No 9: Edinburgh Liquid Room, 19th February 2004

Edinburgh is a brilliant place, I've spent quite a lot of time there in the past as Keith, Jim and I have spent time at the Festival Fringe for the last few years. We've rented an apartment in the past so Lizzy and I have arranged to have it for a couple of nights, as we're not due in Glasgow until Saturday. Also there's a Rugby International, Scotland v England, at Murrayfield on the Saturday so a lot of the hotels are already booked for the duration.

We arrive at Waverley Station and its only a short walk to Abercromby Place in the New Town, our home for the next couple of nights - its nicer to have somewhere a bit bigger than a hotel room. Off to the local supermarket for a spot of shopping, including a tasty takeaway curry, then a taxi to the Liquid Room, the other side of Edinburgh Castle in the Old Town. The taxi driver say " I hope you don't mind me saying but youse don't seem like the normal Liquid Room crowd" i.e. we are about 30 years older than the average clientele - we explain what we're up to and he seems quite amused. We meet up with Scottish Keith and Mike, and also Old Man who has travelled down from Aberdeen, and all retire to a pub called the Last Drop - site of the last hanging ever to take place in Edinburgh presumably! There's another Lizzy diary which gives a lot more gen about the evening. The people who say we should stay with them next time are Fiona and Billy - more about them later. I seem to remember that the latter part of the evening involved copious amounts of whisky drinking and chatting with Danes, plus hearing about Troels' identical twin brother (every woman's fantasy as I tell him!)

Next day is Friday and we do the Edinburgh culture - and Edinburgh is a place with lots of culture. We also have brunch at my favourite Edinburgh eatery, Valvona and Crolla on Leith Walk. In the evening its another Sainsbury's takeaway curry, several bottles of wine, and we put the world to rights before setting off for Glasgow on Saturday morning.