There was heaps of stuff to look at on the bus trip, but I had to concentrate on noticing the things James had told me to keep an eye out for so I wouldn’t miss the right stop. Like the Tesco Express when the bus was going to turn off Princes Street down Lothian Road, and Usher Hall, which meant I should start getting ready because my stop was next, and then Bread Street, which was my stop. Everything was exactly how I had it written down on the back on the menu, so I almost couldn’t believe it, but that part was pretty easy, as well.

Even though it was Edinburgh, being on a bus by myself wasn’t that much different to how I got to school every day, but when I got off the next bit was definitely not like anything I did every day or actually even any day. I made sure I was facing the right way, like James had said, before I started walking left up Grindlay Street until I got to Cornwall Street, which even though I was feeling pretty nervous by then made me laugh on the inside. Because I’d come all the way from the county of Cornwall to end up in a street in Edinburgh called Cornwall. How weird is that?

James had told me the next thing to look out for was a big flashing red-and-white sign that said Whiskey-a-Go-Go. He also said there’d probably be loads of people hanging around and that some of them might be drunk because of the other nightclubs in that street. Maybe not this early, but be careful anyhow, he said. And don’t talk to anyone. I made sure I wrote that down so it was part of the list and I wouldn’t forget. Don’t talk to anyone. Be careful, Norman. I didn’t and I was.

James was right about the loads of drunk people, but the good thing was that there was so many of them nobody even noticed me when I walked right past the front door of Whiskey-a-Go-Go and turned left down the alley beside it. And even though my tummy was doing all sorts of scaredy topsy-turvy jumpy stuff, it also felt kind of good, too. I felt like a spy or a superhero or something. And I felt a little bit like Jax too, because it was the sort of stuff he’d do, not me. But when I kept getting that bad but good feeling in my tummy it made me understand a little bit better why Jax always wanted to choose the hard way.

When I got almost to the end of the alley I saw a load of huge metal bins and next to them was a big red door with Emergency Exit on it. I pulled on the metal bar and it opened exactly like James said it would. Before I went in I turned around and looked behind me. Then, because there was nobody there and because I was so topsy-turvy and excited I actually couldn’t help myself, I did a double fist pump to the empty alleyway. And for a first-timer, I reckon the Norman Foreman technique was pretty good.