It was a dreary, rainy day last Wednesday when I set out for Motherwell. I'd armed myself with a copy of
The Robber Bride - thick, unread and highly recommended. The view from the train window as I slowly progressed towards Carlisle was spectacular. I wished we could have stopped for me to take some photographs as all too often the things I wanted to document were small waterfalls or desolate looking houses who disappeared from view before I could even raise my camera. I hope one day I'll go back, get a day travel ticket and a lot of film and travel around the stations photographing the landscape. It was amazingly and the
couple of pictures I did manage to take do not do justice to actual beauty on display. I saw many horses, innumerable sheep and cows, a goat, a donkey and a swan. I felt very lucky to be alive and able to witness such breathtaking views.
At Carlisle I changed trains and the windows were not as large on this train which saddened me. I sat and read my book however and when I finally arrived in Motherwell the weather was as bad as it had been in Leeds so there wasn't much to see anyway. Stuart collected me from the station and we spent an evening in watching a Bond film on ITV. In the morning we left for Glasgow, as he had decided to come with me, and the weather got worse and worse. The open day seemed quite badly organised with talks running hugely over time and a lot of people wandering around not quite sure where they were meant to be, myself included. As the talks were running late, I didn't manage to leave to meet Stuart until just before 5pm and when we did meet he was quite angry with me as he had arranged to meet a friend for the cinema that evening and we would be short on time as it takes over an hour to travel from Glasgow to his house. Slowly his mood returned to normal and we managed to catch the necessary trains and all was well.
In Edinburgh I was staying with Alex. In the morning I got quite lost whilst trying to find the art college but it was an enjoyable lost - Edinburgh's architecture always interests me and I also passed through many charity shops on my way. The college was swarming with people and I found myself on a tour round the building. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the photography department as the tour leader said there was too many of us to all fit into the darkrooms but the rest was all very impressive. I'd love to go there but it seems very hard to get into. Even if you specify them as your first choice you're not guaranteed an interview. Afterwards I met up with Alex and his friend (also a
B3tan) in the cafe of a department store. Unfortunately the store had 4 cafes to it took a while to locate them. We went round a couple of shops then for a drink. This morphed into going for a meal, a very enjoyable Italian, then back to the pub. That's the thing about the Edinb3tans, they like their drink.
In the morning I went off shopping into the city centre on my own. I found some wonderful shops with clothes I desperately wanted but knew I wouldn't wear even if I could afford them. I wish I had the confidence to wear short skirts, there's so many lovely ones I'd like to own but just feel far too self conscious about my legs to be able to do so. The evening brought the bash we had arranged which was in a pub just outside the city centre, or so I believe. I haven't been in that end of the city before. We had a good turn out though I was very tired and at 11 made my way back to Alex's house along with someone else who was also staying there. The morning after we discovered that the trains we were relying on to get us home, him to York, myself to Leeds, had all been cancelled or redirected and we had to catch a coach to Berwick where we boarded a train heading towards London but stopping in York. There were many more lovely views from the coach and some from the train but our enjoyment was curtailed somewhat by having to sit across from a rather excitable two year old on the train. We couldn't move seats either as the train was packed with people standing in aisles. I was grateful when we finally reached York and could leave the brat to scream to itself. I caught another train to get me to Leeds and finally arrived home around 7 or 8, very tired and annoyed at having been delayed so much. I did get to read a large portion of my book though.
Today in college we learned that we won't be having Contextual Studies until the new year as our tutor has suddenly quit and they have no replacement. At the confidence building group we looked at grief. Next week is our last session which is a pity as I've enjoyed it. I said I might even bake a cake for them.
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