Lynnette's Caledonian Journal - Summer 2000

Entry 2 - You Take the High Road...

"There are two things a Highlander likes naked, and one of these is malt whisky."

I woke up laughing on Saturday, 8th July, 2000, in my B&B in Paisley with these words on my mind. It is a Scottish saying I came across during some pre-sleep reading in one of the books I bought in Glasgow called QUOTABLE SCOTS. That particular gem was anonymous, but there are plenty of great ones in the book attributed to specific famous Scots as well. I also had to laugh at all the quotes from Rod Stewart - made him look like an idiot! Don't get me wrong; I love his voice and a lot of his earlier songs, and I even used to think he was a hottie when I was growing up, but his relationships with women are an absolute joke! He swears over and over he is with the love of his life - only each time it is a different woman!!! Pathetic lack of constancy.

Now the B&B I was staying in was far from fancy or even comfortable, but I still have to say that I liked it. It lacks a woman's touch - nothing matches as far as decor goes (my bedroom was downright hideous, in fact!), and all those little things a female would find necessary for comfort were just totally absent. I only saw two men there - perhaps father and son. But they both were very gracious and solicitous toward me, and I felt very welcome, which makes up for a lot of other things. They also were both hard workers, doing all the cooking and cleaning and serving themselves. HA! Maybe that is it - I just got a kick out of being waited on by males!!!!!! hee hee hee! But seriously, they were very nice to me, and I liked them.

From the outside, the B&B looks gorgeous, just like all the other houses in that neighborhood - quite swank looking on the exteriors at least. Big, asymmetrical stone houses with unique details like stained and leaded glass windows and TONS of flowers and creeping vines - now THAT'S my idea of living!

When I was ready to leave, the older gentleman insisted on helping me carry out my luggage. He about fell down when he saw how big it was!!! He was somewhat astonished watching me piggyback the carry on onto the big case, and then the laptop satchel onto that! He said I would be like a wee horsie pulling a cart! I was able to pull my 'cart' to the local post office with no problem. Once inside, I purchased the materials necessary to mail the lap top and set about doing that. After I had the laptop packed, I then had to get it and my luggage over to the line to post it. This was problematic as I no longer could piggyback the laptop OR put it in the carry on. The solution I arrived at was to carry the laptop package on top of my head like a woman in a third world country balancing a basket, and then to pull the luggage along with my free hand. I was able in this way to get into line and get up to the counter in one trip. I am sure the people in there had never seen anything outlandish like that before, but I believe in being efficient with my efforts! The mail lady weighed the package and gave me the proper postage, and I shipped it off feeling MUCH lighter for the loss! Bob's your uncle! I didn't think much of Paisley when I visited the museum there with my students in 1998, but I have to say now that I am rather fond of the place. It's not a bad little place at all.

I got a ticket into Glasgow Central on the train (#2 one-way) and took the lift up to the train platform. Once at the Glasgow station, I bought a one-way ticket to Edinburgh for #6.90. I had to manhandle my luggage onto the train by myself. There was a gap and a height difference between the train and the platform. I got the carryon onto the rack above my head, and then I put the big case in the seat next to me as the train wasn't that crowded. The ride was fairly uneventful. It took about an hour, and the only excitement was caused by a huge gang of guys, obviously sports fans of some sort, getting on and basically taking over my car at one point. They were not out of control, though - too early in the day for drunken shenanigans!

Once I arrived at Waverly Station in Edinburgh (named after Sir Walter Scott's Waverly novels), I got myself and my luggage off. After getting the luggage properly piggybacked again, I strolled over to the taxi queu to catch a taxi to my dorm. The ride through Edinburgh was fun - I enjoyed seeing familiar sights. It was a #5 trip, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how attractive the dorm was - it is a beautiful old brick building in a very ornate style with cuppolas, a brick paved circular drive, gardens, and a big wrought iron fence around the grounds. Once inside the dorm, which is called Warrenton Park as it is on Warrenton Park Crescent, the receptionist gave me my key and showed me to my room. The bad news is that it is all the way at the very top of the building, so I have to climb 6 flights of stairs, as there is no lift, everytime I want to get to my room. It was hell dragging my big suitcase up, let me assure you! But the good news is that the views from up there are FABULOUS! I have a gorgeous view of Arthur's Seat from my bedroom window - I think that is so cool! And the back windows of the suite look out onto a park and another great view of the city. Old Town Edinburgh has a beautiful skyline - all old churches and pretty buildings. There are 4 bedrooms in the suite which share a phone, a kitchen, a shower, and a 2nd bathroom. My room is more than big enough for me with 2 desks (I think one of them is actually a hutch for the other), a single bed, a wardrobe, a bookcase, a bedside table/set of drawers, and a lamp. There is also a heater in the bedroom to keep things toasty if it gets cold - and it does! I have a huge double window with a big, lovely window seat to sit in to read or write. Since it is summer time and Scotland is so far north, the sun comes up very early and goes down very late - like 10 p.m. or so. I have heavy curtains I can pull if I want to block out the light. I am snug as a bug in a rug in this room. My only complaint is that they have a strange idea of what is necessary and what is not. They give you a duvet cover, but only one sheet for the bed! They give you a tea towel, but no can opener! They give you egg cups, but no cereal bowls! Go figure! Bizarre!

Once I had made my bed and put all my clothes away, I was ready for my next task: explore the neighborhood for necessary services like a post office and grocery store. I found both without too much trouble. It had turned into a drizzly day, but a little rain is no big deal. The neighborhood is fabulous - GORGEOUS old townhouses. And when I say townhouses, that does not mean the same thing as a townhouse in America - in Edinburgh it means an old stone mansion of like 6 stories!!! VERY posh! At the grocery store I amused myself by deliberately buying all the food items with totally Scottish labels and/or products that I could find. I will put the labels in my photo album like the little pack rat that I am!

Back at the dorm, I climbed the 6 flights again - ugh! - and put away my food. After a light repast I hit the sack for a nap prior to the orientation meeting for my class. Note about Coleman's mustard: I made a sammich with this mustard on it and unwittingly almost burnt my taste buds and nose hairs out!!! Now I love sharp mustard, but this stuff is SHARP, and I globbed it on and bit into it thinking it was like weak cissy French's!!! Seriously, my eyes watered, my nose ran, my throat was on fire, and I even had the freakish experience of having the hair follicles on the back of my head tingle and burn!!! Yikes! It is good stuff, but you definitely have to use it sparingly or else suffer the rather extreme consequences! My group met at 7 in front of the dorm so a girl from the University of Edinburgh International Summer School Office could walk us over to campus. It turns out the 'park' behind my dorm is called the Meadows. It is BEAUTIFUL! It is a huge swath of lush green grass sliced into very generous triangles and quadrangles by lovely tree lined paths. The trees form a canopy over the walkways - it is beautiful. Every so often along each path there will be a bench to sit on and admire the great views of the city and Arthur's Seat. On the greens, different sports are always going on - I saw soccer, volleyball, and even cricket. The section immediately behind my dorm is actually used for golfing! But even though the Meadows is used by a great many people, it is never crowded or loud like, say, Central Park, where you can never have any privacy or quiet. On the contrary, the Meadows is a very peaceful and attractive place.

We crossed the Meadows to get to campus. The campus is quite attractive as well. Many of the academic building are townhouses around George Square. There is a park in the center of the square. To one side of the Square, the old buildings have been removed and replaced with towers to house more academic and administrative departments. Evidently this was a big scandal in the last century. What price progress, eh? When we got to our building, we went in for a wine social meet and greet kind of thing - hey, anybody who has free drinks at the orientation is cool by me! We got packets with info about our courses in them, and we were introduced as a group to the professors who would be teaching us. We then broke into smaller groups and went off by course to meet with the profs. My class has about 15 people in it from various places - the U.S. mostly, but also Scotland, England, and France. The 'social convenors' (the people in charge of planning social events for us) offered to take us round to a pub afterwards, but I decided I best go home and settle in rather than waste money on beer. I'm on a tight budget this trip, and I'm not interested in anything else I'd have to deal with in a pub besides pints!

Sunday was my first disappointing day, and the problem was the weather. It rained REALLY HARD all day. I will go out if it is only raining moderately, but without a raincoat, umbrella, warm clothes, or suitable shoes, there was no way I was going out in this stuff. I packed totally inappropriately - I just don't remember it ever being this cold before. I guess I have always had extraordinarily good luck with weather over here. Since I was cooped up, I did some reading, wrote some postcards, washed some hand wash, and also did a culinary experiment! I had purchased 'Wee Willie Winkies' (little baby saussies) and baked beans (different over here from American style), and I was going to make them with toast - people over here and in Ireland eat this strange combination together for some reason! Well, I ran into serious difficulties because there was no can opener! I had to puncture the can with this 2 pronged carving fork over and over until I could force the beans out!!! Only me, I tell ya! I have to say that it made an acceptable meal - not anything I am in any rush to have again, but it was palatable.

Finally the rain slowed (notice I said 'slowed' and not 'stopped'!) enough for me to venture out. I went for a walk for an hour and a half around the other side of my neighborhood. There are so many cool shops there! Nice restaurants, too. This is a REALLY delightful part of town. Students here are spoiled! After this I did some more reading and writing and then hit the sack in anticipation of classes starting on the morrow!

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