Edinburgh happens to be one of my favorite cities in the world, which
is why I chose to go there for Christmas. In the UK, not much is open
on Christmas, so I wanted to be somewhere we could walk around and just
enjoy the beauty. And Edinburgh did not disappoint! And yet the trip
was not without its quirks.
Christmas day was
wonderful, and very windy. We met our friends who had just flown in
from California that morning. We walked up to Calton
Hill and all around the High Street, eating a delicious Christmas
dinner in the evening. Later that night, James and I were awoken by a
couple in the next room. It seems they were arguing. The female was
whining and we could hear a male voice, who sounded to be grumbling a
half-hearted response. Around this time, I thought I heard her say in a
thick brogue, "But, I Looooves
Ya!" This, to me, confirmed that they were locals who were having a
spat. I tried to ignore it, hoping they would figure something out.
Around
2:30am, we were awoken again This time, the female was just sobbing.
It sounded like someone had killed her best friend. I was thinking that
they were probably really drunk and the argument was, at this point,
just pointless and protracted. We'd had enough, so we called down to
the front desk. The nice young man who answered asked me to verify
which room it was coming from, as they couldn't take my word for it.
Well, that seemed a bit odd, but I got dressed and went out to what I
thought was the next room. But as this hotel is an amalgamation of
several Victorian buildings, it wasn't that easy. The next room seemed
dead quiet. So, I proceeded to walk around the floor, through a storage
area and over to a hallway that would have come up behind our room. As
I opened the fire door, I heard it. But it wasn't the same as what I
had heard in the room. Here, it was quite clear, as if I was in the
room with them. This was not a Scottish couple having a drunk spat.
Oh, no! This was one female and two males, all speaking Japanese. The
female was role playing as a very naughty school girl who was being
spanked and scolded. I really thought I could tell the difference
between a Scottish dialect and Japanese.
Just then, the hotel clerk came around the corner. He
acknowledged the noise and we walked back towards the elevators. He
apologized for making me walk the floor to find the source and explained
his colleague who requested such is new. I told him it was all worth
it just to hear the real story.
After returning to our
room, we heard the phone ring on the other side of the wall. The people
stopped, then whispered a lot but never answered as the phone kept
ringing and ringing. But shortly after, the sound ceased all together.
It
was only two nights later that we were awoken again at 1:30am, but this
time by the fire alarm. We both got dressed, even though the recently
reported problems with the electrical system told me that it was most
likely a false alarm, but we all know how deadly hotel fires can be.
So, we walked down the stairs and out to the front of the hotel where
scores of people were standing in the cold drizzle as the fire brigade
pulled up. A pair of young women huddled together for warmth, having
not taken the time to grab their coats. By contrast, I had my purse,
camera and everything to stay warm and James had everything he owned
from the room. Within 15 minutes, we were given the all clear and
everyone returned to their rooms. About an hour later, the alarm went
off again for a short burst. Then there was a very long burst, while
James and I put pillows over our heads and tried to pretend it wasn't
there. Just as I was putting on jeans to go outside because I couldn't
stand it anymore, it stopped. Once again, we were left in our hotel bed
completely awake at 3:30 in the morning. Fortunately, there was wine
left over from the night with the noisy neighbors.
The next morning, we sleepily roamed around the city
and made our way back to London that night. And so I must admit I was
happy to be back in my London flat where the most noise at night is the
radiator.
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