11.05am
When i woke up this morning the sun was cracking the flags and i thought it was sooooo unfair!!! I got up at about 9.20am and had my breakfast before going for a shower. Obviously we haven't done an awful lot today and we're not going to do an awful lot before we leave. I did have a rather strange phenomenon in that everything seemed to fit into my backpack easier than it did on the way here but i realised my slippers aren't in it - and now i'mnot going to bother putting them in, i'll just put them in a carrier bag.
It sounds really awful but the weather has gone dull now and i'm really glad ;-D It makes things feel less gauling in terms of rubbish weather while we're here and good weather to go home.
I've worked out our route to go home - one A4 page of intsructions for my mum to read at strategic points on the route home.
Now i need to sign off and pack the computer away to go home.
9.35pm
Well we're now back at home in Lambanana Land ;-D
We left the cottage at about 2.20pm, mum knocked on next door where the owners live but there was no answer so she put the key through the door and left a note too.
I had to go and get fuel first so i did that and then we wre off to the motorway. I'd written some directions to go home and we did surprisingly well - didn't need the sat nav at all :-)
We stopped at Annandale Water as intended and we went out to feed the ducks :-) We had 3 ducks who decided they'd get more food if they came and stood on the side of the pond bit so i was feeding them by hand and my mum was feeding the ones in the water ;-D We then went and bought a few bits in the shop before heading back to the car.
We then carried on and stopped again at another services a while later. As we were heading into the place we saw a family coming out and the girl had a cat sitting on her shoulder ;-D The cat had a harness and lead on so obviously they'd taken their cat on holiday with them ;-D We just wandered round there for a bit and didn't actually buy anything.
After that we were on the final leg home and i thought we were home and dry. I got to J26 on the M6 for the M58 but the sun was actually shining brightly in my eyes at that point :-o :-o :-o It was so distracting i actually made a hash of the 2nd roundabout to get onto the M58 and i ended up back on the M6 heading in the direction i'd just come from 8| 8| Obviously i had to go back for one junction and then go back again - and do it right!!!
Once i was actually on the M58 i knew where i was and we went for tea at a pub that i've driven past many times but never tried. It was ok but not great, we probably won't be going back there!
We got home at about 8.50 and unpacked the car and obviously we've not much much else since, apart from sorting out all our mail.
Friday, 22 August 2008
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Busy Day
7.55pm
Well we've finally had a day of nice weather!!!! It also means we've had a good day out! :-D We've just got back and i've put our tea in cos i'm ravenous!
It took me ages to get to sleep last night but i kept my window fully open and my blind partly open - i figured the light would wake me up early so that hopefully i will sleep well tonight so that i'll be fresh and alert for the drive home tomorrow.
I woke up at 8.20am and got up and had my breakfast before my mum got up at around 9am. We had a relaxed morning and went out at around 10.30am.
When we got to the city centre the first thing we did was go to the tourist information centre cos we'd seen stuff in there the other day that we wanted to buy. I bought my bagpipes and a few other bits - including a daft dragon hat ;-D ;-D My mum got a whisky cake for my nan and also a few other bits including a pair of scottish pattern earrings.
After that we went and did a bit of shopping along Princes St, we bought a few gifts and also went into M&S to buy stuff for our tea.
We'd planned to do 2 city bus tours, one before lunch and one after lunch so we made our way to Waverley Bridge where all the bus tours start and finish. There was a red bus at the start ready to go ahead so we decided to get on that one. It was a guided tour but the tour was on tape with headphones which you plugged into the side of the bus. It was good because there were 9 channels to choose from, each one in a different language or channel 9 was a kids' one - it was
Horrible Histories ;-D
The tour was really good, we were able to see different views of places we'd already seen and we saw new places that we hadn't seen before :-) We actually saw where the Greyfriars Bobby statue was :-) We'd walked right past it the other day, not realising where it was 8| I did say that we were doing things back to front cos we should've done the tours first to see what we wanted to go and see in more detail but the weather has been so dismal over the past week we didn't want to do any bus tours :-(
For lunch we went into Princes Mall to go to the Food Court cos there were many different food outlets to choose from. I went to Subway and my mum went to KFC.
Once we'd had our lunch we went back out and went to a couple more shops. We also went to another shopping mall that we spotted while we'd been on the bus tour that we previously didn't know existed. As it turned out the shopping mall was just like St John's centre at home but it had one very interesting shop in it - Hawkins Bazaar. That's got loads of interesting things so we went in for a wander round and a good look :-)
After that we went and did our 2nd tour, we did the majestic tour and it went a totally different route to the other one, the only thing was that there didn't seem to be as many photo opportunities :-S We did go past the Royal Yacht Britannia but stupid me had the camera on the wrong setting so i managed to miss a very brief photo opportunity 8| 8|
While we were going round on that tour i decided i really wanted to go back and see the Greyfriars Bobby statue so we figured we could go on another tour that went past that point ;-D ;-D When the 2nd tour had finished we went back into the tourist information centre cos my mum had seen some mugs she wanted to buy, unfortunately when we saw the price of the mugs (£6.99) mum decided there was no way she was going to pay that much for a mug!
We then went back to Waverley Bridge for the 3rd tour ;-D We initially sat downstairs cos we were getting off part-way round but the live tour guide was so good we decided to go upstairs. At one point the bus was having to go on a diversion because of the road closures due to the Tattoo. It was as if he got thrown off his train of thought slightly cos he commented "there's a crane" ;-D Someone near must've commented it was a green crane cos he then said something to the effect that "yes it's a green crane, we have to be specific" ;-D ;-D
When we got near the statue we stood up to get off but we went quite a long way round before we actually stopped, thankfully we'd just done a big circuit and we actually landed really near the statue :-D We took some photos and made our way to the bus stop to catch the next bus to continue the tour.
When the next bus arrived we got on and went upstairs but this guide was really boring and you could hardly hear what he was saying :-( At the very least he needed the volume on his microphone turned up 8| It was also quite late when we were on this tour and we got caught in crawl hour 8| That meant we had longer to endure Mr Boring 8|
Once that tour had finished we went on a hunt for the floral clock which my mum had read about and we asked one of the bus tour operators where it was. We found the clock although my mum wasn't certain if it was the right one cos it was commemorating 100 years of the TA (1908-2008) and the book where mum read about it is far older than that :-S I was saying there surely wouldn't be more than one floral clock in a single park. We came to the conclusion that they must just alter the edge of the clock each year, re-planting new things for whatever is being celebrated that particular year :-/
We found a bus stop on Princes St where our buses stopped and as it happened there was a 25 bus just pulling up :-) While we were going looking for the clock my mum said she was cold and as i got on the bus i realised she was right - in fact i could feel my fingers were going fuzzy - oops, i didn't realise it was cold enough to trigger Raynaud's.
When we got home i immediately put the oven on for tea cos i was so hungry. We've now had our tea and we're watching telly for the evening.
Well we've finally had a day of nice weather!!!! It also means we've had a good day out! :-D We've just got back and i've put our tea in cos i'm ravenous!
It took me ages to get to sleep last night but i kept my window fully open and my blind partly open - i figured the light would wake me up early so that hopefully i will sleep well tonight so that i'll be fresh and alert for the drive home tomorrow.
I woke up at 8.20am and got up and had my breakfast before my mum got up at around 9am. We had a relaxed morning and went out at around 10.30am.
When we got to the city centre the first thing we did was go to the tourist information centre cos we'd seen stuff in there the other day that we wanted to buy. I bought my bagpipes and a few other bits - including a daft dragon hat ;-D ;-D My mum got a whisky cake for my nan and also a few other bits including a pair of scottish pattern earrings.
After that we went and did a bit of shopping along Princes St, we bought a few gifts and also went into M&S to buy stuff for our tea.
We'd planned to do 2 city bus tours, one before lunch and one after lunch so we made our way to Waverley Bridge where all the bus tours start and finish. There was a red bus at the start ready to go ahead so we decided to get on that one. It was a guided tour but the tour was on tape with headphones which you plugged into the side of the bus. It was good because there were 9 channels to choose from, each one in a different language or channel 9 was a kids' one - it was
Horrible Histories ;-D
The tour was really good, we were able to see different views of places we'd already seen and we saw new places that we hadn't seen before :-) We actually saw where the Greyfriars Bobby statue was :-) We'd walked right past it the other day, not realising where it was 8| I did say that we were doing things back to front cos we should've done the tours first to see what we wanted to go and see in more detail but the weather has been so dismal over the past week we didn't want to do any bus tours :-(
For lunch we went into Princes Mall to go to the Food Court cos there were many different food outlets to choose from. I went to Subway and my mum went to KFC.
Once we'd had our lunch we went back out and went to a couple more shops. We also went to another shopping mall that we spotted while we'd been on the bus tour that we previously didn't know existed. As it turned out the shopping mall was just like St John's centre at home but it had one very interesting shop in it - Hawkins Bazaar. That's got loads of interesting things so we went in for a wander round and a good look :-)
After that we went and did our 2nd tour, we did the majestic tour and it went a totally different route to the other one, the only thing was that there didn't seem to be as many photo opportunities :-S We did go past the Royal Yacht Britannia but stupid me had the camera on the wrong setting so i managed to miss a very brief photo opportunity 8| 8|
While we were going round on that tour i decided i really wanted to go back and see the Greyfriars Bobby statue so we figured we could go on another tour that went past that point ;-D ;-D When the 2nd tour had finished we went back into the tourist information centre cos my mum had seen some mugs she wanted to buy, unfortunately when we saw the price of the mugs (£6.99) mum decided there was no way she was going to pay that much for a mug!
We then went back to Waverley Bridge for the 3rd tour ;-D We initially sat downstairs cos we were getting off part-way round but the live tour guide was so good we decided to go upstairs. At one point the bus was having to go on a diversion because of the road closures due to the Tattoo. It was as if he got thrown off his train of thought slightly cos he commented "there's a crane" ;-D Someone near must've commented it was a green crane cos he then said something to the effect that "yes it's a green crane, we have to be specific" ;-D ;-D
When we got near the statue we stood up to get off but we went quite a long way round before we actually stopped, thankfully we'd just done a big circuit and we actually landed really near the statue :-D We took some photos and made our way to the bus stop to catch the next bus to continue the tour.
When the next bus arrived we got on and went upstairs but this guide was really boring and you could hardly hear what he was saying :-( At the very least he needed the volume on his microphone turned up 8| It was also quite late when we were on this tour and we got caught in crawl hour 8| That meant we had longer to endure Mr Boring 8|
Once that tour had finished we went on a hunt for the floral clock which my mum had read about and we asked one of the bus tour operators where it was. We found the clock although my mum wasn't certain if it was the right one cos it was commemorating 100 years of the TA (1908-2008) and the book where mum read about it is far older than that :-S I was saying there surely wouldn't be more than one floral clock in a single park. We came to the conclusion that they must just alter the edge of the clock each year, re-planting new things for whatever is being celebrated that particular year :-/
We found a bus stop on Princes St where our buses stopped and as it happened there was a 25 bus just pulling up :-) While we were going looking for the clock my mum said she was cold and as i got on the bus i realised she was right - in fact i could feel my fingers were going fuzzy - oops, i didn't realise it was cold enough to trigger Raynaud's.
When we got home i immediately put the oven on for tea cos i was so hungry. We've now had our tea and we're watching telly for the evening.
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Soggy Tattoo!!!!
10.30am
It's raining AGAIN!!!!!!
If you want a guaranteed way to get soggy go and watch the military tattoo for an hour and a half in torrential rain!!!!
We've decided we don't really want to get wet again so we're having a boring day indoors before going out for tea later tonight - we're hoping the day might be drier tomorrow - some hopes!!!!!!
Right, now i've had my rant i'll start with the entry proper!
As we were going to be out till late we stayed in the cottage till about 2pm yesterday afternoon when we headed out to the Park & Ride station again for a bus into the city centre. I decided i wanted us to get a 25 bus instead of a 34 that we got the day before cos at least that way we could see where the 25 went so that we would know where to get it from after the Tattoo.
Both of my pairs of trainers let water in so i had a brainwave and decided to put plastic bags on my feet over my socks ;-D Unfortunately one of the bags was destroyed really quickly - and by the time we got home last night i found the other was destroyed too 8|
When we went over to the P&R station it was a lady serving and we got chatting to her, there was also a model tour bus on sale for £5 and we ummed and ahhed about whether to get it or not. Initially we decided to get it at the end of the week but while we were waiting for the bus we changed our minds and got it then instead. We were telling the lady we were going to the Tattoo so i asked her did she know what time it finished. She asked us what sitting we were going to as if there was more than one show :-S She said technically it finishes at 10.30pm and sometimes there's about 5 minutes of fireworks afterwards.
When we got into the city centre we went first of all to the tourist information centre to get more leaflets to replace the ones i'd destroyed in the rain ;-D I also got some money out from the cash machine just outside. I was re-tempted by the bagpipes and i also saw a silly dragon hat that i'm considering buying if we go back tomorrow ;-D ;-D
From there we headed up towards the Royal Mile cos we wanted to see Greyfriars Bobby and the display of historical musical instruments which were up that end of town. As we were walking up that way the heavens opened (again 8|). We went into a shop for a while and then as we got to the top of the road we spotted the Museum of Scotland and as it was free we decided to go in to escape the rain for a bit.
We began by wandering round the normal bits of the museum, which, to be honest were quite boring 8| As we went past the cafe bit i spotted a sign saying there were lockers available so we decided to get rid of our soggy coats - even though it meant there was absolutely no chance of them drying at all!!
When we came out of there we spotted the interactive bit of the museum ( the kids' bit really ;-D) but we could resist going in for a play on all the toys ;-D ;-D ;-D There was a robot that you could tell it to spell any word with blocks and it was able to do it - we made it do Jemima and Elizabeth cos i said our own names were too easy for it ;-D
By the time we'd finished playing in there the museum was actually closing so we had to go out, thankfully by then the rain had gone off slightly so it was more pleasant to wander round.
We set off to find Greyfriars Bobby, we found the kirk where it was supposed to be and we found a headstone saying Greyfriars Bobby was buried there but there was no statue of the dog :-( We'd seen pictures of the statue so we figured it must've been taken away for some reason :-( We were not impressed!!
There was supposed to be a display of historical musical instruments up at that end of the city as well - in the university. I spotted a building where i thought it might be but there were no signs and we couldn't tell exactly on the original map where it was supposed to be. We found a girl and my mum asked her did she know where this display was. Typical of my mother she asked a Japanese girl who had trouble understanding what she was asking 8| Another girl came out of the building so the japanese girl asked her and the 2nd girl knew exactly what she was asking. The 2nd girl told us directions where to go so we sort of headed in that direction but then we found an undercover bit so we stood there for a while trying to escape the torrential downpour 8|
Time was marching on so we decided to find somewhere to go for tea. There were a few eating places but they were all expensive and not that inspiring. We found one restaurant, which, like all the others was expensive but at least it had some decent food choices in so we went in there. Initially the service was ok, we were seated quickly and our orders were taken. After that things got progressively worse :-( First of all they got my drink wrong - i asked for diet coke and got normal coke. Our meals came quickly but because we'd both got fish & chips we asked for vinegar but when i put it on my tea it looked like soy sauce rather than vinegar so when my mum questioned what he'd brought he was quite patronising in the way he said it was 100% vinegar. They then took forever to clear away our dishes and bring the dessert menu. When the desserts were brought to us they brought the wrong one for my mum and then tried to say it was what she'd ordered - she should know what it was she ordered!! The waiter was also quite arrogant and we didn't like him at all!!! We weren't going to leave a tip but decided it was easier to because our whole bill came to £28.85 so in the end he only got £1.15 whereas we'd normally leave £1 each.
As we came out of the restaurant it started raining yet again - it was as if it had waited for us to come out before it started again 8| 8|
We headed up towards the castle for the Tattoo and it turned out we were actually closer to the castle than i realised :-O When we turned the corner leading up to the castle there were loads of officials directing people to use the pavements rather than the road and also were selling official programmes. We decided to buy a programme but i got myself in a ravvle and managed to drop the bottle of water and then i also dropped a £10 note 8| Thankfully i got both back :-p
We continued wandering down towards the castle and had to join the back of the already long queue. We got talking to a couple from Lancashire in the queue and they were telling us about the Greyfriars Bobby statue - apparently it's outside a pub just opposite the kirk so we'll go and investigate that tomorrow.
As the queue moved forward we had to have our bags searched :-( Luckily they only wanted to search big bags and shopping bags, not handbags.
When we were into the castle and in the queue to get to our seats i decided to go to the loo before it started and my mum wasn't too pleased 8| I don't know why seeing as there was still half and hour before the start of the show. While i was in the loo queue i was talking to a man and we were bemoaning the weather, he said he'd been before a couple of times and "it always bloody rains" 8| When i got back to my seat i discovered my mum had started panicking cos she said i'd taken so long - there was a queue, what did she expect 8| 8|
From our ticket numbers we thought we had really good seats but it turned out that we were actually pretty high up and also we had a large man to the right in the row in front had his camera and kept blocking our view :-@ He was really annoying :-@
Before the show started (and at this point it actually wasn't raining :-o) the compere was going through different things, including welcoming people from all different countries in the world - and i was surprised at just how many countries were represented :-o :-D
The show was really good and there was plenty of variety in the performers. The biggest problem was the weather - about 15 minutes into the show the heavens opened and we were treated to an absolute deluge for the rest of the show :-( I felt sorry for the performers but they were absolutely brilliant!!! The weather didn't put them off at all!!! There were many pipers as you might expect, there was an american marching band, there were indian dancers and highland dancers, it was absolutely excellent!! The only 2 things that would've made it better were dry weather and not that big man sitting in front of us. Because of the weather and our seating position i wasn't able to take very many photographs but in the bag with the programme was an order form to get the DVD so i think i'm going to do that.
After the show it obviously took ages for the people to clear out but it seemed that our section of seating was taking far longer than everywhere else to clear :-S We were looking at the equivalent section opposite us and they were empty while loads of us were still standing in the rows waiting to get out. Once we finally got out we joined the loo queue again and while we were standing there everyone was chatting and commenting on how soggy we all were but one family were very sensible and were wearing waterproof trousers!! There was a group from a Canadian university or something standing nearby and instead of doing a head count they had obviously all been assigned a number in the group and they were all shouting out their own numbers to check the whole group was present - i thought that was a very good idea :-)
When we were actually out it seemed we were nearly the last to leave - again the officials were directing everyone to use the pavements instead of walking in the road, although with soooo many people around it was very difficult to use the pavement 8| We got to one road that we had to cross where there were traffic lights but they were switched off, an usher in a flourescent jacket stopped us from crossing the road and police were directing the traffic. We seemed to be standing there for ages when the traffic lights got switched back on and then obviously we had to just follow the green man. That's one thing i should say, although the city centre isn't actually pedestrianised there are loads of crossings and most people do actually wait for the green man - probably cos they're like us and don't know where the traffic is coming from.
As we were walking down to Princes St for the bus a lady stopped us to ask did we know our way round Scotland ;-D I had my map but that wasn't much use cos she didn't know the name of the road she wanted. It turns out there were 3 ladies together who had been to the tattoo as well and they'd been on a coach and lost track of where they got dropped off so didn't know where to go back to. We felt a bit sorry for them but there was nothing we could do to help them :-(
When we got to Princes St we were just approaching a bus stop and a 34 pulled up so i checked he was going to our stop and we got on. Once we got home the first thing we did was get changed into dry clothes then we had something to eat before going to bed.
I didn't sleep very well last night, i think i slept for about 3 hours then tossed and turned until i finally got up at around 9am.
It's 2.30pm now and we've decided we're NOT going out today - we're both fed up of getting wet!! But we are going out for tea tonight to a pub that we've seen just along the way - at least we can drive to there and stay dry!!
9.10pm
Well we've done something productive today - we've been out for tea. We went to the pub we'd seen and it was ok except for the fact there was a football match being shown on the big screen TV 8| Even though the footy was on it wasn't as bad as it could've been, the telly did get turned up but once we were used to it the noise level wasn't too bad. And even with the football, the atmosphere was still nicer than last night's restaurant!
This afternoon, literally all we've done is watch telly and slob about, in fact i think we both fell asleep briefly this afternoon :-o ;-D
I've just written my postcards to post tomorrow, i bet we get home before they do!!
11pm (:-o)
For the rest of the evening i've been playing minesweeper om the computer - it seems to have become tradition that every time i go on holiday with my laptop and without internet that i play minesweeper and try to get better than my last score ;-D i haven't managed to finish the "expert" level tonight and my hand has given up now.
It's raining AGAIN!!!!!!
If you want a guaranteed way to get soggy go and watch the military tattoo for an hour and a half in torrential rain!!!!
We've decided we don't really want to get wet again so we're having a boring day indoors before going out for tea later tonight - we're hoping the day might be drier tomorrow - some hopes!!!!!!
Right, now i've had my rant i'll start with the entry proper!
As we were going to be out till late we stayed in the cottage till about 2pm yesterday afternoon when we headed out to the Park & Ride station again for a bus into the city centre. I decided i wanted us to get a 25 bus instead of a 34 that we got the day before cos at least that way we could see where the 25 went so that we would know where to get it from after the Tattoo.
Both of my pairs of trainers let water in so i had a brainwave and decided to put plastic bags on my feet over my socks ;-D Unfortunately one of the bags was destroyed really quickly - and by the time we got home last night i found the other was destroyed too 8|
When we went over to the P&R station it was a lady serving and we got chatting to her, there was also a model tour bus on sale for £5 and we ummed and ahhed about whether to get it or not. Initially we decided to get it at the end of the week but while we were waiting for the bus we changed our minds and got it then instead. We were telling the lady we were going to the Tattoo so i asked her did she know what time it finished. She asked us what sitting we were going to as if there was more than one show :-S She said technically it finishes at 10.30pm and sometimes there's about 5 minutes of fireworks afterwards.
When we got into the city centre we went first of all to the tourist information centre to get more leaflets to replace the ones i'd destroyed in the rain ;-D I also got some money out from the cash machine just outside. I was re-tempted by the bagpipes and i also saw a silly dragon hat that i'm considering buying if we go back tomorrow ;-D ;-D
From there we headed up towards the Royal Mile cos we wanted to see Greyfriars Bobby and the display of historical musical instruments which were up that end of town. As we were walking up that way the heavens opened (again 8|). We went into a shop for a while and then as we got to the top of the road we spotted the Museum of Scotland and as it was free we decided to go in to escape the rain for a bit.
We began by wandering round the normal bits of the museum, which, to be honest were quite boring 8| As we went past the cafe bit i spotted a sign saying there were lockers available so we decided to get rid of our soggy coats - even though it meant there was absolutely no chance of them drying at all!!
When we came out of there we spotted the interactive bit of the museum ( the kids' bit really ;-D) but we could resist going in for a play on all the toys ;-D ;-D ;-D There was a robot that you could tell it to spell any word with blocks and it was able to do it - we made it do Jemima and Elizabeth cos i said our own names were too easy for it ;-D
By the time we'd finished playing in there the museum was actually closing so we had to go out, thankfully by then the rain had gone off slightly so it was more pleasant to wander round.
We set off to find Greyfriars Bobby, we found the kirk where it was supposed to be and we found a headstone saying Greyfriars Bobby was buried there but there was no statue of the dog :-( We'd seen pictures of the statue so we figured it must've been taken away for some reason :-( We were not impressed!!
There was supposed to be a display of historical musical instruments up at that end of the city as well - in the university. I spotted a building where i thought it might be but there were no signs and we couldn't tell exactly on the original map where it was supposed to be. We found a girl and my mum asked her did she know where this display was. Typical of my mother she asked a Japanese girl who had trouble understanding what she was asking 8| Another girl came out of the building so the japanese girl asked her and the 2nd girl knew exactly what she was asking. The 2nd girl told us directions where to go so we sort of headed in that direction but then we found an undercover bit so we stood there for a while trying to escape the torrential downpour 8|
Time was marching on so we decided to find somewhere to go for tea. There were a few eating places but they were all expensive and not that inspiring. We found one restaurant, which, like all the others was expensive but at least it had some decent food choices in so we went in there. Initially the service was ok, we were seated quickly and our orders were taken. After that things got progressively worse :-( First of all they got my drink wrong - i asked for diet coke and got normal coke. Our meals came quickly but because we'd both got fish & chips we asked for vinegar but when i put it on my tea it looked like soy sauce rather than vinegar so when my mum questioned what he'd brought he was quite patronising in the way he said it was 100% vinegar. They then took forever to clear away our dishes and bring the dessert menu. When the desserts were brought to us they brought the wrong one for my mum and then tried to say it was what she'd ordered - she should know what it was she ordered!! The waiter was also quite arrogant and we didn't like him at all!!! We weren't going to leave a tip but decided it was easier to because our whole bill came to £28.85 so in the end he only got £1.15 whereas we'd normally leave £1 each.
As we came out of the restaurant it started raining yet again - it was as if it had waited for us to come out before it started again 8| 8|
We headed up towards the castle for the Tattoo and it turned out we were actually closer to the castle than i realised :-O When we turned the corner leading up to the castle there were loads of officials directing people to use the pavements rather than the road and also were selling official programmes. We decided to buy a programme but i got myself in a ravvle and managed to drop the bottle of water and then i also dropped a £10 note 8| Thankfully i got both back :-p
We continued wandering down towards the castle and had to join the back of the already long queue. We got talking to a couple from Lancashire in the queue and they were telling us about the Greyfriars Bobby statue - apparently it's outside a pub just opposite the kirk so we'll go and investigate that tomorrow.
As the queue moved forward we had to have our bags searched :-( Luckily they only wanted to search big bags and shopping bags, not handbags.
When we were into the castle and in the queue to get to our seats i decided to go to the loo before it started and my mum wasn't too pleased 8| I don't know why seeing as there was still half and hour before the start of the show. While i was in the loo queue i was talking to a man and we were bemoaning the weather, he said he'd been before a couple of times and "it always bloody rains" 8| When i got back to my seat i discovered my mum had started panicking cos she said i'd taken so long - there was a queue, what did she expect 8| 8|
From our ticket numbers we thought we had really good seats but it turned out that we were actually pretty high up and also we had a large man to the right in the row in front had his camera and kept blocking our view :-@ He was really annoying :-@
Before the show started (and at this point it actually wasn't raining :-o) the compere was going through different things, including welcoming people from all different countries in the world - and i was surprised at just how many countries were represented :-o :-D
The show was really good and there was plenty of variety in the performers. The biggest problem was the weather - about 15 minutes into the show the heavens opened and we were treated to an absolute deluge for the rest of the show :-( I felt sorry for the performers but they were absolutely brilliant!!! The weather didn't put them off at all!!! There were many pipers as you might expect, there was an american marching band, there were indian dancers and highland dancers, it was absolutely excellent!! The only 2 things that would've made it better were dry weather and not that big man sitting in front of us. Because of the weather and our seating position i wasn't able to take very many photographs but in the bag with the programme was an order form to get the DVD so i think i'm going to do that.
After the show it obviously took ages for the people to clear out but it seemed that our section of seating was taking far longer than everywhere else to clear :-S We were looking at the equivalent section opposite us and they were empty while loads of us were still standing in the rows waiting to get out. Once we finally got out we joined the loo queue again and while we were standing there everyone was chatting and commenting on how soggy we all were but one family were very sensible and were wearing waterproof trousers!! There was a group from a Canadian university or something standing nearby and instead of doing a head count they had obviously all been assigned a number in the group and they were all shouting out their own numbers to check the whole group was present - i thought that was a very good idea :-)
When we were actually out it seemed we were nearly the last to leave - again the officials were directing everyone to use the pavements instead of walking in the road, although with soooo many people around it was very difficult to use the pavement 8| We got to one road that we had to cross where there were traffic lights but they were switched off, an usher in a flourescent jacket stopped us from crossing the road and police were directing the traffic. We seemed to be standing there for ages when the traffic lights got switched back on and then obviously we had to just follow the green man. That's one thing i should say, although the city centre isn't actually pedestrianised there are loads of crossings and most people do actually wait for the green man - probably cos they're like us and don't know where the traffic is coming from.
As we were walking down to Princes St for the bus a lady stopped us to ask did we know our way round Scotland ;-D I had my map but that wasn't much use cos she didn't know the name of the road she wanted. It turns out there were 3 ladies together who had been to the tattoo as well and they'd been on a coach and lost track of where they got dropped off so didn't know where to go back to. We felt a bit sorry for them but there was nothing we could do to help them :-(
When we got to Princes St we were just approaching a bus stop and a 34 pulled up so i checked he was going to our stop and we got on. Once we got home the first thing we did was get changed into dry clothes then we had something to eat before going to bed.
I didn't sleep very well last night, i think i slept for about 3 hours then tossed and turned until i finally got up at around 9am.
It's 2.30pm now and we've decided we're NOT going out today - we're both fed up of getting wet!! But we are going out for tea tonight to a pub that we've seen just along the way - at least we can drive to there and stay dry!!
9.10pm
Well we've done something productive today - we've been out for tea. We went to the pub we'd seen and it was ok except for the fact there was a football match being shown on the big screen TV 8| Even though the footy was on it wasn't as bad as it could've been, the telly did get turned up but once we were used to it the noise level wasn't too bad. And even with the football, the atmosphere was still nicer than last night's restaurant!
This afternoon, literally all we've done is watch telly and slob about, in fact i think we both fell asleep briefly this afternoon :-o ;-D
I've just written my postcards to post tomorrow, i bet we get home before they do!!
11pm (:-o)
For the rest of the evening i've been playing minesweeper om the computer - it seems to have become tradition that every time i go on holiday with my laptop and without internet that i play minesweeper and try to get better than my last score ;-D i haven't managed to finish the "expert" level tonight and my hand has given up now.
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Hardly Anything
10.05am
I'm getting up later and later every day this week :-o ;-D I got up at 9am today :-o ;-D We're going to the Tattoo today but the weather is awful - again!! :-( It's not going to be the most enjoyable thing in the world :-(
Last night there was a programme on telly about geniuses which i told my mum i wanted to watch, so didn't she decide to try and sort out today's plans while it was on! 8| At one point she got a bit of a cob-on cos i was more interested in the telly than the plans - she knew i wanted to watch that particular programme!!!
I'm getting up later and later every day this week :-o ;-D I got up at 9am today :-o ;-D We're going to the Tattoo today but the weather is awful - again!! :-( It's not going to be the most enjoyable thing in the world :-(
Last night there was a programme on telly about geniuses which i told my mum i wanted to watch, so didn't she decide to try and sort out today's plans while it was on! 8| At one point she got a bit of a cob-on cos i was more interested in the telly than the plans - she knew i wanted to watch that particular programme!!!
Monday, 18 August 2008
City Centre
7.10pm
We've been out today and got back about 6pm ish
My mum was actually up before me today :-o I was half-awake / half-asleep from about 7.30 but i didn't actually get up until 8.45 when i went down for breakfast and a shower.
We went out at about 10.30 and walked over to the park and ride place. We got a load of leaflets, mostly about the buses - logically as we were in a bus station. We spotted people who appeared to be buying bus tickets so we decided to buy ours as well. When the bus came and we watched others getting on and we read the leaflets it turned out it was a good job we'd bought our tickets at the station. We didn't have the correct change but if you pay on the bus you do need the right money cos you put the money in a machine then the ticket comes out of another machine.
When we got into the city centre my mum decided she wanted a new pair of shoes cos she only had sandals with her so we started off (in the pouring rain) heading for a shopping mall that was on the map and we spotted the entrance for it. As it turned out the mall wasn't very good really, there were quite a few empty units and the shops that were open were really expensive :-(
Once we'd exhausted the limited possibilities of Princes Mall we went into the tourist information centre and that was a successful excursion! We got loads of different leaflets, including city centre street maps :-D :-D We also had a look through the things to buy and i was very tempted by some bagpipes ;-D ;-D
While we were in there a lady with a clipboard who said she was with the tourist board asked us where we were from and when my mum said Liverpool (!!! :-o) she said they'd had so many people from England today that we weren't eligible to take part in the survey ;-D ;-D
We then continued on our hunt for shoes with a few distractions into other shops. We went into The Works and got quite a few Scotland souvenirs - i bought 2 t-shirts for myself and one of them was in a child size - age 12-13 ;-D
We then found some trainers for my mum in Barratts at a price she was prepared to pay. We then went into the BHS restaurant for lunch.
After lunch we headed towards the Royal Mile which, according to the map has quite a few attractions we wanted to see. Unfortunately the road we ended up going along also included a huge flight of steps which my mum wasn't very pleased about :-(
We found the Royal Mile via a little squiggly road with quite a few interesting shops on - not that we bought anything ;-D
One place i really wanted to see on the Royal Mile was the Museum of Childhood - it was free to get in and it was really good :-D It was on 5 (smallish) levels and there were plenty of arifacts to make you go "awww" ;-D ;-D I also took LOADS of photos ;-D
Once we came out of there my mum had decided she'd had enough :-( We did need to get some bits from a supermarket so we headed towards the area we'd been in yesterday - it was further away than i realised :-$ Also as we were walking along, the rain started LASHING down again 8| We found Sainsbury's again and got the bits and pieces we needed.
We then had to discover where to get our bus home from. We knew we were on the right road but not sure which side of the road we had to be on. We found the correct side of the road but the first bus stop didn't have our bus number on it :-S I had a theory that it was too close to the right turn as we'd just seen a 34 bus so we wandered down to the next bus stop and thankfully that was the right place to get our bus - and we just missed a 34 bus again 8|
Since we've been back we've basically just sorted out our stuff that we bought, had our tea and watched telly - and that's what we'll be doing for the rest of the night.
We've been out today and got back about 6pm ish
My mum was actually up before me today :-o I was half-awake / half-asleep from about 7.30 but i didn't actually get up until 8.45 when i went down for breakfast and a shower.
We went out at about 10.30 and walked over to the park and ride place. We got a load of leaflets, mostly about the buses - logically as we were in a bus station. We spotted people who appeared to be buying bus tickets so we decided to buy ours as well. When the bus came and we watched others getting on and we read the leaflets it turned out it was a good job we'd bought our tickets at the station. We didn't have the correct change but if you pay on the bus you do need the right money cos you put the money in a machine then the ticket comes out of another machine.
When we got into the city centre my mum decided she wanted a new pair of shoes cos she only had sandals with her so we started off (in the pouring rain) heading for a shopping mall that was on the map and we spotted the entrance for it. As it turned out the mall wasn't very good really, there were quite a few empty units and the shops that were open were really expensive :-(
Once we'd exhausted the limited possibilities of Princes Mall we went into the tourist information centre and that was a successful excursion! We got loads of different leaflets, including city centre street maps :-D :-D We also had a look through the things to buy and i was very tempted by some bagpipes ;-D ;-D
While we were in there a lady with a clipboard who said she was with the tourist board asked us where we were from and when my mum said Liverpool (!!! :-o) she said they'd had so many people from England today that we weren't eligible to take part in the survey ;-D ;-D
We then continued on our hunt for shoes with a few distractions into other shops. We went into The Works and got quite a few Scotland souvenirs - i bought 2 t-shirts for myself and one of them was in a child size - age 12-13 ;-D
We then found some trainers for my mum in Barratts at a price she was prepared to pay. We then went into the BHS restaurant for lunch.
After lunch we headed towards the Royal Mile which, according to the map has quite a few attractions we wanted to see. Unfortunately the road we ended up going along also included a huge flight of steps which my mum wasn't very pleased about :-(
We found the Royal Mile via a little squiggly road with quite a few interesting shops on - not that we bought anything ;-D
One place i really wanted to see on the Royal Mile was the Museum of Childhood - it was free to get in and it was really good :-D It was on 5 (smallish) levels and there were plenty of arifacts to make you go "awww" ;-D ;-D I also took LOADS of photos ;-D
Once we came out of there my mum had decided she'd had enough :-( We did need to get some bits from a supermarket so we headed towards the area we'd been in yesterday - it was further away than i realised :-$ Also as we were walking along, the rain started LASHING down again 8| We found Sainsbury's again and got the bits and pieces we needed.
We then had to discover where to get our bus home from. We knew we were on the right road but not sure which side of the road we had to be on. We found the correct side of the road but the first bus stop didn't have our bus number on it :-S I had a theory that it was too close to the right turn as we'd just seen a 34 bus so we wandered down to the next bus stop and thankfully that was the right place to get our bus - and we just missed a 34 bus again 8|
Since we've been back we've basically just sorted out our stuff that we bought, had our tea and watched telly - and that's what we'll be doing for the rest of the night.
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Got to Edinburgh
9.30am
Well i'm sitting in the living room in the cottage in scotland watching telly. I've been up just over an hour, had my breakfast and got washed and dressed.
We were intending leaving home at about 10am yesterday but by the time we'd packed the car and everything we didn't actually get out until 10.40. It wasn't a najor deal cos we weren't in a real hurry.
I was intending only having one stop after about 2-2.5 hours but after about an hour and a half i decided to have a brief stop for toilets and a quick snack cos i was hungry. The secretary in one of my schools had said to me that Annandale Water services was really nice but it's quite a way into Scotland so i didn't think i'd get to there :-( Because we'd had a stop earlier than i intended i looked at the map and decided we'd aim for our main stop at either Gretna or Annandale - depending on how we felt at Gretna. When we got to the Gretna services it said it was another 22 miles to Annandale and we were both feeling fine so that was where we headed to.
When we got to Annandale Water we sat in the car to eat lunch before we went for a wander. After we'd been to the toilets we found our way outside which was the main reason for stopping at that particular services - i'd been told it was some kind of bird sanctuary type place. When we got outside there was a little pond leading down into a waterfall with ducks in :-) I had some pastry from my sausage roll which i deliberately kept back for feeding the ducks and they were all very appreciative - especially the one by my feet which was taking the pastry straight from my fingers ;-D
There was a white duck with a clutch of ducklings and there's one bit by the water that hasn't got a fence round it so we could get really close :-) There was a girl nearby and she actually picked up one of the ducklings - awww :-) My mum and i went for a walk round the lake generally enjoying relaxing before we went round the shop. I only bought an A-Z in the shop and then we went out to make our way for the final bit of the journey.
I put the sat nav on for the last bit but he was really annoying at first cos there were 3 roundabouts to negotiate before we got back onto the motorway. I was slightly concerned that we kept passing the signs for Edinburgh and ignoring them :-o I trusted the satnav and thankfully it was correct until nearly the end. The directions we got from the cottage owners weren't very clear in that it sounded like from their directions we'd go straight from the M74 to the M8 but there was a bit of ordinary road (A8) between the 2 motorways. Once we were on the M8 the instructions were pretty clear, in fact they were better than the sat nav - mr tomtom was sending me towards the city centre but the cottage directions were directly opposite. i decided to ignore the satnav and the directions got us to the cottage fine.
The only problem was that my mum had read the very last bit wrong - she thought it said we had to knock at number 16 opposite for the keys, we went past nuber 16 and they were outsude anyway but they didn't seem to know anything about any keys but thankfully one of the men knew which cottage it was and told me where to park. We rang the owners from outside the cottage and it turns out they live next door.
The lady (Evelyn) took us all round the cottage telling us how to work the various things and then we basically settled down to do nothing for the evening ;-D Basically all we did was have tea and watch telly, oh and i played on my mum's Nintendo DS for a while. I went to bed at about 11.20pm and i actually slept a bit better than i often do on a first night n a strange bed :-)
8.50pm
We've been out to the city today but we haven't really done that much in the grand scheme of things. We decided to drive into Edinburgh cos Evelyn had said we'd probably be able to find somewhere to park cos it's sunday.
I programmed mr tomtom for a car park in the city but when we actually got there there were loads of roadworks and in the end i just headed for any random car park cos they were all signed. Unfortunately when we got into the car park we discovered the steep parking charges - £4 for up to 2 hours :-o We decided then we'd only stay for the up to 2 hours!! The car park was a bit strange, it was a multi-storey but that wasn't obvious from the road - you went in and then went down the levels rather than up as is the norm. As we'd been driving along we realised we'd left all the street maps in the cottage but as we found ourself at street level there was a map machine - unfortunately it wasn't working :-(
We headed off in a random direction but we really didn't know where we were going :-S We only really wandered round a bit, we went into Sainsbury's and a little newsagent. We'd seen a craft fair as we were on the way in and we came across it so we went in as the entrance was free :-) It was just a load of stalls but it was like a maze going up and down all over the place ;-D All we bought was 3 fridge magnets that were prints of paintings done on feathers - a cat, a scottish bagpiper and a pair of owls.
After that we realised we were at the other end of the street where the car park was so we waled up that way and it turned out we were really close and we'd simply done a large circle round the outskirts of the city 8| When we got back to the car park we had to find a pay machine - that was a job in itself. I actually asked at the enquiries office and it turned out there was a pay machine just at the top of the stairs. There was also another map machine there but i didn't have any more pound coins to get a map :-(
When we got back to the cottage we had lunch and then we played a game of Edinburgh Monopoly which is in the cottage - it was fun to see which places in Edinburgh are considered to be good or not so good ;-D There is also another game in the cottage but it's far too complicated to play :-S
We've had another lazy day since then, watching telly, eating, playing on the DS.
We've decided over tomorrow and tuesday we're going to do 2 of the sight-seeing tours, go round the museums and do the general touristy stuff in the city centre. Over Wednesday and Thursday we're going to choose some things to do which are not in the city centre. We've also decided we're going home on friday afternoon instead of saturday morning so that we're fresh and relaxed for going to Katie's party on the saturday :-)
Well i'm sitting in the living room in the cottage in scotland watching telly. I've been up just over an hour, had my breakfast and got washed and dressed.
We were intending leaving home at about 10am yesterday but by the time we'd packed the car and everything we didn't actually get out until 10.40. It wasn't a najor deal cos we weren't in a real hurry.
I was intending only having one stop after about 2-2.5 hours but after about an hour and a half i decided to have a brief stop for toilets and a quick snack cos i was hungry. The secretary in one of my schools had said to me that Annandale Water services was really nice but it's quite a way into Scotland so i didn't think i'd get to there :-( Because we'd had a stop earlier than i intended i looked at the map and decided we'd aim for our main stop at either Gretna or Annandale - depending on how we felt at Gretna. When we got to the Gretna services it said it was another 22 miles to Annandale and we were both feeling fine so that was where we headed to.
When we got to Annandale Water we sat in the car to eat lunch before we went for a wander. After we'd been to the toilets we found our way outside which was the main reason for stopping at that particular services - i'd been told it was some kind of bird sanctuary type place. When we got outside there was a little pond leading down into a waterfall with ducks in :-) I had some pastry from my sausage roll which i deliberately kept back for feeding the ducks and they were all very appreciative - especially the one by my feet which was taking the pastry straight from my fingers ;-D
There was a white duck with a clutch of ducklings and there's one bit by the water that hasn't got a fence round it so we could get really close :-) There was a girl nearby and she actually picked up one of the ducklings - awww :-) My mum and i went for a walk round the lake generally enjoying relaxing before we went round the shop. I only bought an A-Z in the shop and then we went out to make our way for the final bit of the journey.
I put the sat nav on for the last bit but he was really annoying at first cos there were 3 roundabouts to negotiate before we got back onto the motorway. I was slightly concerned that we kept passing the signs for Edinburgh and ignoring them :-o I trusted the satnav and thankfully it was correct until nearly the end. The directions we got from the cottage owners weren't very clear in that it sounded like from their directions we'd go straight from the M74 to the M8 but there was a bit of ordinary road (A8) between the 2 motorways. Once we were on the M8 the instructions were pretty clear, in fact they were better than the sat nav - mr tomtom was sending me towards the city centre but the cottage directions were directly opposite. i decided to ignore the satnav and the directions got us to the cottage fine.
The only problem was that my mum had read the very last bit wrong - she thought it said we had to knock at number 16 opposite for the keys, we went past nuber 16 and they were outsude anyway but they didn't seem to know anything about any keys but thankfully one of the men knew which cottage it was and told me where to park. We rang the owners from outside the cottage and it turns out they live next door.
The lady (Evelyn) took us all round the cottage telling us how to work the various things and then we basically settled down to do nothing for the evening ;-D Basically all we did was have tea and watch telly, oh and i played on my mum's Nintendo DS for a while. I went to bed at about 11.20pm and i actually slept a bit better than i often do on a first night n a strange bed :-)
8.50pm
We've been out to the city today but we haven't really done that much in the grand scheme of things. We decided to drive into Edinburgh cos Evelyn had said we'd probably be able to find somewhere to park cos it's sunday.
I programmed mr tomtom for a car park in the city but when we actually got there there were loads of roadworks and in the end i just headed for any random car park cos they were all signed. Unfortunately when we got into the car park we discovered the steep parking charges - £4 for up to 2 hours :-o We decided then we'd only stay for the up to 2 hours!! The car park was a bit strange, it was a multi-storey but that wasn't obvious from the road - you went in and then went down the levels rather than up as is the norm. As we'd been driving along we realised we'd left all the street maps in the cottage but as we found ourself at street level there was a map machine - unfortunately it wasn't working :-(
We headed off in a random direction but we really didn't know where we were going :-S We only really wandered round a bit, we went into Sainsbury's and a little newsagent. We'd seen a craft fair as we were on the way in and we came across it so we went in as the entrance was free :-) It was just a load of stalls but it was like a maze going up and down all over the place ;-D All we bought was 3 fridge magnets that were prints of paintings done on feathers - a cat, a scottish bagpiper and a pair of owls.
After that we realised we were at the other end of the street where the car park was so we waled up that way and it turned out we were really close and we'd simply done a large circle round the outskirts of the city 8| When we got back to the car park we had to find a pay machine - that was a job in itself. I actually asked at the enquiries office and it turned out there was a pay machine just at the top of the stairs. There was also another map machine there but i didn't have any more pound coins to get a map :-(
When we got back to the cottage we had lunch and then we played a game of Edinburgh Monopoly which is in the cottage - it was fun to see which places in Edinburgh are considered to be good or not so good ;-D There is also another game in the cottage but it's far too complicated to play :-S
We've had another lazy day since then, watching telly, eating, playing on the DS.
We've decided over tomorrow and tuesday we're going to do 2 of the sight-seeing tours, go round the museums and do the general touristy stuff in the city centre. Over Wednesday and Thursday we're going to choose some things to do which are not in the city centre. We've also decided we're going home on friday afternoon instead of saturday morning so that we're fresh and relaxed for going to Katie's party on the saturday :-)
Monday, 4 August 2008
Doggy Friends :-D
Well since my last update i'm now back swimming every day :-D :-D :-D I went to the health centre last Monday and the nurse said yes i could swim and i could leave the wound without a dressing now :-D So i was there every day last week tuesday - friday, i did 64 lengths on tuesday, 40 on wednesday, 64 on thursday and 40 on friday :-D It was also really nice to see all my swimming mates and tell them all about why i hadn't been there.
This weekend i've had a really good time :-) Karen and Graham invited me to theirs cos Karen works in Dogs Trust and they were having their open day yesterday.
Karen and Graham were both working at the Dogs Trust on Saturday to set up for the open day so Graham had said to me to ring him when i got to theirs and one of them would come to meet me.
I set off at about 2.20pm and put my sat nav on ready for going to their house. I got to JUST before the M62 junction and the sat nav was packing itself away :-o At that point i didn't go onto the motorway, i went onto the road beside it cos i knew i could stop somewhere to sort it out. I found myself a bus stop to pull into and checked what was going on.
It turns out it wasn't getting any power from the lighter socket in the car :-( The other day the plug from my reversing sensor fell apart and the bits all fell into the socket - there was a spark so i think i've short-circuited the socket :-(
I found myself some paper and a pen and rang Graham for directions. What he didn't tell me (but i half-remembered anyway) is that the M62 turns into the M60 before turning back into the M62 8|
I surprised myself and actually got to their house on the first go without getting lost at all :-o :-D When i got there i rang Graham and he said he would come and get me. I chille out listening to my CDs until he got there then i got in his car and he took me back to Dogs Trust.
Graham's driving is mad!!! He doesn't stick to speed limits, he doesn't seem to slow down for
hazards (at least not until we're practically on top of them) and he goes round corners with his wheels squealing :-o I wasn't on duty so i just kept my mouth shut and squirmed inwardly.
When we got back to Dogs Trust Karen was helping to load things into a van then we went out to the field to set out the agility course, not that i actually did anything - i asked Karen what i should do and she told me to "stand there and look pretty" ;-D
Work finished at 5pm so just after that we went back to Karen and Graham's house for a short while so that the dogs could go out and K and G could get changed. They've got 2 dogs at the moment, one (Polo) is their own dog and the other one (Toppa) is a foster dog. He is looking for a new home but he's got a bad history and gets very stressed in kennels so he's being fostered by K & G on the "home from home" scheme. When we got there i was told to ignore him unless he came to me cos they didn't know what he'd be like with strangers but he was absolutely fine :-) Within a minute or two he was jumping all over me just the same as Polo was ;-D
I was sleeping in the spare room, which the cat generally regards as her bedroom ;-D We made my bed while we were home. Karen said they hadn't hoovered most of the house but they did hoover my room including my bed to get rid of most of the hair so that it didn't kick off my asthma. As it was G had said to me to remember to bring plenty of drugs cos of all the hair ;-D ;-D Luckily enough i'm not normally affected by animal hair :-)
We went out for tea to a really nice pub where K & G sometimes go. The waitress was really friendly, the menu choices were really good and the whole atmosphere was generally what you would expect of a typical country pub. I had exactly the same dinner as K - including the drink, we had Jacques Orchard Fruits cider and it was really nice, very refreshing :-) We even had a 2nd glass each :-)
When we went home we just sat round for a short time watching telly until K&G decided to go to bed at about 9.45pm - they'd had an early start and a long day (and they'd had a late night the night before ;-D ). I decided i wasn't going to bed yet so i stayed downstairs watching the telly and i got reading a puppy-rearing book that they had on the coffee table ;-D
I decided to go to bed at about 11.30ish. I discovered when i went to my room that the cat had already made herself comfortable on my bed ;-D Oh well, home from home ;-D When i'd got ready for bed i looked round but found i didn't have a bedside light :-( There was a light with a switch on the cord but no socket to plug it into 8| I read for a while before turning the light off to go to sleep.
I'd planned to get up at around 8.30 but i didn't sleep very well anyway :-( While i was lying there i realised the 2nd glass of cider probably wasn't a good idea cos alcohol has the opposite effect on me than it does on many people - it keeps me awake 8| Earlier in the day Graham had asked was i staying sunday night as well as saturday and originally i'd said no i was going home saturday evening. After K&G had gone to bed i was thinking and decided i would stay the extra nigt after all - it meant i could drive home in the daylight instead of the dark.
When i went downstairs Graham was already up but Karen was only just getting up. Originally i was going to take my car to the centre with Graham as a passenger so i could drive home from there but because i'd decided to stay again it meant Graham could set off early - he was on gate duty to stop unauthorised people getting in.
Karen and i left at about 9.30ish in her car, we took both dogs with us and it was decided i was looking after Toppa for the day :-D
We parked the car and then went to find where everyone was. Karen took me into the staff room - with the dogs, which apparently you're not supposed to do ;-D Many of the staff were in the staff room and there were lots of goodies on the table ;-D
When we went out onto the field the agility circuit wasn't complete so Karen helped with that (she was there even though it was her weekend off!! ) and i got both dogs to look after. Because Karen works there she knows all the staff so we kept chatting to people :-D There was a man on the mobile advertising vehicle and Karen borrowed a jacket off him for Toppa - it says "I need a home" and i think it suited Toppa :-D
We spent most of the day wandering roubd talking to various people and it was really nice for Karen cos a lot of people had brought their dogs back that they'd rehomed from Dogs Trust with them for the day and she was able to chat to the new owners and see how well her dogs were doing :-) :-)
Karen was taking Polo round the agility course cos the Dogs Trust amateur agility team were doing a display which was going to be followed by the professionals doing a display as well. The Dogs Trust agility was supposed to be happening at 12.30 but it wasn't on the programme and the man on the PA system was being a jerk (generally!) and although a couple of the staff asked him to announce it he got all arsey and refusing to do it until HE was ready :-@ Eventually someone persuaded him to announce it and he gave one little comment before carrying on with his games and competitions 8|
Polo went first on the agility and was ok, though not as good as when they were practsing earlier in the day - he got too excited ;-D One lady (i think she's a manager or something) her dog was doing the agility too but he ran off - completely :-o ;-D He ended up down the other end of the field :-o ;-D She was NOT impressed!!! While she was trying to hunt him down all the other Dogs Trust team had another go on the agility circuit ;-D
Once the agility was over we went to get some lunch. They were selling burgers and things but we went and got some goodies from the staff room again, we took a plate of stuff out to the picnic benches.
It wasn't a very hot day so straight after lunch we went and put the dogs back in the car for a while cos Karen wanted to show me round the kennels and obviously you're not allowed to take your own dogs past the kennels. At the end of the kennel block is the kitchen where they prepare the dogs' food so Karen took me in there and there was a gorgeous dog with a broken leg in there.
After we'd been round the kennels we went and got the dogs back out of the car and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering round. Karen decided to enter Polo into the prettiest eyes competition but he didn't win, he didn't even get short-listed :-( Karen reckons it was a fix cos there was another dog in the class with the most gorgeous blue eyes and he didn't get short-listed either :-o
While we were wandering round quite a few people were asking about Toppa but unfortunately i didn't know that much to tell people - i had to keep getting Karen to answer their questions. Many people were asking if he was ok with other dogs, cats, birds, horses, children and sadly for them and him the answer is generally 'no'. Apprently he's been given back to the centre 3 times for biting but K&G have had him 2 monthswith no problems and they found out this weekend he's fine with strangers cos he only met me on saturday and by the sunday he loved me :-D
Once the open day was over and most of the peole had left we briefly helped to tidy up the field then it was party time for the staff (and visitors) ;-D A couple of people wanted drinks bought so K & G and I all went out to the shop. When we got back we were all congregating in the big room. One of the staff was in charge of the barbecue but he disappeared for a short time and then obviously the barbecue takes time to heat up properly so we were all enjoying the staff room goodies while we waited ;-D
Because most of the animals had gone the only ones that were left were dogs that belonged to staff so they were all let off their leads :-) One of the dogs i'd seen on the field seemed quite aggressive and noisy while she was on her lead and i didn't like the look of her :-( When she was in the room, even with all the other dogs and people, she was lovely :-)
We stayed there till about 10.45 i think, Polo was already shattered and had gone to sleep under the table ;-D
When we got home we all went straight to bed - Karen was due in work the next day and Graham had left his car there cos he was drinking at the party so they were both going in for 8am then Graham was coming back cos he'd booked the day off work. Because i wasn't going to see Karen in the morning i said goodbye to her as we went to bed.
I slept better last night than the night before which i was glad of as i knew i had to drive home. I heard Karen getting up for work and was awake so Polo came in to see me and say good morning ;-D I was planning on getting up around 8ish cos i figured Graham would be back at about 8.30 but he was actually back at 8 :-o I was really surprised :-o
I got up anyway and went downstairs to be greeted by both dogs. I sat watching telly with Graham for a while and at one point i had Polo on my knee and Toppa next to me leaning on me :-) :-) They are both gorgeous :-)
I left there at about 9.30 cos i'd arranged to see another friend at 11 so that gave me an hour and a half - and i got there bang on time :-D On the way home from there i went and photograhed another 4 lambananas ;-D ;-D
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