A Trip To Edinburgh
With February 13th coming around once again, we marked 4 years together with a small trip to Scotland. 2 nights away with tickets to a show, nothing too fancy. We'd been quite unwell recently with trips to the hospital and too many GP visits this year already. This trip to Edinburgh really almost didn't happen in the end but I think there was a feeling that we had to get away, it's been a very busy and difficult 2026 so far so we needed something to come good.
I've never flown on a "regional" flight like this before. Aer Lingus use these small twin-propeller planes for the very short hop over to Edinburgh. It's nice having the seats in pairs so that myself and Sarah have our own little corner to see out the flight in and boarding on these smaller planes is fairly quick. The flight over, in particular, was very smooth and the only noticeable difference with the propeller engines are that they are quite loud. Xanax did the job once again for me though with this marking 5 successful flights in less than 12 months.
The first thing that really stood out for me upon arriving in Edinburgh is the architecture. We hopped on a bus into the city and just travelling along we found ourselves staring out the window at plenty of beautiful buildings. It generally has a very gothic feel. One thing I particularly appreciated was how centralised this all felt. Arriving on Princes Street in the heart of the city, everywhere you look you see that blend of classic architecture and modern buildings. Edinburgh castle is right there and it is quite a sight. I felt as though anywhere we went, we would see some visual delight. In a lot of ways, it gave me the splendour that I expected from my trip to Paris.
Princes Street is home to a very lovely Waterstones. The café on the 3rd floor has a fantastic view of Edinburgh castle. I've heard it is quite competitive to get a seat in the mornings! It was lovely to wander around here and take in the view. Hopefully we can make it back to Edinburgh in future and I can sit with a coffee and a book for a nice relaxed morning.
I'm nothing if not predictable. Upon arriving in a new place, I always like to do a quick search to see if there are any retro game stores nearby - even if it's just a CEX to poke my head into. I was delighted on the bus in to see that Edinburgh has an NQ64 branch. NQ64 is an arcade bar that we've visited in London previously. They have some fancy video-game themed cocktails and plenty of classic arcade machines. Sarah recommended the Power Star Martini - a pornstar martini with a little Mario Star on top. Bear in mind, they don't serve food so if you are planning a visit, try to pop in before or after a meal.
NQ64, for me, is all about getting onto those Time Crisis machines. This branch has both Time Crisis 2 and 3. I blasted through a chunk of Time Crisis 2 solo for a change and had a great time. I was still feeling the effects of the a chest infection so I wasn't on top of my game mentally but it is still always a great time to get in front of one of these machines. I'm hoping to get to the London branch in May to put some serious time into the original Time Crisis.
We also played some competitive Pac-Man, Monkey Ball and Star Wars Arcade. We were laden down with bags from the flight so we weren't running between machines as quickly as normal but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon. They also have some consoles hooked up, these don't cost tokens to play either, so we finished up the afternoon playing some Left 4 Dead (running through a little over half of the No Mercy campaign) before heading out for a bit of dinner and calling it a night.
The next morning we set out for the main attraction of our trip. We had booked 2 tickets to see "A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong" in the festival theatre. From the moment that we walked out of "The Play that Goes Wrong", we have been huge fans of the Mischief Theatre Company and this marks the 4th show that we've gone to see over the last few years. This is essentially a show about a theatre group putting on A Christmas Carol - only...they're not the best troupe around and things quickly start to fall apart. It's a lot of slapstick comedy but it's also very clever. This group are so quick, you often barely have time to recover from laughing at one joke before they hit you with three more.
I don't want to go into too much detail here as it'd be a shame to spoil any part of the show. It's such a fun experience and we were constantly laughing. One thing that I find really interesting is that a lot of this troupe stays together from show to show. At this point, we recognise a lot of the cast and I think it really adds to the connection you get which is a huge advantage in comedy that I don't think is as common in theatre.
Wonderfully, you can still go to see "The Play that Goes Wrong" in London right now. "Christmas Carol" and "Peter Pan" usually come back around for the holidays and they are working on a new show at the moment. A lot of these also have tapings available online - I highly recommend catching ANY of their shows in whatever way is most accessible for you.
Before we said goodbye to Edinburgh there was one last detour that we wanted to take. Sarah had been telling me about Greyfriars Bobby. This is a local legend about a dog who guarded his owners grave for 14 years back in the 1800s. There is a pub named after him with a wonderful little statue in front of it that people go to visit. It was only a short walk from the theatre (and a similarly short walk from Princes Street I believe). It's a lovely little statue. His nose is golden from all the rubs he's gotten over the years - reportedly giving good luck.
May he bring us luck for the rest of 2026.
