Marking time.

At Caledonian Backpackers now.  I'm in a 4-bed dorm, where before I was in a 6-bed, which is a nice change.  The hostel has laundry facilities, so I was able to wash all my clothes last night.  I was up until 2am, when someone in my room finally figured out how to close the open window, thereby diminishing the noise from what sounded like an Eastern European bachelor party happening in the street outside.  Even with my earplugs in, it sounded like they were in our room.

I think I'm going to go to the Rabbie's office on High Street and see if there's any room on the day-trip to Melrose Abbey and the Borders tomorrow.  It's probably an unneccesary expense, but I need to get out of the city for a bit.

That's all there is to say at the moment....Yesterday before I moved hostels, I sat in Princes Street Gardens and read, and heard the 1:00 gun fire at the castle.  Methinks I will do the same today.

EDIT:
My Words of Wisdom About Scottish Weather requires an addendum: Scotland is one of the few places on Earth where it is possible to experience all four seasons in one day.  Today was one of those days.  It was cloudy when I got up this morning, but the sun came out while I was out and about, and I passed a pleasant hour or so reading in Holyrood Park.  It continued to shine when I got back the hostel and took an afternoon nap.  When I woke up, it was absolutely pissing down rain.  I have no idea what it's doing now, because I've been watching a movie in the hostel's cinema room with a few other people.  How's this for an incongruous experience: watching the execution scene from Braveheart while "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers blasts on the stereo outside.

In other news, I am officially going on the Rabbie's tour to the borderlands tomorrow.  As I said to the guy who booked my seat for me, all the hustle and bustle and liveliness on the Royal Mile was cool for the first couple of days, but now it's just getting annoying.  The words had no sooner left my mouth than a singing group burst into boisterous and off-key song just outside the office door - for the 27th time this month, according to Booking Guy.  No matter, the festival's almost over.