Free Day

Mr Flum suggested a mystery bus trip, whereby we catch a bus to the city centre then take a random bus to its terminus and see where we ended up. Last time we did that we had a jolly trip to North Berwick.

Once in town we took a coffee break in the Red Cockerel (the cafe below St John's Church), where this rose was still in flower, then walked up to Princes Street to begin the adventure 

Avoiding one bus that went to a less decorous part of town we caught an LRT no.44, which terminated at Balerno, with the view (top left) of the winter wheat greening the field.

 A First Bus no. 68 arrived shortly afterwards so we jumped on and went all the way to South Queensferry, alighting at the western end of the town. We wandered along the High Street, pausing for lunch in Manna House, which has an interesting range of food including vegetarian and vegan. The light was perfect for views of the Forth Bridge (top right - as if you needed to be told).

 From below the bridge we returned to the bus stop in time to catch a Lothian Country Bus (green and white livery) no. 43, which took us through Dalmeny, from where we had a view of the sunset (bottom right) and straight back to the the West End (hurried photo bottom left) from where we caught the bus home.

We dutifully wore masks all the time on the buses, hoping they have  protected us from the chap who spent the entire No 44 journey coughing and sniffing, from the foreign chap who entertained us with music and conversation from the middle east,  from the pupils of one of the elite schools who couldn't find theirs or who found talking and breathing easier with it under their chin, from the chap who couldn't conduct his phone conversation wearing one - if he had one to wear - and the man who wanted the windows closed because he was cold.

A full and interesting day, all travel on our passes: so free. The masks are in the wash and, just in case, we have dosed ourselves with elderberry rob, we'll be doing a lateral flow test tomorrow and Sunday as usual.