Summer 2012 - Day 9

Today, was a good day for stories. I got up early, but then went back to sleep and got up later. I discovered that some of my toiletries were missing, and figured that the Australian, who had just moved to a different room, had mistakenly assumed they were left by previous people, and took them. Then I accidentally blamed the French girls for taking them when I temporarily forgot that I had moved the remaining toiletries to another location. But I fixed this error, and left a note for the Australian.

The missing toiletry debacle really shook me, and it was like 9:30, so I arranged for a cab to the Kings Cross station, instead of taking the tube. The cab got to the hostel faster than I was expecting, but I was more or less ready to go. The cabbie had a non-British accent, and I found out that he was from Portugal.

At the train station, I got my ticket, then found some food, and navigated my way to the train. Then I got on the train, and was relieved to see that it was a Quiet car. I settled into my seat, and some bloke sat next to me. I attempted to give the evil eye to some guys who were being loud, consumed my consumables, and watched as my seatmate ordered 4 cans of Stella Artois from the drink cart for our 4.5 hour trip, starting at 10am.

I sat and wrote as we made our way up the east side of the island, and got more and more irritated by the loud guys in the seats ahead of me. I contemplated how I would confront them, then got up and enacted my plan with one set. Those guys were pretty receptive, but then someone told me that another set of guys were the real problem, so I asked them the same questions

Me: Can you read?
Guy: Yes
Me: [pointing to the Quiet Car sign] Can you read this to me?
Guy: This is a Quiet Car

The other guys were apologetic when we got to this point, but these guys doubled down and attempted to distract me from the issue at hand by asking me where I was going. Other people on the car got up to defend me, and indicate that I wasn't the only person irritated with their loud jokes and constant laughing. We got to a point where I was comfortable sitting back down, since the point had been made. I quickly identified these guys as common bullies, whose mothers' must have been unable to teach them some shame. They kept making comments about the encounter, and saying things like, "you can't do that on this car," but they were significantly quieter. I contemplated getting up and asking them if their mothers' had attempted to teach them some shame, but decided that no more theatrics were necessary.

After my seatmate's 2nd or 3rd beer, he started talking to me about stuff, and asked me where I was going. I was berated for my American accent, and learned that it is not Edinburough, it is Edinburgh, which is still not that easy to say properly with an American accent (and it makes me feel like a pompous twit).

He also talked about how we say aluminium wrong, and I tried to point out how Americans simplified the language in the early 20th century, and we actually removed that last i, too create Aluminum, but he was having none of it. We also discussed british television shows, and he didn't think too highly of the shows I watched - Peep Show, Dr. Who, as examples - but then got into American shows he liked. When he said that he liked Two and a Half Men, I realized that his opinions about television were completely irrelevant to me. I continued to smile and nod, to the best of my ability, and learned that my seatmate was in the British Army. He had hung out with some Navy Seals in the US once, and discovered that the Navy guys had been given a card with the following warning on it for hanging out with British soldiers: Do not drink, do not gamble, you will lose. My seatmate loved that they had this card, and I found it amusing too. The long and short is that British Military personnel can drink American Military personnel under the table. I just hope that the British NHS is good at treating liver disease.

As we got closer to Scotland, I moved to a different seat to have a better view of the water, took some videos, and braced myself for motion sickness that was being brought on, in part, due to lack of nutrients. My seatmate went and got himself a 5th beer as well, since the train was about 40 minutes late. There were also like 500 million people on the train, which is partially why the Quiet car was so chaotic. Eventually, we pulled into the Edinburgh station, and I got off the train, making sure not to make eye contact with the bullies as I walked past them.

I exited the train, and hoped that Friend would be at the station to meet me. Soon enough, I heard a familiar voice call my name, and hugged my friend.

Friend guided me through the crowded cobblestone streets of Edinburgh - during Festival time. Along the way, Friend told me that back in the 12th or 13th century, some disease worked its way through Edinburgh. Rather than cart off all of the bodies, the great people of the town decided to just build new buildings on top of all the bodies, and this is why Edinburgh cannot have an underground subway system. After several blocks, we got to a restaurant that served mussels. It wasn't the restaurant recommended by my seatmate on the train, and there was a wait, but the prospect of continuing to walk around to find another eating place, with my full purse and suitcase, was so overwhelming. Eventually, we had a seat, and I ordered a three course meal, with a goat cheese salad as a starter, a curried dish with mussels and other seafoods, and a dessert of some kind. The food was delicious, and we had great conversation. I learned, from Friend, that the real risk from the astronauts that went to the moon was not from moon germs, but from moon dust. Apparently, the dust is made of very fine, sharp particulates, and breathing them in would tear up one's lungs and KILL YOU. So, I guess, thank goodness for that modified Airstream Mobile Quarantine Unit, after all. Oh, I also had a bite of Friend's haggis, which wasn't so bad.

After eating, we went to Friend's dorm building, and I dropped off my things. We sat around for a while, and maybe I showered, before getting ready to leave. After a last minute pants-changing, we were off to meet with Friend's friends, for a pub crawl. We went to this yuppy Scottish pub, and stood around and talked for a while, until Friend decided that we had been there long enough, so we left. Then we went to one of the University buildings that was now part of the art festival, and toured some installations. Then we walked through the festival, and went to another school building for food. I got a Greek salad, and we talked

After that, Friend took me on a tour of the computer labs at his school, including a trip to the 8th floor to see Edinburgh at night.

Later, we sat down at some computers. I checked my mail and my facebook, then Friend showed me the thing that he had been working on all year. It was a program that analysed the emotions of a piece of writing, and we put the text from Day 7 into the little engine. It found many emotions, like anger, fear, joy, and other things that I cannot remember. We wrapped up, and had to get going to see the 11pm showing of Briefs, which I first thought was just a drag show, but later realized was an honest-to-goodness Vaudeville show! It was all levels of epicness, words would not do it justice.

After the show, Friend and I returned to the room, and we went to bed, which is where Day 9 ends.