Scotland holiday 2009 report
If you read the bottom of my previous entry, you'll know that my brother and I once again went up to bonnie Scotland last month. For the most part, it felt more or less similar to my holiday last year, but then again, I like to stick to certain routines. :P
We got off to a dodgy start on the Monday morning when the news said that Bramley station had been partially vandalised and had some electric cables stolen, meaning we couldn't get our train from Bradford Interchange as was printed on our ticket, so we had to get it from Leeds train station instead. Our first train was only 3 cars long, so it became so full so quickly that we had to stand up all the way to York (and I was unlucky enough to have to stand next to some annoying, noisy toddlers). Then, as we were changing trains for Edinburgh, we were notified that our next train was delayed by over an hour! Not wanting to hang around at the station all that time, we had a short walk through town and got as far as York Minster, so I could take a few pics of it and thus accomplish what I couldn't at my York trip with Sacar back in April. When we finally got our second train, we ended up at Edinburgh a bit later than we expected, and that gave us less time to go round Princes Street and the Royal Mile and wherever else while the shops were still open than it did last year.
During what little time I had before dusk, I saw an exhibition that was being held at Princes Mall, which was showing various strange and humorous signs from around the world (with such messages as "Be Aware Of Invisibility", "Toad Suck Park, Next Right" and "Dead Peoples Things For Sale"). Some of them were dotted around the building, and I tried to snap as many as I could, but the battery in my camera went flat before I could snap the last few signs by the top floor entrance. Still, I managed to buy a couple of sign-bearing fridge magnets as well as the first of the exhibition's two Signspotting books from the little shop stand they had.
Moving forward to tea time; normally, on the first night of my stay, I like to go to the Pizza Hut on Lothian Road, but their oven had malfunctioned at the time, so we went over to the one on Castle Street instead. Castle Street's Pizza Hut tends to have better service than most other Pizza Huts in the immediate area (There's one on Frederick Street, another on Hanover Street and yet another on North Bridge by the Old Town).
Oh yeah, back at the hotel, our room was a mirrored version of the rooms we used to stay in previously, so the bed, TV and bathroom were on their respective other side, and I said to my brother that I remember staying in a room just like this about 6 years ago, and it was either the one we were in this year (Room 331) or the one nextdoor (Room 330).
Roll on Tuesday, I went to Kirkcaldy again. It rained slightly, so it was the first time I used my new, automatic umbrella. Had lunch at McDonalds and went straight over to Leven, taking either the 7 or 7A bus, which only cost £3.35 and only took half an hour to get there, unlike the 1 hour 50 minute travel with all of Fife's No. 6 buses (Had to change buses partway through, but it was free, so no biggy). Usual routine at Leven: leisure centre, amusements, and stay around for a short while before heading back to Edinburgh. The amusements had pretty much the same machines as it did last year, but their Metal Slug 6 machine wasn't working and just had an "Error Z80" message on the screen. At the coin-pushing machines, I won, not one, but two prizes, both of which were lollipops, and I still have them because I don't think I'd like their taste. As I was beating Point Blank for the umpteenth time, a couple of kids were watching me play and one of them asked me if I've played it before, to which I confidently replied "Yes". On my walk along Leven's beach, I went in the opposite direction from where those huts were situated, so I was moving towards the abandoned seaside power station at Methil (which is right next door to Leven). It was very quiet in that part as no one usually walks along that part of the shoreline, so I was able to have a little private time all to myself. As usual, I felt like I could just stay here forever, but eventually I had to get back to Edinburgh.
Went to Dundee again on Wednesday, and for once, the weather turned out really nice. I must've spent more time going around the town centre this year than I ever did before, it was that good. Their McDonald's was having a deal on where they give away Coca-Cola can-shaped glasses free with every Large Value Meal. I always have that meal whenever I go to a McDonald's, so I was able to bag myself one of the 6 glasses in the set. I got the aqua-coloured one. After lunch, I walked around a little bit more and then headed for the Olympia Leisure Centre, where I went swimming again, before heading back to Edinburgh.
Headed over to Burntisland on Thursday. The weather was just as nice as it was the previous day. I got really lucky at Burntisland's amusements place; one of the coin-pushing machines dropped piles of coins almost every time I put one in! I was like for every coin I played, I got 10 back! I was kept in there for about 2 hours, playing on the same machine. Eventually, though, my luck had to run out, so after I was done there, I went through the summer fair they have at the park, where, for once, they had a Dancing Stage (or Dance Dance Revolution, if you're American) game that wasn't Euromix 2; it was Fusion 2. I didn't play on it, though. There isn't a McDonald's at Burntisland, so I bought my lunch at the local Co-op shop and had some of it by the beach. Afterwards, I was a little short on time, so I quickly headed into the Beacon Leisure Centre before it would be too late. Spent about an hour and a half in there before once again returning to Edinburgh.
Finally, went to Dunfermline on Friday, and my brother came with me. As luck would have it, however, it began to rain when we got there. Despite that, we went and looked at the new section of the Kingsgate shopping centre as well as the town's new bus station behind it. We also went round Pittencrieff Park. The McDonald's in Dunfermline also had that free Coca-Cola glass deal that the one in Dundee had, but I ended up getting a second glass of the same colour as my first one as I assumed that the only blue ones they had left were the deep blue ones, not the aqua blue ones. Doesn't really bother me, though - 2 glasses are better than 1. Anyway, had it not been raining all day, my brother and I would've probably stayed around in Dunfermline for another couple of hours or so, but I desperately wanted to get back to Edinburgh after we went round Pittencrieff Park and get back to the hotel, away from the dreary weather.
It rained a bit on the Saturday when we came back, too, but that didn't matter much this time as we were sheltered from it most of the time. Due to circumstances, we arranged for our parents to meet us at New Pudsey instead of taking the train all the way back to Bradford, and when we got there, the Sun came out for a short time. We had to wait about half an hour or so before our parents showed up and took us back home.
And that's how my Scotland holiday went down this year.
If you're interested in seeing those funny signs, I've got several pictures of them on my Flickr account.
We got off to a dodgy start on the Monday morning when the news said that Bramley station had been partially vandalised and had some electric cables stolen, meaning we couldn't get our train from Bradford Interchange as was printed on our ticket, so we had to get it from Leeds train station instead. Our first train was only 3 cars long, so it became so full so quickly that we had to stand up all the way to York (and I was unlucky enough to have to stand next to some annoying, noisy toddlers). Then, as we were changing trains for Edinburgh, we were notified that our next train was delayed by over an hour! Not wanting to hang around at the station all that time, we had a short walk through town and got as far as York Minster, so I could take a few pics of it and thus accomplish what I couldn't at my York trip with Sacar back in April. When we finally got our second train, we ended up at Edinburgh a bit later than we expected, and that gave us less time to go round Princes Street and the Royal Mile and wherever else while the shops were still open than it did last year.
During what little time I had before dusk, I saw an exhibition that was being held at Princes Mall, which was showing various strange and humorous signs from around the world (with such messages as "Be Aware Of Invisibility", "Toad Suck Park, Next Right" and "Dead Peoples Things For Sale"). Some of them were dotted around the building, and I tried to snap as many as I could, but the battery in my camera went flat before I could snap the last few signs by the top floor entrance. Still, I managed to buy a couple of sign-bearing fridge magnets as well as the first of the exhibition's two Signspotting books from the little shop stand they had.
Moving forward to tea time; normally, on the first night of my stay, I like to go to the Pizza Hut on Lothian Road, but their oven had malfunctioned at the time, so we went over to the one on Castle Street instead. Castle Street's Pizza Hut tends to have better service than most other Pizza Huts in the immediate area (There's one on Frederick Street, another on Hanover Street and yet another on North Bridge by the Old Town).
Oh yeah, back at the hotel, our room was a mirrored version of the rooms we used to stay in previously, so the bed, TV and bathroom were on their respective other side, and I said to my brother that I remember staying in a room just like this about 6 years ago, and it was either the one we were in this year (Room 331) or the one nextdoor (Room 330).
Roll on Tuesday, I went to Kirkcaldy again. It rained slightly, so it was the first time I used my new, automatic umbrella. Had lunch at McDonalds and went straight over to Leven, taking either the 7 or 7A bus, which only cost £3.35 and only took half an hour to get there, unlike the 1 hour 50 minute travel with all of Fife's No. 6 buses (Had to change buses partway through, but it was free, so no biggy). Usual routine at Leven: leisure centre, amusements, and stay around for a short while before heading back to Edinburgh. The amusements had pretty much the same machines as it did last year, but their Metal Slug 6 machine wasn't working and just had an "Error Z80" message on the screen. At the coin-pushing machines, I won, not one, but two prizes, both of which were lollipops, and I still have them because I don't think I'd like their taste. As I was beating Point Blank for the umpteenth time, a couple of kids were watching me play and one of them asked me if I've played it before, to which I confidently replied "Yes". On my walk along Leven's beach, I went in the opposite direction from where those huts were situated, so I was moving towards the abandoned seaside power station at Methil (which is right next door to Leven). It was very quiet in that part as no one usually walks along that part of the shoreline, so I was able to have a little private time all to myself. As usual, I felt like I could just stay here forever, but eventually I had to get back to Edinburgh.
Went to Dundee again on Wednesday, and for once, the weather turned out really nice. I must've spent more time going around the town centre this year than I ever did before, it was that good. Their McDonald's was having a deal on where they give away Coca-Cola can-shaped glasses free with every Large Value Meal. I always have that meal whenever I go to a McDonald's, so I was able to bag myself one of the 6 glasses in the set. I got the aqua-coloured one. After lunch, I walked around a little bit more and then headed for the Olympia Leisure Centre, where I went swimming again, before heading back to Edinburgh.
Headed over to Burntisland on Thursday. The weather was just as nice as it was the previous day. I got really lucky at Burntisland's amusements place; one of the coin-pushing machines dropped piles of coins almost every time I put one in! I was like for every coin I played, I got 10 back! I was kept in there for about 2 hours, playing on the same machine. Eventually, though, my luck had to run out, so after I was done there, I went through the summer fair they have at the park, where, for once, they had a Dancing Stage (or Dance Dance Revolution, if you're American) game that wasn't Euromix 2; it was Fusion 2. I didn't play on it, though. There isn't a McDonald's at Burntisland, so I bought my lunch at the local Co-op shop and had some of it by the beach. Afterwards, I was a little short on time, so I quickly headed into the Beacon Leisure Centre before it would be too late. Spent about an hour and a half in there before once again returning to Edinburgh.
Finally, went to Dunfermline on Friday, and my brother came with me. As luck would have it, however, it began to rain when we got there. Despite that, we went and looked at the new section of the Kingsgate shopping centre as well as the town's new bus station behind it. We also went round Pittencrieff Park. The McDonald's in Dunfermline also had that free Coca-Cola glass deal that the one in Dundee had, but I ended up getting a second glass of the same colour as my first one as I assumed that the only blue ones they had left were the deep blue ones, not the aqua blue ones. Doesn't really bother me, though - 2 glasses are better than 1. Anyway, had it not been raining all day, my brother and I would've probably stayed around in Dunfermline for another couple of hours or so, but I desperately wanted to get back to Edinburgh after we went round Pittencrieff Park and get back to the hotel, away from the dreary weather.
It rained a bit on the Saturday when we came back, too, but that didn't matter much this time as we were sheltered from it most of the time. Due to circumstances, we arranged for our parents to meet us at New Pudsey instead of taking the train all the way back to Bradford, and when we got there, the Sun came out for a short time. We had to wait about half an hour or so before our parents showed up and took us back home.
And that's how my Scotland holiday went down this year.
If you're interested in seeing those funny signs, I've got several pictures of them on my Flickr account.