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Published: August 26th 2009
Finally arriving at Edinburgh Airport was such a relief…we had approximately 4 hours sleep (having had to leave the hotel in Hong Kong just after 4 a.m. but having set the clock to the wrong time, thereby having the alarm going off at 2 a.m!) and had been travelling all day. It was 5.45 p.m. Edinburgh time but 12.45 a.m. the following day in “real time” for our body clocks) so we were like half shut knives when we stepped off the plane. It was so great to see Tom waiting for us, and after a short drive to their home, Sian at the front door. How wonderful it was to be back here again, and to see them both! We stayed up chatting for as long as we could, and after some ‘dinner’ (which according to my watch, still set at Hong Kong time was at 3 a.m.!) we finally succumbed to the tiredness and went to bed.
After a lovely, and much needed breakfast, we set off for a walk and walked from South Queensferry, across the Forth Road bridge (approx 2 km) to North Queensferry - FIFE. It felt surreal, literally putting one foot forward and crossing
over into the Kingdom of Fife, a place so full of history for our family. I thought of Dad and Mum and felt them smiling down on me.
There was absolutely NOTHING open in North Queensferry, and all three of us women needed to pee (no public toilets within sight or walking distance!) so we knocked on the door of a Hotel and the kind owner opened up just for us and served us home-baked cakes and muffins, tea, coffee and juice (as well as letting us use their bathroom, of course). It was so lovely of them as the staff were not there yet and they weren’t opening for another hour and a half!
We caught the train back so that we could go across the Forth Rail Bridge, accidentally buying ‘return’ tickets (oh well…and no, we hadn’t started drinking…yet!), then walked back to South Queensferry, via Sian’s Charity Shop and a lovely wine bar (Orocco Pier), where we had a nibbley or two. Of course, you cannot sit in a wine bar for long without any wine (or beer) so we had a few pints and two bottles of wine, while we talked, looked out at
the two bridges, and people watched.
There was a wedding being held just up the road and the wedding party (including groom) all came in for a ‘quick pint’ BEFORE the ceremony. And quick it was!! I have never seen alcohol drunk so quickly before in my life (and that is saying something!), with the women equally as impressive as the men. By the time we left to continue our walk back home (slightly more resembling a stagger, I must say), the pipes were playing. At the banks of the Forth, with the magnificent bridges striking against the sky, bagpipes playing in the background, there was no mistaking that I was in my ‘homeland’.
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LJ
non-member comment
This was such a beautiful and sentimental blog.....you made my eyes fill with tears, as I remembered the exact same feeling 'of being home' when I was there! x