Friday 21 July 2023
I had some shopping errands, though not urgent ones, and an enthusiasm for a city fix, so I drove/caught the train to Edinburgh yesterday. I walked a lot, had plenty of coffee/cake/ice cream treats (toffee popcorn ice cream; hello, why had we never been acquainted before?). I take it back, no cake, just a baguette from a French deli. I looked at a lot of cake though (how on earth did I manage not to buy any?!), but I did buy meringues for my friend Becky’s visit this weekend (it’s fine, if she doesn’t like them I can have two). Cheese was the main purpose for the French deli visit and I came home with a cow, sheep and goat’s worth of French cheeses. And charcuterie. And pain au chocolat. Hmm, yes, a few more bits and bobs too.
I had a really lovely day and, as ever, loved walking around Edinburgh, Edinburgh in particular but also a city. When I first arrived at Waverley station and walked towards John Lewis (a shopping errand), I felt very much like an outsider, a non-city person. I feel like my mouth was open in awe at all the people, the choices of shops and places to eat and drink. Within maybe half an hour, I felt re-absorbed into being in a city and I loved it. For the final half an hour before I caught a train back, I had to walk along a short stretch of Royal Mile and down to the station. Horrid. I was completely done with my city fix at that point and, as ever, I was very happy to get back into my car after the train and, via a supermarket and diesel, get on the road through the remote, sparsely-populated countryside back home. I really do seem to love both, city and middle of nowhere.
Something else I notice increasingly about my visits to cities, more than the small towns around Scottish Borders, which I usually just go to for food and other household essentials, is how much more expensive things are and how much easier it is to spend far more money than you expect to spend. But we do now have an impressive cheese selection in the fridge and I did eat and drink very well in Edinburgh.