Day number 7

It's only been a week since we arrived? Feels like so much longer!

Sorry to not write yesterday, but there wasn’t too much to report. We both slept in and felt so good for it. Then a quick breakfast downstairs of our hostel-rate-included cereal and toast (and yogurt for me that I bought at the store) and then we came back up to our room for showers and some more research on finding a flat.

With nothing much planned for the day, we then headed over to the nearby mall to take a look around. I’ve decided I packed all the wrong clothes. I’m hot all the time, mostly from the humidity I think, and fashion here is all about the tights and tunics. And short shorts over top of the tights. Not sure I understand that one. But the shoes! Oh the shoes are wonderful. I can’t wait to buy a pair of the cute ankle boots that are everywhere. It was a productive trip as we ended up finding a warmer coat for Brandon for a really good price and some toothpaste.

We came back to the hostel where I did a little job research for a while and Brandon went up to the piping centre for some practice time. When he got back we made our way to the Riverside Museum. It’s a transportation museum with really cool exhibits of every kind of car and bicycle and motorbike and wagon and tram car you can think of. The historical stuff on the building of the subway was pretty cool.

Getting back took a little longer because it was after five by this point, but we eventually got back to Argyle Street and made a quick stop at Marks and Spencer for some salad ingredients before we were back to the hostel to make supper.

We were both feeling better today and we decided that it was high time we went out for the evening. So we went to a nearby pub for a pint. It was so empty! But the bartender was friendly and we talked about why they don’t allow football “colours” to be worn in the pub. Especially since last night was a match night. We drank up there and then went to another place that we can see from the elevator lobby of the hostel called Hootenany. We were the only customers in there at the time, but it was a fun place. I of course got rather giggly, two drinks will do that to me it seems, but I found a really good drink. It’s called Crabby’s Ginger Beer and it’s super good and smooth to drink.

As for today, it was a much more productive day. We got up early and much to my upset, the cold that seemed to have yet to really materialize had begun to set in. A little bit of an earache and a stuffy nose added to the no longer quite so sore throat and a little bit of cough had me staying in bed as long as possible. But I powered through and we made our way to the first of our flat viewing appointments. It required a trip on the above ground train which was easy enough to use, but a little confusing to navigate. I’m sure it’s easier when you know what you’re doing or if you’re taking the same train every day. It was a bit of a hike to find the place, but oh so beautiful. It was quiet and there were huge trees everywhere in full autumn glory. The flat itself was really nice too but really only suited to one person. It only had a Murphy Bed in the living room as sleeping space and very little storage. It was bright and pretty, but not for us.

Stop number two was on the other side of town and a couple hours later so we stopped for a bit before going there. Another train and another little bit of a walk, only to find that this one was no good at all. The flat itself was not too bad, but the neighbourhood was rather icky. It was dirty and just felt sketchy. So no to that one! To tell you the truth I don’t even really remember what it looked like. I think I just wanted to get out of there.

Number three took a little effort to get to and naturally when you’re in a time crunch the train is late and you walk the wrong direction out of the station. We finally found the place and we’re glad we did. It was huge! It’s the top floor (lots of stairs!) of a tenement building in a popular neighbourhood for students and young professionals who work in the centre of the city. The flat is bright and seems to be very secure with locking storm doors as well as the inner door. The rooms are big and spacious and there are two wardrobes and two dressers for us to fill up in the bedroom which is good. There’s a table and chairs in the kitchen with lots of space besides, and a small room off the kitchen that could almost be a second bedroom but it doesn’t have a window. The bathroom has a tub which we’re missing considering the shower stall here in the hostel is only about 2 feet square. And the floors are old rough wood which has a lot of character. It’s not too fancy, but everything seems to be in working order and the price is right. On the walk back into the city we talked it all over and then called the letting office to leave a message that we’d like to take it. Now we’re just hoping they’re open tomorrow and that we’re not too late. We have to put the first six-months-worth of rent up front because we don’t have jobs yet, but we had kind of planned on having to do that as leverage anyway so that’s no problem. Fingers crossed!

We have a little bit of exploring planned for tomorrow. This free museum entry thing is sure wonderful! And then on Sunday we might head to Edinburgh. It’s only about 11 pounds and an hour and a half to get there by train so we figured we’d give it a shot.