My dad came to Edinburgh to visit me this weekend! I was hoping the weather would hold out, since the last half of last week was absolutely gorgeous and incredibly warm, but Scotland being what it is, it turned cloudy and rainy on Saturday. Oh well.
I met my dad at the airport bus drop-off in front of Waverley, and took him back to my flat. There are a couple of spare rooms at the moment, so I put him in one of those (ssh, don't tell my landlord). Then we did my version of the Grand Walking Tour of Edinburgh: down the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace, with a detour onto St. John Street to see my school; a brief rest on the grounds in front of the Scottish Parliament, in the shadow of Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat (which make up Holyrood Park); then back up to the castle via Cowgate and Grassmarket, which run parallel to the Royal Mile and offer a stunning view of Castle Rock from the south. We bought a high E string for my guitar at a little music shop in the Grassmarket, then climbed the steps back up to the castle and cut through Princes Street Gardens to get to Princes Street, and got the bus back to my flat. In between Holyrood Park and walking back via Cowgate, we had lunch at a pub near the bottom of the mile - fish and chips for him, scampi and chips for me. After relaxing at my flat for a bit, we ventured out for dinner. The first place we tried was all booked up for the evening, so we wound up at a restaurant called The Dogs. It was essentially British food (very meat and potato-y), but done up in a classy way.
Yesterday it rained for much of the day. We spent most of the morning chilling out at my flat, and then set out to explore the northern part of the city, which I hadn't really done yet. First we took a bus to the Ocean Terminal, which is a very large mall which reminded me of Southpointe in Durham. But until Southpointe has a stranglehold on its very own yacht, it won't be on par with the Ocean Terminal. Yes, that place controls admission to the Royal Yacht Britannia. I was bemused. After a few more buses, we eventually wound up in West Granton, which has the benefit of being right on the Firth of Forth, but which is otherwise a very unsightly part of town. I got the impression that there are a lot of economic problems there. A lot of stores were run down and shut up, and not just because it was Sunday. Maybe my impression would have been different if the sun were out, but I don't think so. After walking around for ages trying to find somewhere to eat lunch, we eventually wound up at a Morrison's with a cafe in it. After tripping the emergency exit alarm, we hastily made our way to the nearest bus stop and got a bus back to my flat, but not before stopping off at Tesco to get some stuff he insists I need (and which I kind of do - like ziplock bags, for instance). We had dinner at a sushi place across from The Dogs, which had the most amazing salmon I have ever tasted. Scotland does seafood AMAZINGLY well. After a quick stop in to the Black Bull for a post-dinner pint, we went back to my flat and to bed.
Got up at 5:30 this morning to see my dad off to the airport. It was a really good visit, and the first time I've seen anyone in my family for six weeks. And now I'm feeling kind of lonely. Mandy left for London on Saturday morning, and Roy will be moving out on Wednesday. The rest of my flatmates are two young professional couples who I don't see very much of, so until someone else moves in, I can't turn to them for a social life. There's a Hillwalking Club trip to Cannich next weekend which I'm thinking about going on, primarily for the social opportunity - it's a weekend trip rather than a day trip, so there'll be more opportunities to socialize. But then I think back to my experience with Ben Vane and wonder if I want to put myself through that again, not to mention my fellow walkers - I have a very real and I think reasonable fear that I'll be a hazard to myself and to them.
But I'm starting to get friendly with some of my classmates, and I have class this evening, so there's hope from that quarter!
Cheers, y'all.
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