Train delay

We had a fabulous visit in Glasgow, our friends picking us up at the airport, Wednesday night after 10:30pm. The customs man looked at my passport, looked at me, and said "so, you lost your passport?" I didn't have the energy to say anything more than "Yes, at the Barcelona airport". We had a lazy time and were treated so well, with food, drink and conversation. Below is a picture of Les, with lunch, at their home.

Our travel by train on Friday afternoon to Edinburgh was, of course, eventful. As we approached the turnstiles with our tickets, the gates refused to open. A wee man, an official, took a look at our tickets, and remarked that they were for September 23, (I had booked them when we were in Santiago) but we had just picked them up thirty minutes before, on October 3. He said, "Just wait a minute" and disappeared. He returned with this:

We've got horseshoes.........

It was throwing it down when we arrived at Waverley Station in Edinburgh, so we took a cab to my cousin Doug's (and Sheila's) house. Lovely reception of prosecco and dinner, and the bed was so comfy. A tasty breakfast with Doug's cardamom buns set us up for a day of walking Edinburgh with our Victoria friends, Marion and Wendy.

That evening we attended an arts show, featuring modern dance with video and music, Polish singing and dancing, a young couple with fiddle and guitar, piano solos, all interspersed with reading of poetry and ending with Sufi whirling dervishes. Fabulous!  So I didn't realize until we returned to the house much later, that I had left my iPod at Ken and Margaret's in Glasgow. Fortunately their son Richard was attending a BBQ in Edinburgh the following day, so Les and I walked along a route we would not normally have taken and saw a different, and very pleasant, part of Edinburgh.

So, as I type this, we are on the train.......which is currently not moving.......from Edinburgh to Warrington Bank Quay, the station close to Les' sister's home. It was 30 minutes late leaving, then it was announced that there is a tree on the lines south of Carlisle so we'll go no further than that. That's about the halfway point. We are now stopped about an hour south of Edinburgh as there's something wrong with the signals up,ahead. The good news is we can get free tea and coffee. Perhaps in another hour, they'll roll out the free beer. We are due to be picked up at 3:29 and it will likely be more like 6:29 after transferring to a bus, or perhaps hit hiking. This holiday certainly is an adventure !

A continuation.......we sat on the train for two hours and then returned to Edinburgh.  We are now on the 18:06 to Birmingham, leaving on platform two.  No, let's have everyone go to platform 10. No, it's really platform 9, and it's half an hour late leaving. We hope to be with Lynn and Mel tonight around 10:30pm as they've said they'd pick us up in Manchester. We're on the move!!!!!