Monday, Monday

Very strong weather in Edinburgh right now. I slept in a bit longer on Monday and went up to Elaine's, and had the full breakfast (a hot breakfast there). When I got there, she told me there was an Amber weather alert. Gale force winds, very gusty. She pointed to her sign outside which hangs over the window, a heavy rectangular sign, which was been blown back and forth. The rain was off and on, but not too bad. I had my umbrella with me, but never opened it as the "rain" never got worse than a drizzle when I was in it. Elaine agreed to let me catch her accent on film, and so did her waitress Sarah, who is from Liverpool but had come up for college about four years ago.

After my brunch, I did the crazy adventure thing and walked up to the train station, and bought a ticket to North Berwick. It caught me off guard that there were no assigned seats, I guess you only need those on the more heavily frequented trips. The train stopped at about four towns before it got to North Berwick. Once I got there, sure enough, it was cold, very windy, and drizzly. I saw a sign pointing towards the beach, so I started walking. After a few minutes, I found it, but not before passing a golf course which a guy was mowing on a big riding mower. In the rain.

There wasn't much to make out, not a lot of visibility. There was a small boat offshore just bobbing there, and farther out there was a tiny island that looked like it probably rises about fifty or sixty feet above the water, and a few hundred feet long. There was also a tiny lighthouse and some boats moored nearby. After taking a video and a few pictures, I started walking through the little town. Eventually, I did ask someone where "The Ship Inn" was, and was given directions ("go up this road then left on High Street, then follow it round and it's there"). Along the way I saw a small monument for Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Treasure Island and had been inspired for some of his novels by North Berwick. The monument was a lighthouse about five feet tall, and a plaque with an engraving that I think was supposed to be the treasure map from the novel.

The Ship Inn is a nice little pub with decorations from old ships, obviously. I told the barman that Yvette had sent me, and then I took a table. I got the whole roasted sole in lemon and caper. It was very good. I was annoyed at first that I got a mouth full of bones, but then it occurred to me it was a "whole" fish, not filleted. So I thought back to some videos I watched a while back on how to fillet fish, and cut the fish similarly, and avoided almost all the bones. :) It came with a "side salad", which is a different concept over here. In America, a side salad is in its own bowl that can easily be half your meal. Over here, a side salad is about a third or half that size, served on the plate. The sole came with something else, I forget what. Mushy peas, maybe.

North Berwick is a major bird-watching area. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see any except for a few gulls, but it's not surprising for this weather and time of year. Another thing about this town is they have a lot of award-winning garden areas. The train station itself is well decorated, and several houses I passed had clever landscaping, including one with a tiny boat full of flowers.

After lunch, I walked back to the train station and rode it back. For dinner, I was feeling like something light, like Subway. But at the bus stop, I came across a couple from southwest London (Richmond) and we started chatting. Ray and Debbie were in town for a wedding and decided to spend a couple of days sight-seeing before heading back. I've obviously been here quite a while, as I was able to give them directions and recommend several spots, as well as advising them on seeing the castle ("oh yes, most of it is outdoors, but there are several places you can duck in if it starts raining"). They were going to stop off at a pub for a drink and then find a place to eat, and invited me along. So, we went down the street all the way to Princes Street, and the bus turned right (oops, too far). We walked back and I pointed out the various monuments and buildings, specially lit up at night. We went in a little pub and they had drinks, I just had water. We had passed an Italian restaurant on the way, so we went there for dinner. They also agreed to let me catch their accents on film. I didn't have my camera with me, so I had to get it on the iPhone.

They're an interesting couple. He drives big lorries (trucks) carrying around the post (mail). She works with renting out properties. We chatted a lot about the housing markets and differences in terms. We also chatted about words, accents, and a few other topics. After 10 pm, we decided to leave and headed back. Their hotel is next to mine, so we said goodbye at the door. Ray gave me a manhug, and Debbie gave me a hug with a kiss on the cheek.

It's now almost 5 pm on Tuesday. I had a free breakfast at the hotel and then took some laundry up the road. £3.90 to use the washer, 50p for the soap, and the dryer costs 50p (pence) for 8 minutes. I spent £2.50 just on the dryer, that place kills me. I spent more on cleaning half my clothes than I did for lunch! Which, by the way, was The Abbey again. I wanted to stop in and tell Yvette that Gordon at the Ship Inn said hi, but she was off, so I left a message, and enjoyed a very nice cheeseburger with fries.

I was going to meet up with my Edinburgh friend this evening, but she was affected by water damage so we'll have to get together another time. There are several areas around that have been hit by very heavy flooding. I haven't seen any flooding directly around here, fortunately, but last night and this morning I heard the wind blowing very hard and beating on my room's window and outside door. Even now, it's a blustery day, but I think the hardest rain was during the night. It's supposed to be better tomorrow.

For tonight, I'll be trying to figure out my upcoming schedule. The Cameron ancestral museum closes October 5 or 6, and is only open from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm, so I'm running out of time to get up there. I'm going to take the train to Glasgow tomorrow (about 1 hour, £12 at most) and scout out the city and a place to stay, then come back to Edinburgh, and probably relocate to Glasgow on Thursday. Fort William is four hours from Glasgow, so I'll need to find a room up there for a couple of days, so I can see the museum and area. I'd like to head back to Glasgow Saturday evening and stay until Monday at least, which will allow me to find and attend a church without having to drag luggage around. That's the plan for the moment, always subject to change...