Back From Edinburgh...
Been back nearly 10 hours from Edinburgh and still trying to recover...
Okay, basic quick overview, then I'll go into a bit more detail later. Gez and Yours Truly arrived at 8.30pm last Tuesday after a five-hour journey, so it was a case of straight to bed. Then on Wednesday, Gez was ill with severe stomach cramps, so we went out for lunch then straight back to the hostel again for the rest of the day. Come Thursday he seemed better, so we went shopping, and I was lulled into a false sense of security.
Come Thursday night, Yours Truly is getting ready to go out and meet another friend in Edinburgh when all of a sudden this almighty scream rings out through the dorm. After urgent scanning of the room by 3 Aussies, 2 Americans and The Token Brit (being Yours Truly), we find out it's Gez. The poor guy is lying on his bunk literally writhing in pain and screaming...Jess and Nick (Aussie and American) flew downstairs to phone for an ambulance, while Yours Truly tried to help him relax (you'd be amazed at how useful breathing exercises to help with vocal projection can help in moments like this...). Jess appeared and said the paramedics wanted to know where the pain was in his stomach, then disappeared, and then Nick started telling us it was going to cost a fortune to get an ambulance, until Yours Truly pointed out that being British, we have the NHS. Jess appeared again and told us they WEREN'T sending an ambulance. No reason why, just a case of, "Do not pass Go, do not collect £200, basically you're screwed." Alex (2nd Aussie) catapults out into the street to fetch a taxi, while Yours Truly enlists the help of 2 more Aussies (Rob and Tom) and a chair to get Gez down the stairs and out. 2 minutes later Gez and Yours Truly are in a cab to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Gez cutting off the circulation in one hand while Yours Truly uses the other to phone Jochen (friend in Edinburgh) and explain what the hell's going on.
Gez gets seen in the hospital and seems a lot more comfortable, so they discharge him with a bottle of industrial-strength laxative and send us back home again. Yours Truly finishes getting ready (looks like she can go out after all) when, hey presto, Gez starts screaming again. So it's back in a taxi and back up the Infirmary. In the waiting room I'm being eyed up by the various middle-aged male inhabitants in between phoning Kirsty (Gez's girlfriend) with updates and freezing my butt off, the Scottish climate not being particularly friendly to young women in dressy, low-cut tops. In desperation I use the pay phone to call Jay in Maine, but he gets called away from the phone and I'm on my own again. Two hours later, Gez is once again discharged and Yours Truly gives up totally. (Cue chorus of "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life")
On Friday, Gez goes into agony again over breakfast, at which point Yours Truly starts looking around for a gun to put him out of his misery and a wall to run head first into to put her out of hers. We return to the hostel and Gez collapses into bed...I give up and join him in the Land of Nod. Come early evening, Jochen says he's free to meet up, so we finally get to have the long-awaited drink! Yours Truly has her first taste of Scottish whisky and loves it, leading to further adventures...more in the next episode, folks! (That could sooooo be misconstrued....*lol*)
Anyway, following endless ribbing from everyone at the hostel (including Yours Truly) and plenty of bed rest, Gez was a lot better on the Sunday, so we went to Edinburgh Zoo with Christie and Dave (Canadian boyfriend and girlfriend in the hostel), and the rest of the holiday (all 36 hours of it!) passed fairly uneventfully. Back at my university halls now, but just when I thought it was safe, I realised I'd left my rucksack - containing keys, camera, phone charger et. al. - on the train. (As Jay so aptly puts it, "Well s**t.") So yes, my rucksack and all its contents are going to be more well-travelled than me as a result. At present, their current whereabouts are believed to be somewhere in Scotland, having been to the south coast and back. Thinking of contacting Iceland and asking them to run a "Missing" campaign on their milk cartons.
Anyhoo, more on the lighter side of Edinburgh in the next episode, including Scottish whisky, ghost tours, the Zoo, why assumption IS the mother of all f**k-ups and what happens to international relations as a result of backpackers' hostels...
Okay, basic quick overview, then I'll go into a bit more detail later. Gez and Yours Truly arrived at 8.30pm last Tuesday after a five-hour journey, so it was a case of straight to bed. Then on Wednesday, Gez was ill with severe stomach cramps, so we went out for lunch then straight back to the hostel again for the rest of the day. Come Thursday he seemed better, so we went shopping, and I was lulled into a false sense of security.
Come Thursday night, Yours Truly is getting ready to go out and meet another friend in Edinburgh when all of a sudden this almighty scream rings out through the dorm. After urgent scanning of the room by 3 Aussies, 2 Americans and The Token Brit (being Yours Truly), we find out it's Gez. The poor guy is lying on his bunk literally writhing in pain and screaming...Jess and Nick (Aussie and American) flew downstairs to phone for an ambulance, while Yours Truly tried to help him relax (you'd be amazed at how useful breathing exercises to help with vocal projection can help in moments like this...). Jess appeared and said the paramedics wanted to know where the pain was in his stomach, then disappeared, and then Nick started telling us it was going to cost a fortune to get an ambulance, until Yours Truly pointed out that being British, we have the NHS. Jess appeared again and told us they WEREN'T sending an ambulance. No reason why, just a case of, "Do not pass Go, do not collect £200, basically you're screwed." Alex (2nd Aussie) catapults out into the street to fetch a taxi, while Yours Truly enlists the help of 2 more Aussies (Rob and Tom) and a chair to get Gez down the stairs and out. 2 minutes later Gez and Yours Truly are in a cab to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Gez cutting off the circulation in one hand while Yours Truly uses the other to phone Jochen (friend in Edinburgh) and explain what the hell's going on.
Gez gets seen in the hospital and seems a lot more comfortable, so they discharge him with a bottle of industrial-strength laxative and send us back home again. Yours Truly finishes getting ready (looks like she can go out after all) when, hey presto, Gez starts screaming again. So it's back in a taxi and back up the Infirmary. In the waiting room I'm being eyed up by the various middle-aged male inhabitants in between phoning Kirsty (Gez's girlfriend) with updates and freezing my butt off, the Scottish climate not being particularly friendly to young women in dressy, low-cut tops. In desperation I use the pay phone to call Jay in Maine, but he gets called away from the phone and I'm on my own again. Two hours later, Gez is once again discharged and Yours Truly gives up totally. (Cue chorus of "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life")
On Friday, Gez goes into agony again over breakfast, at which point Yours Truly starts looking around for a gun to put him out of his misery and a wall to run head first into to put her out of hers. We return to the hostel and Gez collapses into bed...I give up and join him in the Land of Nod. Come early evening, Jochen says he's free to meet up, so we finally get to have the long-awaited drink! Yours Truly has her first taste of Scottish whisky and loves it, leading to further adventures...more in the next episode, folks! (That could sooooo be misconstrued....*lol*)
Anyway, following endless ribbing from everyone at the hostel (including Yours Truly) and plenty of bed rest, Gez was a lot better on the Sunday, so we went to Edinburgh Zoo with Christie and Dave (Canadian boyfriend and girlfriend in the hostel), and the rest of the holiday (all 36 hours of it!) passed fairly uneventfully. Back at my university halls now, but just when I thought it was safe, I realised I'd left my rucksack - containing keys, camera, phone charger et. al. - on the train. (As Jay so aptly puts it, "Well s**t.") So yes, my rucksack and all its contents are going to be more well-travelled than me as a result. At present, their current whereabouts are believed to be somewhere in Scotland, having been to the south coast and back. Thinking of contacting Iceland and asking them to run a "Missing" campaign on their milk cartons.
Anyhoo, more on the lighter side of Edinburgh in the next episode, including Scottish whisky, ghost tours, the Zoo, why assumption IS the mother of all f**k-ups and what happens to international relations as a result of backpackers' hostels...
posted by SaMxXx at Tuesday, December 20, 2005
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