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Published: December 16th 2017
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Opening the front door led to sharp intakes of breath from us all as the cold hit us, even with an extra layer on each it seemed far worse than the day before. Woolly says – I had decided on the wise option of wearing all three of my Christmas jumpers, no decisions to make on which one and extra layers of warmth. I’d already kicked Jo as I heard her sniggering about the Michelin man and obviously inferring that I’m am putting on wait, having pointed out that I needed it in these climates I led the way down the path and towards the Ocean Terminal once again. Our first port of call….. go on you’ll get it eventually….. was to the terminal itself and one of Edinburgh’s top tourist attractions. We had all agreed that this had to be on our list of places to visit and having arrived in a shopping mall I was more concerned about keeping Zoe focussed on our destination rather than the sparkly shops that surrounded us. Woolly says – Two floors up and we found ourselves entering a bygone era, leaving the women to sort out the finances I wandered towards the first of the information boards which also showed a rather good photograph of Mrs Queen, never understood why she has ‘The’ as a first name but then that’s royalty for you. The boards gave us a detailed account of the Royal yachts that have been manufactured since the days of King Charles II, the ranged from galleons to the much more modern looking ships that grace our seas today.
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia, also known as the Royal Yacht Britannia, was in service from 1954 until 1997 and was the 83rd such vessel since 1660 to cut through the oceans around the world carrying the British Monarch safely. During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than a million nautical miles around the globe, now retired from royal service, she is now berthed in the port of Leith. Having read our way round we were handed an audio guide and directed towards the start of the tour proper. Woolly says – Then engine room was full of strange pipes in sky blue colours and wooden cases instruments, I struggled to reach the phones to summon my servants with a few snacks to keep me going for the long cruise ahead, sighing in exasperation I trotted off to see where the staff were hiding.
Hoping that he wouldn’t get himself into too much trouble we followed his sticky footprints from his marmalade accident at breakfast, pausing to look at the decks and the view of the port. Woolly says – I found myself considering the official office with a long table for meetings and some rather natty 50’s chairs, next door was a very dated kitchen, once I had found my staff I could look at doing a bit of a refurb. My rolls had at least arrived, it’s always useful to have a runabout on state visits. The sun deck was clearly lying as I peered upwards it showed only thick grey clouds, I shivered and headed towards the bedrooms. A very ornate compass graced the deck, known as a binnacle, carved from a single piece of mahogany, it had originally graced the decks of the Royal George in 1817 becoming traditional for it to be used on every royal yacht thereafter. The warmth inside was welcome and we paused to listen to our audio tapes and admire the Queens bedroom. I smiled at spying another corgi which we had been spotting all over the boat, although looking more closely…….
Woolly says – Dam it she’d spotted me! I crept slowly across the bedside rug hoping she wouldn’t see me. The bedroom itself was large and with the single bed, by request of the Queen, it had plenty of room to prepare yourself for a night on board. Next door was the Duke of Edinburgh’s accommodation with more of a library feel to it. I realised that my companions were heading up some stairs and rather than loose them again climbed up after them, might be tie for a snack. We’d beaten him to it for once, we warmed our cold fingers and paws on tea cups in the finest china served from a silver teapot, very swish and I’m sure they won’t miss one small napkin! Woolly says – I can’t take her anywhere but being a paper one I thought she might get away with it. Down through the ship we went, the next deck had the officer’s bunks, mess areas (although it didn’t seem much of a mess to me) and the kitchens were there food would be cooked. Kitchens on lower level decks would have fed the lower ranks in their own mess rooms. The official dining room was huge and fully laid out for my dinner, the staff however were still on the missing list. The living room was wonderful, chintz in essence, but was cosy and comfortable, the Royal Christmas Tree stood proudly in the door way, I wondered what I might be getting this year, maybe a yacht of my own!
I knew what he was thinking but he wasn’t getting the other seven hundred and fifty-two things already on his list! Woolly says – We had arrived in the quarters with rows of beds and lockers for all of the crew to sleep, eat and enjoy leisure time, you would seriously have to get on well with everyone to live in that much of a confined space. No parping at night then! The hospital area with its own dentist and medical beds smelt of disinfectant while the laundry next door was scented with fragrant soap powder. The laundry was huge, but, was part of the ability for the yacht to be turned into a hospital ship in times of war which it could do within twenty-four hours of being messaged, impressive.
The whole exhibition had been impressive and defiantly worth a visit, ensuring we had all our layers on and pulled our hats on more tightly we headed to the bus and our next part of the day. Woolly says – The bus was crowded as were the main streets of the city, it was a seething mass of humans all trying to get somewhere, I shivered and suggested checking out an old sweet in Jo’s bag and left them to it. The Christmas market looked incredible but scary, as we linked arms and joined the hoards. It was manic and rather than follow the main body of people we headed to a slightly quieter part and caught our breath. Woolly says – The tiny cabins were glowing with colours and wonderful smells, I stuck my trunk into the air and could almost taste the German sausages, the fish and vinegary chips with a faint scent of mulled wine, well that’s where Jo will be heading.
Well it would be rude not to after the effort the stall holders had put in! Woolly says – We moved very slowly through the stands looking at decorations, scarves, leather work and all manner of Christmas related goodies, the colours of the stalls with the flashing lights of the nearby fairground were delicious, even better if there were five thousand less people. Having supped our mulled wine and hot chocolates and sadly failed to find any chestnuts we gradually shuffled our way to an exit and the promise of a warm house to defrost in. Woolly says – As the bus pulled away the lights of all the whole market blazed across the whole of the city, Las Vegas eat your heart out.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Great photo
We always try to go to hospitals when we travel and see how they differ or are the same. Great shot.