Thurs after midnight

I'm happy to see that we already have a follower for the blog! Welcome, Vicente! Now, would some of you beloved people whom I actually know please become followers too? ;)

Today, after a leisurely morning of Wheatabix and a group-lambasting of the educational systems on both sides of the pond, Andrew, Gwynneth and I took a day trip to Stirling, a small town about an hour North of West Linton. We stopped off at Avis on the way to switch to an automatic, which created AMPLE reasons to whinge, as customer snarkiness is apparently common here. The car switch was worth the wait, however, and has made driving much easier for both Andrew and me.

Stirling is a wonderful combination of the very old and the very new. The city is watched over by a castle on its highest hill. Satellite dishes are affixed to buildings several centuries old and bored-looking hairdressers with bright red nails smoke cigarettes in arched stone doorways covered in black soot and moss.

Statues of historical figures seem to be around every corner:

Robert Burns Rob Roy

We visited the Church of the Holy Rude, because of its name, of course.

The graveyard was scenic, with many gravestones so old they were worn beyond readability.

We arrived at the castle too late to go inside, but there was a marvelous view.

We ended the trip with a visit to the Falkirk wheel, a giant gadget that lowers or raises boats between two canals that are about 300 feet apart in altitude. Pictures tomorrow?

Tomorrow, we're off down the coast towards York, where Andrew went to university.

OK, must get off to bed! Hugs!

-Erika