Days 3 & 4- Linlithgow, Vegan Babybel, and Donkeys

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Not terribly much to report for Day 3. We headed out to beautiful Linlithgow to see more family! We had a bit of a sleep in, a quick brekkie, and then hightailed it to Waverley station to catch the train. After about 20 minutes we arrived in Linlithgow and were greeted by Granny and Grumps, and we made our way over to town. Trudi and I walked around the Loch with Grumps and it started to rain- the raindrops were so icy!! Thankfully we were on our way to a warm pub where we had a table by the fire.

We had a beautiful lunch full of chatter and laughter, and it was so nice to see all of the family again! We eventually headed back to Edinburgh at about 3pm, and our original plan was to do something else when we got back but we were actually a bit exhausted, so we just came home. Ah well, can’t win them all!

Day 4 was a huge day and by far my favourite one yet. We set off for the city again, determined to get to the bank, but this time we took the scenic route which is much longer but much more beautiful. We also wanted to grab breakfast on the way but every cafe we saw just didn’t have ~the vibes~, until we eventually made it to Stockbridge area where we found the cutest place called Grams! Their colour palette is pink, grey and white and there are different little sayings printed on each table. It’s a mostly-vegan-but-all-very-healthy type place, and I had a plate full of tofu, beans, hummus and veggies (chose the option absolutely PACKED with iron, just for you Mum). It was SO good and I was SO full I could hardly move, but we really needed to sort out the bank, so off we went on another walk. We got to the bank but couldn’t do anything without an appointment, so we waited for about 15 minutes for someone to become available to book us an appointment for during the week, aaaaaand they said there was no point booking an appointment because there’s nothing they can do for us if we don’t have a permanent address. But to get a permanent address we need a bank account, and so it goes round and round and round.

So our plan now is to find a bank that doesn’t require a proof of address, and go from there. We stopped in at a few more shops along Princes street (I donated pretty much ALL of my clothes before the move and came over here with about two pairs of jeans and three shirts, so we’re doing a lot of clothes hunting) (with not much luck today unfortunately- except Bec buying a new coat), and eventually it was 2pm. Drinks time! Last time Trudi and Bec were here they found a really cool bar on the Royal Mile, so we headed there to see if we could track it down. We searched high and low, but it was nowhere to be found. So, we just stopped in at any old pub- but really, they’re all going to be pretty cool. We stayed at the Royal Mile Tavern for about 2 hours, at first sorting out the bank situation, but then putting our phones away, playing cards and having a grand old time. We eventually started the long walk home, again taking a different route than what we had previously. Bec complained the whole way about having to lumber along with her big new coat- “it’s so heavy I feel like a donkey”. We popped in to Sainsbury's to pick up some ingredients for dinner (as well as some vegan Babybel cheese which we have been very excited to try- side note, they taste just as plastic-y as the regular Babybels), and then caught a cab the rest of the way- we were very tired.

A quick nap at home, and then we had family coming over for dinner. It was such a lovely night! Lots of gin and tonics, great food, and interesting discussions about honeyjoys and Princess Diana. I'll leave you to ponder what those conversations could have possibly entailed.

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