A Great Day Out! (not)

The bed in the Kings Arms was quite comfy; sorry, missed a trick there, too tired - should have said I was quite comfortable in the Kings arms :-). Didn't sleep that well, but it was greatly preferable to trying to sleep on a bench at Berwick station or even a nice warm cell (see yesterday's backblip). The breakfast was delicious, apart from the coffee.

This morning the news was that there were no trains north (due to the landslides) so we were advised to return to Edinburgh via Newcastle and Carlisle to Edinburgh. Hmm. This would have taken till early afternoon at the most optimistic estimate, so I and a fellow passenger shared the cost of a taxi back to Edinburgh. Bill had travelled all the way up from Bath yesterday before getting stranded in Berwick and wanted to get back to his wife in Fife who was very anxious about him. He was very calm about the whole adventure, but I think that his age alone (82) should have qualified him to more (or at least some) support from the train company.

The A1 had sporadic floods, the sea looked ferocious and the taxi was buffeted around by the wind but we got back OK - Bill to the departure boards for trains to Fife, and me back home. After dear Mr H had run a bath for me and made a pot of delicious coffee, he decided to make a trip to the allotment to see if the shed had blown away. He is wearing all his protective clothing and trying to imitate the pose of the puffin on the poster for the seabird centre. What a fine sight! (I've realised that if you look very carefully you might spot one of Nina's lovely postcards - the smiling dachshund - stuck in the middle of the corkboard.)

After the bath it was in to the office for the not-to-be-missed Event, a big retirement presentation/party for a colleague. I had to sing a song (so of course there wasn't a dry eye in the place!). It was very crowded but I'm sure I caught a fleeting glimpse of Old Bat, so I'm pleased to see she made it back from Brighton in one piece!

Having eaten a delicious Mr H meal, it's definitely time to chill out. Here's wishing all blippers a good nights sleep safe in their own beds.