As we were heading to Ireland the next day, much of this day was taken up with re-packing and organising for this part of the tip. One of these tasks was to print out the boarding passes for our Ryanair flight. Miche was elected to complete this task however somewhere in the processing MS V’s country of origin was not entered properly and we were unable to print the passes. We were also locked out by the Ryanair computer system from going back and finding the problem. Checking on how to remedy this Miche found a phone number. She also found that it would cost almost one pound fifty per minute to make a call to this number. Despite this the call had to be made however when Mickey tried to call on his mobile he found that the number was a premium service number and hence barred on his mobile phone. To fix this problem a call had to be made to the mobile service provider to get them to open the premium service which of course again took some time and explaining. (in case you’re wondering, we could have got the passes printed at the airport on the following day but at a cost of 80 Euro per person!!!!).
Finally we were able to make contact with the Ryanair booking staff and mercifully the gentleman on the end of the phone was quite efficient and it only cost a few pounds for him to rectify the problem in the system and for us to have our passes opened for printing again.
Whilst all this was going on, washing was done and a picnic lunch prepared to share in the by now glorious but strangely foreign sunshine. Just as we were about to leave for the botanical gardens Mr P went to hang out the next load of washing to feel a couple of stray rain drops. An amended plan for lunch was put in place and we headed back down the river a street away. No more than half a km from home, the storm broke with a vengeance. Undaunted we donned our jackets, unfurled umbrellas. unwrapped our rolls and enjoyed an otherwise sodden picnic.
Picnicking Edinburgh Style
Soon enough the rain stopped but with the temperature up around the 20 celsius mark things got very steamy. Miche and Mickey decided a cup of tea was required so they adjourned to a local tea shop Eteaket where we joined them not long after. Once again Mr P found something quirky to take his attention, this time a three faceted sandglass tea timer, one for light, one medium and one strong.
 Tea Timing By Three |
 M&M Eteaket Tearorists |
Whilst M&M went back to the flat, V&J wandered on into town and the M&S Store before heading over to the Old Town and down into the Grassmarket and the Beehive, the pub where Mickey works. Here we joined around 20 others, including M&M who had now found us again, for the literary pub tour. Lead by two actors “Mr McLarct” and “Mr ??“ we spent a fabulous two hours wandering around the closes, mews and pubs of the old town before ending up in the new town all the way along being regaled with tales and excerpts of the heroes of Scottish literature. As well as the usual Burns, Stevenson and Scott we heard of numerous other’s works all the while learning how Scots literature and indeed life is so often filled with contradiction between the pure and the seamy side of life.
 Clarinda and Sylvania Our Literary Guides |
 Mr McLart Making A Literary Point |
Getting Ready To Become Literate
At one open air stop we were joined by three youths who decided it would be fun to rattle a chair noisily in the background. One of our group, a large man from a Scandinavian country decided to sort them out and approached the youths motioning them to be quiet. Fortunately for us his large presence did the trick and they were soon enough on their way albeit with a stream of unsavoury language as they left the close.
Despite this minor interruption we all learnt much about the place of Edinburgh in literature even down to modern authors including a little about JK Rowlings. By the end of the tour it was getting on towards 10pm but as we had not actually had dinner we were getting a bit peckish however at that time of night all of the pubs had stopped serving dinner. As we wandered the streets on our way home Mr P pondered on the lack of takeaway food outlets, at least in this main part of town. At the bottom of the hill near the flat however we happened on a baked potato shop still open. Three steaming hot potatoes covered in salt and topping were soon being consumed on a nearby park bench before we left to complete our packing for the flight to Dublin the next day.
 Ready, Set, |
 Scoff |
