Sunday in Tain and Adventures in Edinburgh

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day. Church was at 11:30 so I got to sleep in longer then usual on a Sunday. I walked to church with one of the younger boys, which was nice despite the fact that it was cloudy and I was in high heels (which are not entirely compatible with the sidewalks in a small town like Tain). We had a nice service and then tea with sweets and biscuits afterwards. Everyone was very kind and came up and introduced themselves and talked to me for awhile. By the time we got outside the sun was out again and it was absolutely lovely outside, so I walked with two of the boys back home. We had lunch and then Mrs Van Eyk was kind enough to take me and a few of the kids to see a very, very old cathedral in Dornoch.

The Church was originally built between 1222 and 1239, but was burnt during a clan battle in 1570. However, Sir Robert Gordon restored some of the building in 1570, and from 1835-37 the entire building was renovated courtesy of the Elizabeth, Duchess of Sutherland.

I took some pictures inside the Cathedral, but alas, I was worried about loosing battery power and so I didn't take any pictures of the outside or of the graveyard, but I'm sure you can find it on google maps!

I apologize for occasional blurriness and darkness (the darkness was due to me forgetting to turn the flash off...and then I turned it off and they became normal again)

I love that all the pews get numbered

I was a good daughter and took pictures of the pipe organ for my mama! ;) I didn't get the consul box though because I couldn't find it at first. . . it was not where I was expecting it to be!

The Sarcophagus of Richard de Moravia the brother of St. Gilbert

Found the Doctor up in the Organ loft....travel with him for a few months through Space and Time might be the reason why my internal clock is still a bit confused!

After I returned from my TARDIS adventures ;) we drove for a bit more around Dornoch and then out to the shore to see if we could find some seals! Alas, there were no seals despite the tide being out, but I did get some nice pictures of a nearby ruined castle and a heron!

The ruined castle! It was so neat to see. Apparently, it's pretty overgrown in side with weeds and things and there was not any time for me to go check it out since church was at 6:00 and it was about 4:30 and we had to get back home to drink some tea and have a snack before hand.

I don't believe I've seen mallards since I was in Saskatchewan!

The pointy thing on the hill is not a tower, as you might expect, but it is a statue of the Duke of Sutherland, who wasn't the nicest person in the Highlands. He and his wife were very influential in land clearances, kicking farmers off their lands so that they could keep sheep instead. See Google for further information! :)

The Heron

So much for Sunday, now onto the the story of the time when Hannah misread a 24 hour clock and gave the person who was supposed to pick her up the wrong time. . .

Right, so as I said, I misread the clock. It said 14:22 and for some reason I thought that was 4:22...don't ask me why, especially since my train to Tain got in at 15:05 and I had no trouble translating that into 3:05. . .

I got on the train going from Tain to Inverness, and the ticket collector came along and asked me for my ticket, which I didn't have since Tain is not a staffed station. I asked how much it was for Edinburgh, and he told me it was a fair bit and then gave me the price. I got my money out and he asked if I had a railcard so I told him I hadn't had a chance to purchase one yet. I was about to give him the money for the ticket and he said "Hold on a minute, I'll just see what I can do for you since you don't have a railcard." And he proceeded to take 10 pounds off my ticket price! So I actually ended up just paying for a ticket from Inverness to Edinburgh and not for Tain to Inverness! It was fantastic! I felt so blessed, especially since the train tickets have been costing quite a bit and I had been starting to just worry a little about funds (not that I don't have money back home in Canada in my account or a visa I could use...but still...)

I did indeed give Margaret (the former housemate of my brother-in-law with whom I am staying for a few days) the wrong time, but then I corrected myself and sent her a quick message saying I would be in earlier and that if that interfered with her schedule I would just walk. She did not get my message. So I walked. Uphill, with a heavy backpack (those of you who went to school with me, know which one I'm talking about), pulling my suitcase, wearing one of my plaid shirts, a heavier wool sweater that doesn't fit in my suitcase, my trenchcoat, and a pair of shoes that don't have enough support for that sort of heavy duty pulling and carrying up and down hills. Needless to say, I took quite a few breaks at street corners to give my back/shoulders a bit of a res, and then when I got to the flat I wasn't sure if it was the correct one and the buzzers weren't working, and Margaret wasn't there. So after walking back and forth along that section of street trying to make sure I didn't miss anything, I decided to go try call her on a payphone, but, lo and behold, I did not have the right change for the payphone and neither did the hair salon I went to to try and get the right change. So I walked back to the flat door. By this time dusk was starting to set in (it was about 3:30-40), and I hadn't a clue where Margaret was and if she got my message or not, so I started to get slightly panicky and then, right when I almost was about to start freaking out because I was all alone in a strange city with a heavy backpack and suitcase, I heard behind me "Hi! Are you Hannah?" A great weight was lifted off my mind and Margaret welcomed me into her flat!

I talked to my mom and dad and Opa and Oma for a bit on Skype and then took a shower. It is a very, very small shower in a very tiny bathroom, but the water was hot and it felt nice. Then I made myself some tea and ate a supper of an apple and some cereal, and talked to my sister for awhile. And afterwards I started looking for directions for tomorrow, and began blogging. So here we are at the end of Hannah's adventures. Tomorrow I head off to do some phone stuff and to get some batteries and a few groceries and then off to 13 Parkside Terrace! : D Night Night for now!