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- Chemistry in Caithness Day 2
Chemistry in Caithness
Day 2 Tuesday 25 October 2011
What an interesting day, it seemed as though there was a conspiracy against us. It started well enough – up at 05:30, out of the house at 6 am, a clear run to York station and the Edinburgh train left exactly on time. Alas, that is where the good fortune ended. The train was delayed by 13 minutes, but the Perth train was scheduled to leave at 09:35, only 11 minutes after we should have arrived – and from the other end of the station. Despite our best efforts we missed this connection, forcing us to wait until 13:35 for a train to Inverness. This apparent cloud had a wonderfully silver lining, as it gave us the opportunity to explore the Scottish National Gallery, where I indulged my love of impressionist art. The biggest challenge in this particular exercise was working out what to do with all the luggage. The left luggage office at the station charges £7 per item, so this Yorkshire lass would only pay to leave my huge suitcase, which was terribly heavy. I was rather concerned as to what the lady at the desk would make of the X-ray of my case. I explained that it contained a large quantity of chemicals and laboratory equipment. It must have looked odd, because this was topped off by another bag inside the case containing my clothes etc. She didn’t seem at all fazed, saying that as long as there were no firearms it was okay! Our 2 small rucksacks and Ben’s sensibly proportioned suitcase fitted neatly into lockers at the gallery, each for a refundable pound – an absolute bargain!
Edinburgh
A real bonus of the gallery visit was the discovery of the “Molecules Memory Game” in the gift shop. This was duly purchased and enthusiastically played during the next leg of the journey. I wholeheartedly recommend this game, which has 36 pairs of cards showing molecular structures, the aim being to collect these matching pairs. The little accompanying booklet includes interesting facts about each molecule.
Molecules Memory Game
The conspiracy in part two of the journey was to prevent us from having any refreshments – the trolley made its way as far as the carriage next to ours before leaving the train. So we had a four hour journey without being able to obtain anything to eat or drink. This train was also delayed, so by the time we reached Inverness the café was closed and we had less than 20 minutes to buy some sandwiches and cold drinks from a shop before we had to find the train to Thurso. Eating contentedly on this our final train, we discovered that it was due to divide into two trains – and we were sitting at the far end of the wrong half! It was something of a military operation to manoeuvre all of our luggage to a carriage that would be going the right way. At last we could relax, and joy of joys, the tea trolley came by, not just once but three times!
We pulled into Thurso slightly ahead of schedule and we were met by Pat and Phil, who are looking after us during our visit. They drove us to our hotel and then we joined them for a drink while we discussed the arrangements for the rest of the week, before we finally collapsed into bed at midnight. It had been a very long day!