A Sunday in St. Andrews

We ended our first weekend in Scotland with a lovely Sunday in town. We walked to church at 11, and though it was cold, it was sunny and lovely. The church, which is on the eastern-most street in town called The Scores and overlooks the ocean, was very cold inside and I noticed that almost everyone kept their coats on for the entire mass. After mass, I had made a reservation at a pub in town (probably unnecessary in the end, but I wanted to be safe) called the Vic, so we walked there, stopping on the way at the Boots pharmacy for some toiletries. Lunch was quite fun, and the Vic is clearly set up for kids, with walls papered full of cheeky adverts and children’s menus printed on Etch-A-Sketches. We all ordered burgers and took turns with Leah’s Etch-A-Sketch and with watching the BBC weather report on the TVs overhead which were showing photos of the snowy landscape that had been sent in by viewers across Scotland. One shot showed a small group of kids trying to sled down a hill that was dotted with patchy chunks of snow, and I saw John shaking his head at that. At least they owned sleds, right?

When we had arrived at the table, Emma noticed the group of girls who were seated next to us, and hissed to me, “I know those girls from Greyfriars, so don’t do anything embarrassing! And tell Dad!” Greyfriars is the primary school the kids attended in 2011, when we were last here. I was happy to oblige, though I’m not really sure what constitutes embarrassing in Emma’s mind. Is it talking too loud? Using baby talk with Leah? Poking at my phone during the whole meal and not speaking when spoken to? Or just being with one’s family in a pub on a Sunday afternoon? We all have different ideas of what might be embarrassing behavior by a family member, though I assume Emma meant the last one, and I couldn’t do anything about that. They were finishing their meal, though, and left after a few minutes without recognizing or acknowledging Emma, and I could tell Emma was much more at ease after that.

We did a bit more shopping in town after lunch, for school supplies mostly, and then I took Leah and John home while David and Emma stopped in a bookstore. On the way home, Leah noticed the cobblestone street and the sounds the cars made on them as their tires bumped over the stones. “There’s some-ping wong with these woads!” she said. Then she started up an impromptu jingle about Minnie Mouse, which made no sense at all, and sang it the whole way home. She’s still a little confused about what we mean by “going home” and “our house” but when I unlocked the door to Burns House, she went right in, kicked off her boots, and climbed into her castle to start the arduous task of rearranging all of her baby dolls and their various dish-towel and tissue blankets. Emma and David arrived about 20 minutes later, and Emma and I changed into sneakers and went for a walk along the Lade Braes. The sun was going to set at 4:09 pm and we wanted to get in a walk before it got dark, so we had to hurry. We walked the entire length of the Lade Braes, remembering what happened at what points on the path during our last visit, and though it was cold it was fun. When we returned home, we loaded everyone up in the car for a family trip to the Morrison’s. I let everyone choose one treat, and the kids had a good time checking out all the different types of candy in the treats aisle (it’s a long one here, as the Scots sure do love their sweeties!). John had been to Morrison’s with his school friends on Friday so he had insider information on what was good. Emma stuck with the tried and true Kinder Bueno, though I suspect she really just likes those because they used to be banned in the United States. Leah chose a packet of gummy candies, mostly because that’s the first thing she saw and she wasn’t going to be dissuaded after she had her hands on them. We also got some staples, and some fresh fish and veggies for dinner for the next few nights, along with some more pre-made Indian food for Sunday dinner. We loaded it all up in the car, and went home. The rest of the evening was uneventful, with everyone packing up for school the next day and putting away some laundry. Leah didn’t feel well as she went to bed (“too much gummy in my tummy” she cried) though I think the no-nap thing is creating more stress on her body than the sweets. We were all happy to go to sleep a bit early, with a full week of school, nursery, work and the arrival of our Colgate students ahead of us.