Wednesday morning. The gardeners announce they'll be working through until eight at night to catch up with their schedule. Stone cutting and sand blasting are planned. This is our cue to change our plans and head down into Edinburgh for dinner before an appointment with the eye man on Thursday morning. We try the train but there's been a breakdown on the line south from Stonehaven so we head back over the footbridge to the station car park and continue on in the Volvo.
Edinburgh has already had more than double its average April rainfall in the first week of the month. Amazingly for our overnight visit the weather is not only dry but warm. A quick search throws up a hotel on St Andrews Square. This proves to be as good as our last experience with the new 'W' was bad.
The first of the tourists arriving. Our Edinburgh early morning coffee stop already full with students and Scotland savvy Californian retirees. Seems there are a surprising number of folks who spend six months in the US and then head to their pied a terre here for the rest of the year . We head to Starbucks across the street. It is completely empty.
The squares in town looking very springlike.
In the evening a chance to stop off for a pre-dinner drink. 'The Font' orders a Negroni and receives a Negroni on steroids. It is exchanged for a Campari and Soda.
Our usual safe bolt hole closed on a Wednesday night.
A new favourite presents itself. They're fully booked but as we stand at the front desk a man phones to cancel. A window table magically becomes available. The food is good and the service excellent. The price half of what you'd pay in London.
After an ' I'll see you again in four months ' visit with the surgeon ( Whatever happened to eye doctors ? Angus discovers that these days there are front of eye, mid-eye and back of eye specialists ) we head back to the airport. We've parked the car there in the belief that finding anywhere in the middle of town would be impossible. Angus has managed to find a spot in the short term parking area. The first 24 hours cost an eyewatering £60. We arrive 9 minutes over the 24 hour mark and get charged another £60. I'll not do that again.
13 comments:
It's good to hear the visit with the eye surgeon went well and nice to see the photos of Edinburgh.
A lovely look at Edinburgh on a spring day. The double parking charge would be memorable.
What excellent gardeners you have, and how dedicated. Looking forward to photos when it's finished.
What a fun, spontaneous trip! And yes, nice to see photos of Edinburgh. My grandfather was from there. He came to the US as a young man, took the train across the country, met my grandmother in LA and lived here until age 93. He had a long and adventurous life!
JustPark or similar are good ways to get cheaper parking in expensive cities where you can rent someone's driveway for however long you need. I remember Edinburgh's usual car parks being eye-watering the last time I was there.
You have found some very reliable, dedicated gardeners. Ours still haven’t shown during this past month.
I’d have thought the parking meter would have granted a short grace period!
Wellington Coffee was being completely gutted and re-done when we were down in January. Good to see they've re-opened in time for the post-Easter "surge"
That parking charge. Ouch!
I'm also having eye surgery in a couple of weeks -- Have you been able to figure out when *we* became our parents?
Hari OM
Angus, the Park and Ride at Straiton is free of charge, and one can stay for up to seven days... YAM xx
Kim at GP - Guess the difference is that they can do things quickly and safely today that our parents couldn't even dream of. That of course doesn't make the thought any easier.
The equipment and procedures for eye care are so different now from what our parents and their parents experienced. Once a scaredy cat, I no longer fear my opthamalogist visits after having painless cataract surgery that took no longer than 15 minutes and just a few days recovery. Once people would have to spend days lying down motionless for recovery
Angus, I hope you have fun sending aptly worded customer feedback to Edinburgh airport’s parking company, requesting a partial refund, and suggesting that for good customer service, they should provide a grace period of 30 minutes charged at perhaps 10 pounds. If nothing else, venting to them will be therapeutic, and taking up their time to send a reply more than once to you will use up some of their profits! A few years ago I queried a parking charge, imposed by a large parking company in NZ, and their unfair fee was waived.
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