A Groovy Long Weekend In Glasgow

Before I moved to Edinburgh for love, I lived and worked and did everything else in Glasgow for five years. About a month after I signed a two year deal on a flat, Neil asked me to move to Edinburgh.

After I figured out that this move was A BIG DEAL, I asked him to move to Glasgow.

Apart from the music scene and me at the time, there wasn’t much that he liked in my adopted city, so I moved.

We went back often-ish to see my friends, and have coffee in the place we finished our seven-and-a-half hour first date.

After we mutually agreed to get married, we got my engagement ring and our wedding rings in Glasgow. He took me back to Tinderbox, the coffee place of our first date, and proposed again. We then took our wedding bands to get engraved. In Glasgow.

So it’s a very us city.

Last week, we went back for a wedding and it was kinda like we never left. Except this time we had Isla with us, which was wonderful and freaky and I was having moments all over the dear green place.

Before we got in the car, it took a team of people to straighten my hair and then curl it again. I got help putting my make up on and was trying to figure out if I could sleep sitting up to save my face for the wedding.

Neil came in from getting a haircut, saw me with make up on, and laughed.

‘You’re laughing?’

‘You’re hot.’

‘Good save.’

We trooped in the car with my dress which arrived with time to spare. Neil’s kilt got a new lining in it (that was a surprise for his birthday) and had been delivered to Glasgow before we arrived.

Forgive me for thinking more planning had gone into showing up for this wedding than our own wedding, but it was fun. Isla got a sparkly dress and sparkly shoes and we sang 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall all the way down the road.

We arrived before my Dad and Anne, but not before the rain.

The next day Isla got her hair done at a salon. She returned with flowers in her hair. Those flowers didn’t make it to the actual wedding, because there was a very serious game of hide-and-seek happening as everyone got ready.

If I put mascara on myself, I end up poking myself in the eye, so Anne helped. Another hair session happened, and Isla kept petting my tamed hair in disbelief.

I trasferred into my chair from the car just as the bagpipes started up, more than a bit relieved they weren’t for me. Felt very relaxed to be a guest.

Held Neil’s hand through other people’s vows, thinking of our own, and looking at our rings and our kid, all of which have been there for awhile now.

‘I always cry at weddings.’

We ate and drank and enjoyed the cocktail hour, the part we kind of missed at our own wedding, because the photos ran late.

I spent the speeches and the dinner trying to stop Isla from scaling the columns and pulling the fairy lights down. Neil danced with her, spinning til he nearly fell, and I danced with them.

Speaking of dancing, Isla was tired before the real music started, but hit the floor on the first note. Watching her was like watching myself as a kid. For real.

People kept complimenting her, and she replied with, ‘Sank you.’

Well, she did have the best moves.

We had wedding cake for breakfast on Neil’s birthday, and then my Dad made pancakes.

And I like to think of the rest of the weekend as a foodie’s quick guide to Glasgow.

We met friends at The 13th note, where I had the most unvegeterian thing I could find on their vegetarian menu. The things we do for love.

My husband tried out Veganuary, and still likes to pretend, so there we were.

I recommend: The Nachos and The Not-So White Russians

For dinner, Neil and I went to Cossachock, where we used to go for dinner, vodka, and live music.

Back in the day, Cossachock was the first date of ours that I booked myself. Over the phone. I hate the phone. The things we do for love.

On Sunday, we talked about everything from that date to that night. The food and conversation still good, it just now involves school calendars.

Food-wise, I recommend: Salmon blini, Lamb Shashlik, and Cossachock Dessert, which as I write this is chocolate and strawberries and toasted marshmallows.

We trooped back to the flat where we were staying, not far from where I used to live.

Monday started off well. We had a new flat to view in Edinburgh that afternoon, so Isla went back up the road with my Dad and Anne.

We sat in Tinderbox, and then had lunch at Bar Soba. We walked along slowly, checking out what’s changed in ten years and what hasn’t. So slowly in fact, people thought we were lost.

We started the drive to Edinburgh listening to our wedding mix and thinking about what this house-viewing would bring. And honestly, I found myself in the longest panic attack I’ve had in a while.

Regular readers will know of our quest to move back to the city, and the interestingness of finding somewhere accessible. Within this recent crop, we found twelve places we liked, but this time only managed one appointment out of the twelve we listed this month.

And this was that one. We saw school kids walking home from school, and I imagined Isla among them.

I had a good feeling about this one until we pulled up and there were steps that no one mentioned leading to the front door. Neil called to see if there was another entrance, and they said they had no record of our appointment. But we did. The one they sent us.

‘It’s gone anyway,’ said the voice on the phone.

‘And no one let us know?’

No.

And so, looking again. Again.

Speaking of Dream House, if you’re only reading this for the writing prompt round up, I honestly planned to say we’d found a new house by the time this came around.

Here are other people’s words to the Dream House writing prompt:

But I Smile Anyway

I’m Sick And So Are You

Just Muddling Through Life

Katy Stuff

Fancy Paper

Wheelescapades

Rust Belt Girl

Cat’s Trails And Garden Tales

Pollyanna’s Path

You Can Always Start Now

As ever, if I’ve forgotten to link to anyone, please add your words in the comments, and as always, I’m glad these prompts, well, prompt you.

More writing prompt action coming up next week, and there’s possibly another road trip happening, this time for my birthday.

Stay tuned.

Also, what’s your favorite city?