Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Rule Britannia...

Hi folks...my fun weekend kicked off on Friday when I travelled to Edinburgh and as Hobbycraft and my hotel for the night were in the Leith/Portobello area...I decided to take a little detour and visit the Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre for some retail therapy and The Royal Yacht Britannia to see how the other half lived...I thoroughly enjoyed a 2 hour stroll around it's decks and below and had a spot of lunch in the upper deck sun lounge where Her Maj used to have breakfast...

Don't know quite what I expected but it's definitely not in the opulent cruise liner category...spartan and a bit shabby would best describe it...definitely in need of a complete make-over so perhaps it's no surprise that it was de-commissioned. The Queen's Bedroom for instance was a complete shock...
not exactly luxury...check out the teeny weeny bed and the crew's quarters were nothing to write home about either...
I was fascinated by the fact that it was entirely self sufficient whilst at sea with it's own operating theatre...
 and hospital but not exactly the most cheery of environments to recover in...
 laundry...

 the bar in the Officers Ward Room...well I suppose they needed a tot or two of rum to keep their spirits up
the only rooms that gave a hint that you were on board a floating Royal Residence were the Drawing Room...
 and the State Dining Room
and the perfect ending to the first day of my weekend adventure was a evening stroll down to the beach at Portobello after checking in at the hotel...

downhill going should have told me it was going to be UPHILL on the way back but this intrepid adventurer made it back albeit puffing and panting and after a yummy dinner and a glass of vino I was ready to hit the sack ready for Day 2 at Hobbycraft.
a fun day of demo-ing...meeting lots of lovely crafty folks...

but before I knew I was hitting the road again to travel across to Glasgow to my favourite hotel...the Best Western Garfield House for another yummy dinner...a nightcap or two...a bit of Strictly TV viewing and an early night in anticipation of Day 3...the workshop at Damsefly Crafts with the fabulous Finnabair. If you're thinking that it's all gone a bit too swimmingly so far...I'll be back to share the drama and mayhem that was waiting just around the corner for this intrepid traveller...in the words of Craig Revel Horwood..."disaster darling". 
Hugs Kath xxx