An Afternoon in Dunfermline (plus mini Christmas present haul) | cosy coffee shop and sunny wander

Good morning friends and welcome back. I hope you're all doing well, I hope you had a lovely Christmas and as you'll see I'm still in Fife and it's New Year's Eve so I don't have any plans for this evening. However, my mum and I quite fancy a little adventure, just a little outing, so we've decided to go and spend the day in Dunfermline. So we're going to take the bus just because it's just a little bit easier with parking and it's not too far. So that is the plan and then we'll have lunch, do a little bit of charity shopping and it'll just be nice to bring you along. So that's the plan and then I think at the end of this video the plan is to have, I'm going to have a little chat with you about some lovely little Christmas bits that I was very kindly given by my mum because a few of you have asked me to do sort of a little haul of some Christmas presents. So these are just some charity shop finds that she's given me that I'm really in love with so I'll have a little chat with you at the end about that. Welcome to Dunfermline! A little bit later checking in with you because the first cafe we went to is closed because it's New Year's Eve so completely understandable and then we bumped into my friend Kate and her family, like her little family with her kids and her husband so that was really lovely. Anyway we tried another place that she recommended called, I've forgotten already but it's quite a new place and that didn't have much left because we're a bit later for lunch so now we're gonna try Frost Coffee which also maybe looks closed. We've had a lovely lunch and the cherry on the cake was having three dogs in the room with us that was so much fun and now it's time to just have a little browse, I think a little bit of charity shopping before they close. So I hope you enjoyed joining my mum and I for our little outing to Dunfermline. We had such a lovely afternoon, we didn't end up buying anything actually. We looked in a couple of charity shops, some of them were closed with it being New Year's Eve or closing early so we didn't get a look in them but it was still such a nice time. I really enjoyed going out for lunch at Prost, this was my second time being there and really just enjoyed it. We were surrounded, literally surrounded with dogs. There was a dog next to us, there was a dog that came in when we were just leaving over there, there was a dog here and a dog here and I was just couldn't be happier, surrendered. It wouldn't be a great room if you didn't like dogs or were allergic but I was just couldn't be happier. And then I don't know if I mentioned in the video but we also bumped into my friend Kate and her little family so it was really nice for my mum to see her kids because she's never met them before and yeah that was just a couple of highlights from our outing. It's actually over a week later and yeah that's right yeah we're into 2026 now so Happy New Year! I just hope in general that you had such a nice Christmas and New Year break and feel just well rested. Anyway I thought I would finish the video with just sharing a couple of bits and bobs that my mum very kindly got me for Christmas and some of them are from charity shops so since I don't have a charity shop haul from Dunfermline to share with you and a couple of you had asked for a little bit of a Christmas present haul I thought we could combine the two and I'll just share a couple of bits with you. So we're losing light fast because I've been procrastinating and putting this off all day because I'm out of practice. I know that I pretty much was on camera every day in December but for some reason just being away from it for a couple of weeks like I think two weeks now I felt a little bit nervous coming back on to chat which is so strange. Anyway where should we start? Let's start with one of my favourite presents I got this year and that is something that I didn't even know that I wanted until I saw it and it's a barometer. So my mum found this in a charity shop and I think she said it was only £2.50 I think it was under £3 and it is just a thing of beauty in my opinion. Let me bring it a little bit closer so that you can see it. So I have really really fond memories of barometers because when I used to come visit my grandparents when we lived in Malaysia my granddad who I called my daddy was just one of my favourite people in the whole world. I love my granny as well but for some reason little me just really took such a love to my daddy and there are just several things that he did every day that still remind me of him. So one of the things that he would do is when he woke up in the morning he'd come down and tap his barometer and like move the little dial just to know what was going on with the weather and was it going to be changeable, was it going to rain, be dry and I guess in those days it was actually very practical as well because you know mobile phones, weather apps weren't a thing so it was actually probably very practical for him to check what the weather was going to be like that day but for me I've been getting so much joy out of it since I got it for Christmas. I have been tapping away every day, moving the thing and it's so interesting to me how much it can change. For ages it was stuck down very dry here and I actually wondered I was like is this thing working but I found on my own phone's weather app that it shows the pressure so I just checked and it was correct so I was like it works so happy about that and then one morning I woke up and it was all the way up here so there had been a big shift in pressure overnight and I know this is like feels very geeky of me but I can't get enough of this. I check it every time I pass it to see what's going on so I'm just so thrilled with it. My mum thought that I would enjoy it but I think she finds it quite amusing just how much I love it so very happy with it. It's going to come back to Edinburgh with me. It says made in Germany and it's by a brand called Barigo. Barigo made in Germany and that has been one of my favourite presents this year and a very unexpected one as well. Next up just because it's cute I have a new Paddington bear to add to the collection. So I mentioned last year in the Galashiels video that I used to collect Paddington bears when I was younger and I have quite a few now and I just feel I got to the point where I just didn't know where to store them or display them so I said that we weren't I wasn't going to collect them anymore and then that last year in Galashiels I saw an adorable one which I I just don't have pardon me my voice is quite croaky today for some reason anyway I was saying um I found one that I didn't have in my collection so I was very excited about that and got it. So my mum said that she also saw this in a charity shop and couldn't resist it especially since he needs a little bit of TLC I'm going to I can't remember the proper name of the device I call it a debobolizer but just the device that shaves off the bobbles and makes it look new again that's what he needs done to his little felt duffel coat so welcome to the family Paddington I love that he can stand up on his own as well he's gonna stand up there there we go and then my mum also got me a couple of books so first up this is a charity shop find is 13 problems by Agatha Christie and it is a collection of Miss Marple stories I think there are 12 is that right and I have listened to these there's actually 13 so I've listened to these but I haven't finished them I remember listening to them on audible or spotify and never actually finishing them so I'm really pleased because I didn't have a copy and I'd actually almost bought this for myself last month I'd seen it was a bigger book though it was all of Agatha's short stories so I think it was just a little bit too overwhelming so I'm very excited I'm thinking of starting this and then she also got me Paddington then she also got me I'm just gonna lie him down there you go another mystery book which I have read a few by this author he's called Edward Marston and he quite often does the British library crime classics introductions to the books and this one is called A Ticket to Oblivion a thrilling new adventure for the railway detective so I think I've maybe read two of the railway detective already and have enjoyed them I think one was the Christmas one I can't remember what the other one was now so that sounds interesting this is a story that takes place in summer I think so maybe I'll keep it for the summer months next up we have Michael Palin Himalaya travel journal so I have I think this completes my collection of the of the older ones I don't have his North Korea one or his Brazil one but I think this completes my collection of his older travel diaries and I'm just so looking forward to listening to this because I recently finished watching or re-watching his documentary so again my mom had seen this in a charity shop I think maybe just for like a pound so she'd messaged me and asked me at the time if I had this one so I said I didn't so I knew that this was coming but still very very pleased to have it and then what should we do next I think this is the last charity shop find again this one has a little bit of a story to it but she spotted this in a charity shop window and it's this adorable little brooch of a seahorse isn't that lovely oh it's not even really showing up properly but he has some shell inlay here he's 925 silver and he's just he's so sweet so the significance about this is where I grew up we would always pass by this roundabout with these beautiful giant seahorses and that is just another memory that's just really burned into my memory because I just loved them and I've always kind of liked seahorses since then and I don't actually know if I need to look it up if the city's animal is a seahorse you know like how Scotland's national animal is a unicorn I don't know if the city's animal was a seahorse and that's why they had them around the place but that would make sense so very pleased with this little guy I don't really wear brooches so my plan is to frame him I think he would look really nice in a little frame so that is something else that she found in a charity shop for me very very pleased with that and then the last thing I think that I want to show you is not a charity shop find but is another very me find is I have a new Persephone book to add to my collection and my mum ordered it from them so this is the first book that I've actually got from Persephone themself and not second hand or from a bookshop and because of that I have the bookmark I've actually just finished this book so there's the pattern in the bookmark isn't it lovely so it is Miss Bunkle Married which is part two I'm trying to show you the inside as well isn't that lovely such a nice pattern and I just love the classic Persephone grey books so she knew how much I enjoyed the first Miss Bunkle, Miss Bunkle's book I think it's called by D.E. Stevenson and I kind of found out about this before Christmas but it was still such a lovely surprise to have a new Persephone book to read over the Christmas holidays so I absolutely devoured this this was so delightful it I would still say that Miss Bunkle's book is better but this was just a really comforting cozy read so the story follows on from Miss Bunkle's book and I don't know if I want to mention too much because I don't want to spoil the ending in Miss Bunkle's book but basically she moves places and starts a new life and it's just about the friends and the neighbours that she meets and there's a little bit of love a little bit of a love story a little bit of intrigue of what's going to happen and as a reader you're there's not as much suspense as the first book but again Miss Bunkle is trying to hide a secret in this book again so it's humorous it's light-hearted it's very comforting and just such a pleasant read I would say so I've really enjoyed reading it and then I think that's it I also got some lovely new teas to try I got a collection my mum ordered a collection of chamomile teas from Jennier and she got me my favourite one has been the chamomile and rose that's been really lovely she got me Egyptian chamomile she got me chamomile and mint there's a timeout tea I think and there's one oh lavender and chamomile that's maybe my least favourite one or maybe one that I would just need to get used to because the lavender is quite pungent so I like to drink chamomile before bed every night so she thought I would enjoy which I really have it's been like a selection box of chamomile teas so every night I'm like I'm gonna I'm gonna have a little peppermint and chamomile or a little bit rose and chamomile so it's been really a lot of fun and yeah I've just been so blessed I just got lovely little presents from my aunt and uncle too got these earrings and it's just been such a nice time and just generally I've been watching movies I've been jigsawing I've almost finished my jigsaw maybe I'll show it to you but it's an Edinburgh map and it is it is tricky I'm having a hard time with it when I'm and then I've also been doing a little bit of watercolour practice because my mum also got me watercolour pencils and a little watercolour brush so I've been playing around with that and Claire got me a little watercolour kit that is literally the size that you can take out and about and it's just so sweet I'm I'll definitely show that to you at some point because I'm hoping to take it on adventures because it's literally tiny on day trips and whatnot I think that would be really a really fun little idea oh and also every year my mum gets me a sort of a Christian gift you know for Christmas like the true meaning and this year I had actually asked for this I got a Holman's book of maps so for example if you're reading maybe the New Testament Paul's letters you can see all the places that Paul goes to in his travels or maybe you're following you know Joshua and them going into the promised land and you can see all the maps there so I've been enjoying like looking at this while I'm reading so anyway I think that's all I don't know how long this is going to be but I've just really enjoyed catching up with you because it's been so long and I look forward to more videos this month of me being back in Edinburgh hopefully doing some wanders because I think the city should be quieter now and yeah I hope that you're all doing well thank you so much if you've made it this far and I will see you in the next one