We had a lazy morning, and got a lift into Galashiels after lunch to try our luck again with the Christmas shopping. David knew it was a long shot hoping to find something there. Shops are thin on the ground, a huge amount of locals work in Edinburgh and have access to shops there while those working locally have very little money. There are a couple of supermarkets selling 'everything' and a few 'poundsaver' shops so we were kind of stuck again.

We had planned to go to the movies to see the Hobbit and we had a bit of time to kill before it started so we had a drink at the Salmon Inn. Although there are not many shops in the town, there are still quite a few bars and takeaways that seem to do okay. Maria managed to get some Somersby cider from Denmark, which made her happy. David's Belhaven ale was not so great so he switched to Guinness, which was really good and made him happy.

There were cheaper tickets for the cinema on Thursdays, which was our main reason for going. The cinema is a bit dated compared to what we're used to in Auckland so the sound and visual quality wasn't the best. Perhaps it was the way the latest Hobbit 3D was filmed, but it's doubtful.The movie itself was slightly boring in the beginning, but it soon picked up. On the whole the movie was well made and very good visually, we also loved the dwarves with their Scottish accents.

Our driver for the week, David's dad, picked us up after the movie finished to take us home. David's parents were taking us out for dinner this evening so we walked down the hill into Melrose village to the Burts Hotel.The food was very good even though we just ate in the bar instead of the restaurant - it came from the same kitchen, cooked by the same chef. Maria and David's parents went for the fish option, which was a nice piece of Hake, while David went with the Lamb dish which came with two different cuts of meat on the plate. Delicious!