on the Home Stret corner is gone and forgotten. Walking down past the Cameo cinema, past shops that have disappeared and been replaced, I couldn't help but think I was nostalgic to the point of being a local. "Och aye laddie, when Ah wis a younger man there wis a chippie here, nice an aw.." But the Film House was still there as I remembered it, and here I met Fiona for brunch. Though I had seen her on Friday night we were in a rush with the tickets, and hadn't a chance to speak to her really. It was great to see her again whilst finally stilling my rumbling belly and waking up with coffee. And yet it's strange, not having seen her in years, to see how she's a suave city lass now rather than the bouncy flatmate with Madonna on full blast, that she used to be.

Though I then hurried down Lothian Road and Princes Street to get a bus towards Tranent, I wasn't to meet my old friend Rob. As soon as I got on the bus and out of town, Simone texted me: "Are you ready? We want to leave." Fully expecting me, of course, to rush to the camp site instead, jump in a car and be off. As the bus to Tranent would pass Drum Mohr on the way, I had to quickly decide to see Rob and get a train home - or call it a day and let Rob know..

A few miles out of Edinburgh, the Picasso fogged up in a matter of seconds just when we were on a roundabout trying to get to the M8. The Volvo therefore followed three damp and steaming gadges in a Citroën bubble, frantically trying to mop the water from the windows. Oliver was smug for a bit, as the satnav wouldn't have been as foggy. Though the M8 got us away quickly after that, I had expected a turn South a bit sooner than Glasgow (aye, no maps) and we ended up being near Carlisle no quicker. Lunch at Teabay Services was overpriced but al right, and after that we got to Manchester in no time at all. Bart dropped me off in Kearsley from where I walked home - he dropped the car off at Manchester Airport, and we all ended up home safe. Missing Edinburgh like missing a few heartbeats.

Labels: travel