Shopping

We started the morning with pancakes, always a crowd pleaser (although I had a brief panic when I thought I had no Nutella!). Showers and faffing about for a while then we finally got ready to walk into town. Of course we needed to stop first at the bagpipe shop! Lots of chat with the assistant who, dressed appropriately in full kilt, gave him a demo of a set of the pipes. Talk about gazing on in wonder…he was transfixed! We chatted about the merits of starting just with a chanter to get used to covering the holes and making the sound before contemplating a full set with drones and bag etc. whilst we chatted to him, Mt and AR were looking at guitars as she’s been wanting to start lessons at school. So, we ended up getting both a chanter and a guitar, leaving them at the shop to collect later whilst we went into town. They were super excited, but managed to contain themselves whilst we went to the jewellery shop to look at the necklace I’d reserved for H’s birthday. All agreed she would love it, so we got it wrapped up and walked home again, collecting the instruments on our way.
Once home there was an explosion of noise as both started playing/experimenting with the sounds they could make….oh my! They phoned H to show her and let her prepare for what she’d be experiencing soon when they go home!
Lunch then the heavens opened and I struggled with a hotel website to organise us staying there before the funeral…ridiculous how unnecessarily complicated it was! Once the rain had gone off I nipped round to collect my rings that were being resized…lovely to have them back and fitting perfectly.
We decided to go down to the museum for a wander. As always, lots to see and to amuse and interest them. Mx very taken by the film about volcanoes as “lava is very satisfying to watch”! We spent quite a while in the animal section, looking at spiders and snakes, and there was a lot of discussion about which of the larger exhibits were stuffed dead animals and which were models. AR loved the crystal filled rocks. We then went on a hunt for anything from Tudor times (her favourite) but no luck…the earliest fashion was late 18th century and they weren’t that taken with the cultures and civilisation rooms, but engaged again when we got to technology and had great fun experimenting with pulleys, hot air balloons, robots and propellers. Mx was pleased to find the astronaut suit to peep through the helmet of.
It was nearly time to meet S for dinner so we went to see Greyfriars Bobby then had a wander around EFI which is so nearly complete and just needs a tidy up now the contractors are all but finished there. Lots of questions about it from AR and Mx and nice to tell them and Mt the story of developing the plans and building. We arrived in Paolozzi’s just before S, a friend of Mt’s from PhD days who’s back in Edinburgh before starting a new 5year grant project in Exeter. We talked about her plans and the logistics whilst we waited for the pizzas (they brought her the wrong one so had to redo, and forgot AR’s so we had almost a two shift dinner…not great despite being tasty ones once we all got them!). The weans were very patient and relatively quiet but we decided not to risk another chunk of time for dessert so walked back together, stopping for a while in the play park in the Meadows to enjoy the early evening sun. Lots of near hysterical laughter from them, both very tired, but we managed to stay just the right side of chaos and it didn’t end in tears as it so easily could have done!
They giggled and chased and skipped their way home and we put Mx straight to bed. AR watched an episode of the Dog House with us, oohing and aahing over all the dogs being adopted, then had some cough medicine and head to bed. Mt was totally absorbed in searching for houses in Edinburgh and surroundings that they could buy if they sold their London house. He was very tickled to find an East Lothian 14th century castle…probably not practical! I’d love it if they came up here but doubt it will happpen….