On June 20th we clambered into a rental car and headed for Scotland. Although we got the car upgraded to a fancy Saab 9-3, Brent managed to get the wheel clamped as soon as he got it back to the flat for parking in a no parking zone. After paying the £80 fine, we were on our way! First stop, Edinburgh.
The drive to Edinburgh was relatively uneventful even if it was rather long. It took about 4 hours to get there. Oddly, it seems in England we are willing to drive great distances while in Canada, we rarely drive 45 minutes to visit friends or family. Not sure why that is, but hope to rectify that if we ever get home. We checked into the Novotel Edinburgh which is in the Old Town and quite a nice place to stay for a large chain hotel.
We had been working in cahoots with Brent’s Aunt, Uncle and cousins (the Ancaster connection we’ll call them) since the 20th was Brent’s parent’s anniversary. We took them to The Grain Store in the Old Town which we had discovered on our last trip to Edinburgh and it is fast becoming a Davis family favourite. Brent’s Aunt and Uncle had arranged for the drinks to be provided and they had chosen wisely. It was probably an anniversary that Brent’s parents won’t soon forget and it was nice to be able to share it with them.
The drive to Edinburgh was relatively uneventful even if it was rather long. It took about 4 hours to get there. Oddly, it seems in England we are willing to drive great distances while in Canada, we rarely drive 45 minutes to visit friends or family. Not sure why that is, but hope to rectify that if we ever get home. We checked into the Novotel Edinburgh which is in the Old Town and quite a nice place to stay for a large chain hotel.
We had been working in cahoots with Brent’s Aunt, Uncle and cousins (the Ancaster connection we’ll call them) since the 20th was Brent’s parent’s anniversary. We took them to The Grain Store in the Old Town which we had discovered on our last trip to Edinburgh and it is fast becoming a Davis family favourite. Brent’s Aunt and Uncle had arranged for the drinks to be provided and they had chosen wisely. It was probably an anniversary that Brent’s parents won’t soon forget and it was nice to be able to share it with them.
Clint & Jennifer on their Anniversary, enjoying some lovely wine from Ron & Martha
The four of us enjoying a pint at a pub.
The next day was our anniversary! Four years of marriage is a long time, by any measure but it has gone by pretty quickly. (Thanks to all who sent us their well-wishes that day!) Beth has finished school, started more school, finished that and started still more school while working as a midwife. Brent has put in many, many years as a lawyer in private practice. Then we moved to England. It was sometimes pretty hard, but never dull. Strangely enough we have now spent 50% of our wedding anniversaries in the UK. We would never have predicted that four years ago. To celebrate our day, we toured Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile finally stopping for dinner once again in the Old Town to which Brent’s parents graciously treated us. Unfortunately, there was one casualty that day. Brent dropped our beloved Sony camera at Edinburgh Castle and, despite being able to capture a few more photos with it, the camera finally succumbed to its injuries at approximately 11:05am.
The next day we had our Scottish breakfast and drove for an hour to our hotel in Glasgow. This was really quite a momentous occasion and one Brent’s Dad had been looking forward to for some time. His family is from Glasgow and we were trodding some of the same streets that his Grandfather, Great-Grandfathers, etc. trod many years ago. We had lunch at a Glasgow pub, saw the Cathedral, wandered the streets, shopped a bit and generally enjoyed ourselves to a high degree.
The next day we headed back to Leeds via Moffat, which is where Brent’s Mom’s grandmother was from. (Insert lovely diagram of family tree here…..!) Brent recalls that, as a boy, he watched his Grandfather’s slideshow of a trip to Scotland which included a trip to Moffat. There is a famous family picture of Brent’s Grandmother sitting on the bench at the statue of the Golden Ram in the centre of Moffat. After some twists and turns, we found Moffat and were surprised at what a nice little Scottish town it is. After completing some sightseeing, the men bought some Moffat tartan ties and the ladies got Moffat tartan scarves.
On the way back to Leeds, there was some considerable reminiscing as well as thoughts of ancestors we scarcely knew. Although Glasgow and Moffat were nice to visit, some of us couldn’t help thinking we would be eternally grateful to the ancestors who were crazy enough to leave everything behind, get on a ship and make the trip to Canada.
