Last week I flew down to Southampton to stay with Auntie Joanne and Neil. It was a very relaxing week spent exploring Salisbury and Stockbridge, going shopping and having lunch out. Grandma came with us one evening for dinner and we had a very delicious pea shoot risotto and I went to Grandma and Grandad's house for cups of tea and chats. When Auntie Joanne and Neil were at work I attempted some studying, read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, watched TV and played with the dogs. It was so nice to be in a homey place with family. The dogs were good companions and I had fun running around the garden with Rosie and playing fetch with her. Auntie Joanne and Neil were great hosts, feeding me lots of delicious food and letting me loose in their house when they were at work.
On Friday, Neil drove me to the train station and I took the 1 1/2 hour journey to London. Despite a few delays due to 'signalling problems from Clapham Junction' I made it to Waterloo station. I met Molly under the big clock like Auntie Joanne suggested. It was strange to see her outside of Adderbury and on our own without the two families or at least Catherine and Rosanna. We walked across Waterloo Bridge and saw the London Eye and other parts of central London. We went to a psychology exhibit at the Science Museum which was pretty interesting. It showed the advances in psychology from wearing amulets around your neck to ward off bad energies to ECT and PET - very cool. We then went to Kew Gardens and had a picnic in the grass. We went on the tree top walkway and walked around the grounds. That evening we went out to a club called Passing Clouds where there was a face painter and different kinds of music throughout the night.
On Saturday we toured central London seeing all the usual tourist things like the London Eye, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St. James' Park, Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square. We then went to my cousin Liz's restaurant, The Bonnie Gull, where we sat at the bar and had cocktails, a salmon dish and big chunky chips. The food and drinks were delicious and the atmosphere of the restaurant was very warm and cozy with lots of young, well dressed people. Sitting at the bar was great as we could chat to Liz when she wasn't too busy and to the barman when she was. It was lovely to see Liz and Molly and I both really liked the restaurant. From there we went to a bar in Camden for a Latin music event. When the band took a break we took a walk around Camden then went back for more dancing.
On Sunday we met Rosanna who came to London for the day from Bristol. It was so lovely to see her as I didn't think I would before, so it was a bonus! We definitely appreciated her making the long journey and getting up early to see us. We toured around Hackney, where Molly lives, and went to a cafe for crepes followed by a bookshop (to get reading material for me on the train) and to the deli where Molly works. We then wandered through the food and vintage clothing markets and had thai for dinner, very delicious. That evening Molly and I were exhausted so we had a relaxing evening in watching the movie Philomena.
The train journey from Kings Cross to Waverley was not too bad. It went by fairly quickly and I had my book, Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, to keep me company. It's also one I need to read for my exams next week so I killed two birds with one stone! I had a really good time visiting my family and friends and I'm really glad I went. It's nice to be back in Edinburgh now but I need to get myself in gear for exams.
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