When Nana met Edinburgh

Last weekend I took Mum up to Edinburgh to visit Tom. She doesn't really get anywhere unless I take her so it was a big adventure for her. We left at 7.00am on Saturday morning, to make the most of our time there. The journey was pretty good and we were with Tom in time for a lunch at Olly Bongo's. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw Tom....he was hidden under a mass of unruly hair (and relatively ruly beard). After lunch our first stop was for a winter coat for him, followed by a haircut in Jenner's barber shop. Annabel could have used him for her latest photography project, entitled Transformations.

Mum really can't walk very far without needing a rest, so I thought it would be a good idea to do the open top bus tour of the city. We all learned a lot (even if the guide was rather grumpy) and everyone really enjoyed it. We had a great view of the city.

 

Tom looked human again and was relishing the warmth of his new coat.

 

In the late afternoon, I stocked up Tom's fridge and cupboard, mopped his floor, washed his dishes and did his laundry. I also introduced Nana to the flatmates (very nice gents, they made us both a cup of tea) and I introduced a mulled wine and apple scented plug in air freshener to Tom's room. He described it as a "fragrance gladiator" and said his room no longer smelled like an open grave in a hot country but more like Christmas and Narnia.

So we went for a well earned dinner in the hotel restaurant, where I had ginger beer cheesecake for dessert. (I figured I had walked and worked it off in advance).

On Sunday morning, Tom joined us for breakfast and we went to church with him, which was lovely. Then we found a really funky coffee bar for lunch, where I LOVED the furniture.

 

I also continued on the ginger theme with a ginger and cranberry smoothie.

 

 All too soon it was time to say goodbye to my not-so-little-boy again :-(

 

The journey home was nothing short of horrendous. I circled Edinburgh for an hour, trying to find my way out of the tramworks diversions and one way streets, only to find, when I phoned Peter almost in tears, that the road I needed was the very road I had started on. 6 hours later I was home.

The very next day, we welcomed visitors from Germany; Sue, Stefan, Eva and Lisa, who always look after me when I go on the German exchange. It was lovely to be able to look after them for a change. Sue wanted to see how an English school operates. I decided they needed to see the farm shop too...

 ..and the legendary pumpkin pile. Funny, because I loathe the colour orange as much as I hate Halloween, but I do love the pumpkin pile. It says "autumn" to me and heralds the build up to Christmas.

 Needless to say, I am feeling in need of a very long sleep.