Cooking with gas!

Hi everyone,

Well, we've ticked off another item on our "to do" list and acquired a car. We took a chance and bought one from Ebay - all the kids are doing it these days - and after watching various options for a few weeks (actually, after our horrific train journey home from Wellingborough), G made a bid on a good car on Thursday. We won, which was terribly exciting! Dealing with stupid PayPal was not, so we arranged to pay the seller by cash.

So on Saturday morning, the three of us caught the train into Glasgow. We left home just before 8am to walk to the train station, and there was very little traffic on the roads, which was surprising. Maybe no one leaves their homes before the sun rises? The upside of this was that the train to Glasgow was virtually empty. We travelled through Falkirk (did not see The Wheel) before arriving, then caught another train to Cathcart station, which went through some pretty dingy parts of town. I guess you get those in every big city. 

The guy selling us the car hadn't had time to clean it out, which was a bit of a shame as he's a smoker, and there were some butts left in the ashtray. It would explain the three car deodorisers hanging from the rear view mirror - I usully detest these things, but was glad to have them on this occasion. The seller - who had a Spanish name but a strong Glaswegian accent - gave us directions to get back to Edinburgh, and after driving off we got lost pretty much instantly. 

Luckily, we managed to find our way to a main road and just kept driving, in the hope that things would turn out. We ended up making a lovely tour of Glasgow's southern ring road, before hopping on the M8 back to Edinburgh. After navigating some rather confusing road markings (nothing is straightforward here!) we finally hit the streets that we knew. It was a bit weird to drive down streets that we'd walked on or travelled through only by bus. 

In the afternoon, we drove out to B&Q, a Bunnings-esque store, to check out supplies for fencing off our garden. We were very glad of the car when the weather turned very squally and we could drive home with our groceries, rather than lugging them on the bus. 

Today, we drove north over the Forth Road Bridge (it's huge! As is the Rail Bridge!), and then up to Perth. Because the weather was still awful, we decided to just keep driving rather than getting out and going for a walk or something.  

Before arriving in Perth, various signs appeared for Scone Palace, which is not, as the name suggests, where the treat was born. Although it does sound like any scone they make there would be absolutely huge. (For some reason, while typing this I'm pronouncing it in my head as "scoan" rather than "sconn"...must be the atmosphere in the UK.)  Rather, it's where the kings of Scotland were traditionally crowned, so is rather Important in Scottish history.

Anyhow, we decided to make a diversion to Scone Palace, which would involve only looking at it from the car park as we had our little friend Max with us. We turned into the driveway to find the gates shut and a notice saying "Scone Palace is closed for a private function. It will reopen on 1 April 2009." That's some private function!

We drove home again along the scenic back roads, including through the town of Glenfarg. The countryside was so pretty, and would be even nicer on a day with better weather and during spring.

Having a car has given me such a feeling of freedom! We can do things and go places without having to check the train or bus routes. I know it's not environmentally correct to say this, but whatever. We're here to experience the country, and that really requires a car.

Plus, if we can avoid horribly packed trains in the Christmas period again it's okay by me.