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It was my grand idea to leave for Edinburgh at 6am so we could fit in as much as possible. I let Glyn drive first and promptly fell back asleep, you would think I'd planned it... After a 4.5 hour journey, we arrived in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. We were to be staying with Saul, Helen and baby Maisie in their flat for a couple of days. I'd briefly met Saul at a Ministry gig many years ago and he didn't even remember meeting me! However, we have conversed online for many years on Ministry related forums.
After meeting Helen and Maisie (the cutest baby in the world), we all walked the short distance up the cobbled streets into the centre of Edinburgh. Saul works in the tourism industry so was able to very kindly sort us free entry to Edinburgh's attractions and he walked us around for a while, including a trip to his favourite record store.
On our way to Scotland, we'd seen fake tartan hats attached to ginger wigs for sale in the service stations. In Edinburgh, we saw an entire stag party wearing them - oh dear - I hope some Scots folk beat them up later.
Edinburgh does seem to be awash with Stag parties that we were told are usually worse for wear by the time most people are going out.
Edinburgh Dungeon has actors scaring the crap out of you with historic and horrific tales of the city, so we started there. The tour includes some re-enactments of true family friendly stories of torture, with jumps and frights until finally you get hung...well it's a ride that drops you next a to noose and you can pay a lot of money for a photograph of it. Local legends that were brought to life included the Green Lady and the Sawney Bean Cannibal family.
Mary King's Court was our next stop: and underground warren of the old alleys and dwellings of Medieval Edinburgh that was abandoned in the 1750s when the General Assembly was built over it. People over 5 foot 8 had to watch their heads as our guide told us of the dark, smelly and cramped history of the area. Some of it was very steep and given how they stuffed families of 10 into small rooms who would throw all their waste directly into the street twice a day, I
think it would have been humming with human fumes as thick as mustard.
Afterwards we headed up the Royal Mile, past various kilt wearing bag pipe players, to Edinburgh Castle. It's quite a big castle with armour, canons, paintings etc. There are also the Scottish Crown Jewels and tales of their history.
It had been a log day with no food so we went to The Royal McGregor as Saul said it had the best haggi in Edinburgh - freshly caught each day. Sadly there was no veggie option, but Glyn loved his meaty haggis, after a starter of Cullen Skink.
We headed back to Saul and Helen's flat where Maisie was watching the maddest kid's TV show - 'Yo Gabba Gabba' - check it out on Netflix! Saul was already out setting up his decks for DJing at the Oh Bar. We walked up with Helen and her brother to the bar and listened to Saul play a very wide variety of tunes as a Kiss gig played soundlessly on a screen behind him. We stayed out until 11.30, but started to flag as we'd been up since 5am, so headed back for a sound night's sleep.
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Stacey Conley
non-member comment
Piss army forever :-)
I love that you met up with Saul and his family! Have a great time. I always enjoy reading about your adventures.