UK 2022

We showered and walked over to Caffe Nero. Our friendly barista was not there. A new girl was training. The luxury hot chocolate was yummy. The adapter that I had for our phone charger stopped working, so we stopped in a small market store for another one. It works. We also picked up a paper for Joe.

We then headed down the Royal Mile for my sweatshirt. The store opens at 9:30 am. We strolled around and went into some other stores for some souvenirs. We left at 9:45 am since she was not open. It turns out that today is a bank holiday. Lots of bottles being picked up and dumped into the recycling trucks. What a noise. Took a few detours down a couple of closes.

All packed, we checked out and got a taxi to the West End tram stop. James was our taxi driver. Took the tram to Edinburgh Gateway. Nothing there at that station, so I asked and the attendant said go down to Haymarket which is our next stop anyways. Showed our tickets, and rode 5 minutes. Got off and I sat outside with our luggage while Joe, Deb, and Gwyn went into Starbucks.

Joe and I walked down to RugbyStuff.com, a rugby shop. He bought a green Irish rugby shirt. It was finally time to go get our train, so I went in and asked. The Attendant said track 4, so down we went. Waited in the waiting room for our train. Heard over the intercom that the Edinburgh train was delayed since a person was hit. We got onto the train (no one ever really checked our tickets) and went to our seats, but they were occupied. So, I walked all the way to the front through the cars and asked someone serving in first class. She said the conductor would be coming by. I walked back through the cars and he showed up shortly. He walked down to first class and then came back up. There are 5 seats in first class, so go ahead and sit up there. Initially we were all separate, but we eventually were able to sit together. A lady who grew up in Santa Monica, got her education in England, and is Arab talked with us. Gwyn thought she may have been flirting a bit, but she was not. We talked a bit about Trump and politics. She got off, and our stop was next. We got off the train (beautiful rolling hills and countryside). Davies Taxi was waiting. He had a sign for Bailey. Paul packed us in the car. He had a Scottish accent. He was born in Keswick. More beautiful country. Saw some parasailers off of the hills to the right.

He dropped us off at Badgers Wood B&B. We paid Paul in cash since his wifi connection did not connect. In we went and were greeted by Andrew and Anne. They showed us to our rooms. We are in The Larch. Filled out our breakfast and registration cards. Asked for a supper recommendation. The Pheasant would be a 50 minute walk, so he recommended The Thyme Bistro. We walked down and went in. We did not have reservations but the said if we would be down by 7:30 pm we could sit. Supper was delicious. We walked around the market, but it was a bank holiday and after 5:00 pm so everything other than food was shut down. Quite a lot of neat looking shops. Took a left and walked towards a park. Walked around that, then towards another one with kids and parents playing. Back to the B&B for the night. Watched the last half of the Tattoo on BBC 1.