24.11.08
Mome
A slow start to the next day but I was in no particular hurry. It seems Dumfries is a pain to get to from just about anywhere. The frequency of trains from Glasgow was not great and it would be a 2 hour trip more or less.
But this trip was about getting some quality “sitting back and watching the world go by” time.
Not too many folk on the train either but I kept getting looked at by a bloke in a reflective jacket. I think he was a guard of some sort. When we pulled in at stations he stood up and had a look along the platform but didn’t do the checking tickets thing.
Just before Dumfries I stood up to get my stuff together and then sat down on a different seat with my bag ready to go. This really made him stare. Slightly creepy.
But he didn’t follow me off the train.
Nice meetings again with another lovely friend who would be my host for the next 3 nights.
The first plan was to get to the shop. My pal is a surgeon and when we were in Morrisons we bumped into a guy who was due to go under her knife in a week or so’s time. I’m not sure he was best assured by the trolley full of cat food and booze. But we had a melon as well so that’s all right.
Back to her gorgeous place in the fields one side of the town.
We were planning a walk into town for a pub dinner but one of her pals phoned and invited us for dinner with her and her husband. Grand!
So I got a rather impressive and very tasty german meal that day. Was also v interesting sitting with 2 ortho surgeons and a radiologist. Got me some useful medical info out of the encounter and hopefully held my own in some of the discussion.
Whilst sitting around my host decides to tell everyone there how weird I am for going for foreigners. “Oh hee hee” they all went. I should point out that the woman relating the story is partnered up with a Norwegian chap and the other listeners were an English man and his German wife.
Next day was another quiet one. My host had gone off to “help mend a pelvis” so I was left chilling (literally) in the house with her cats and chickens and ducks.
Later we did the Dumfries sightseeing thing. Didn’t last long but it’s a nice enough place. Certainly much prettier than I expected.
I can’t remember much else about Friday so I’ll assume that that’s about it. I do remember sitting in front of the woodburner of the evening reading and chatting and introducing her to the delights of “The Bugle” (once the News Quiz had finished).
I had intended to go back to Edinburgh on the Saturday to be able to catch my train home but I was (easily) persuaded to stay in Dumfries. All I needed to do was travel to Carlisle and hop across to Newcastle to pick my train up there. And a good plan it was.
And it left Saturday to do stuff. So we had a little tour of Dumfries and its environs. Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright were visited. In fact Kirkcudbright was where me and K spent our first New Year’s eve as a couple. I didn’t remember anything of the town though and was reasonably surprised to discover that it had docks and that.
Besides local towns we also sat in local cafes and bought stuff in little shops and looked at statues of hares and so on. A very nice way to spend a day. And I got to hear the word “demi-johns” quite a lot.
Another evening spent in front of the woodburner. This time I thrashed her at Scrabble a couple of times as well as the reading and drinking and chatting.
And then I had to come home.
She very nicely gave me a lift to Carlisle. My train only just made it to Newcastle on time which was handy as my ticket was for that specific train rather than a specific journey.
It did slightly confuse the conductor when she saw my ticket was from Edinburgh. “But you got on at Newcastle”.
Safely home to find no burglary but also no food in the house. So I’m starving today.
Stuff to remember:
- Don’t forget your razor.
- Scotland is very nice.
- People I know in Scotland are extremely lovely.
- It’s cold up there.
- Trains are variable.
Photos of stuff are up now too.