Hello from Birmingham!

I am currently writing this while in a food coma courtesy of dim sum followed by a nice Chinese New Year's dinner. :)

Before setting out, we had an appointment visiting the Parliament media office and getting a little tour of the building itself. We got to meet with a chill guy called Eric, whom shared little tidbits about the MSPs he knew, and about the building itself. In particular, the £80,000+ reception desk that nearly cost one MSP his career for having to defend its construction during a press conference. We then got to visit the debating chamber up close, and other various parts of the building such as the walkways and committee rooms. Scotland has had its share of ghost stories, and the Parliament was no exception: There was one story involving the Union of 1707, a crazy relative, a roasting spit, and some poor kitchen boy.

So after all that was over, I lugged my backpack over to Waverley, and got there rather early, so I got some time to mill around. Note: there are no public rubbish bins (trash cans) in the station, due to the possibility of someone leaving a bomb in one. If you want to dispose of stuff, you hand it over to one of the staff behind the counters in the shops.

If there are any kids reading this (highly unlikely), I have just this to say: Vandalism is bad. Vandalism is not cool. Theft is not cool either. In fact, stealing the signal cable from a train station is definitely not cool. It causes trains to divert and makes night time commuters very unhappy.

I did get there in the end, thankfully, and it was nice to hang out with old family friends again. It was also nice to stuff my face with homecooked Chinese food. =P I will be back in Edinburgh tomorrow night, and to all those who get to spend Valentine's Day with their significant others, I salute you and envy you.