Bartimaeus

Being Away from work and Edinburgh, I only occasionally manage to meet up with ex colleagues. I retired on line and immediately left. Both the colleagues I had shared an office with over the lockdown have left that local clinic, one to have a baby and one retired, so there is nobody to drop in to see. But to my surprise I got a message from another ex colleague asking if I was around on the 10th of January and would I want to come to a Thai restaurant to celebrate Fiona’s 60th (the one who retired not long after me). The answer was a definite yes and yes!

Thank goodness the coughing had subsided by then and I was hot footing it to the delightful Noks Kitchen in Johnstone Terrace to meet a lovely bunch of ladies. Presentation was excellent and with a taste to match. We had an array of varied starters and mains, too much but all delicious. This picture doesn’t do it credit but I was too busy tucking in to take another picture.

When we were all full, we moved on the a cocktail lounge that I had never heard of before, but it is a name I won’t forget after all our canal travels, Dragonfly. It does bespoke cocktails and mocktails, as well as having an interesting menu of new ones and a promise to provide any other cocktail you fancied. One of our group just described the sort of flavours she was in the mood for and the server came back with a cocktail she had made up and it seemed to be just right. If you are asked if you want to go to either of those establishments I would recommend a hearty agreement.

The next day Bryn and Nye left the house early to meet up with friends to go to Deep Sea World. We went quite often when the boys were little and they always enjoyed it and still want to go to an aquarium if they get the chance, but this time there was an added event. This was not something I would ever want to do but Bryn has wanted to do it for years and had finally booked the Shark Encounter. I am very happy to stay on the other side of the tanks and underground tunnel and have no desire to don scuba equipment. I can’t even be bothered with getting changed to go swimming on a hot day, never mind donning a dry suit, mask, weights and an aqualung, going through a training session and then going into cold water, in winter….with sharks. But that is exactly what he wanted to do and I didn’t want to miss it. His booked session wasn’t until thee afternoon so I set off later in the morning to meet the gang for lunch. The water was uninviting, looking out of the train window on the way to North Queensferry.

The steep and twisting road down to the town of North Queensferry was shorter than I remembered it. Walking a road with disappearing pavements and sharp bends with small boys felt like a slow perilous journey. They had a wheelchair with them today so hopefully he managed all the turns without incident. I was soon at the bottom and the sign for Deep Sea World and a good view of the road bridge and new crossing. The rail bridge was behind me. That water is still not enticing.

Arriving at Deep Sea World, I had only managed partial communication with the others. Bryn had relied to say he had patchy connectivity so I browsed around. The tropical frog area would be popular. The frogs were hard to see but the axolotls were in full view, a rare sight. They weren’t moving much but were right at the front.

I headed out to the seal area. The harbour seals were swishing around and fun to watch. I rotated the handle at the”wind and listen” recorded information point and found out more about them. 

Going inside I bumped into Bryn. Everyone was at the cafe area so I joined them. We all ate and Bryn was keeping an eye on the time and knew where to meet up. When we gathered at the collection point another woman was there with her family. Her young daughter obviously did not want her to go into the shark tank, whether it was the sharks or just being separated from her mum that upset her we couldn’t tell. Her mum promised to make a sign so she’d recognise her in the suit and mask. There were three guest divers plus a safety officer and an instructor would also be there. The divers’ friends and family were also to be looked after and our friendly staff member did an excellent job of showing us what would happen, and looking for us all to update us on timescales, since all the divers had to have online and practical training before going under water and then down the ladder into the tank. While we were waiting I looked around the underwater tank and got a good look at sharks that were clearly much bigger than me.

The shark feeding had been in the morning so I had missed that. Bryn told me they hadn’t shown much interest in the food. Was it good that they didn’t seem voracious or would they now be peckish by the afternoon. Mums do worry.

The seahorse feeding talk was on soon so I went to that. There were sea snails, sea urchins, sea anemones and starfish (not fish) in with the seahorses (they ARE fish).

Our liaison staff member was keeping us posted and it seemed the wait time had doubled. Arden was a bit worried about the shark viewers going against the flow of the other visitors as his wheelchair could not go on the conveyer belt and there was only room for one wheelchair on the route. There seemed to be one passing place and I felt sure the staff member would help out, but had already seen another wheelchair user in the underwater tunnel. Also he was very tired as he had had an early start. 

At last it was time to go and watch at the tunnel at our first vantage point, the bottom of the ladder where divers get in. The instructor and safety officer and the lady with a nervous daughter (fine now) were first down, then another guy who was a guest but in fact very experienced at scuba diving. The staff member told me Bryn would be in a red suit and above the surface I could see red. I wondered why there was a a delay. The instructor had gone back up and there was no sign of Bryn descending….was something wrong, was he uncomfortable or nervous? The staff member said sometimes that was the reason, or a problem with the equipment. After a few more minutes he began to descend.

They spent some time getting used to being under there and looking around and the other visitors were very interested in seeing people in the tank. Lots of them waved and Bryn waved back. We knew they were going to climb over some rocks into another area and that the diver spectators had to hurry round the end, against the flow of other visitors, to see them there and our staff member did a great job of keeping us together.

We all run round the other side to find the divers. They do the same slowly making their way along until they find the next low wall to go over at the other end taking them back to the ladder. It was very crowded outside and the closest shark encounter was obscured for us by other visitors and divers. Bryn seemed happy and the movement was gentle and dream like.

We went to watch the seals getting fed while Bryn got changed. This time the attractions were out of the water. The person giving the talk was none other than our liaison staff member. She was having a busy day.

As I watched, Bryn appeared. His hair was wet but he said the dry suit had worked for the rest of his body but others had not been so lucky and were soaking and taking advantage of the offer of a hot shower. He also explained that the delay to him getting in the tank was due to the instructor having a fault with the attachment of her gas cannister and had to go out to get it adjusted and she had asked him to wait until she returned, so the equipment can be faulty, but all was well for him.

We had to aim for the train that Arden had booked wheelchair assistance. Again all went well and well done to Nye for noticing we had to get back to the station a different way as we couldn’t cross over the tracks by the overhead bridge with the wheelchair! All went smoothly with staff and ramps and Arden remarked it had been the most straightforward train journey he had had. Well done ScotRail for slick support at North Queensferry and Waverley.