St Andrews

So Jianming drove for the first time here ... to St Andrews, where there is a direct bus connection to Edinburgh anyway. And because he's not sure of the area, we parked at a long stay free car park at one end of the town, which is next to the bus station. Well, at least it should require a shorter time compared to a bus journey, you might say. Well, no. We travelled at pretty safe speeds (and I am not complaining), and made a few wrong turnings. In the end, it took about the same time. We also didn't have time to drive along the coast to see the East Neuk villages either, but I have always known that was too ambitious a plan of mine. That's not to say we didn't gain anything from self-drive (or rather, Jianming-drive). For one thing, there was no need to bother about bus times. And another thing, I experienced first-hand the horror of travelling with a 10+ months old strapped to a car seat that's getting too small for him, which put back all thoughts of longer road trips.

So I got out of Lothian and was in the Kingdom of Fife for a day! Jianming said St Andrews felt like Cambridge. Certainly there are the old town buildings and the oldest university in Scotland. But I felt that the similarity ends there. St Andrews has a beach and cathedral and castle ruins. It will never be a dead town when the students have gone home for the summer. Families are everywhere, at the beaches, at the play area, at the shopping streets. That's not to say I like St Andrews better. Of course I don't. Did I mention about GOLF? It goes to show how much interest we have in the game that we saw neither the famed Old Course nor the Golf Museum in the very home of Golf.

We finally got Ethan to take off his shoes and play in the sand and feel the waves lapping at his feet. But he went a bit overboard with the sand. Maybe next time we can bring him to the Portobello beach in Edinburgh. There really is no need to come all the way to St Andrews to enjoy the beach, is there? Even if it does have the Blue Flag award.

Thank You

Thank you, Ethan, for being a wonderful boy today. Your father is away, and your behaviour has been exemplary.
You did not whine much, nor make too much noise while I was feeding your brother (Apart from towards the end of feeding, when from the room next door came some engine-like sounds made obviously by you, getting louder and more and more continuously. When later I asked you what noise you were making, you said you weren't making any noises, just drawing. When I asked you what you drew, you said you would show me later as we were having tea then. Later you showed me some drawing of people on a 'fast machine', according to you. I guess those were the noises you made while you drew.).
You understood that your father was not at home and you had to cooperate with me, and let me make some changes to the routine. You took your lunch and dinner well, without much fuss, and only complained for a short while that 'your eyes were tired'. You were tired and bored while I prepared the chicken for tomorrow's dinner, but in the end, you waited patiently for me to finish it so that we could do the card together. You willingly took your shower and brushed your teeth earlier. Then, although it was usual for you to settle into your cartoon-story book-bedtime routine, when I told you today we were early, you were content to play first.
Of course, you still got rough, got excited, when you brother touched the toys you were playing with and you still took the things he touched away from him because 'you wanted to play with them just at the same time'. But you had also made a train from the blocks for him to take them apart, and were quite willing to let him have the 'ducks' you made from the blocks after you were done with them. You kept your toys well. What's more amazing, you calmly let me bring your brother downstairs so that I could throw the rubbish, while you remained alone in the flat. Though it took but one minute, I had felt so anxious!
Although you did make me a little embarrassed in the late morning by asking, in your usual loud and clear voice, so that the electrician could have no chance of not hearing it, 'why is the man fat?' ('the man' being the electrician who came to repair our oven). But really, all things considered, these little misdeeds of yours today were nothing a guileless 3/4 year-old child could not be spared from making. And I am glad we sailed through the sea today, together, you and I, with your baby brother who is yet clueless. There is still tomorrow, but this day I must remember, for you.
And I guess I behaved pretty well today too.
I should have written this in a more ordered manner, spent more time to recall more details and edited the confusing sentences, but I feel I must publish this before tomorrow has a chance to unfold its challenges, and I have to go to bed now, I mean, right now, if I am to get enough rest. So there, here it is.

On Nature's Trails

Oh, I wanted to go further, to get out of this Edinburgh / Lothian region. Go St Andrews and the villages along the east coast. Go Loch Lomond; just one of those "bonnie bonnie banks" will do. Touch the highlands at Killin in Perthshire, or Fort William for that scenic railway ride to Mallaig. Dare I say one of those west isles? But they are in dreamland, and most probably will remain there. Mid July comes and I am still roaming the Lothian circuits.

The River
Since I could not see beyond Edinburgh, at least I should see more of this city that I have stayed for nearly 2 years. So we took a bus to Dean Village, which is really close to the heart of the city, and walked the 1.5 miles or so on the walkways built along the Water of Leith to the Royal Botanic Gardens, and from there took a bus home.
Water of Leith at Dean Village:

Dean Bridge, on which the bus travels:


St Bernard's Well (no longer working):

A break at Cafe Nero in Stockbridge:

A nice building for the Pizza Express Restaurant at Stockbridge:



The Hills
For the second sunny day (only it was not so sunny where we went) trip, we ventured a little further to the Pentland Hills again. This time we took a different bus that got us right to the door step of the hills. I wanted to make sure that this time we did not have to walk a mile just to get to the start of the walk. The Capital View Walk took us half way up the hills. We could have climbed to the top of one of those small hills, but we felt it could be too challenging for Ethan.

Easier to climb on all fours:


View of Arthur's Seat:


One of a series of short drizzles:

More of Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crag:

Where we could have climbed up the hill (but didn't):



Feeling the false snow (for dry ski-ing)

The dry ski slope:

View point:

going down:

"My chipmunk wants to see too" - Ethan wanted to take it out, but Jianming convinced him it'd do just fine with the head popping out of his bag:

Allermuir, another hilltop which we didn't attempt:

Chipmunk still looking on:


"I am too tired!"



The Woodland:
And further on to Dalkeith, to walk in the country estate. We started out late - after lunch - and since it closed at 5pm, just took one of the short Bluebell walks which would only be pretty in spring. In summer, it is really nondescript. How were we to know that the 5pm closing time applies only to the ticket office and in fact we could see many people coming in after 5pm (so they need not pay the entrance fee)? Anyway, Ethan had a fairly fun time at the Adventure Playground. We boarded the bus back to Edinburgh at around 6.40pm, the latest so far.

Adventure Playground:

Montagu Bridge:

Bluebell walk near River North Esk:

The observatory near the River South Esk:

Laundry Bridge and beyond:


Dalkeith town:

The clock showing 6.30pm, taken at the bus stop: