Aye, lassie bonnie Scotland ye say

I got behind again. So behind in fact that I don’t remember what I last wrote. Did I talk about our trip to the south west – Exeter, Beer & Abbotsbury? And since then… There was a weekend devoted to the return of Simon & Justin; a Windsor invasion with 6 people cozied into my room; finally seeing Windsor castle (once my chestnut cleared security); seeing The Producers; a Canadian comic winning over the foreigners; watching the locals torchlight procession through Lewes on Bonfire night; shopping at Brick Lane market; and a holiday in Scotland! Where do I begin?

Oh well, suppose I should tell you all I am coming back for Christmas after all and staying. Number of reasons for this – will explain later, but, although it will be hard to leave my friends & castle here, I am looking forward to it. More on that later.

Let’s work backwards… This week is a bit manic as my team is participating in a career fair in London and guess who forged ahead and took lead of that project… no surprises there. It’s good though because last weeks holiday seemed to have cost a bit more that expected so Cheap entertainment is the way forward for the rest of this month! (In the UK the standard is to be paid monthly, leaving 2 weeks as a prince & 2 as a pauper. I hate this method, I just do not have the brains to manage it.)

Ah ye wee lads & lassies, Scotland was bleedin’ lovely! I eventually got there on the Wendesday at noon (note to self, when flying domestically but in a foreign country, passport still required). I met the wonderful Keri Shields in Glasgow where we picked up a car and took off to Oban for the night. Strangely enough as we are both tea-totallers, we ended up in a pub, catching up on 2 years of not having seen each other. 2 years!

Oban’s a lovely town and serves as the port to many of the small islands of Scotchland (remember is highlands AND islands). So on Thursday we hopped on a ferry (a proper 45 min journey including a disembarkation procedure) and went over to Mull. It’s a nice island but has an unfortunately sparse port town, so we bussed to Tobermorray on the other side to wander the picturesque home of the BBC kids show Ballymorray. Back to Oban in the evening for a treat … a movie! (Seeing as we both live in towns without cinemas, this was cause for serious excitement). We saw the Brit faves Wallace & Gromit and laughed but not loudly as we comprised 25% of the audience!

Friday was a true day in the highlands …gale force winds, torrential downpours and all! We headed up to Fort William, a lovely coastal town, (barren of people as a result of the weather) then on to Glenfinnan to see the old rail bridge used in Harry Potter and a big monument to something - it was raining & flooding too hard to get close enough to see what it was!

Through the highlands and down to St Fillan’s for a night at Kewi’s hotel and a chance to meet the locals. She’s in a village on Lake Earan (forgive my destruction of the Scottish place names), right in the centre of Scotland and at the ‘gateway to the highlands’.

Saturday we parted as I took the scenic route back to the car rental company in Glasgow, then met up with my friend Lee in Glasgow. It had only been 2 weeks since we’d seen each other but we had heaps to catch up on and spent the evening walking & gossiping.

Sunday I was about early seeking a walking tour (oh, how I love my walking tours) but instead found the city’s Remembrance Day ceremony. They mark the occasion the Sunday closest to 11 November as that is not a holiday here. It was rather sad that in a city of 600,000 + there were more participants in the ceremony than spectators. So I paid my respects & was thrilled by a Scottish drum & pipe band in Scotland, then continued on, visiting the cathedral precint. I have to say, churches excite me less & less.

I quickly toured the oldest house in Scotland but it was such a beautiful day (cold but sunny & dry) that I just wanted to be outside. So I wandered until meeting Lee again and heading to the Barras (markets) and some shops, etc. All the sudden it was 10pm & I was on a bus to the airport. I had the first flight out in the am and didn’t trust myself to get up at 4am to get the only bus that would get me there on time, so I , like about 40 others, rested my weary head (and feet) on the airport benches. Ahh… the luxury.

Back to work Monday afternoon… that was just stupid planning I must say.

Must tell you about Lewes … but not now. A bientot!