The next stage of the adventure; Edinburgh and Glasgow

After a couple days of ‘concentrated study’ I stop lying to myself and plan an adventure. I decide to meet up with Gabrielle in Edinburgh and head to the Bilston Glen protest camp. Now, I wouldn’t consider myself the type to go along to a protest site unless I really agreed with their principles and what they stood for. In this case it was a group who had been protesting against the building of a by-pass through a wood. I didn’t care so much. What made me go was the possibility of sleeping I tree houses. That seemed like something I wanted to do. While there I formed mixed opinions about the people. Two of the guys in particular seemed to have good ideas and a head on their shoulders but the rest of the group were people I would have no interest in talking to in any other situation. Stereotypical hippies who were there so they didn’t have to be elsewhere and were always talking about this or that experience of this or that drug. Not the type of people I like to talk to.

But I will concentrate on the good and I really enjoyed the conversations I had with the other two guys who I now have no idea of their names. One of them was the first protester I had ever hear talking about compromise. That was new and nice.

Getting to Edinburgh in the first place was easier than anything. I walked to the outskirts of Aberdeen on the Sunday morning and by the time I got to the petrol station I had planned on standing at, there was a car waiting for me to get in. He was on his way to southern England via Glasgow but he decided to take me into Edinburgh and go a different route south. Nice guy, although he told me this harrowing tale about how he had to care for his dying grandfather who had had enough of life and decided to starve himself to death. He survived for three and a half weeks without food and in the end he slipped into a coma and never woke up. He had to take care of his grandfather when all he wanted was to die. I don’t think I could have done it.

Back to more light hearted matters. When I got to Edinburgh I met up with Gabrielle in a couchsurfers place she knew and had been staying. We went for a walk around, taking in the mosque, where they have cheap nice food, the midsummer festival on the meadows and then back to the flat for some nosh. A good day finished off by sleeping in a tree.

Now that that you are utterly confused about the timeline…we woke in the tree and went to the main camp. People were up and about and not up to much. We decided to go for a wander down to the local town to see what free love we could find. We also went to ikea. Ikea is weird. Anyway, we had a small shopping list of things to get and we set about doing it. The best part of the trip was a great idea these kids had of swinging out of their mothers top and squealing with enjoyment. Reading it now it doesn’t seem that fun but it did look it.

Back at camp and about to leave Gabrielle decides to throw my sleeping bag in the stream. I don’t know why really. Then to top it off she threw her own in. Silly non gendered person.

In Edinburgh and at Visilis’ place we settle in for another meal of home cooked food. We actually settle in a bit too much and end up staying the night. In the morn, we wake up later than intended…the start of the end…and set about hitching to Glasgow.

You would think Edinburgh to Glasgow…what 30 or 40 miles. Should be easy. No we get a stupid old lady, with good intentions, but stupid ideas about where would be a good place to drop people. Anyway, rant over. We got to Glasgow about 7 pm and call the guy we are to stay with from the botanic gardens. We stand outside the gates of the gardens and practice our juggling. This is the moment we manage to do two person juggling properly for the first time. A good moment I’m sure you agree.

We head back to Denis’ place and have tea and play a game of scrabble. This is really the first time I have been to Glasgow. Every other time was for a competition or to get somewhere else and I never really got a feel for the place. this time things were to be different. With a game of scrabble under our belts and a face painted man in front of us I set about exploring the wonder that is Glasgow. One small problem. It is midnight and I have no idea where I am.

So armed with a hand drawn map of the house and Gabrielle at my side we went adventuring. (I like adventuring. Its probably my favourite thing to do. The more random the better.) We walked around the west end, around the old building and over to the university. We found the central quadrant of the campus and lay in the grass under the skies. It was lovely and all the outer world was blocked away. Magic. And not only because it reminded me of Harry Potter. Continuing our walk and our talk through the streets of Glasgow and to the Kelvingrove art gallery, but being 3 in the morning it happened to be shut. The outside was very nice though. We walked back to the flat via Kelvingrove park and found denis and Omar watching Vanilla Sky. They obviously weren’t interested in the film as once we got back conversation flowed and tea was had by all.

That was a great flat. They had speakers hooked up to each main room in the house including the bathroom. However also in the bathroom was tinfoil. Lots of tinfoil. The walls and doors were covered in tinfoil. The light was a red light similar to those found in Amsterdam and it put me in a similar mood….what am I saying, no it didn’t.

In the end it was just me and Denis chatting away with Omar having gone home and Gabrielle passed out on the other couch. We had a great conversation. He’s a lovely bloke and he’d be welcome round mine any time for tea and a meal and a bed if he needed one.

In the morning we separated again. Me back to Aberdeen and Gabrielle onto Manchester. I had my exam the next day and I had done no work but that was only if I got back in time. I was stuck outside Forfar for hours trying to get a lift and I thought I would miss the exam. I eventually got back at about 11pm and then instead of cramming I called over to Eztizen for tea, a chat and to learn how to make balloon animals. An evening spent well if you ask me.

I learnt to make a dog, a sword, two different types of flowers, a hat and a penguin (although id need to see it done again before I could do it on my own). It was a good chat. I always enjoy my chats with Eztizen. It’s a pity I didn’t get to know her earlier in the year. But things aren’t over. Life still moves. And doors open everywhere for everyone.

At the end of the night I headed home and set my alarm for four hours time…