Little mouse, little mouse, where have you been?

Ah travelling, that's what I've been missing. The raw excitement followed by the agonising waiting and the random diversions to places you never intended to go.

Though this one wasn't my fault I tell you, this one was an act of god.
Its been about a week since I've been back and it still feels slightly surreal actually.
One of the little trips that I had planned for while I'm over here was to head up to Scotland to go to the launch of the book that I mentioned during my last post, 209-A Story by Steven Rafter.
It was being held at Balmoral Castle, which is the Queen's Summer Vacationing residence.
So technically, I went to a party at a castle!! Got all frocked up for it as well which I enjoyed to be honest, I've never really gone in for the frocking up before but I found a fantastic dress which I now want to wear all the time, if for no other reason than because it cost me a tiny fortune.
I was sick last week too, came down with one hell of a cold that laid me low for a good while but after many lemsip and bit of bed rest I was well enough to pull myself together for this little trip.
I started out on Friday heading over to Luton to catch my easy jet flight up to Aberdeen.
I'd never been to Luton before, to be honest with you its slightly depressing, I mean I know airports aren't supposed to be aspirational or anything but Luton airport gave me a very miserable kind of vibe for some reason. Got on the plane though and distracted myself with watching the sun set like I always do. Its a quick flight to Aberdeen, usually just over an hour and we were scheduled to get in at about 7:30, as we approached Aberdeen and descended to land I looked down and saw a fog so thick upon the ground, that lit from below by house lights and street lights it looked like phosphorescent mould. That's when I learned you cant land a plane in phosphorescent mould. The plane went in to land as normal and then at the last moment the engine screeched and we seemed to be climbing again, that did nothing to relax me I can tell you.
The cabin crew tried to be reassuring “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Captain has decided not to attempt landing on this occasion, this is totally routine and we should have an update for you in a moment”
Really? Routine you say? What were his stars not right? Was he supposed to get a cookie? Can he not land without the cookie? No, the bastarding, phosphorescent, foggy, mould meant we had to go all the way to Edinburgh. Takes 15 minutes in the air to get to Edinburgh, made me wonder how long it could take to get there by bus. Five hours later when I finally arrived in Aberdeen I had my answer. Hard place to get to Aberdeen it seems. Cab drivers there are lovely though, mine chatted to me all the way to my hotel which was also fantastic, the Douglas hotel on Market St, very handy for the bus and train stations if you ever go. Brilliant breakfast as well, I'm not usually all that into breakfast, beyond bacon and beans it holds little delight for me but for some reason when one wakes up in Aberdeen after being diverted from Edinburgh, one wants breakfast. They had these cute little pots of various jams and honeys on the table and a million different cooked breakfast things and toasts and fruits, you get the idea. I think maybe it was all the breakfast potential that delighted me coz in the end I just had toast and coffee. Headed down to the bus station after a couple of glitches from Neil my GPS, he's spot on in London but in Scotland he seemed as lost as I was. I switched him on and after he locked on to the satellites its as though he said “You're fucking where? Screw you lady, you're on your own”.

Found my bus to Ballater though, dragged on my case carrying my precious dress and various dressing up ingredients and then off we headed, some well meaning Scottish boy tried to chat me up on the bus ride up there but I was so not in the mood. He also struck me as a little odd. Happily he got off about 20 mins in so I could watch the scenery in peace. And beautiful scenery it is too, you drive around a corner and mountains seem to jump out at you, they change colours with the clouds from blue blacks to greens and golden browns depending on how much light gets through. The river Dee pointed our way to Ballater which is about 6 miles from Balmoral and where my second Scottish hotel was, the Auld Kirk. It was a converted church and had a kind of tardis quality in that from the outside it looked all teeny and narrow but once inside it seemed huge. Dropped all my stuff off and then wandered into town to take some photos, have some lunch and do some writing before having to head back to the hotel and get ready. Ballater itself felt a little bit like Kenmare in Ireland did though if anything Ballater felt a little sleepier. After 2 hours of getting ready, which actually felt surprisingly rushed, I'm glad I don't do that all the time, I was finally ready for Balmoral.
When I arrived at the hotel earlier that day I asked them if they could book me a taxi for the evening and was told that there was really only 2 taxi's in Ballater and that there was a gentleman staying at the hotel who also seemed to be going to Balmoral that evening and would I mind sharing with him. I didn't mind as long as he didn't mind I said and hoped that he wouldn't mind because really there seemed to be no other choice. Mercifully the other hotel guest was the lovely John Hammond who didn't mind sharing a cab if for no other reason than that it meant that he knew someone else going to the launch. Besides, he'd already hijacked someone elses taxi, that's how we met George and Kim. After picking George and Kim up from the Hilton, the four of us crammed in with Cyril the Taxi driver and headed off finally to Balmoral. A word on Cyril, Cyril came to Ballater about 27 years ago, prior to which there was no taxi service in Ballater. When he came to pick us up at the end of the night we asked him how he'd be able to get in to the security gates, “I have the security code” he said. How cool is THAT! He's the man with the code to the castle. When you meet Cyril you might think that he was possibly in his 60's, but actually, he's in his 80's. Looking damn good, Cyril. He's like James Bond, distilled into a kindly faced Scottish taxi driver. As we exited Cyril's, cab we were greeted by a lone bag piper. And it is here that I discovered the key to bagpipe music, context, on stage at an ACDC concert it just sounds like noise but at a royal estate, magnificent.

It was still light so we had a quick wander around to take our obligatory pictures of us standing casually in front of a giant castle. As others arrived we headed into the hall for champagne, canapes and mingling. The wait staff there were magic, you would get to the last draught of your cocktail or champagne and then magically, a kindly lady would be there to offer you more. As the festivities of the evening got underway we were treated to a display by the Queens highland dancers, bloody hell those girls can move. There were readings from the book, some beautiful speeches from Steven as well as his friends and family and then we all were presented with out own copies of 209-A Story. I'm reading mine at the moment, I'm really enjoying it too, go get it. We stayed much longer than we were supposed to originally but got the hint that it was time to leave as the bar staff subtly closed the shutters on the bar.
This is when you find it is a disadvantage to only have 2 cabs in Ballater. There was one van load of people that headed into town to party on then Cyril turned up and took another four people leaving me, John and a couple of others to wait it out for his return. We busied ourselves taking last pictures in the grounds and I practised my royal impersonations before we realised that it had been quite some time since Cyril had picked up the previous lot and it was really rather cold, clearly the cocktails were wearing off. Someone had a feeling that he might be up at the castle for some reason so we walked up there in the dark, the deepest pitch black dark I've experienced thus far, you're surrounded by trees and the only light is that from stars that you glimpse though the canopy. Beautiful it was, only the sound of the wind like a sea through the trees and my heels clicking on the surface of the driveway. No Cyril at the castle though so back we tottered to the school house. Then we decided hey, maybe he cant get into the gates, we'll walk to the gatehouse. This was before we knew of his connections to the top. I think that this is a beautiful life that lets me tell you that I walked the queens driveway, in the pitch dark, listening to the shushing of the trees and watching the winking of the stars, while in a ball gown, satin covered shoes and fake diamonds.
Dear god my feet hurt by the end of it though, I think I lost most of the feeling in my toes.
Cyril turned up about 10 mins after we got to the gatehouse and whisked us back into town via my hotel so I could put my runners on and get rid of those damned high heels.
Yes, I'm not a refined lass but be damned if I was going to spend the rest of the night in pain where there was dancing to be done and I was still wearing my ball gown so at least from the feet up I was glamorous. We met up with everyone at this pub in town that also had a disco, you gave three pounds to this little old man who sat entirely unjudgementally by the door and then stamped your hand. All the locals were fantastically friendly and though that we were all brides because we were in our formal gear and the guys were in their tuxes. We danced stupidly to songs I hadn't heard in years and a few I'd never heard without care or concern for how we looked to the outside world.
At John's instigation we did shots of something called Aftershock, I don't know what it was and frankly I don't want to know, it was like alcoholic mouthwash.
This was one of those evenings that regardless of who anyone is or what they do or what they have happening outside of that place and time, we all put it aside and fucking revelled. I really could have done with an extra day there if for no other reason than for more sleep but soon after the sun was up I was eating my breakfast at the Auld Kirk and packed to head back to Aberdeen for a little exploring/caching and my flight back to London.
I feel beyond privileged to have been a part of that occasion and think you should all get out and read the book, I recommend it and its out now so you can order yourselves copies.
Right now I'm back in London, back to work before heading up to Newcastle for Easter next week and planning my next trip which is to Italy.
Arrivederci amici, parlarle presto.