Starting Off

Week 1

The day started with a great sense of anticipation and angst. Grey skies swept over the Edinburgh skyline, gusting around me as I wended my way from Waverley towards the Firth of Forth towards Inverleith. Trundling down through Broughton I stopped to extract a hot coffee and a scone from a Castro Street lookalike and pressed on to Canonmills. Taylors,the old bakery is gone, piano stores proliferate, Ethiopian cafes now span the curb, but Warriston Gardens and the temples of Inverleith Row remain the same. Crossing the Water of Leith and on up the hill, buses, biddies and pushchairs all joined in me as we progressed in a steady stream towards the magical silver gates of the RBGE.

What on earth was I doing here? Who else would be here? Was this pure and utter folly? I passed through gardens, into the administration buildings, nodded at front-desk security and along the corridors of hushed enquiry towards the classrooms. Office workers faded into gardeners, pot plants became specimens and blasts of hothouse air greeted my tentative arrival at Lecture Room 2

And there we all were – ready for a new day.

We are 6 in all, 1 man and 5 women from ages 19 – 50+ and our delightful tutor, Catherine Payne-Stewart. We completed forms, signed sheets, ordered secateurs and sweatshirt and heard the Health & Safety chat.  We chatted, drank fennel tea and checked out the room, the atmosphere, the ambiance and the characters to be part of our life over the next 29 weeks.