I Love Edinburgh

I know I said I’d write about my short trip in my Creative Writing Blog and I will do, with regards to the writing workshop bits but the non-writing related parts will be covered here...

I did a fair amount of sightseeing – SUCH a beautiful city; the buildings and parks were/are top notch. The thing I really like about Edinburgh is that it proudly wears its culture, its personality, on its sleeve (unlike Northern Ireland, whose culture is buried in Belfast’s Ulster Museum).

Day 1 (Monday, March 21st) started off slow, checking into my hostel and getting my Barings. I stayed beside Haymarket Station and strolled eastwards to Princess Street for lunch.
Well actually, before all that, I had travel – something that never goes well for me. ‘Twas quite possibly the shortest and smoothest flight I’d been on so naturally I was sick. Not to worry though, I’d been expecting this and was prepared with bag in hand.

Day 2 was busier, I tried to find an internet cafe in which to print my boarding pass for returning home but instead I was forced to join Edinburgh Library and use their facilities as I was running out of time. I think libraries should have temporary guest accounts for these kinds of things. I mean, it’s crazy that I am now a member of 3 libraries in 3 different countries (Northern Ireland, England and Scotland) but now’s probably not the time for a rant...
Joining wasn’t straightforward – these things are NEVER straightforward but I am still unsure why! I was sent all over the building, to many different floors by many different members of staff who were “in a different section from normal and don’t know where the application forms and cards are”. Eventually I ended up on the lowest floor (way below ground level) and I got my card, after which I was then told there were no computers free for at least another hour. This would have left me late for my workshop but not to worry, it was a lie. Yet another member of staff found me a computer I could use right away (on the very top floor). Upon finding it I discovered it was older than me and therefore took almost 20 minutes to boot up and log in – again, this left me late for my workshop but thankfully only by 2 minutes or so.

Another stress that plagued me throughout my stay was the use of a key-card to unlock doors and enter rooms in my hostel. You see, I have this weird effect on anything magnetic so every time I held the card wrong or for too long it stopped working and had to be reset by confused staff.

Aside from these somewhat amusing annoyances the trip was GREAT. I visited the National Gallery and a few museums (not sure why Edinburgh has so many – not that I’m complaining!) and on Day 3, before my flight home, I had coffee at Nicola Morgan’s house/flat. It was such a nice atmosphere with interesting, friendly conversation. Really set the mood for the rest of my birthday :)

*UPDATE: May 20th 2011*

You can now see all my Edinburgh photos in this cool little Slideshow Video available HERE. Enjoy :)