Paul and Kristen invited us over to their apartment for a proper Scottish breakfast on Saturday as it was the day of the Scottish walk. They were total superstars and had made tattie scones and Lorne sausage from scratch. We had the works - bacon, egg and beans too. It was utterly delicious!! We had brought along the essential accompaniment to a Scottish breakfast after a Christmas party...Irn Bru. I can't think of a more essentially Scots way to begin the day that celebrates Alexandria's Scottish heritage!
The Walk was the usual array of pipe bands, tartan, scottie dogs in little kilts and tam o shanters and local dignitaries. Oh, and Benjamin Franklin...which puzzled us a little (especially as we had thought he might be Thomas Jefferson!!). The puzzle was solved shortly after though. In one of those totally random, only in Alexandria, moments we had decided to pop into a coffee and wine shop for a coffee to thaw us out a little. We were sitting at a table up the the back of the store when Benjamin Franklin appeared with a coffee and sat at the table beside us. He was chatting away to a couple of ladies and to us, and it turns out that he got the first of his six honorary degrees from St Andrews University which was the Scottish connection. Tenuous, but obviously he was into dressing up as Ben Franklin, so who's going to deny him?!
After watching the massed band concert we all headed to O'Connells where we got entirely too comfortable, sitting beside the fireplace gently toasting. We were heading to Chadwicks for dinner when we were very distracted by the sight of a pipe band in the Union Street Pub. When we realised that they were playing we had to go in and have dinner in there instead. I'm not sure what has happened to me since I've been here...before I would have run a mile at the thought of listening to people torturing cats, but now I'm quite enjoying it!
Our plan to go and watch the parade of boats was quashed when we emerged after dinner and it was sleeting. Only the boys had hats with them and it was too nasty to be outside without one. My earmuffs were keeping my ears warm, but that was it. My hair was getting soaked. By a stroke of good luck I had worn a pashmina as a scarf and I was able to do a complicated winding thing to make it into a kind of snood. As I had a cold and I didn't want pneumonia we headed home for the warmth of our fire.
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