we slept in sooooo late, that by the time we got up it was about lunch time. kirsty did her very best hostessing with some deeelicious waffles with bacon and maple, while we discussed hangovers (some), plans for the rest of the day (none) and how bothered we were about getting out of our pj's (not). we giggled over "pitch perfect" - our now sleepover tradition, then finally left the house at around... four pm. it was dark, and felt like night. it was also wet, cold and windy, but i'm told that's just edinburgh...
we headed into the old town for what shopping we could take it so late in the day. we window-shopped in others. in hannah zakari kim and i recognised pieces last seen at renegade, and we four admired nearly everything in sight. pugs, cats, retro ladies and acrylic fare - well, these designer-makers really know the way to our hearts, and purses, don't they? short of buying the whole shop, we kept going.
and ended up at armstrongs. i was told to go here by a few vintage lovers on twitter, and it was somewhere that kirsty had planned for us to go right from the get go. it was full to the brim - and even overflowing some, of vintage pieces from right through the ages. 1800s nightgowns through to the horror that was the 1980s military jackets. fabulous fifties frocks alongside mens dinner jackets from the forties. it was all so well curated - and so well-priced, that if i weren't travelling with the baby backpack, i could have bought the lot.
i think kim actually did.
shopping is hard work, and we'd surely worked up a huger. we popped into the beehive (how appropriate!) for some quick grub to fuel the rest of the night, and powered on - up the hill, to the castle. it was like a beacon atop a wet and windy hill; lit up in it's finest purple lights. we were the only people there - it had obviously closed around five, and it was just after that, but the car park was completely deserted - save for the giant puddles of icy rain of course.
the view from the top was astonishing. we saw down to the high street we'd been on not 24 hours earlier, which were now twinking like christmas only a mile below us, while we stood, soaked, frozen and snap happy in the grounds of an enoumous historic fortress. surreal much?
we retired to kirsty's after what seemed like hours but was probably no more than two, to thaw out, dry up and redress for our dinner out on the shore. we'd a reservation at the edinburgh-famous rose leaf pub, which - thankfully, was not too far from kirty's flat.
cocktails in teacups! hats on the walls! recycled furniture! it was too hipster for words. but, it was dead lush! (i think i used that phrase correctly, donna?) after perusing the menu, we opted for a pot-tail of the rhubarb and custard to start, while we waited for our meals. i had the lobster and crab risotto of the day (the chef kindly made me a half serve as i was still full-ish from our late lunch!), while the other indulged in other class meals like a deconstructed tart, some sort of trendy bubble and squeak, and another fishy risotto dishy thing.
the cocktails flowed. two more pot-tails were consumed before a very sleepy me turned the party factor from hero to zero and insisted we all go home rather than party on the shore into the wee hours (i know they all felt the same, honestly) - especially because our reserve plan included watching love actually and drinking homemade baileys hot chocolates! not so lame now, eh? oh... still lame... hardly!
with an entire pint of milk and not too much whipped cream spared, we indulged in the lovely hot chocolates with lashings of baileys while we sat and quoted along to probably the best christmas movie, of like, ever. it was so good that half of us fell asleep watching it... poor form, party animals! to be fair, it was well after 1am and we had had an enormously tiring day battling the wind and rain for... a few hours. ok fine, it was bad form. but whatever, it was holidays, and we were pretty drunk throughout.
the following day we slept late... again. we finished watching love actually (and the deleted scenes) before packing up for our finale. kirtsy had worked out the bus times from a pdf on some website, and we'd prepped to leave in ample time for donna to get her train just before three. when we got to the bus shelter, we noticed the times were about 10 mins out to what we'd planned, and when the bus didn't turn up for another five mins still, we all started to panic. this left a gap of only a few minutes to get donna to her platform in time. although we despaired, there was nothing we could do - so we hoped for the best...
as the bus caught four minutes worth of traffic out the front of the station, our anguish kicked in and we pleaded with the driver to open the doors. from there, we ran/shuffled/waddled our way through the station and to the platform with mere minutes to spare. poor donna, who - before that weekend, had never caught a train on her own, seemed the most calm. the rest of us - unfit, carrying all of the bags and, well, hungover from a weekend of eating and drinking, we were puffing, cramping and needing to sit down; in a right state.
but, she was off. kirsty, kim and i headed to costa for a rest before kim and i headed back to the airport. we chatted over coffee and cake, and then - once we saw the airport bus in the distance, did another mad "dash" to it, just to have sat down and realised it didn't actually leave for another 10 mins...fools! with no traffic airport bound, we arrived in time, making us too early for any sort of gate activity. we shopped, had dinner and started to get sleepy when we discovered that our flight had been delayed - by almost an hour!
by the time we finally made it back to heathrow, we were knackered. and more so on the train back to mine. the only thing keeping us in remotely high spirits was wee santa claws who was very happy to keep us occupied for a good ten minutes of our travels home. boyfriend was waiting at the station to carry our bags, which was a weight off our shoulder (har har!), and there were only a few things out of place in my flat after he entertained in my absence, which i suppose - as it could have been worse, was to be seen as a positive!
i had a bloody fantastic time away with these girls! i say it time and time again, but the friends i've made in the last few years through this writing and blogging malarkey are so, so special to me and i make me feel incredibly lucky and - in all honesty, keep me persevering with it. it's hard work, blogging; anyone will tell you that. but with the pros including some of the best friends i've ever had, it's certainly worth the work.
