Last week, I spent a few days in Edinburgh, taking the bus there and back. It was a relatively uneventful trip, apart from the bus being two hours late getting there. The first bus ran out of coolant an hour’s drive from Inverness, where it connects to the next bus. There we sat for nearly two hours. The driver was almost frantic, having made several phone calls but not getting any updates. Eventually an engineer arrived to fix the bus, but it had been without coolant too long and could not be driven. We were shifted to the next scheduled bus when it arrived and caught later connections in Inverness.
Snowdrops in the back yard
The UK government is transitioning to digital eVisas, and the trip south was to complete the last step in the application process. It is necessary to present oneself in person, passport in hand, to have photo and fingerprints taken. I’d left plenty of time for the bus and to find the office, but traffic halted at a bottleneck for 20 minutes, and I was late. Fortunately, others were ahead of me, as I found when escorted into the waiting area. When my turn came, they scanned my passport, and directed me to the other half the room to another bank of chairs. Thinking to pass the time by reading e-mails on my phone, I took it out but was informed ‘no phones’. But it was only a short wait, and I was soon called behind a screen for the photo and fingerprints. This last was not like a police show, where your fingers are rolled on an ink pad. Of course not. It was digital. You press your fingers on a small scanner which has four lights that turn green when the scan is read. If your fingers are too dry, there’s a blue pad where you oil them up and try again. The whole process, from arriving to leaving, took about 15 minutes. In the fulness of time, I’ll have a digital visa, which should speed going through UK borders.
Snow on the Cairngorms
For the rest of my stay in Edinburgh, I had a good rest. The weather was cold, windy, and rainy, so not conducive to long walks or window shopping. I was staying with a friend, and when we weren’t chatting at the kitchen table, I was knitting in the guestroom.
The back of the National Gallery, Edinburgh
I made good use of the long bus rides by knitting nearly the entire way there and back. The 3” of K1P1 ribbing are done, and about 4” of the body. The bottom of the ribbing ripples somewhat, but that should lessen upon blocking. The body ribbing – 5 K, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1 – is almost mindless, and I reckon it’s better than plain stockinette. The ‘new’ yarn was on the mat when I got home. It’s a different dyelot, but I’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference.
Oh I wish I could knit that quickly, and I doubt I could knit on a bus! I’m going to try that body ribbing on the next jumper I knit, however, for mere mortals like me I strongly doubt it will be easier than stockinette.