Geth and I are back in Newcastle today after another trip up to Edinburgh. There’s been…more than a few of those this year!
This last weekend was definitely the best, though. After getting to Edinburgh and spending the night at Mum and Dad’s on Thursday, we were picked up by Sharpy and Steph on Friday morning to travel to Dalhousie Castle, where we would be spending the weekend.
We immediately bumped into a post-manicure Lisa in the foyer, and after a couple of drinks in the bar, during which the rest of the gang showed up, I went downstairs to the spa for my own treatments. I had a great massage and a much-needed file and polish for my fingernails, both from Lindsay, whom I really recommend tracking down if you’re ever at Dalhousie.
After sorting out a few things in the hotel room, I headed back down to the bar (we ended up spending quite a bit of time in there over the weekend, unsurprisingly!) for a few more drinks, then down to the restaurant for a really nice pre-wedding meal with all of Lisa and Kieran’s friends and family. The highlight was some amazing gnocchi that totally made up for the disappointing version we had at the hen do!
Saturday was the wedding day, which was a great (if slightly blurry towards the end) experience all the way through. After a hotel breakfast at which I allowed myself to eat ALL THE THINGS (you gotta create that base for a long drinking day), I joined the bride and the other bridesmaids in Sarah’s room for a fun morning of hair, makeup and prosecco. Eventually we were all ready, and we walked down the aisle for a lovely humanist ceremony, before heading out for fizz and canapes in the hotel grounds with the new Mr and Mrs Leach! The rain held off all day, so we got photos done outside, and before long it was time for the wedding breakfast, which was another great meal. The fact that I forgot to take a photo of the cheesecake should indicate how good it was!
The evening saw a fantastic wedding disco courtesy of Geth, followed by a few late-night drinks back in the bar.
Sunday morning required another large breakfast, as everyone was very fuzzy from lots of drinking and not much sleep. After some quiet recovery time sitting in the bar and not drinking, we got back in Sharpy’s car and headed back into Edinburgh.
I had some work to do yesterday afternoon – helped along by the Now! ’80s channel – following which Geth and I went down to the chippy where I got a much-needed fried battered half pizza supper with salt ‘n’ sauce. Only people from the East Coast of Scotland will appreciate the beauty of those words.
This morning, Geth and I packed quickly – we had a fairly early train to catch – and, still feeling a bit fuzzy (a sign of a good wedding!) headed back to Newcastle, where I got on with some more work and Geth played Final Fantasy XIII-2 all afternoon. We’re now watching WarGames, which I have never seen but was apparently a childhood favourite of Geth’s. I am really enjoying it, I have to say – though to be fair I’ve rarely met an ’80s movie I didn’t like!
