January 10th, 2015.

Getting up at 9, I open my eyes and discover that I’m sleeping face down. I right myself and my tattooed chest peels away from the sheets. Looking down at why that happened, I find that I had inked the sheets. Crap, that’s not good. With breakfast made, I search the net for places where I could buy bed linens. I jot down a few locations, get cleaned up, and head out at around 11.

The first place that I went to was a half-hour walk away. Upon getting there I see that there is a 20% sale going on with linens. I go inside and talk with the sales associate. I tell him my story and then he shows me what I deeded but was hesitant in selling me them. Curious on why, I look at the price. £110! I whistle, tell him that they look comfy, you get what you pay for, but I was wanting to pay around £40 for new sheets. He nods and says that’s what he figured. He then points me in the right direction, we shake hands, then I depart.

Going to the new place, John Lewis, it’s a lot like a combination of Home Outfitters and Sears, but 5-levels worth. Scouring everywhere, I eventually find the sheets. Exactly the price point on what I wanted to spend, I go and pay for them and leave. Well, I tried to leave. I didn’t know where the exit was and I couldn’t find any signs. I go back to the cashier and ask ‘Which way to the outside? I’m a bit lost.’ She chuckles and shows me how to get back to fresh air and sun shine.

Once out, I went to a Scottish souvenir shop that I spotted earlier and bought a few things. Afterwards I toured around the area, finding new and exciting things. Like an almost black stone tower-arch thingy.

I eventually made my way back to the flat for 4:30 and called it quits then. I had two loads of laundry to do (one if the washer was bigger), and each load was two and a half hours long. Bought some more fish and chips and haggis after starting the first wash.

Watching Netflix, eating fish and chips, all the while doing laundry. My last night in Scotland wasn’t all that exciting.

Paris tomorrow!

January 9th, 2015.

I’m in a bit of pain today. My legs haven’t quite recovered from yesterday just yet, and my chest hurts from the tattoo. I cooked up some eggs and made some coffee, then planned out my day. I wanted to tackle a couple more trails that I didn’t get to touch yesterday, go to Dynamic Earth, I found a pub called World’s End, and I found a pamphlet in the recycling for an Extreme Paranormal Ghost Tour at 10:15.

Cleaned, got dressed, and left at noon. I went back into the hills and did the rest of the trails that I wanted to do, then made my way over to Dynamic Earth. It’s a museum/exhibit/ interactive tour of the creation of the universe and the Earth. I traveled through time again, watched the Big Bang, saw the birth of the Earth, how it came to be, and the evolution of life. At the end of the experience, there was a half-hour film of super-volcanos, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. Not too bad of an actor, not a good narrator. I left Dynamic Earth at 5. On my way to the World’s End. Got myself a pint and some haggis for dinner. Going back to the flat to rest my legs and to watch Scrubs, then I left for the tour at 9:30. Fortunately enough the meeting point for the tour was near the tattoo parlour so I knew my way there.

Once I got to the meeting spot, I started chatting with the tour guide about random things, like poutine. More people show up during our talks. Some people are from London, some from Dublin, some from Edinburgh. One was from Montreal! A lawyer named Vanessa. Somehow the topic of education came up within the group and everyone was either in psychology, law, or political science. It was my turn to say and I told them that I graduated from Television and Film back in 2010. They were actually wowed by that. They then asked me where I was working and what I have done so far. In the end of it all, I told them about all the videos I made and all the music videos that I had been on, my accident, and my time at the brewery. In the end, they saw me as a badass kind of guy. It felt pretty great. After the chatting, we started the tour. Going to graveyards, tombs, tunnels under Edinburgh, and the old parliament building. Normally the tour is a hour and a half. It turned out to be two and a half because of story time in the beginning.

I didn’t get back to the apartment until 1:30 where I just brushed my teeth and went to bed.

January 8th, 2015.

My host was gracious enough to leave me a bunch of food for breakfast. Eggs, bread, juice, home made marmalade, and coffee. After a delicious breakfast, and a search for a good tattoo parlour in town, I left the apartment to saunter my way there to make an appointment for tomorrow or Saturday.

Along the way I got distracted by some pretty looking massive hills. Oh look! Walking paths! Oh look! There’s the starting point! Let’s go take a look. Good thing I wasn’t super busy or on a time table because this area was huge. Trails everywhere! Up rocky paths, through tall grass, and I spotted some peaks that I wanted to tackle. By the time I did everything there that I wanted to, it was 3:30 and the tattoo place closed at 6. Eventually finding a way down to the road (a little more complicated than just sliding down the side of the hill), I made my way over to Studio XIII.

Going in and talking to the receptionist, she tells me that they’re looked up tomorrow and Saturday but there’s an artist free right now and I get one done now if I wanted to. I told her that there’s no time like the present. I sat down with the artist and we figured out a design of the thistle. We head downstairs, I take off my shirt, and he starts his work. It only took 45-minutes. 45-minutes of pain because it was in a very tender and sensitive spot, but it looks amazing! I pay for the great work, buy some cream, and carefully walk back to the apartment for 7.

Feeling hungry, I buy a pizza from across the road, with haggis as a topping, go back upstairs to watch Scrubs, then go to bed for midnight.

I’m almost done the series!

January 7th, 2015.

With my bag packed, I quickly popped out to the post office to send some things home. My train left the station at 2:15pm. It was 10 o’clock when I was all ready to leave. So my train was just late enough that I’d be sitting around at the station if I left now, but too soon for me to do anything. So I just watched Scrubs until noon-thirty.

Getting to the station with a hour before I left (walked over), I toured around the station, ultimately doing three laps. I then boarded my train and off we went! A 4-hour ride was ahead of me so I got comfy and read my book. It only really got busy once and that was about half way because school was let out and the kids boarded the train. Thank goodness I stumbled upon a crazy sale for First Class tickets. Only 25 pounds was it was a flash sale that lasted only a few hours.

Getting to Edinburgh for just before 6, I lumped into a cab and went to my new place. My host asked if I could get there as soon as possible because he had some plans that night. Once there, and getting into the apartment, he gave me a quick tour, he asked a few questions of my trip, then left. I unpacked then finally took in a deep breath. It’s great to be back in Scotland.

My stomach reminded me that I had very little to eat in the past twelve hours. I go out to a nearby fish place that the host suggested. Picking up some fish and chips, and some haggis nuggets, go back to the apartment, then put myself into a food coma.