The Adventure Begins

Saturday was my initiation into a social life in Edinburgh. Fiona, my cousin and her friend Claire arrived at my flat around 10:30pm with a few bottles of wine and tickets to a Late N Live comedy show. Late being a 1 am start time. That gave us lots of time to sit at my window sill, (which I have to say is my favorite part of the flat) to watch the mobs of people in the Grass market and enjoy the amazing fireworks display that mark the end of the Military Tattoo at the castle each night. There have been fireworks visible from my window every night but Saturday’s show was especially entertaining. Here is the view of the Grassmarket from my flat:

And a picture of my favourite window sill!

We wandered down the street to the Teviot, nicknamed the “Guilded Balloon” for the Festival, which happens to be one of the student unions. Now I say student union but what I really mean is castle!! Beside it, Fiona pointed out the building I would graduate in. Hmmmm….if I’m drunk like this the whole time, there might not be a graduation.

The show was really good (despite the American comedian discussing his country's new president –Damn! Just can’t escape it!). It finished around 3:30 am, only to be followed by a super fun Ska band, which kept us dancing until about 5:00 am. Outside the castle was a conveniently placed Creperie. Post bar food in Canada consists of pizza; here it is delicious thin pancakes filled with almost anything you can think of. Yum! We did attempt to walk home at this point but masses of bloaks (men of an appropriate age!) where milling about and well, I’m sure you can guess we didn’t leave right away!

A group from London, out for a stag weekend were pretty entertaining and were key players in my escape from a random drunken Scot who decided he wanted to marry me and therefore needed to serenade me with a Canadian song. HA! As he fumbled with his phone to google lyrics we snuck off. Poor schmuck! I rolled into bed that morning around 6:30am. Keener tourists were already starting to fill the Grassmarket for the next day’s events.

On Monday I was feeling a bit down and lonely watching mobs of people having fun, no doubt on their way to some great show or bar. My lonely self ventured out of my flat and joined in on a free walking tour only to later discover that the guide was from Edmonton! I though he sounded like a fraud!!

During the tour though I discovered the place where J.K. Rowling sat to write the first two Harry Potter books and where she got her inspiration. She could see the castle from the window of the café and Heriot Watts school (the original Hogwarts) and a few of the character names came from Grey Kirks cemetery, which is across the street from the cafe. We actually found a McGonagall and a Tom Riddle headstone!

Dorky fact aside, I’m impressed with my ability to make friends. A bunch of us, including the fraud named Owen, a couple Aussies and some Canadians named Amy and Marissa went for dinner and a night of drinking, (yes this seems to be becoming a habit). Good times for all and some new friends made.

Tuesday- Slept late then met my Granny at Cameron Toll, her favorite shopping spot to help her get some groceries. Trundled home on the bus to get ready for dinner at the Buchanan’s, our family friends. David and Pat’s son Stuart and his new wife from the Caribbean Nanjika were also there. Nice to catch up!

Met up with my new Canadian friends for a beer after, but I discovered quickly the beer was not going down very well and I felt sick. Most of the night was spent squirming around in mass discomfort and nausea on the futon mattress, which up until this point was just mostly uncomfortable, was now unbearable. That night I discovered my utter hatred for lumpy hard futons, a hatred which was deepened by a 2 hour vomiting session in the bathroom and the entire day following in which I was forced to spend in bed due to feeling like death. Scottish bug, food poisoning, swine flu- not sure. All I know is I felt like hell.

Yesterday, I went to Ikea with Fiona and Holly, my other cousin, and her wee Jack Russell puppy named Henry to buy a new mattress. Getting it up the 3-story spiral concrete staircase was comical and I think should have been a Fringe Festival show. I have no doubt in my mind that people would have paid 5 pounds to watch “Three Lairds, a dog and a mattress” and would have walked away very satisfied. I am satisfied with my new mattress, especially if the 24 hour “barfs” appear again! Here is Fiona wrestling with the mattress to get it up the stairs!