August 16 - Wednesday
Our alarm went off at 0715. We were determined to get the most out of our ฃ54.
"Let's get up and pig out" - J
Not really sure what a proper Scottish breakfast included we got dressed and went to the dining room. It was set up cafeteria style - not the warm and inviting eating areas we had eaten at with B and B's in the past. It even sounded like a cafeteria - you could here dishes and stainless steel cooking utensils clanging back in the kitchen. There was a hot dish serving line with a cook at the end serving up made to order eggs after dishing up your chosen sides. When you first walked in you had some dining tables on the right and your converyer belt toaster with jam selection, honey and I think I saw marmite too, a scone warmer, yogurt selection, fruit selection: mandarin oranges, grapefruit sections, stewed prunes, juice selection (orange, grapefruit and tomato), caffeine machine with your choice of latte, cappucino, brewed coffee andn hot water for tea - I was a little miffed because you had to pay extra for the coffee so I just had tea with the hot water, a dry/cold cereal selection. The hot dish table had tomatoes, potato cakes which were little triangles of what looked like mashed potatoes made into a thin pancake, frozen processed hashbrowns, haggis, mushrooms, scrambled egg whites, sausages, and ham. It was quite a spread.
Jon got to the cafeteria/diningroom before me and had already snagged a "virtually fat free" (that's really what it said on the label) yogurt and some juice which was really nice of him to do. I spotted the toaster and put some bread in for us. There was a sign that asked that the toasting level not be changed on the conveyerbelt toaster. I put the bread through and it came out the other end not at all resembling what I would consider toast. It was just warm and had the slightest bit of crust on it - pitiful - but I know Jon likes his this way. I picked up my piece and put it through the toaster again. This time it came out with a little more color and a little stiffer - now that's more like it!
I had to have an egg and I tried a potato cake but couldn't bring myself to try the haggis. Even though Catherine had told me before we left her and Pam in Chalfont St. Giles specifically NOT to read the ingredients label I had done just that when we were in the grocery store in St. Andrews and was a bit put off. We also didn't know what to do with about half a pound of haggis knowing we would never eat an entire portion sold in the grocery. I came back to our table.
"Hey, they have haggis over there." - S
"They do? I didn't see it." - J
I'm not sure how he couldn't see it. The haggis was cut into slices and is a blackish color with little bits of, what I believe could be fat globules, yellowish/whiteish bits mixed all together.
"Why don't you go try some?" - S
"Ugh, I've already eaten so much already." - J
He sat for a while and then went back to the kitchen area and came back with two round patties of haggis.
"I'll try a bite." - S
We both took a fork full and ate.
"I haven't had liver in decades but I think this has a very similar texture." - S
"Yes, it does." - J
It wasn't bad actually. A little on the salty side which may be why it's suggested that it be served with potatoes. It almost tastes like sausage but not quite. It was rather good which I guess shouldn't be suprising as it's made of so many things that are bad for you!
Once again we were late for our check out time and had to ok it with the front desk to have a few minutes more. For some reason we COULD NOT find one of the shoulder straps for our bike bags. we had double and triple checked each and every bag, under the bed, in the bathroom, out the window, in the garbage, everywhere. We had nearly given up figuring that if we couldn't find it in the room it must be somewhere amongst our things and we just weren't seeing. Just was we were about to officially give up.
"There it is. On the back of the backpack." - J
Sure enough and who knows how it ended up there but the shoulder strap had gotten wrapped around the shoulder strap to the backpack, both are black and blended into one another. Geez!
Well, with that we repacked everything, left our bags with the front desk and took two of the bike bags filled with things to mail back home that we wouldn't need but would ask my parents and sister to bring with them to Korea when we met up at the end of September. Mostly bike stuff and our thermarest pads. It was about 12kg altogether and could around ฃ150 to mail home which was a bit painful but we agreed it would be for the best since schlepping that much useless extra weight around would really suck.
Afterwards we started walking into the city. I wanted to get another pair of pants before we got to Thailand and many of the outdoor stores we were looking at yesterday had sales. We also wanted to get another battery charger as the cable and battery box we were using with the solar panel were getting worn out. The sun was out and it was pretty warm outside which was becoming typical since we weren't having to ride our bikes or be out in the elements much - murphy's law.
I found a pair of pants that fit well enough for a better price than I expected to pay, ฃ15, we got some lunch at Sainsbury, a local grocery store, from the salad bar and of course brownies for Jon before continuing our quest for electronics. Glasgow has a great pedestrian only walk lined with shop, cafes and borders two of its train stations, it very eclectic. I saw about three Starbucks. Jon has caught on to using the Starbuck's as a public restroom. I'm not sure why people go there for coffee instead of someplace locally owned. I like going there because they have clean bathrooms more than the enjoyment of their coffee. You can always count on there being easy access to the bathrooms at a McDonalds and a Starbucks with Starbucks having a higher standard of cleanliness than McDonalds and there are nearly the same number of each establishment in nearly every city.
Once we actually found a store that had what Jon was looking for in a battery charger we made our way back to the B and B to collect all our bags and hoof it to the station. Twenty five pounds lighter and we still had a lot to carry. We have placed an order for a new tent but are hesitant to get rid of the old one with mildew on it. By the time we were half way to the station we were ready to get rid of the tent and I was thinking about what else we could possibley send home from our bags. The Queen St. Station was where we arrived from Kirkcaldy yesterday but, after questioning the man selling tickets, we had to go to the Central station to get anywhere near Twerksbury which was the station closest to Mrs. Bennett's place. More walking. We were becoming pretty familiar with this area of Glasgow. It was mid afternoon and by the time we made it to the station we had just under an hour to kill before departure. The ticket said we could go as far as Birmingham and would arrive around eight pm which was later than we thought we would arrive and that wasn't even our final destination. I went to the Mark's and Spencer's store in the station and got some food knowing that this was going to be a long train ride(s). Bananas, apples, water, wraps, cereal bars, digestive biscuits (it's good to have variety) and we were good to go. It was a Virgin train and we walked past car after car hoping to find one not too busy. The last car was where we would have loaded our bikes but we also knew it was the "Quiet Zone" car which we quite enjoyed the other times we had been on Virgin trains so we climbed aboard, stuffed our bags in the luggage shelf and overhead bins, plugged our battery charger into the outlets next to the window and settled in for the ride. The Scotland country side is beautiful, a different beauty than Wales but we went past fields and pastures and I couldn't help thinking how some of the roads we went by would have been great for bicycling. Hopefully we'll be able to get a good deal on bikes in New Zealand.
Once in Birmingham it was another 40 minutes for a train to Pershone with a transfer at Worcester which ended up being 19 minutes later. Jon had phoned Mrs. Bennett about the late arrival time we hadn't known to expect and she was kind enough to pick us up at the station around 2330. A quick ride to her home and we were unpacking our bags and joining Adrienne for a cup of hot cocoa in the kitchen of her beautifully restored historical home. We chatted until about 1230 before we all agreed that we needed to get to bed.
I remember getting into bed and the lights being turned off and then it was morning.
