Poppy in Edinburgh

Poppy, my sister, was three the first time we went to Edinburgh. I was six, and our mother was 35. All I was interested in was dinosaurs. My sister was only interested in the dummy hanging out of her gob and in the various detritus of the street, and my mother just wanted to tire us out so she could enjoy the evening with a friend.

In the Natural History museum, the sensational diplodicus skeleton towered over me, and I was clambering about with toys in my hand being a dinosaur and an archaeologist all at once. Great stuff.

Poppy, however, evidently less stimulated by the fearsome skeleton of this extinct monster than I, sudenly caused a security alert when it emerged that she'd smuggled a syringe, complete with hypodermic needle, into the museum. She'd picked it up on the street and brought it in. After being checked there were no new cuts, we were released.

Later, we were outside, walking along a busy road holding onto our mother's hands. Suddenly our mother spotted a building which had her name on it. She lifted her arm to point at it, and Poppy suddenly emmitted a wild shriek. While walking along the road, the wind had blown her hair up and entangled it around the gold buttons on the sleeve of our mother's blazer. 

We reached a park where a shallow pool with stepping stones had been designed to allow passage from one side to the other. Great stuff. Poppy and I ran up and down racing from one side of the pool to the other. Being older I had an advantage, but being a competitive older brother I didn't care. Also, I was a dinosaur. Returning across the stepping stones from yet another roaring win, I accidentally banged into her and sent her sprawling into the cold Scottish water, where she was submerged, Paddington Bear jumper and all. 

Rapidly rescued by our mother, Poppy was crying and cold and I was in disgrace. We traipsed off, with this small dripping girl to a nearby branch of mother care, where I brought various clothes for small girls to a changing room where Poppy was being bought a whole new outfit.

I have never been back to Edinburgh.