Chapter Six

Day Three, The Cramond Inn

"Would you like another organic wheat beer dear" Ray asked Dona from the bar of the Cramond Inn, a pub in a small village at the confluence of the river Almond and river Forth, just outside Edinburgh, Scotland.

"Yes please darling" mocked Dona.

It had worked again, less than twenty minutes earlier they had appeared in the car park of the Inn, suitably dressed in waterproofs with pockets full of £8.27. By now they had already had a pint and a half of Samuel Smith organic wheat beer, pint for him, half for her and were now getting the same again.

How had they made this choice?

It had to be somewhere they knew, they could have just gone back to Pateley Bridge again but they knew that worked already and Ray wanted a different beer.

It had be somewhere out of the way, they didn't want to appear right in the middle of a group of startled people.

It had be somewhere in Europe as the only money they had was Euros and Sterling, they needed money just in case.

It had be somewhere with beer, and if it was in the UK, somewhere where the beer wouldn't cost more than £8.27, because that's all they had left.

It had be somewhere they had the full address and phone number for (although it could be just the phone number they needed, they would have to check that next time), they did however have have the address and phone number for just about everywhere, supplied by Google and free WiFi.

So the Cramond Inn seemed like a perfect choice, they knew it well, it was out of the way, it had wheat beer and it was cheap. It was also a very pleasant place to spend an hour or two. On the day they first discovered the Cramond Inn in 2009, they had taken shelter there from the rain, on a very cold March day.

Even though the Cramond Inn was chosen for the jump, it was not their first jump of the night, if jump was the right word for what they were doing. They had jumped home, into their own back garden on the way to Scotland, then reset the phone to where they now where. They could have gone into their house to get more money but that would have only worked if the house contained any money, which it didn't.

The reason for the home jump was to appease Dona, she was worried that they would jump somewhere far from home and be stranded. So ray had agreed to a jump home, then if it happened to stop working, at least they wouldn't have far to walk.

Ray came back from the bar with the drinks and squashed back in next to Dona so he could be next to the fire. With the money exhausted after these second beers, the experiment would be over for the night and they would jump back to France to analyse all of the data they had collected. They couldn't discuss anything about it in the bar now, as there were a few locals sat close to them, also warming by the lovely open fire.

The artifact was under the table, back in Ray's black Reebok backpack (it was stronger than the SPAR carrier and Ray usually carried a backpack on holiday anyway). The artifact fit in there nicely and when it was unzipped, they could easily get their hands in to activate the jump.

"Well this is nice" said Ray to Dona but one of the locals replied "Yes it is, are you here on holiday". "Yes, we are on the Caravan Club site not far along the river" Ray lied. "that's nice", came the reply, and so a conversation ensued. Luckily for Ray and Dona, having been to the area before, it was easy to get out of any awkward question that came their way.

Ray and Dona were having a very good evening but when they finished their beers, it was time to go, they made their excuses and said goodnight. I would have been nice to stay longer but they left while the going was good. The car park was now busy, so they made the short walk down to the Cramond Island causeway and jumped from there.