Unexpected pleasures in Edinburgh, Thursday

Yesterday I felt tired and jaded and a bit sad ( it was the 37th anniversary of John’s and my wedding). I wrote the blog in the evening thinking, I know I should do this, I know I will appreciate it later, but it is a bit of a drag. This morning, I turned the computer on and there were emails from 3 people all saying much the same – hullo and we enjoy reading of your travels. None of these people knew it was my wedding anniversary. So I started the day with a smile. Unexpected pleasure 1

I had decided to visit South Queensferry, a quaint seaside village underneath the Firth of Forth Bridges.

A diversion – the railway bridge – dates from 1890 and is the second longest cantilever (whatever that means but a photo will follow ( many arches to continue the theme) but maybe in a few days – I am way behind with photos)) bridge in the world. It was hugely innovative for its time. The more modern road one was opened in 1964 and is quite graceful in comparison, but not as interesting to look at.

Firstly I visited a place in Edinburgh which said it will give VAT back. The literature about VAT does not seem to have caught onto the fact that some people who are entitled to claim VAT back leave the UK for another EU country before leaving the EU to return home. There are several discrepancies in the fine print. There may be a problem for me. However the lady at the counter did not seem to know much , wanted to take another admin fee – too long a story - there were other problems. Forget it, I thought.

I went to the railway station and had a language problem – well firstly a disagreement with an automatic ticket machine. I punched all the right buttons and fed in a ₤5 note which the machine rejected. It was perfectly smooth but it was Irish. Supposedly legal tender but maybe the machine did not know it was ( there are multi coloured, some garish, notes from different Scottish banks in circulation as well as Irish) . I lined up to talk to a person. I thought I might be entitled to an off peak ticket but did not know what time I had to return by. I asked but could not understand his response, after a few tries I got it – you can come back whenever you want , you just have to leave after a particular time. Communication is more tricky if , when listening to the words, you have a preconceived idea about what you should hear. After all that he accepted the Irish ₤5

I caught the train to Dalmeny, about 12 km west of Edinburgh city, and walked down a pleasant path for a km or 2 till I got to the water and walked west till I got to Queensferry, - more cobbled streets, 18th century terraced houses. Lorna of the lilting name and her friend had recommended a place to eat. I went in, it was modern and full, mainly with the noisy residents of the local retirement village on a day out, or so it seemed, a couple left, and I got the best seat in the house – right in front of a wonderful view of both bridges and small boats in a little harbour. Unexpected pleasure 2.

It was about 11.15 and they did not serve lunch until 12 and I wanted to sit for a while. Hmm. Morning tea and then lunch or what ? After a while a very nice young lady came and apologised for keeping me waiting. I said I wanted to have lunch and would it be all right if I just sat and had a lime and soda ( they do not understand lemon, lime and bitters because bitter is a type of beer) or were they too busy and wanted the table - or along those lines. She ( obviously used to dealing with apparently old ladies( most of the others at least 15 years older than me had dyed hair)) said that was quite all right, indeed it would make her job a bit easier. So I sat there quite happily thinking about nothing and everything and more nothing till 1.15. Unexpected pleasure 3 . The lime and soda had real lime in it, the vegetarian club sandwich plus salad and later coffee were nice. Best value ₤9 in a while. U p 4.

There are 2 galleries which house the National gallery of Modern Art and I thought I would go to 1 on the way back to the flat. I walked from the train and wandered round. There were some interesting paintings by people I had not heard of, a room full of Kandinsky, who I have seen before – all a jumble of shapes, some pleasing and some not pleasing. I tried to think what made the difference but gave up. There were a couple of rooms of a guy called Therrien’s work – larger than life arrangements and paintings of these plus other paintings of ordinary household things. There was a table and 4 chairs. My nose was at the height of the chair seat ( I was standing up) and a large stack , about 2m , of bowls – each about 1 m in diameter. I talked to another lady a few times while looking at the different exhibits.

This gallery was close to the Waters of Leith, about 2 km upstream from Stockbridge, so I had a very pleasant walk back. Previously, on my walk to Leith I had seen a statue of a man in the water. There are others I discovered today – by Gormley. See photo to come.
When I arrived at Stockbridge the lady I had been talking to was standing on the bridge – Hullo , I said, ..few words.. Shall we have a coffee? Two hours later we stopped talking. Definitely unexpected pleasure number 5. She travels a lot on her own, ( had several tips) is of a similar age, has been to Ferrara – what are the odds of that? Etc etc As we parted she gave me a big hug, saying that she missed the human touch when travelling on her own and I realised I had not thought about that, but yes, I missed that too. She took a risk doing something very unBritish. Very definitely unexpected pleasure number 6.