Day #4 - A flat tire and a pint in Kilcardy

03 July, 2009 Writing at 2036 to be posted at a later date.
Posted at 1759 GMT on 04 July, 2009

We left Edinburgh for another day of adventures (continually reminding ourselves that Alma would call this a "benture". "Anonymous" asked for a description of Black Pudding - it is the black disc in the photo, it is ground meat with some animal blood (this makes it black) and is very rich. After a filling breakfast (see photo for a shot of Taber with a traditional Scottish breakfast) we walked back up the Christopher Ross Kilt for hire shop (or is it shoppe?) to see if Brian could outfit me. The Gordon tartan kilt that he requested had not been delivered and we said farewell leaving without the kilt I had hoped for.

We walked down to another part of Edinburgh and found our car rental place. As with many car rental places they weren't ready for us and didn't have what we requested when we ordered the car. We had requested a standard sized car with an automatic transmission. My (Taber's) thought was that we could be both drive the automatic and that it would one less thing to focus on. In order to get the automatic we had to upgrade to the standard sized car, a Ford Mondeo. We left National / Eurocar with the Ford Mondeo (a spacious and comfortable full sizes sedan) and a standard transmission. We navigated back to the B&B, packed the bags, set up the GPS (sooooo glad we brought it), called the kilt for hire shoppe one more time (still no luck), said adios to Betty and left Edinburgh for Anstruther.

Driving in Scotland has been a separate "benture" in itself. All those that said it is easy are right (or is it left?) for the most part. I think being left handed makes shifting with my left hand a little easier and the fact that we paid for the full insurance package on the car makes me a little easier going - after all it's a rental! The biggest challenge is the size of the roads and the size of the car. The car is too big and the roads too narrow - I want a smaller car and we're going to try to get one. Beth reminded me several times to stay towards the center because,as it seemed to her, I was too far left. I learned how far left I was, when coming into to Kilcardy (you can get out your map of Scotland and track our travels!), I scraped the left tire against the curb and noticed the car pulling left. Beth navigated us to an empty parking lot, we pulled in and tried to change the tire. The Mondeo is equipped with one lug nut on each tire that locks and there is supposed to be an adapted for the wrench so that you can change the tire. In our boot (the trunk) the space for the adapter was filled with the lighter part of the cigarette lighter! Super. Beth walked over to a friendly looking gentleman, explained our situation and asked for help. I'll come back to this later, but we have met so many nice people here! Beth met Kevin (or Kev) and he runs the local car park (a pay parking lot), but is a retired police officer (he called himself a "copper") who went out of his way to help us. Kev called a friend who owns a garage, he sent an employee (Paul) who changed the tire (after making a second trip back to the garage for tools to bypass (and destroy) the locking lug nut. The car was up and running with the donut on it. Paul would not except anything for his assistance, but Kevin indicated he'd be at "The Penny" and and told us how to find it (he would accept "something" for his assistance!). We walked up there and joined Kevin and several friends for a pint (which Beth bought and she left enough with the bar tender for another round). What fun! They gave us lots of advice, we joked about Michael Jackson, cheered on Andy Murray (the tennis player) and became quick friends. We headed back out for Anstruther, had some snacks along the way and arrived here (8 Melville Place) around 1500 (3pm).

Our hosts are Joyce and Tom and they are a wonderful retired couple. Tom watched me try to parallel park, we had tea with Joyce, and then after settling in to the room, we took naps. We dodged raindrops and ate dinner at the world famous Anstruther Fish House, which has won lots of awards for it's fish and chips. It was good food - so good - that Beth even ate the fish! For those of you readers with Maine connections this is a lot like Captain Newicks or the Lobsta' Shack by Two Lights. We took a stroll along the pier and breakwater, took some photos, wandered back for some ice cream and then arrived back at "home"

We are having a wonderful trip and posting the blog entries has been fun. Stay tuned for some notes on the people we're meeting and we'll try to get more photos up. The Toshiba (it used be the "To-shit-ba") is back in our good graces so we've gotten pictures off the computer and we'll try to get them on the blog.

Tomorrow we're headed for Dundee to get the tire replaced and ask for a smaller car. Then we are doubling back to St. Andrews for the day. We're going to visit the shops first as many of them are closed on Sundays and save the historic sites (St. Andrews Castle & Cathedral) for Sunday as they are open.

I am very thankful for a wonderful loving wife. She put up my ranting in the car, has been the keeper of the pounds, supports my future purchase of a kilt (or a skirt as Todd & Don call it), has an upbeat positive attitude, is my ying and is simply great. I had hoped for lots of together time on our trip, because despite being DINKS we don't seem to end up together as much as we should. We are having a wonderful time.