Scotland 2003
Aberdeen Scotland
October 2003
Hello from the land where the men look like prep school co-eds. Someone here told me the only difference between a Scot and a Texan is that a Texan wears plaid above the waist and a Scot wears plaid below the waist. I would have thought the fact I was in jeans and the Scot was in a DRESS might have had some difference factor a littler bigger, but I guess it is all in your point of view. It is hard to not stare when you see a man in a skirt. (Kilt - smilt, a skirt is a skirt!) Kilts are not cheap. A store front window I walk past between the hotel and office has a lions-head kilt on sale for $249 pounds ($450).
It has been COLD here, although it is warmer now. Low 40's with a 20 mph wind. Central heat is a rarity. Most buildings have steam radiators which function similar to a campfire. On a cold day, a campfire burns one side of you while the other side remains frostbitten. So does the radiator on a cold night. I have learned to ask for a table away from the radiator in the restaurants. Otherwise I may be well-done before my meal. Another disadvantage of this method of heating is the slowness in which a radiator responds to an attempt to regulate it. Turning the knob on the side will regulate the heat - in about 30 minutes. In the office and restaurants, the Scots keep the radiators cranked up to the highest setting, then throw open a door or window as needed to regulate with a cold blast. This would be like driving everywhere with your right foot plastered to the floor on top of the accelerator causing the engine to gun full out and using the brake as needed to regulate your speed.
The pubs-per-capita here appears to be higher than anywhere else in the world. In the States, restaurants often have a bar. Here, pubs often offer food. In the evenings, it can be quite challenging to find a restaurant to eat at in lieu of a pub. Most true restaurants only serve the lunch crowd. If they offer a lunch special, it will usually include a soup/salad, main course, desert and your choice of glass of wine or a pint of ale. For lunch. And being the thrifty Scots, most glasses in the pubs or restaurants are marked indicating exactly to the fraction where a serving that includes alcohol should come to. My water glass usually has a shot-line in case the patron wants a single or double of whisky added to it. Any glassware that is used for ale has a line that the liquid line must reach, sans foam head. I have come to conclusion that if I decide to kill a Scot (not that I'm comptemplating that!), the most effective method would be to throw a bottle of scotch whiskey in front of a moving bus while the victim is standing nearby on the sidewalk.
I am on the third floor of the hotel. The hotel with no elevator. After checking in, I walked up two flights fully loaded with luggage (evidently bellhops will be imported at the same time the elevators will be) and was shocked to find that someone had hauled off my hotel room. I managed to locate my third-floor room on the fourth floor. I forget that in the United Kingdom or anywhere the UK has overtaken in the past, the first floor, is the ground floor; the second floor is the first floor; and so on. So if you’re looking for the second floor, it is not going to be where you'd expect it to be. This system completely mystifies me. How can you miscount floors? I wonder if the schools in the UK teach if you have one apple, it is your base apple and if you get another apple, you have one total?
Solicitor is a lawyer, Chemist is a pharmacy, small is "wee," and buildings available for lease have TO LET signs. (I have fought the urge to carry a marker and add and "I" to all TO LET signs making them say "TOILET.") Regarding vehicles, a truck is a lorry, the hood is the bonnet, the trunk is the boot and gasoline is 73 pence per liter. Converting liters to gallons and pence to dollars, that equals $5.05 per gallon. It would be cheaper to burn scotch, but then the tank would always be siphoned clean whenever it was parked. There are two knobs on all sinks, Hot or Cold. And, a separate spout for each one about eight inches apart. Not a joint spout for both. So you can wash your hands in Hot or Cold. But not both. Fortunately in the shower, they do combine the hot and cold into one shower head, but not for the spouts that fill the tub, those are still separate. And, this is the same everywhere: the office kitchen and restrooms, restaurants, airports, etc. I never did get a good answer for this. Look at the photos to fully understand – I took one of the sink with two spigots.
We had a problem with the rental car. It seems that it cannot hold oxygen while I am driving on the left side of the road. After I accidentally turned from the left side of the road onto the right side of the road (old habits die hard) into oncoming traffic on a highway, my passengers managed to suck every molecule of oxygen out of the car with one united massive intake. Being safety minded, I have learned after that incident to ensure my window is cracked before I turn into oncoming traffic on the right side of the road. I wouldn't want anyone riding with me to die of asphyxiation. I don't know why I am even driving to begin with; I'm sitting on the passenger side of the car, but some fool has put the steering wheel there.
Hope to see you all soon!
Cheers!
Keith