It was a LONG flight from Delhi to London – over nine hours. The flight was on Virgin, and despite what I’d heard about it being a nice airline, I didn’t have a great experience. My seatmate was a nice lady who shared my sentiments! There were kids screaming and running up and down the aisles and no one did anything about it – not the parents, not the flight attendants. And my inflight entertainment thing was broken! The headphone jack had been jammed and you couldn’t put the headphones in, so I was left watching stuff on my computer until the battery was low, or sleeping, or doing a little bit of knitting.
The lunch was okay, but then there was no more drink service or anything until the next snack, which was 4+ hours later! The service was extremely slow – it took forever for them to clear the trays, and when my seatmate was feeling ill and wanted some tea, it took over half an hour for someone to respond to her pressing the call button. And then the flight attendant refused to bring her tea, saying that they’d be coming around in an hour! She finally agreed to bring some hot water instead. Near the end of the flight when I got up to use the bathroom and the lights were on, I looked around a little – I’ve never seen such a messy, dirty flight. There was rubbish all over the floor, at least partially due to the kids knocking stuff over or throwing things on the floor. Oy.
Anyway, I did arrive at Heathrow relatively unscathed, for a longish layover – it took awhile to get through the terminal transfer and customs and security again, but I still had about three hours to kill before boarding the short flight to Edinburgh. I got a sandwich from Pret – what novelty! Raw vegetables! People who speak English! It was pretty awesome, really. I paid for a bit of internet at a cafe and fought off sleep; because of the time difference it was 8pm in London but I felt like it was 1am!
Another flight and a taxi ride later, I was at Ysolda’s flat in Edinburgh. I was just there in September, and it really felt like I could just drop in anytime. I love Ysolda’s flat (and ysolda’s not too bad herself!). Her studio’s very inspiring, and we had lots of fun just hanging out and chatting (with a little working thrown in).
Quite the climate change – it was nice and cool, even a little chilly, which suited me just fine. But the sun was out sometimes, and you could definitely feel spring in the air. I didn’t take a lot of photos in Edinburgh, especially since I took lots last time, although I did take quite a few of ysolda’s Ishbel beret for the pattern and book.
While ysolda was teaching at k1 on Sunday, I went out for a little bit of a walk on my own. Of course, it was classic Scottish weather and I got caught in a rain shower, then hail (which I hear is NOT usual weather). I popped into the National Museum, which had lots of interesting textile stuff, among other things, and we went out for some food and knitting with some friends after ysolda was done teaching.
It was a little hard to get ourselves out of the flat especially since we’re both homebodies, but we did manage to get to the Botanics for some photo taking and then walking down through Stockbridge and doing some shopping and eating cake.
We both bought clothes from a shop called Jigsaw.
Unfortunately there was an issue with my flight home – it got cancelled! I was supposed to leave Tuesday, fly from Edinburgh to Gatwick, then Gatwick to Toronto. The Gatwick-Toronto flight was cancelled and apparently I could take the Monday flight, but I only found out about two hours before the Monday flight was going to leave from London! Completely impossible to get that flight. So I ended up having to buy another ticket (which was at least not too expensive) that left from Glasgow on Wednesday morning, and ysolda’s very nice dad drove me out to the Glasgow airport about an hour away.
With the extra day in Edinburgh, we both stayed in and worked a bit, I packed up the bit of stuff that I’d unpacked, and then we went out to the cinema and saw Benjamin Button. Nice way to end off the stay – actually, pretty much exactly like my last day in Delhi, come to think of it!
And I finally, finally, finished some legwarmers that’d I’d been carrying around for basically the entire trip. I finished the first one in Japan, and got most of the second one done in China, but once we hit the hot weather I didn’t work on them at all! The ultimate in mindless knitting – 4 balls of black Zara (black despite what the photo might have you believe!), 3.75mm needles, and 1×1 ribbing forever. They’re quite long, and nice and cozy.
I finally got back home to Toronto on March 4 in around noon, and I even managed to make it out to knit night that night (for a little while). Being back at home is great, I love my bed and my shower and my cooking, but I can see why people get bitten by the travel bug and just have to go somewhere. The trip was a great experience, and I think I would totally go back to any of the places (maybe not kuala lumpur, I gotta say, it was really hot there!). But for now I’m just happy to be home and ready to get back to some work! I’ve got lots of design ideas and stuff I’m working on now, although I’m finding that I feel a bit restless these days and have a hard time focusing. I’m sure I’ll get back in the groove though.
Knitting? Yeah, I’ve got lots more knitting to catch you all up on :)
