Partially successful

We had to take a trip to Edinburgh today to get our fingerprints taken - Vlad now has us on file. We were told we could arrive in the morning with the completed paperwork, and go back in the afternoon to collect the passport with the visa. Oh no, tomorrow from 4.30, or wait a week for it to come in the post. As time is short, we paid another £140 on top of the visa costs, to get it tomorrow, or Wednesday morning.

Instead of going by our local train, which involves a half hour drive and an hour on the train, we decided to make an outing of it. We drove for 1.5 hours to Tweedbank to get the new Waverley line, which also took an hour. When we left for Hong Kong in the 60’s the whole Carlisle to Edinburgh line existed. When we returned in 1970, it had been axed by Beeching. A few years ago the line was reinstated from Edinburgh as far as Tweedbank. There are two trains an hour and it is well-used.

I blipped this on the way over a bridge near Easter Road, en route for the visa place. Then we headed for the museum to see the World Wildlife Photography exhibition. There were some unusual pictures, and some that must have been very tricky, as they were deep underwater, of moving subjects. It was inspiring.

We had a very tasty Veggie lunch at David Bann, and returned.

(The reason we have the visa hassle is because you can’t apply for the letter of invitation until 90 days before you intend going, and once you have that, apply for the visa not more than 60 days before going. But we are going to be away for a month before we enter Russia, so time was pressing. When this bit is done we have to send it all away to a visa company in London and it will take them in and collect. This is 5 working days minimum for each visa so we must allow 3 weeks. We are seeing the advantages of package holidaysl)