It really is colder there. Almost a month ago now, I crawled out of bed early on a Sunday morning (too early for breakfast, so I poured myself some freshly-bought cereal and milk in the semi-darkness) to lope up to New Town in Edinburgh to the bus station by St. Andrews Square with Mhairi and Lewis, two good friends (Mhairi is the one from Aberdeen). The three hour-long bus ride, and attempted sleep, was only punctuated by a move to another bus and awake moments spent listening to Arctic Monkeys and Mhairi's commentary on the city of Dundee.
Once we arrived in Aberdeen, stiff-necked and groggy, Mhairi and I were grateful for our winter coats, but poor Lewis only had a sweatshirt and leather jacket. He survived the day, though.
I haven't even said why we lugged ourselves up to Aberdeen! The Arctic Monkeys were playing there! And since Mhairi hails from that just outside nice city, we knew we could stay overnight for free.
We whiled away the day with a walk to the beach, where we sat down to a classic American diner meal: burgers and milkshakes (and fish and chips), and then hiked back to the center of town to the mall where our friend Mikey, also from Aberdeen, would meet us. Since we didn't have the money to buy anything (the luxuries of student-hood), we spent a chunk of time in the Apple store, playing games, and Lewis emailed a professor that he wouldn't come to a lecture the next day (he didn't say it was because we were getting back later in the morning from a concert the night before, of course).
Before long, Mikey left to have dinner with his parents while he was in town from school, and we left to find a cheap dinner from Marks & Spencers. While Mhairi and Lewis found nice sandwiches, I scored a delicious container of pesto pasta, which did not include a fork. We searched the store for a plastic fork, to no avail, and eventually sneaked into Starbucks, where a grabbed two wooden stirrers to use a chopsticks. I successfully polished off every last bite.
Now, the concert. Incredible. We queued outside, shivering, and the wait was long, but it was worth it. The Vaccines, who opened for the Arctic Monkeys, were great. I know most of the words to their songs, which is always fun. Since we had arrived before the concert hall's doors opened- we secured spots at the front, with only a row of people in front of us. The concert was incredible- and loud- but that's to be expected of course. Then, the Arctic Monkeys stepped out. Actually, before them, the guitar tuner was cheered onstage by the crowd.
I could describe the concert, but I wouldn't do it justice. Mhari's mother was very kind and picked us up at the concert hall, where the streets were crawling with cars after the concert- and we drove for several hours- which are a blur to me now, except for waking up suddenly to the car slowing down and seeing horses by Mhairi's house. We rounded off the night with a bit of Father Ted, a comedy show about priests that haven't been devout enough who are sent to an island off of Ireland to better their ways.
Only a few weeks later, Madeleine and I strolled over to HMV Picturehouse, a theatre-turned-club, to see Cake! The band, not the food. For those who don't know Cake, I highly recommend a listen.
Anyways, I'm way behind schedule. I discovered this post-in-progress a few minutes ago- in February- and decided to round it off.
That day I was walking to the gym- the day before I started writing this post, as I neared a hill descending towards the gym, more of Edinburgh's landscape came into view, crowned by a vivid rainbow. The brief torrent of sleet-like rain had dissipated, leaving behind a beautiful day with only damp pavement to remind us of the stormy morning.
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