East Coast

Travels continue. Its got me thinking about my driving. I need to start driving again. I have been putting it off for a couple of reasons but its not fair for my wife to be doing all the driving- though unlike me she actually likes driving. There is a good chance I need another eye test first. My last one was over a decade ago and I have glasses for driving but my eyes have deteriorated since then. The last time I drove I found in the dark especially I was struggling to see properly. The other thing is my license. I have a pink paper one registered at my gran's address and she is long gone. I need to get that updated. For now though as I said my wife is more than happy to drive.

In search of coastline it has made sense to head west as that is the closest coast but its not all about coasts as there is more to the country than the coast. So my wife has been heading East for a change. She didn't tell me that. We first neared Shotts where my parents stay and passed it. Then Livingston where I grew up and where my brother still stays but passed that too. And really after that there are only three options. One is to head left over the Forth Bridge and head north. Another is to go right and head down towards the borders. But it was the third option I started to suspect and was right to as we went straight on and in to the capital.

Edinburgh was once like a second home to me. When I left school I joined a course to be an accountant and although initial training was in Glasgow the day college per week was in Edinburgh and when I was placed with an Accountant it was with PKF in the Haymarket area. I later went for a short spell to Napier University in Edinburgh and for a long period as an IT contractor worked in Edinburgh. Besides all that I used to go out in Edinburgh at the weekend with friends to pubs in the Grassmarket or during the day just to shop or browse. Its all changed now. We passed a hotel where I had once been an usher at a friend's wedding. We passed the zoo. We stopped off at Murrayfield, pictured above, but to be honest there were not a long of photographic opportunities to be had mainly because there is nowhere to stop in a car. The trams now led me to uncertainty. Could we even go into the centre of town? We left it. It was good enough to do what we had done and on another day we may get a tram into town. Who knows. First step done.

That was Saturday night. Another reason we did not push on is we knew we had a bigger journey ahead the following day. We had decided to go up to my wife's family again in Perth as we had done nearly a year ago. That time it was a flying visit and another flying visit shortly after. This time was phase 2. Firstly it was to stay longer and secondly it was to come back a more scenic route. In total it was 150 miles or thereabouts.

The journey to is always longer than the journey from. Quite why I don't know but it is. The 60 mile journey to Perth is not tedious but not as nice as that journey to Largs and only slightly less boring than the journey from the central belt to the borders. The highlight is halfway seeing the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle but not a lot besides. What I have noticed from all this time on the road is the landscape is changing drastically. A small fortune must be invested it tearing up every road and rebuilding it. So much of the land has been flattened and so much of the traffic has been slowed. What I hate to see though is the felled trees. So many clearances. Some scenes look like a nuclear fallout.

After what seemed like an eternity we got to Perth. I didn't expect any panic because I had done it twice and not much but it was high for some reason. So high I could not sit down. I needed to get out. I needed to go for a walk. Everyone was going for a walk. Except the kids. They didn't want to walk. So my wife and I and her parents went for a walk around he North Inch. To begin with it was hard. There was no way I was going all he way around the park. In fact as soon as we got down I wanted to get away but I stayed with it. Eventually it calmed. And it calmed to the point where I could start to relax and enjoy the walk. But I have to also say it never ever calmed to anywhere near the zero anxiety I experienced by the sea.

Its tradition to buy my father-in-law a malt on his birthday and that is what we did this year some months ago. And it had remained unopened until my arrival which prompted an opening and a few drams. It was nice and relaxing. Just a couple. In all we were there a few hours and again its a stepping stone to staying longer next time and eventually staying overnight. Its a beautiful place. Before the kids came along and while I was still working we had plans so move there as my wife is from there and I had stayed there for a number of years. It never happened of course and now its foreign to me.

Finally we left and took a scenic route home which meant heading for Callander. First off though my wife took me to her friend's home and then to where her friend used to live. Did you see the figure in the water? That is what my wife asked. I hadn't. There was Loch Earn to the left and the weather had turned so that it was starting to look moody and stormy. My wife stopped the car and I go out. Everyone else stayed in the car and two ducks came waddling over looking to hitch a ride too which entertained the kids. Below is the figure I walked down to. Eerie. Apparently the artwork is named "Still" but locally he is known as the mirror man. The drive home was beautiful. We saw many places we'd like to return to. Its just a pity that the moody weather soon turned stormy and before long rain battering off the window was all we could see.