Porty

Jez was, apparently, out of the house at 4am to catch his flight to Orlando where he is doing some work. The rest of us were meeting for breakfast. Those of us staying in the Premier Inn met up about 9:15am. Parking at the soft play centre, we walked to The Espy. I saw some of the places opening up as we walked looking out at the water - hello Van Munchalot! - but we were the first to arrive and so were seated in a big booth. Even then, when the the food arrived, it was a bit of a squash.  Three Espy big breakfasts (the ones with the haggis); three bacon rolls and two waffle and eggs were ordered and duly arrived with assorted coffees and juices.  Fantastic comfort food but probably very unhealthy.  Dad decided to pay in spite of the rest of us complaining. It was very generous. 

We walked back along the waterfront. It’s such a lovely view across the Firth of Forth and Portobello really came alive while we were eating breakfast.  There was bit of a breeze but watching people walk dogs along the promenade and along the sands, look out across the water searching for boats and trying to determine what is where on the horizon, was a nice way to pass some time.  All too soon it was time to say goodbye: some were all off up north for the remainder of the Easter break and Mum and Dad were starting their traffic jam ridden eight hour drive back to Shrewsbury. PY and I were taking a bus into central Edinburgh where we stopped for a coffee and walked the length of Prince’s Street before making our way to Waverley station to board the 2pm south. 

Not long after we had arrived at the station, and with about 25 minutes before departure, the platform was announced and we found our seats. This return journey was much busier and there were plenty of announcements recommending that people didn’t travel without a reservation because there were few free seats. It was possible to reserve seats on some of the later trains.  And we were onboard early, we had to watch the carriage fill up with people who then had to keep moving as they were occupying somebody’s allocated seat. A lady to the right of me took up two seats with a large dog - which then decided to lie in the middle of the aisle- and it all made me wonder why we don’t make seat reservations mandatory on inter-city trains?

The journey itself was uneventful. Again, I listened to podcasts rather than read or watch anything: a very entertaining podcast with Hugh Lawrie and James O’Brien took up an hour. At one point on the way south it was standing room only between the train cars and as soon as a large group got off in Darlington (or somewhere around there) I took the opportunity to go to the buffet car before it filled up again. We rolled into King’s Cross a little later than advertised but with enough time to across to St Pancras for a train to Wimbledon Chase. The walk back allowed us to pick up some things from Tesco for dinner.

We ended the day starting to watch Blue Lights, a Belfast-based police drama on the iPlayer, which was really well done and had us quite hooked. We were two episodes in before we knew it.  I decided it was acceptable to eat a Cream Egg because tomorrow the diet starts again.