...But why is the rum gone?!

Dear friends, this is a moment that I think I have been waiting for for years:  the moment when my fellow Pirates-of-the-Caribbean obessees and I can sit down, and drink rum together. Then finish the bottle. Then ask of each other (drunkenly, as is appropriate, and in poor imitations of Captain Jack Sparrow) "But why is the rum gone?!?"

Worlds were colliding in serious and wonderful ways this last week. My dear friend from high School, Victoria, who is spending a year studying abroad in Germany, came to visit Scotland and me for a few days. Ridiculousness ensued, as it tends to. Victoria and I have known each other for... going on eight years now, and yet in the last three we have spent very little time together, alas. This made up for that, in an amazing way.

Scotland, it seems, agrees with Victoria almost as much as it does me. We walked from one end of the city to another, got covered in mud climbing lovely Arthur's Seat, sipped chai lattes in my favorite coffee shops and whiskey in my favorite pubs, watched monster-pigeons waddling over crocus strewn lawns around Prince's street, listened agape to the strains of bagpipe music wafting up the hill, swooned at the amazingness of pies, curries and fish-n-chips, and in general enjoyed the hell out of life. It was her 21st birthday the saturday she arrived, so that of course called for a party of "special magnificence." We went out to an Indian restaurant and ate until it was all we could do to stumble back to the flats, clutching our happy, painful stomachs. We then sampled one of the favorite deserts of this wonderful little island that I previously mentioned, called Banoffee Pie. It is a deadly combination of cookie-crumble crust, layered with bananas, toffee, chocolate, and tons of whipped cream. Heart attack in a dish, but so strangely good. Then we took to the streets and went out dancing! Huzzah! Matthias, Victoria's German boyfriend (who was a sweetheart, a bit of a goofball, and except for his rather unappealing facial hair was wholly above reproach) was exhausted from a few days of confusing travel and general sleeplessness, so he crashed in my room rather than accompanying us, which was somewhere between disappointing and liberating for Victoria I think. It meant that we had a real girls' night out, the first I have had with her in years, complete with cheesy music, cheeky dancing (with each other and with nice Scottish boys,) and perhaps just a little bit of drinking, considering it was her 21st. We had a marvelous time.

Later that week we took a wander over to the Botanical Gardens again, the first time I had been there in a month. When last I went, the slush was still clinging to the gutters and the shadows in the lees of buildings, and we had to hurry back so as not to be caught in the darkness that descended with the sun far too early (at about 4:30). This time, however, it was as through spring was just starting to stir. It is warmer now than it was a month ago, mid- to high-forties most days, and that seems to have been sufficient encouragement to bring the snowdrops into bloom. There is a whole field of them in the gardens, where the ground between the trees is frosty with delicate green-touched white blossoms. Flowers, dear friends, make me inordinately pleased. The "glass houses" in the gardens were lovely as well, and as I was coming down with a cold I was especially pleased to sit under softly dripping fern fronds, and to breathe deep the humid, jasmine scented air. The structures are so much more beautiful than many of the green houses I have been in in the states (not that I have spent much time in green houses of course) and I felt very pleased with myself when my estimate of a mid 19th century construction date was verified by the little sign that read, Originally Built 1858.There were palm trees with glossy, shiny leaves about which the jasmine vines trailed, and somewhere there was water softly trickling. It was utterly peaceful.

The next day we joined a raucous group of international students and as a mob trouped off to THE CASTLE. I think it needs it's own post, because I have too much to say here, so keep your eye out. :)