Bits and Pieces

No one story in particular, so here's a bunch of little ones...

On flying here--
Tim was sitting next to a young couple and their small boy on the way to Edinburgh. They carried on a sippy cup for the wee Scot while in flight. Once we were in the air, the kid opened his drink and it went PSHHHHT! spraying apple juice on everyone in the vicinity.

On eating here--
I could get used to the salt and vinegar on fries. It's yummy.

On the food--
Cheddar cheese is not yellow or orange here. It's white. And tasty.

On the language--
French fries are called chips. Potatoe chips are called crisps. They have a gazillion flavors of crisps here. In fact, last night I went into a pub where I bought a bag from the hottest Scottsman ever (he kept calling me "Darlin'" and "Luv"--swoon!). He gave me a choice in crisp flavors including prawn cocktail, chicken and rice, onion and cheese and salt and vinegar.

More on the language--
On our way into Edinburgh airport a few minutes ago (we can't check in for another 20 minutes, so I thought I'd blog), we passed a traffic sign. We were coming into an area with a lot of speedbumps, so the sign warned: Humps for 300 yards. How exhausting.

On Hogmaney--
We happened to be in Edinburgh for the Scots equivelent of Mardi Gras. They had a beautiful fireworks display last night and have a huge midway set up on several city blocks. There's also a Christmas marketplace, where you can get mulled wine in real mugs (no paper or styrofoam here!). They also sell oranges stuck with cloves. Everyone is in the Christmas spirit around here. It seems they celebrate more between the holidays than before. They're playing and singing Christmas carols and there are trees and decorations in nearly every window.

On right now--
Tim is sitting a few feet behind me with our bags. There's a maintenence man sitting right next to him mumbling, making motions like he's pouring himself (and Tim) a wee dram.

On yesterday morning--
The daylight is short here. The sun's only up from about 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. While we were walking to the stop for our tour bus, a red fox popped out of the hedges and trotted along with us on the opposite side of the road.

On stereotypes--
While at Loch Ness yesterday, we saw a family walking a Scottie dog. I swear, if the dog could talk, he'd have a brogue.

On forgetting--
Last post I promised to explain the difference between a loch and a lake. A lake is something you find in England. A loch is a lake you find in Scotland, only more beautiful.

Time to catch our flight to London now. We'll catch up more tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

Some final thoughts on Scotland

We're leaving Scotland tomorrow, but I wanted to give you my impression of the Scots as a people before I go (so don't look for a post tomorrow, I'll be back the next day).

Scotland has a brutal history. The native Highlanders were literally cleared out by the British, similar to how Native Americans were treated. And yet, when you're there, you can feel the pull.

Scots are attached to their land. They're born to it. And they actually are in love with it. It's part of them in a way Americans can't understand.

And there's magic here. Not the hocus-pocus kind. But the kind that makes a man want to fight in and army that's outnumbered five to one or six to one (with Robert the Bruce or William Wallace). Or a man take on a group of seven bandits who murdered a friend--and win against them all.

They're hardy and strong. They've got personality like none other.

You've got to expereince this country. Not just the cities and the food. Or the kilts and the pipes. You've got to sit with a Scotsman. Learn what makes him tick.

You'll be glad you did.

We hae a Heilan' fling

You take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland before you...

If you ever make it to Scotland, you MUST see the Highlands. Tim and I aren't ones for organized tours, but this, by far, was the best thing we've done so far. A Scotsman, Tim--believe it or not--toured us about 350 miles up to Loch Ness, stopping along the way to view the mountains and other historical spots. He also gave a history of the country for most of the way that really helped put it all in perspective. What kind of history, you say? Well....

Let's start with the Jacobites (JACK-o-bites). The true revoluntionaries of Scotland. They were Highlanders (yes, there's a difference between Highlanders and Lowlanders--I'll explain more later). They were also pretty well wiped out by the English (Sassenachs). The primary Jacobite clans included the MacDonalds, Frasers and Camerons. My clan, the Gordons (I verified this here--what better place??) were not Jacobites, but were a very powerful clan nonetheless. The Gordons were so powerful, they had their own regiment in Her Majesty's Army.

>Anyway, enough about history...we finally met Hamish the Heilan' Coo. Jolly chap. Loves eating neeps, tatties, carrots and most especially strawberries. But not so much on the citrus. "It runs roit tru him."

Listening to Tim the Tour Man all day really gave us a flavor for the Scots language. He actually belted out a sentence or two in Scots. Even now, we have no idea what he said. He could very well have called us all crazy Sassenachs and we smell funny. But it sounded charming, so we all laughed.

The only town you would have heard of that we visited today was Loch Ness. We think we may have seen the monster (maybe a duck)--and we got a photo...


So, I'll wrap this up with a Scottish saying--Lang may yer lums reek. For you Trekkies out there, it translates into, "Live long and prosper."