Quick trip to the north of England and Scotland for the weekend to meet a friend who just moved to the seaside village of Saltburn. Lovely when I was there on a warm evening and sun out until 11pm, but for much of the rest of the year it is probably pretty dreary. Traditional town where the pubs all close at 11pm (and I didn’t arrive until 10pm) so my friend at a membership at the Conservative Club which says open later – yes the same guys (and gals) who called an election and had lost the night before. But they had a band and were very friendly…..as long as Brexit happened they were happy.
Edinburgh
From there we took the train to Edinburgh Scotland. Does that count as visiting a separate country? They have their own national sports teams in some sports (but not all), currency (but take English pounds), but no passport control at airport coming back so still a question. For now we are counting it as a separate country. I had been there before a couple of times and it is great place to visit – compact and you can walk everywhere. Joined up on a free tour and the young lady was very focused on a) how awful the English were to the Scots and b) How awful the ruling Scots were to the peasant Scots. Ended the tour on a high note of a single stone memorizing the deaths of 267 people who were imprisoned for an uprising, survived in a “camp” outside for a month with no food or water (and the other 90% died), were put on a ship to be sent to the new colonies to be slaves, the ship sank leaving Edinburgh in a storm and the survivors swam to shore where they were then executed. Now who wants ice cream?
Scotland was playing England in a World Cup qualifier….being an England supporter and at the pub I needed to lay low as the Scots are very serious about hating England in football and I wasn’t wearing a kilt. So I bet on Scotland to win in a long shot so I would display the right emotions. It worked and I was elated and hugging some tatted up bald guys in kilts as Scotland scored 2 goals in last 5 minutes of regulation to take the lead. But ended up distraught as Scotland was heartbroken in the 93rd minute…losing my £110 in potential winnings.
I inquired if I was Scottish enough to wear kilt – of course the owner of the store said I was because my mothers maiden name was on a “list” and Clan Maxwell counted. Sadly for all I did not buy the kilt but I do know the pattern and downloaded a picture (which I didn’t need to visit Scotland to do).”
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