Sights and sounds of Scotland

So I've just arrived back last night at my house in Lancaster after a delightful week in Scotland with my sister. This is a little review of what I encountered.

 I was right up at the very north north east of Scotland, near Inverness, and some might argue that there's not much up there. That's fair enough. What was there, though, were plenty of RAF men, a top notch dentist (my sister) and some beautiful beaches.

The beach at Lossiemouth

 I really got a taste of what life was like for my sister. I met the people she works with, lived in her lovely house, we cooked together each night, she showed me all the local sights.

The people on the roads up there drive however the heng they like. I've never met such impatient drivers. The sheer capacity of overtakers was really quite startling.  We were following Paul the satnav man in the car and on the little map thing, as we crossed the bridge to the left, it looked like we were driving straight through the sea! It was terribly cool!

We made our way towards Inverness to see dolphins. I was really terribly excited at the prospect of spotting some lovely little dolphins and we raced towards the viewing point at the cusp of high tide. We parked the car next to several groups of old people with cameras on tripods and binoculars. This appeared to be a good sign that we might yet see some dolphins. However, the sea appeared to be rather turbulent, the rain was mizzling and we were sitting in our anoraks,straining our eyes desperately for a sighting. Quite a crowd was assembling around us, most over 60, and occasionally one elderly man would take a few pictures and we'd wonder whether we were about to meet the dolphins. Usually it was just a bird. Exciting! But as the crowd dispersed in frustration, something amazing happened: the dolphins legitimately showed up!! When my sister shouted, 'Look, dolphins!' I hurriedly jammed on my glasses to see them. Alas, although she pointed and said 'There's loads of them!' I just couldn't see them at all! So very frustrating...they were there, but I didn't see them!

The coast near Inverness

In other news, though, there were some very good times to be had in Scotland. I managed to resist eating haggis or anything battered, although there were opportunities a plenty! 

I met some very nice people along the way, as well as getting a free dental check up WIN!
I invented, refereed and commentated the entirety of the first ever doll version of WWE Smackdown for the entertainment of some children: I'm nothing if not original!

I learnt that trash TV is still a true love of mine, especially in the company of someone who knows you so well that you can reminisce with. 

Where the dolphins were...

Most of what I learnt on my trip to Scotland was that, in actuality, I am not entirely incapable of understanding Scottish accents, it is only Glaswegians who I can't understand apparently!

Whilst in a garden centre I seen a really funny moment. An old couple, I'm talking 70s at least, were sitting nearby. When the husband asked if they were leaving for tesco yet, his wife replied, 'I can't get up, we'll have to stay here.' The husband laughed and replied, 'I'm afraid you're getting old.' For some reason, this just really struck me as hilarious.

My sister and I, waiting for dolphins and laughing at the old people with tripods

It was really great to see my sister again as we haven't seen each other that much lately. When everybody moves away from home it's really sad. When you go from seeing your siblings every day to only by chance, or strategic planning, meeting up a couple of times a year, it's tough! I miss all the times you get to hang around and just watch TV and do nothing much. It's never the same when you meet up anymore because you know you're going to be parting ways but it's nice that you can just get back to your natural rhythm and you can do stupid things and your sister will help you out. It's nice, you know? 

I found my trip to Scotland to be all I dreamed and more. Aside from the expectations of a trip to the Highlands i.e. tartan, haggis, bagpipes, I found that it was a lot more (and not really any) of that. There were lots of really pretty things to be seen and there's definitely a lot to be said for small town living. Hearing RAF planes going overhead your house every morning gives a lovely sense of authenticity and action. Being wolf whistled at by dodgy grass cutters is just an unfortunate aside from pleasant trips around Norman castle ruins, old and beautiful. This was a lovely prelude to the beginning of my last EVER term of university.

One of those maniacs driving I was talking about...just kidding, it's even better: a dog with his paws on a steering wheel, legitimately giving me a 'Let's race' expression!