Si & Des’ stuff…

Last weekend we flew up to Edinburgh to see the All Blacks destroy Scotland at Murrayfield. We arrived stupidly early on Saturday morning after sharing an EasyJet flight with a planeload of other kiwis. Once in Edinburgh we caught up with Charlotte and Ken and spent the day eating, drinking and navigating through the hordes of All Black jersey-clad visitors.

That night was spent in a strange hostel (with chickenwire bannisters!) and the next morning was the Day of The Game. Caught up with Liz and Hayden and met Des’ great cousin Charlie. Charlie was incredible, telling us stories of Edinburgh, the war, and sang songs all morning. It was great to meet him. Anyway, after some more carousing we headed off to the match at Murrayfield. Incredible atmostphere with a significantly large percentage of New Zealand present. The crowd numbered about 65,000 and I would estimate about 45,000 of them were kiwis. We could have totally stormed Edinburgh castle and taken over the city.

Game was pretty awesome, if somewhat one-sided. But it was great to see the lads play away from home. Much beer was drunk afterwards and the night continued…

… until the next day. I caught up with James, Penny and the now-walking Sarah. We explored Carlton Hill above the city and failed to find the geocache that was there. Then it was back into town before jumping on the train back to London (first class, now we can never go back).

Des had a birthday this week and, as a surprise, I took her to Les Miserables. What a fantastic show — we extend an open invite to anyone coming to London to go see it again.

Last night we had birthday drinks at a newly discovered (and quite cool) bar down the road. We caught up with Mary, Charles, Corey, Julia and Dan and there was much rejoicing. One tasty Indian meal later and it was time for home. Sleep-in this morning and we finally feel like we’ve settled in to the new place. The rugby is on right now and Des is about to hunker down into an enormous pile of schoolwork and wedding invites.

Thanks from Des for all the birthday wishes — it’s great to hear from you all. All the best and we’ll see you guys soon!