Amy & Deb's Visit

Last weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Amy, a friend of mine from back home, and her friend Deb, for a few days. We took the opportunity to do some touristy things, show off our knowledge of walking routes, and go back to the delicious Chinese restaurant we discovered a few weeks ago.

Amy arrived on Friday evening, having left Deb to spend some quality time with her family back in Wales. We did our usual Friday night tradition of heading to the local pub and then home for Toby's homemade pizza in front of a movie. I always apologise to guests that they have to follow our Friday night routine (pretty much unchanged for the past 4-5 years) but funnily enough no one has ever complained.

The next morning Amy and I headed into the city for some proper shopping. Unfortunately Amy had left all her T shirts in London which sadly meant she needed to re-stock. I had to buy a new Edinburgh friendly coat and we absolutely had to buy the sparkly red shoes with bows on them that were only 5 pounds. We decided it was ok to buy the same shoes, because we live in different countries. (And did I mention they were 5 pounds.) We met up with Toby for lunch at Chocolate Soup where we had to try the Chocolate Dunk - essentially a little tub of thick chocolate served with a wedge of shortbread which you dipped into it. You could feel your teeth rotting on the spot. Although it had rained all morning it began to clear up after lunch, which was lucky as our next stop was Edinburgh Castle (via the Royal Mile and the fudge shop of course).

Me and Amy in some box outside the castle. Note the new coats. The castle proved to be less a castle and more a village of very impressive buildings dating from the 1400s onwards.

The thing that really hits you about the castle is the incredible views, all 360 degrees of them. It's all very strategic (although as Toby says, considering there's a Union Jack flying on the roof, it didn't work very well).

This is the cemetery for officers' dogs, on a terrace above one of the big squares.

We also got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels (which Amy assured us were much less impressive than those she'd seen at the Tower of London a few days earlier), the Royal Hall, the room where King James was born, and the cellars where hundreds of soldiers hid during a months-long siege (a lot of them died, unsurprisingly).

After the castle we headed home to rest our feet and sample some of the fudge before making ourselves beautiful for our night out, which I had planned with the help of one of the party girls at my office. First stop for the night was Chop Chop, for the dumplings and other delicious things. Then we walked into the city to Tonic, a bar which had been recommended to me for its amazing cocktails. And it absolutely delivered.

Amy drinking a Bellini, one of our favourite cocktails which we had to have in honour of our mates back home. The thing about this Bellini that was so special was it was made with MOET. Amy decided this was definitely a highlight of her trip. It was really delicious. The next one we tried was a Silver Mercedes, a vodka cocktail made with orange sorbet that was brilliant. It was around this point that Amy fell in love with the cute, flirty barman who I thought was Irish but apparently he's Glaswegian.

Toby was less impressed by his cocktails (and the bar staff).

After Tonic we headed to Lulu, where Toby decided it was time to go home. It was a fantastic club full of beautiful people, with enough seats for everyone and a very funky dancefloor where the ceiling was only about 6 foot high and covered with tiny lights, and the floor was very Saturday Night Fever. The music wasn't daggy enough for us (no singing possible) but we had a good boogie anyway.

Note Amy's fab new shoes. I bought the same, as well as another pair in grey. After we'd had enough at Lulu we decided to head back to Tonic for a nightcap and so the barman could fall in love with Amy. Unfortunately it was shut so we headed home for hot chocolate and toast, because we are nanas at heart.

The next morning we slept in, spoke to parents on the phone, ate pancakes cooked by Toby, and went for a wander through the Meadows, Greyfriar's Kirk churchyard, and the Grassmarket which are some of my favourite spots in Edinburgh. After a coffee we headed home to rest and await Deb's arrival. Sunday night we ate Mexican food and watched plenty of TV, because we were all tired from our big night before. On Monday I had to get up and go to work, while the rest of the house took the train to Glasgow and then visited the Botanic Gardens. After work we met up for yet another drink at Tonic, where the barman was on duty but perhaps didn't recognise Amy without all her finery. Since Tuesday was Deb's birthday we celebrated with greasy Chinese from the local takeaway, Irn Bru (Scotland's national drink) and chocolate mudcakes. Poor Deb had a cold and probably didn't feel like eating any of it, but she was a very gracious guest.

Very quickly, the following exciting things are happening for us in the next 2 weeks:

• Toby starts his new job tomorrow, doing IT for Scottish Gas. After 4 months away from work I think he is somewhat daunted by the idea of having to get out of bed, get dressed, and properly interact with society.
• I start a new job myself on Tuesday. After weeks of feeling unchallenged, unappreciated and lonely in my job I decided I couldn't take any more and started looking elsewhere. I have been offered a long-term position at Scottish Widows, which sounds like a punk goth band but is actually a financial investment company. It's not a reception position, it's a bit more money, and it's close to home and the gym so I'm feeling quite positive about it. Also I'm starting with 2 other temps which I figure gives me an immediate support group. It's meant to be quite a social area. I'm looking forward to the change.
• We are going to Paris for 3 days, for my birthday. I feel like the Beckhams (sans the private plane and suite at the Hilton of course).
• I am going folk dancing, and to some other meeting for something, thanks to Elle who I went to high school with and have since discovered (thanks to Facebook) is also living in Edinburgh. We had a coffee yesterday and she confirmed that Edinburgh is a place where it is difficult to get to know people, and it is expensive to live here. So it's not just me. It was nice to see a friendly face and chat with someone who really understood. She had some great ideas for things to do and has also inspired me to look into an evening class I could do, rather than relying on work to meet people which is never a good idea.
• We are going to plan a Highlands trip soon.
• We are starting to plan Christmas, and our trip to Berlin for New Years.

Well that's about it from us. It's been a really quiet weekend, to recover both physically and financially from the excitement of last weekend. It's time to clean the bathroom, iron clothes, and do other things to get ready for the week. Lots of love to those at home who are sweltering in Canberra's unseasonable hot, dry weather. I promise we would send you some of this rain if we could.