13. Scotland; Arrival

Friday 3 January, 1992  7:30 a.m. train, Audley End to Cambridge.  9:24 a.m. train Cambridge to Peterborough.  10:45 a.m. train, Peterborough to Edinburgh.  Carlton Highland Hotel.  Sunrise in Edinburgh: 8:43; Sunset: 3:51.

 8:15 a.m.  It is still quite dark outside, though the sun is up with a fresh breeze from the southwest.  With Cathy's parents now gone, the hectic pace of Christmas is almost over, though I have spent more time watching TV in the last 10 days than in our previous five or six months.

 1:05 p.m.  Leaving Newcastle, aboard the Royal Scotsman (the name of the BritRail train).  Big river in Newcastle (the Tyne, just north of the Wear [Weir]), city is on hills, high over the river.  Grey day with patches of blue.  We've just been through the greyest part (was it that grey in Cork?), then showers.  A bit brighter now.  It's a windy day as well, weather blowing down from Scotland, supposedly leaving bright skies behind.  This is more enjoyable than driving, more relaxed.  Have a beer, look out the window.  The fields are very green.  The trees are completely bare. 

 English notes: ivy or holly on statues in churches (statues in Trinity, stations at Saffron Walden's Our Lady of Compassion).  Sunday before last we were at Our Lady of Compassion.  It was either my vision or a vision: I saw a halo around Fr. Edmund's head!  (No one else's!)

 The train: 1st leg: Peterborough to York.  109 mph average.  York to Newcastle was not fast because of "signaling problem" and we are now 15 minutes behind.  Buffet service.  Empty the litter baskets en route (picking out the garbage, not using a new sack).

 Flat lands north of Cambridge and around Ely are water filled.  Ely on a hillside with boats and a marina on a small river, huge cathedral on the hill.

 Moles and their mounds of dirt.  Moles have been described to me on our monthly walks with the Saffron Walden Walking Society as "black, silky creatures."

 This time of year the legs (branches/trunks) of the hedges are visible, thick and well spaced on the bottom, thick and thin branched at top.  I mistook a row once for a line of cattle.

Mara and Jeffrey--
Discussing Scotish History?

A Lunch Break from Sightseeing

After a Hard Day of Sightseeing

Back in the Room

Edinburgh--The Castle and Old Town

Saturday 4 January. 6:42 p.m. Carlton Highland Hotel, Edinburgh. Sitting in the hotel room, reading Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Mid Lothian. Thomas in the adjoining room watching TV, the rest of the children are at the pool with Cathy. I am awaiting the police in order to give a statement about my mugging a little less than an hour ago.