Getting to Scotland.

Here is the thing about train travel: it is wonderful. I was booking my trip online and happened to notice that for a difference of £20 I could travel by train in first class. What this means is that I have a bigger seat with more leg room. The leg room is a little more important to me than a bigger seat, especially since I am lucky enough to have the seat beside me empty (although I’m sharing a table with a very quiet teenage girl). In first class I have been served a complementary cup of tea (in a real cup), later there will be complimentary sandwiches and crisps and it is quiet. I’m enjoying the quiet. The silence might have to do with the fact that I booked a ticket for the quiet coach. I’m not complaining though; after the chaos of the last week I am enjoying every minute quiet that I can get. The contrast of silence to life at work is so startling that when I first arrived home on Friday, I was thrown off balance and felt like there was something wrong. Now that I’m adjusting to it, I am loving it.

Getting ready for this trip seemed like it was going to be a tricky bit of business when I was looking at everything that needed to be done on Saturday. I needed to get a bag to use for traveling since my suitcase is too large to be practical for wandering about for half a day until I can check into my hotel. I also needed to pick my train tickets up from Leeds which meant a trip into another city. I needed to finish planning exactly what I’m doing once I arrive in Edinburgh (still not done although I have some idea of what my first few hours will be like). I also needed to get a belt to hold my jeans up and to visit the doctors.

Yesterday ended up consisting of a trip into Leeds during which I managed to find a duffle bag at a fantastic price (26% of the original price); new sunglasses (since I was brilliant and left mine on the train); no belt, but jogging pants so that I can go for a run and not freeze from wearing summer pants; my train tickets and one man’s attempt to pick me up in the my favourite free art gallery. In the end he was so annoying that I decided to leave, rather than finish seeing the exhibit. I’ll have to go back later next week.

All in all it was a pretty productive three hours. I decided to skip the doctors since I think my body is starting to kick the infection on it’s own and I’d rather give it the chance while I’m not in school to heal on its own instead of pumping another round of penicillin into it so soon. After making myself some disgusting-looking, but delicious-tasting eggs, I took a nap, watched a movie, took a walk and packed.

Now, back to my journey. Catching the 8:30 train out of Leeds on a Sunday means that your day starts at 6am, or 6:30 with a made rush if you sleep in. Catch the intercity bus at 7:15. Arrive on Headrow at 8am. Walk down the to train station and arrive on Platform 8 at 8:15, just in time to wait for the train doors to open.

At the moment the train is passing through some place called Brompton. It is really green. There are some gentle slopping hills and many, many farms. The farm that we just passed had sheep dotted all over the field like fuzzy polka-dots. Seeing al the fields is such a change from being in the cities all the time. It is beginning to remind me of Ireland. There is so much green here that it is hard to believe that it is only February. That is the contrast of climates though. It is amazing to think that in Kitchener right now it is snowy.