It’s Christmas eve and we find ourselves in Edinburgh, lounging in our hostel bar in between a Christmas tree and a pool table. Funky laid back blues music fills the air, and we sit content after making full use of the complimentary breakfast (I’ve had 5 mugs of tea, 4 bits of toast and a bowl of cereal with fruit & yogurt… you don’t know where your next meal is coming from when you are a back packer, gotta take it where you can get it sometimes!).
It’s our first Christmas away from family, however we have not been deprived of celebrations. We have our home at Teasses decorated with lights, tinsel and a tree all from Pound Land (it’s a shop where everything is 1 pound, not a gay bar), we were generously invited to the Teasses staff Xmas party which was great, and we had a home cooked Christmas feast on Friday which comprised of roast duck, a game casserole with partridge and pheasant (all killed on the estate, and prepared by trusty Jordan), a lamb roast with all the trimmings, and plenty of booze including Isaac’s annual 5 liters of Eggnog (it was only about two thank you, and it all got drunk - Ize).
We are now in Edinburgh for actual Christmas and it is covered in lights and Christmas trees, and has a Christmas market which seems to have 5 stalls repeated about 30 times. There is an ice skating rink, a ferris wheel, and lots of outdoor bars serving hot cider, mulled wine, and hot apple toddies (Drambuie, warm apple juice, lemon juice and cinnamon. Very delicious, warming, and expensive.
There is no snow, but lots of wind, which, like, is just as cold and in your face really. We had a little snow a couple of nights ago, but the ground was too wet for it to stick. It’s so strange having a cold Christmas, but it’s great, it feels like a ski resort.
Our housemates and fellow helpxers, Ian & Tegan, have left Bankhead and headed home to Liverpool for Christmas. They will be sorely missed by us, Jordan & the gardeners. They have made our stay really fun, can’t thank them enough.
We will be having our third Christmas feast tomorrow as our hostel is having a Christmas lunch, where anyone can join in if you bring a plate or cook something. We are too poor for presents this year, which is good, because we have no one buy them for nor are we receiving any, nor do we have room to carry them anyway. So we will skype home tomorrow morning and wish our families a happy sweaty boozy xmas, then proceed to drink & be merry with the family-less population here at the hostel.
Happy hobo Christmas everyone!!
xxoo
