Aye - Scotland is chuffing marvellous

This time last week James and I were off our on four day weekend in Scotland – it may only be distant memories now but the memories are coated in gold. Had the most amazing time...

Friday

I was rudely awoken at the ridiculous hour of 4.45am and thought it was just a warning alarm going off – and that the real one would come later. I muttered ‘This can’t be right’ and James ‘Mr switched on even in his sleep’ F-M, mutters back ‘It’s certainly not wrong’, then my brain ticked over with a ‘Hoi hoi – you’re off to Scotland today’ and somehow I managed to get into the shower and proceed to get ready. After dodging the most disgusting spew I have ever seen in my life (On the bottom door step down at street level. It was bright red…) we hopped in the mini-cab and headed to Heathrow airport. Strange as it may seem, I have never been to any London airports as I arrived by ferry from Amsterdam! So you can imagine I was pretty excited to see the Big H. It was just like any other bloody airport though.

After checking my monstrous pack in (I think it weighed more than when I came over from Australia! It was strictly luxury packing incl. 3 pairs of boots) we devoured HUGE bacon sandwiches for breakfast and felt slightly ill afterwards and then waited for our BMI (baby) flight. The flight went off without a hitch and 55 minutes later we were at Glasgow National Airport. We caught the bus to the centre of town and hopped off near where we thought our hotel would be. Heh. It wasn’t really. We had a lovely day trudging around with our luggage, being led up primrose paths by the world’s WORST map! But we softened the blow by stopping in for the occasional drink (in two of the most amazing pubs!) and was a little delirious by the time we finally found our Travel Inn.

The first pub we stopped in was called The Counting House which was a huge old pub with an old glass dome roof – all beautiful detailed. The second pub was very rock and roll – old but marvellous - with a huge stack of CDs against a great hotch potch hi-fi system, semi-circle seating around cool tables and a huge fish tank. I want to live in there. Only drawback was a flashback to Trainspotting when I visited the female toilets – could very well be crowned ‘The Worst Toilet in Scotland’. They obviously don’t have a huge female clientele so it can definitely be excused – and the rest of the pub makes up for it 3,987 fold.

So anyway back to the story. We found our hotel and were so shattered that we got a quick afternoon kip in and then after a very hot bath to wake up got dolled up and headed to James’ favourite curry house for dinner – Ashtons I think it was called (please forgive me if I got it wrong precious!!!) It was amazing, who know curry could get better than it already was? Bleeding marvellous! The garlic naan was the icing on the hot and spicy cake. I’ve never seen or tasted anything like it – sooooo good! After this we went for a drink at Brel and met one of James’ v. cool mates – Claire! She is great and was wearing the same grey H&M dress I have which gave her automatic brownie points!!! After Brel we headed to ‘Sleazys’ which is a great bar and was right near our hotel – nice and handy to stumble back to. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow, we were absolutely knackered!

Saturday

Got up around 9am and off we trudged to Queen St Station where we caught a train to Edinburgh. The journey was peaceful and we got to take in a lot of countryside views – rolling hills, sheep, cattle etc. Oh it was so good to see some colour after the grey of London! The train only takes about an hour so we arrived fairly early and started pounding the pavement straight away! Straight into Avalanche for some tune shopping and then around the wide, windy streets we went. Edinburgh is amazing! You look down a side street and there is the castle staring back at you in all it’s glory! Stunning.

We wandered the streets and headed into this very strange children’s museum – filled with toys and dolls from many years ago. Woah the dolls were terrifying!!!! But a good source of amusement! After this we ventured across town and into Armstrongs which is a HUGE vintage shop – I could have fainted once we stepped inside! There are 3 rooms full of clothes – and the most beautiful 60s and 70s dresses!!! I got a really cool 60s long sleeve green and white dress that fits perfectly for £14 – stoked! We continued on our merry way and found a tres cool 2nd book shop stacked ceiling high with nuggets.

We stopped for lunch at a deli that Mr James used to visit in his uni days. By this time we remembered we hadn’t yet had an alcoholic beverage which is very unlike us and promptly found a quiet pub to enjoy a pint (or Magner’s in my case). After this we felt revived and ready for more shopping and sight seeing! I noted with great hilarity the various shops selling kilts! They have really ‘funked’ them up for the youngsters.

As the sun set and the stores closed, we headed to another pub for another drink and then on to Le Monde for an amazing dinner! Fillet steak, my first one since leaving the land of Oz all those months ago – so tender and worth every penny of the £16 I paid for it! We were served by a lovely lad from Australia too (Newcastle). After dinner we had to prepare to leave this amazing city (much to my dismay) and headed on down to the train station. As we still had a while to wait James took me on a quick adventure near the smallest pub in Edinburgh which leads on to…the bit in Trainspotting where they walk under the bridge and across the street with the briefcase…………………………… I can’t tell you how cool this moment was for me. It still makes me shudder with delight. We dozed on the train back to Glasgow listening to A Certain Trigger – Maximo Park, very special album.

This day is one that will remain in my memories very vividly. It was so strange – I had such homesick moments mainly because I think I loved the city so much and could actually see myself living there which means probably even longer till I get to come home. Very special city.

Saturday night we just spent at the hotel as there was not an ounce of energy left in either of us.

Sunday

We allowed ourselves a little sleep in due to the fairly full on schedule of the past few days. When we eventually emerged – it was a brilliantly crisp day and definitely the most perfect conditions to explore Glasgow. How can I describe this city? It’s sort of like a Melbourne/ London hybrid. It has the grid set up of Melbourne, the age of London but smaller, nicer people and prettier buildings. And a cracking night life! Oh we did shop on this day. But I only bought one dress and a CD – James did very well for himself in some of his favourite spots. We stopped in at the Modern Art Gallery and had a gander at some beautiful pieces and some that we clearly will never understand. Each to their own, they say.

Stopped in for another drink at The Counting House and promised ourselves another if we missioned back to the hotel quickly before dinner to dump bags. We were successful and headed to The Variety Bar for the drink and gander at their choice décor. As the curry was so incredibly good on Friday we decided we deserved another – it was the garlic naan that made us do it! It was just as good the 2nd time… I’m nearly drooling thinking about it again. After this we headed to Brel for another drink and met up with Claire again! Claire was reviewing a gig at King Tut’s which is a venue in Glasgow and who should be playing? A band from Melbourne – Howling Bells. They were really good! After this we headed to Sleazys again where we proceeded to get a bit tipsy. Felt very sad saying goodbye to Claire – I definitely want to go back and visit her again soon, great value chick! She is going to keep an ear to the ground for work for me!

Monday

With heavy hearts we packed our bags and trudged through town to wait for the bus to take us back to the airport. It really was such a magical weekend and think we both would much prefer to be there than stinky England! No it’s not that bad, but gee whiz Scotland has the goods… It took us all day to get home and when I finally got there – I’m so glad Carms was home to greet me! She softened the blow and it was fun telling her all about the weekend and reliving the goodness!

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Wow I’ve waffled on terribly today but I just loved this weekend so much I wanted to you to hear all about it. I’m about to leave work to start another one now – it’s Carmel’s birthday tomorrow and we are hitting the town! Catching Miss Kitten amongst many others playing the Bugged Out! birthday at The End – should be a quality event!

Peace out xox