Multipurpose trip to Edinburgh yesterday - research for a couple of things I'm working on was the primary draw. I wanted to check up on the Special Collections holdings at New College - they hold the papers of one of my other spiritual heroes, Alexander Whyte. Of all the Scottish preachers I'd like to have heard, he is in the Scottish Premier League, and in the top six!
Two encounters with folk I've never met and probably won't again. Since I was going to retrieve my car loaned to Aileen during our holiday, I only needed a one way fare. Spoke to the Ticket Man Behind the Glass and asked,
'What's the difference between a cheap day return and a single one way?'
'Wan brings ye back, and wan disnae', he said, smiling disarmingly but with the sub-text 'Ya pillock'.
The difference in price was 10p - but it seems the 10p part of the Journey wasn't transferable to the outward leg. decided not to ask him to confirm this!
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Later, in the National Museum cafe, having ordered my Mozarella, cherry tomato, fresh basil leaves and pesto Ciabata (how Scottish is that??), I was reading, minding my own business. When my Ciabata arrived, and I was poised with knife and fork ready to begin the delicate operation of not eating it like a sandwich, a polite voice from the next table asked,
'Excuse me, but what is that you have ordered'.
A senior citizen with a non-spray on tan, serious bling attachments to both wrists and her neck, smiled at me over her must have cost a packet tinted specs. So knife and fork poised I described the contents of my anticipated lunch and showed her on the menu where it was.
'And is it nice', she asked, before I'd even tasted it.
So I cut off a chunk, chewed it thoughtfully (and it was really good), nodded affirmatively, at which point she said to her friend, 'No. I think we'll just have the soup'. Was it the way I ate? Or did Scotch broth appeal more than eating Italian? Or was she an undercover quality control visitor satisfied that the punter was satisfied?
Dinna ken. But what I did discover is you can't eat a Ciabata with a knife and fork and read a novel that snaps shut if you try to lay it flat on the table. So do I pick up the Ciabata and eat with one hand holding the book with the other? Or do I concentrate on enjoying the taste and nourishment of the meal - as well as eat in a more civilised, good mannered way? Happy to have advice on such nutritional multi-tasking, feeding body, mind and emotion (it was an Anne Tyler novel).
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