Embarking for Edinburgh

When I was accepted into the London program, I fantastically imagined Austen-esque situations in which I could exclaim “how insufferable!” mostly because I had never been to the UK (or Europe, for that matter) and because of too many BBC period films.  Of course, most people in Britain are quite nice, and not a’tall insufferable, but, alas, the fantasy manifested on my way to Edinburgh.

Newcastle, England (by border of Scotland)

Southern Scotland (waistband of UK)

The train journey from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh, Scotland, is anywhere between 4 to 6 hours, depending on how many stops it makes.  I was a bit stressed about going away for the weekend because I had so much work to do: a novel to read, a term paper to write, and a research topic to outline.  The train would provide the perfect blocks of time to appease my “I can’t believe I got zero work done this weekend” sentiment.  It was a good plan … until the train arrived in York.  I should preface this by saying that it is common courtesy to use indoor voices on public transportation, even if you are not riding in the quiet coach of the train.  The chaos that ensued upon departing from York was unbelievable (and still is, as I write this post*):

A group of about 15 or 20 LOUD women filled in the previously quiet spaces of Coach E, laughing and yelling down the aisle.  It looked like a hen (bachelorette) party, or perhaps a birthday.  Before I knew it, they were popping champagne bottles and filling flutes full of the bubbly liquid, many of which overflowed onto the floor.  Common decency???  I guess not!  I have never witness a more unruly pack of women over 30, in a public place!  The worst part about it was that they were all talking at the same time; all competing for airtime, resulting in an exponential growth in the decibel level every time someone opened her mouth.  It literally sounded like a bunch of squawking chickens.  It was insufferable behavior!  And, just my luck, they were headed for Edinburgh.  At one point, one of the Scottish police officers on board came into our coach.  I thought he was finally going to ask the ladies to settle down.  Obviously they did, too, because they all started to hush up.  The officer looked at them, took off his hat, and, with a grand sweep of his arm, announced, "the entertainment is here!"  The burst of laughter almost shattered the windows around us, but I have to admit, it was pretty funny - I'm pretty sure a giggle slipped out of me.

If I was sitting closer to the hen party, I would have inconspicuously snapped a photo, so pictures of trainside scenery will just have to do.**  Posts about my adventures in Edinburgh are coming soon!  Thanks for reading!

First glimpses of Edinburgh, Scotland

* I call this my "freshest post" (definitely not from concentrate) because I wrote it while all this was going down ... it was too ridiculous not to document in real time!

** About the pictures:
Newcastle is England's northern most city on the east coast.  The border between England and Scotland, historically marked by Hadrien's Wall and called the "waisteband" of Britain (the thinnest part), is not far.

Once we crossed into Scotland, we primarily skirted the coast, which was lucky for me because I was sitting on the east side of the train.

In the last picture you can see North Bridge over Edinburgh Waverly Station with New Town in the background.