Our trip to Scotland
to visit our friends, Simon and Fiona and their new family was a long awaited
trip-which nearly didn’t go ahead.
After an early rise
and a taxi out to Gatwick Airport, we cleared through security checks only to
find that the TV monitors were saying our flight was cancelled. We joined a
group of around 15 others in disbelief, trying to find out answers why and
after waiting in line for 30 minutes, were told to go home to apply for a
refund and that the flight was cancelled due to too many staff calling in sick.
Guttered, we headed
home and called Simon and Fiona. However, between us all we were able to source
rail tickets, so within the hour we headed for Euston to jump on a train. Only
to find when we boarded, there were no unreserved seats left and many people
were left without seats., including us. After initially having to sit down
outside a toilet (I know not a high point in our lives) we managed to find a
space between the carriages. Thankfully two hours into the 5 hour journey, we managed
to get seats. We arrived late Saturday afternoon to Arye, to be greeted by
Fiona, who drove us to their home where we met Simon and their two lovely
children, Ben, 2 and Ella, 9 months. Ben and Ella didn’t take too long to warm
to us, and James and I ended up playing ball games and lego with them. James and I were very spoilt to receive
a belated wedding gift; Limited Edition Robbie Burns Whiskey! It was a quiet night in, catching up on
the years since we last saw them in Rotorua in 2003.
On Sunday, Simon cooked
us a traditional Scottish breakfast including black and fruit pudding, which
was lovely. Simon and Fiona
dropped the children off with Fiona’s sister, while we spent the day driving
around the local sights. Simon and
Fiona took us to Culzean Castle, where they got married, and we walked through
the lovely rooms and gardens together. One the road leading towards this
castle, was an optical illusion of sorts, where we stopped the car on a slope
(with the nose of the car pointing down the hill) and when the car was in
neutral, the car would roll backwards! We did this several times in disbelief,
with many others doing the same thing!
We then visited Robbie
Burn’s House, followed by listening to one of his great poems (all spoken in
Scottish, which was quite baffling…thanks though to Fiona for the
translation!). We then headed home to get ready for the Robbie Burn’s Festival,
firstly enjoying dinner out at a lovely local restaurant, where James and I
enjoyed haggis. The concert had
various acts, including bagpipe bands mixed with drums and other instruments,
however the highlight of the evening was seeing Darius play. He was very good
live and we all had a great evening out!
The next day we headed
back to London on the train, this time managing to get seats. It was a great
weekend in Scotland and we hope it is not another 7 years before we meet again!
