Day 3 - The Vessel

 THE VESSEL

Prompt - The Vessel : Write about a ship or other vehicle that can take you somewhere different from where you are now.

2020, the year of limited horizons.  It began with short trips away, to Dublin and London and Glasgow, with plans bubbling for hotter climes, and overnight stays in other cities and towns in my own country, and day outings of modest explorations.  The lockdown came and plans melted into memories as the viral restrictions shrunk the world, made home the safest place to be.  

So those thoughts of buses and trains and planes became walks, and more walks.  Around parks and graveyards and the same old familiar, increasingly familiar, streets.  It wasn't Edinburgh that was my home now, it was North Edinburgh, it was Leith and Newhaven and maybe, pushing the boundaries a bit, Meadowbank.  The two kilometres into the city centre is now a serious journey, to be savoured for the unusual sights it offers.  And the very thought of the Southside... even Liberton and Morningside and Corstorphine take on an alien allure when they become no-go areas.   While a trip to the time-bending, energy-sapping planet of IKEA was to enter a place of danger and wonder. 

So I find myself wondering, when the restrictions begin to lift and the world around me becomes a pin cushion of potential destinations, where will I want to go?  What transport will lead me to a fresh new view that reignites imagination?  It's both the curse and the advantage of the year gone by that my answer should be so prosaic.  My aims have got lower, but my appreciation of the simple things, and of places that have gone from everyday to unattainable, has risen.  Which means the journey I most look forward to making is on the train that leaves Waverley heading west, past Linlithgow and Falkirk and the bleakness of Harthill and through the East End high rises to deposit me in my Weegie destination.

I was there in February, so it will be more than a year between visits.  What was then a confusing building site is now the finished article.  The photos suggest a space of light and air and architectural grandeur.  Which feels like a fitting beginning to a nascent desire to reclaim life put on hold.

Less than an hour in a Scotrail carriage and I will find my place to be in 2021.   Queen Street Station.  We have to start, and end, somewhere.