Whilst battling against the rain that was pelting into him, Burns was filled with a sense of excitement. There were copious possibilities for him to take. After a rushed consideration, he decided on Edinburgh. He had heard about a play from the other patients that was showing in the ‘Royal Lyceum theatre’ and thought it might be worth a watch. He climbed onto the first Bus that came his way and began his journey. The bus was sparsely populated with only three or four other commuters. He sat down by the window and watched the rain once more as it attacked the glass next to him.
The journey was a long one. It would take only ten minutes as the crow flies but there were several other stops on course that were far from conveniently placed and it was twelve o’clock when he arrived in Edinburgh. He had left at just before eleven. Burns had decided that he would watch the matinee performance that was showing at three, so decided to walk around the city.
Burns took a left and found himself on George Street. The street was heaving despite the grim weather. Mothers doing the weekly shop with their children firmly clutching their hand, businessmen working at the bank rushing around in a hurry to close the next business deal. In fact, Burns was the only person with no need to be there. Overcome by the ferociousness of the street, Burns entered into an empty looking teashop. He was offered a seat by a window, but by this point was a little sick of looking out into the abyss and so took a table by a large painting of King George II. He ordered a mug of tea to warm up and thought it best not to try and eat in a public place. Burns sat in silence thinking about how before the war he would do exactly this, but with his friends. No other customers arrived whilst Burns was eating and so out of guilt left a healthy tip, despite the underwhelming taste of the tea. On his way out, Burns turned to thank the waiter and noticed that it was one o’clock. What had he done that had taken that much time? He wondered.
The rain had stopped by the time Burns returned to the streets of Edinburgh and decided to walk towards the theatre. He knew the play would be popular on a rainy day like this and wanted to get a seat where he could actually see the stage. He decided to take a quick detour through Princes Street Garden. The garden was empty. It had the abundances of the surrounding countryside of Craiglockhart, but Burns found it a lot less depressing. He could see the castle emerging from the trees and found it very uplifting. The way that out of this bleak looking city there could be something so beautiful at the centre of it. He decided to sit down on a soak-ridden bench but Burns didn’t mind, he was overcome by the callousness of the castle. After one look at his watch Burns decided to leave the bench and venture to the theatre
He arrived in good time and got a seat four rows from the front giving him plenty of opportunity to take in the whole play.
