Edinburgh, June 27/18

Sirens as in fire alarm screeching at 9:30 a.m. at which time I WAS STILL ASLEEP.  ¡No me lo puedo creer! That wee dose of Valium I took last night to help fight jet lag could have moved me five  time zones farther and still have done the job.  This extremely late wake-up and get-up put the entire day was out of whack because I had intended to arrive at the Royal Yacht Britannia at 9:30 at which hour it begins to receive visitors.  Turns out the alarm was "a false alarm," the hotel is still standing, and I did not reach the ship until much later as I had to have coffee, get organised—spelling British style, in case you are wondering—and walk the three miles to get there.  Fact: Edinburgh is a rather sizeable city.  It was a lovely day to walk, so no real complaints.

Thought I left the zoo behind yesterday.  

It's all that protein, maybe from that jar of whey down in the corner:

Now, the Royal Yacht Britannia, which, in case I should have to refer to it by name again, shall be known henceforth as the RYB, is beyond beyond.  If you only listened to the audio and didn't see any of it, your brain would still be jumping out of your skull.  Here are a couple of tidbits to give you the flavour, and sorry for the flash whiteout in the middle, but persevere and read what you can:

The queen's schedule was screechingly dull:

Part 2 with three items from above repeated because cropping I am not, so head on down to 6:00 p.m. where her majesty discusses her attire for the evening, which, note, takes an hour:

Would you be surprised to learn that there was much alcoholic beverage on board?

The prince indulged in some artistic activity when he had the chance and inclination.  You have to do something, after all, when your day is not full to the brim with correspondence:

I forget the details here but the gist is that that stuffed wombat in the fan had something to do with a hilarious game that some of the upper uppers played after having a few drinks.  What hey!

This is a salt shaker, gift of some Russian somebody, a tsar, perhaps, but that would be before QEII's time.  Where the salt emerges is anyone's guess. Anyway, the important thing is not the silver or the gaudiness or anything like that, it is the little monkey in the lower right corner, which, the people who played the wombat game used to hide every day, and I don't know who had to find it.  Most likely they engaged in that pursuit after visiting the bar which was next to the room where drinks had been served just previously.  The dog is not included in the account.

A button from Lord Nelson's coat!

Where dinner was taken.  If you were a guest, you got to keep the menu as a souvenir.

The places were set just like in Downton Abbey, with measurements taken to assure that each item was EXACTLY WHERE IT SHOULD BE:

Her majesty liked modest furnishings and had rejected a more elaborate decor for the sitting room.  Sadly, the fire had to be electric.  Coal, the first choice, would have required an attendant present at all times, and thus would have interfered with the intimacy of the gatherings.

Crew's quarters:

Sick bay.  Corgie, it seems, has an ocular disturbance:

I loved the laundry!



Detail work is important:

An absolute necessity:

For shore excursions:

There was also a Rolls Royce on board; I forget why.  It had to be partially disassembled to be hauled aboard.

Every minute aboard was a jolly good time, but, alas, after audio-stop 29, the tour was done!  Walked back to the centre of the city by a different route, so did get to see a fair amount.  Stone.  Edinburgh is made of dark, grey, stone.

Lady who rebuked me for not having donated enough to her collection. She sang, after a fashion, and spun.

Aside from the person who discovered that chloroform could be used as an anesthetic, David Hume lived here:

That's it for the day since photo taking was not allowed on the underground tour of Mary King's Close. Datum of the day: there were two kinds of plague:  You had 99% of dying from one variety and 50% of dying from the other.

No idea what this is meant to represent.  Neptune and the unicorn?