To Scotland by Sea

"Closure of the Forth Road Bridge" and "Flooding results in no trains from England to Scotland".  These two items of news today reminded me of my Scots friend Joanne.  She came from Leith where her father was a policeman.  She had two brothers who were also policemen but in London.  She also had twin sisters.  In due course all three girls came to work in Government departments in Whitehall during the 1940s, as I did.

The five siblings shared a flat in Primrose Hill in North London.  The three girls being tall and blonde were almost identical and derived great fun from being mistaken for one another.  The train fare to Edinburgh they found exorbitant so when it was time to go home for their vacation they would travel overnight on a coastal vessel that went all the way up the east coast from London to Leith on a very choppy North Sea.