Blogmanay: Edinburgh, Scotland

True story.

See the tickets in the photo below?

Four tickets to the Hogmany Concert in the Edinburgh Gardens to sing and dance the New Year in with Bjorn Again (an ABBA tribute band), Soul to Soul, Lily Allen and fireworks from the Castle. I bought them online in Australia the minute sales opened. Hogmany gets bigger every year in Edinburgh and they sell out fast. I was chuffed to be able to get them for Tristan, Jenny, Stuart and me.

But first a lovely dinner at home with a variety of lubricating and warming drinks before walking uptown to the show.

One minute from the entry gate Stuart says, ‘Did that come out of your pocket Tris?’ as a scrap of litter blows down the footpath. By now Edinburgh’s streets are in need of a big clean up. It wasn’t Tristan’s but in checking his pockets for his and Jenny’s tickets he realised the tickets had dropped out of his jeans’ pocket somewhere between the apartment and where we were standing. Shite… It was clearly stated on the tickets, no entry without wristband and ticket.

Nothing to do but retrace our steps back down to New Town. We had little hope we would find them as the breeze was stiff and there were crowds on the streets, but we had to try. Spreading out we scanned both sides of the street. About two thirds of the way home Tristan spotted a white piece of paper on the road. One damp, muddy ticket. A few metres downhill I spotted the second on the road. We had found both tickets! The evening was back on track!

I highly recommend Hogmany in Edinburgh if you have the appropriate cold weather wear. Men in kilts, happy crowds and good music. Apart from one sweet young man in a psychedelic tshirt interpretive dancing in his own tiny e-world the concert goers were pretty tame considering there was booze sold within the venue and many had brought their own poison in plastic bottles.

It’s New Year’s Day, and a rainy, grey one at that, so I leave you with some snaps of Edinburgh City and my sincere wishes for a healthy 2015 for you and your loved ones. Everything else is a bonus!

Waverley Train Station on one of the busiest days of the year.

St Mary’s Church

Dawn from Tris and Jen’s apartment on the last day of 214.

Stairwell of their apartment building.

Quirky New Town cafe.

Signifier he’s a local – shirt sleeves in freezing temp.

Obligatory castle groupie.

Royal Mile

St Giles Cathedral

My kind of busker.

Detail of Hemma Cafe by BBC Scotland.

Doing our best to follow the tradition of First Footing to bring good fortune to Tristan and Jenny’s home.