Tuesday 10th October 2023
Today I planned to go by train to a city an hour away, called Dundee. One of our long time family friends moved there from South Africa years ago and I hadn't seen her since the 1990s so I was looking forward to it. I was thrilled that the sun had decided to poke through the clouds too. I stepped outside and heard a strange noise. Not knowing the UK bird calls, I stopped to see it. Turns out it was a squirrel on the roof of my cousin's house. I waved at it and it ignored me, so I headed for the station through all the different short cuts in between the houses again. As I approached the station it started to drizzle lightly and I debated to pull out my rain hat. But spotting a rainbow made me bring out my camera instead. A lovely sign for me.
The station seemed busy with people with cameras and little kids so I figured it must be a steam train coming through. My platform was on the quiet side so I watched everyone get excited when the shrill sound of the train whistle approached us. Turns out to be the Flying Scotsman steam engine and sadly it kept flying past without a stop. So I only managed a video clip and no photos.
My train journey was stunning along the coastal route next to the Forth river before we turned inland to cross the Tay River into Dundee. I spotted small bays, beaches, churches and the odd ruin in the villages and tried to make note for future adventures. There was also a lot of flooding. Fields had turned into dams, streams with burst banks and ducks were swimming on footpaths. The trains from Dundee to Glasgow were cancelled due to the flooding and I thought about my re-routed 9 hour train trip from Edinburgh to Inverness last year. Fortunately today I only experienced a 20 minute delay.
Dundee was also a lovely surprise. Buildings and museums that I didn't get a chance to explore but instead tried to catch up with a couple of decades of life, with my friend. She has totally settled back in Scotland and doesn't pine for South Africa at all. We discussed this as I remember our families as new South African immigrants, all longing for 'hame'. She laughed and said the Brits in SA are more British than those in Britain and that just might be true.
She gave me a quick tour near her work and then had to get back to the office, I took more pictures and climbed on my train, enjoying the view and letting my eyes take it all in. The wind is howling now and I'm wondering where the cats are gallavanting. Hopefully they have an 'early night' out of the weather, haha.
Comments