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.