© Spearing
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spearing.org.uk
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An email on Edinburgh - February 2004
Hi Leigh
So you've been up to The Smoke this week? Gower Street? I don't like the Underground
much, just something you have to use to get where you want to go.
How did the christening go? Or I hope you enjoy it, depending on when you read this.
Friends we met in Bali ! I've got friends, met mine in the pub down
the road. We do though have a few friends we have met in various parts of
Europe. The latest was last year, where the first woman we spoke to in the
hotel in Corfu knew our local Vicar and his wife.
As to Edinburgh, a great place to lose a few days, we visited the Castle, walked
most of the Royal Mile, went on a Ghost tour, did a trip round the Royal Yacht Britannia
and walked miles around the City. The weather was kind, only one afternoon
of rain, the rest clear sky and mild temperatures .
The hotel was a bit posh, which unfortunately made it expensive to drink, but we
were on full board so we set off in the morning with a hot breakfast inside us and
ended the day in the restaurant with an excellent meal. It was right in the
centre just a half mile from the Castle so very nicely positioned.
[ Side story: Twiddly in Aprica, North East Italy, also hot, slides down slope without
gloves and scrapes hands. Following day falls over hurts arm and has to be
piggy back skied down mountain (no idea how far, suggest 50m) on Instructors back.
Various other complaints follow although she seems to be 50/50 on whether
she's enjoying it or not.]
By the time you read this she'll be back home after a 26 hour coach ride, explaining
to me why her phone bill is so high for last month.
***
The Castle
The Castle is well worth a few hours, it stands at the top of a hill, very steep
on three sides, but the fourth a long slope to the Holyrood Palace down a road called
the Royal Mile. In the Castle there is a building dedicated to the Scottish
War Dead and I managed to find the page mentioning William Earl, killed at Ypres
in Belgium, during WWI. He was my Grandmothers brother and I have his service
medals on my wall. I am somewhere between 12.5% and 25% Scottish as my maternal
Grandmother was born in England of Scottish parents, it's very useful being part
Scottish, their marriage, birth and death records are so much better than ours.
Much easier to prove a line.
Edinburgh Old Town is very interesting but very commercial with one shop we went
into being owned by Indians (with Turbans not Tepees). Most of the assistants
in the shops seemed to be Americans, Australians, South Africans etc, all presumably
travelling the world. That's good, Charlotte wants to travel, it would be
nice to see she can get work and prolong her stay. We saw a Church called
Tron Kirk that when we went inside was a Visitor Centre for an underground street,
with the underground street on display in the middle of the Church.
***
The Ghost tour
So Tuesday night we have dinner early and then walk back into the Old Town to go
on a Ghost tour in the underground vaults. Our guide is five minutes late.
Her opening remark, just to Sue & I was ' I'm sorry to be late, I had
a lady faint on me during the last tour.' About twenty and wearing a long
black dress with a cloak, she was a history student from Warwickshire. Starting
from the afore-mentioned Tron Kirk, in the middle of the Royal Mile, we set off
for various nearby sites of interest. In was a fine but cold night with about
ten of us, Sue & I being the only English and definitely the oldest.
We stood very close to a wall while Felicity explained the ancient practise of throwing
your sewage into the street with a cry of 'GardyLoo' to which the RAPID reply of
'Hold your hand' would buy you a few seconds to dodge out of the way. I had
expected a bucket of water to come flying over the wall but no, this was not a frivolous
tour. We walked across the car park that concealed one of the mass graves
from the fire or plague or something, I forget quite what. Then walking a
few hundred yards further, mostly I think to disorient us, to end up at the entrance
to the vaults, a simple very non descript door in a narrow road called Nistry Street.
Here Felicity recited more blood curdling and sickening tales about various families
who had been tortured after being accused of being involved in witchcraft. All
this in a room littered with very real looking instruments of torture. Then
on to the Vaults, effectively an underground street discovered by a student several
years ago. This consisted of a long corridor or alley with four or five large
vaults. We set off fearlessly with just the tiniest amount of emergency lighting
in the alley and one torch firmly held by Guide.
One vault contained a pagan temple, they had moved from one of the other vaults
because there had been to much 'activity', one was empty, one had a rough stone
circle in it that we were advised not to step into, nobody did. Then into
the final vault, the one with the poltergeist, woman were instructed to stand only
on the right of the room as the spirit didn't like woman but tended only to affect
the left side of the vault. Several times Felicity turned off the torch while
she recounted more tales of previous visits and attacks on the people on tour. I
meanwhile, am closest to the entrance to the vault, so I am aware of the occasional
tiny scraping in the alleyway. I reckon it must either be a rat or someone
about to jump out on us. It wasn't a rat, and just because you think someone
is about to jump doesn't make it much less scary when it happens. So the jumper
jumped and screamed, we all jumped and screamed and Felicity said 'We do like to
release the tension with a good scream'. AAArrgghhhhh!
That ended the tour so we climbed out of the vaults into the upstairs bar of one
of the local pubs, for a small medicinal drink. It was quite an entertaining
hour and a half. Felicity was very good as the Guide playing the whole thing
on three levels, the over the top tour guide, the concerned tour guide issuing health
and safety warnings 'If you think you're going to faint tell me sooner rather than
later, then I can get you out quickly'. Then as we walked round she would
chat to us as herself, mostly trivial things, but then looking back, with some atmospheric
stuff thrown in which therefore had more credibility than if it had been said by
the 'Over the Top Guide. Very well done.
***
The Royal Yot Britannia
I had honestly expected it to be bigger than that that. Very nice looking
ship but not as big as I'd expected. A very good tour though, well laid out
with a good audio guide. Some interesting little facts, the name Britannia
is not painted anywhere on the hull, and she was the only ship in the Royal Navy
with a dark blue hull, as opposed to black.
Walking round she certainly shows her age, the Formica reminded me of the inside
of a caravan. The electrics were....em...old. Cable trays everywhere,
and she mostly runs on 220VDC, I bet that packs a punch! The difference between
the working side and the Royal side was quite a contrast, as you would expect. I
could happily live on the Royal side, it was very warm and inviting, a shame she
had to go.
All of the rooms are still fully kitted out, apparently it took three and a half
hours to lay the table in the State Dining Room. 56 places, I think, and the
cutlery all laid out with a tape measure. What a monumental waste of time!
I've attached pictures of Sue & me on the Veranda deck standing next to
the doorbell.
In addition to the above we walked round the Nelson Monument, the Observatory and
a few big Greek type things, all at the top of a big hill with magnificent views
of Edinburger City.
Now, remember that word that begins with S? [Shopping:Ed] I can't, but Sue reckons
she's going back with Charlotte at some time. Why? Just about every
named store you've ever heard of is on Princes Street within half a mile of each
other, I must admit, it did look like a good place to shop.
That's all for now, we're off to pick up a very tired daughter.
Good holiday though, thoroughly enjoyed it.
Tony
Additional material Nov 2009
You know I said Charlotte would love to come for the shopping. Well, her brother
got married on 12th Dec 2009 and the hen night was held in Edinburgh, sometime in
November, the details are a tightly guarded secret.
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