On The Air
Greetings everyone, from Bonny Scotland,
I've been here for a few days now, staying at my friend Marcello's. I met Marcello two years ago while he was on exchange at Queen's....he's pretty much my Scottish double, except I golf and he doesn't, and he snowboards and I don't.....does anyone else see the irony here?
The flight over from Halifax was not a comfortable one. Emily drove me over, and I made the flight no problem with no delays, but as soon as we hit the airspace over Newfoundland, there was so much turbulence that I thought for sure we were going down, and I'm not an uneasy flier either. There was about a half hour of that kind of turbulence before we straightened out and went a bit smoother. There were other pockets of turbulence along the way, but nothing too serious. Our sound kept going out during the movies too, so I only saw partial bits of Madagascar and The Interpreter. We landed at 4:45AM in Glasgow, which means that I didn't get a wink of sleep that night (but I did sleep all the next day while Marcello was at work!). All in all, it's probably the worst experience I've ever had while on the air, but as long as the damn plane lands safely I can't complain....and if it didn't land safely, I probably wouldn't be in any shape to complain anyways.
Yesterday, Marcello, his friend Paul Somers, and myself all travelled over to Edinburgh, where we met up with Kevin Tracey and Stu Douglas (two more old friends from Queen's) to take in the annual Edinburgh Festival. So many people, so many shows (arts, music, and comedy), and so many LEAFLETS!!! The amount of wasted paper and ink on these leaflets is incredible, and the mosaic they make up on the cobblestone roads after people discard them is something else. Hope they have a good clean up crew.
Today, Marcello and I did some touring of rural Scotland. We drove over to Loch Lomond and took a boat tour there, and then drove to the other side of the water to visit Baloch Castle. The castle itself was very unimpressive: most of the rooms have been converted to offices, and the ones that we could go in were very tacky and modernized. However, the castle grounds and properties were very authentic, with beautiful fields, gardens, stonework walks, and outstanding views of Loch Lomond.
All in all, I'm rather enjoying myself here. The weather, on the whole, is cloudy, breezy, chilly, and damp, but there are spots of sun between it, and it wouldn't really be Scotland if the wasn't what it was anyways. I've got another few days here at Marcello's before I move onto the Gaff's in Edinburgh. Marcello has to work for the next five days though, so that will give me some whole days to do the tourist thing and take day trips. I think I'll be going over to see Stirling Castle for sure, as it's only half an hour from here in Glasgow, and I want to make the trek out east to St. Andrew's as well.
Keep checking for updates on all that, and keep checking for photos, as I'm going to try to post some just now.
I've been here for a few days now, staying at my friend Marcello's. I met Marcello two years ago while he was on exchange at Queen's....he's pretty much my Scottish double, except I golf and he doesn't, and he snowboards and I don't.....does anyone else see the irony here?
The flight over from Halifax was not a comfortable one. Emily drove me over, and I made the flight no problem with no delays, but as soon as we hit the airspace over Newfoundland, there was so much turbulence that I thought for sure we were going down, and I'm not an uneasy flier either. There was about a half hour of that kind of turbulence before we straightened out and went a bit smoother. There were other pockets of turbulence along the way, but nothing too serious. Our sound kept going out during the movies too, so I only saw partial bits of Madagascar and The Interpreter. We landed at 4:45AM in Glasgow, which means that I didn't get a wink of sleep that night (but I did sleep all the next day while Marcello was at work!). All in all, it's probably the worst experience I've ever had while on the air, but as long as the damn plane lands safely I can't complain....and if it didn't land safely, I probably wouldn't be in any shape to complain anyways.
Yesterday, Marcello, his friend Paul Somers, and myself all travelled over to Edinburgh, where we met up with Kevin Tracey and Stu Douglas (two more old friends from Queen's) to take in the annual Edinburgh Festival. So many people, so many shows (arts, music, and comedy), and so many LEAFLETS!!! The amount of wasted paper and ink on these leaflets is incredible, and the mosaic they make up on the cobblestone roads after people discard them is something else. Hope they have a good clean up crew.
Today, Marcello and I did some touring of rural Scotland. We drove over to Loch Lomond and took a boat tour there, and then drove to the other side of the water to visit Baloch Castle. The castle itself was very unimpressive: most of the rooms have been converted to offices, and the ones that we could go in were very tacky and modernized. However, the castle grounds and properties were very authentic, with beautiful fields, gardens, stonework walks, and outstanding views of Loch Lomond.
All in all, I'm rather enjoying myself here. The weather, on the whole, is cloudy, breezy, chilly, and damp, but there are spots of sun between it, and it wouldn't really be Scotland if the wasn't what it was anyways. I've got another few days here at Marcello's before I move onto the Gaff's in Edinburgh. Marcello has to work for the next five days though, so that will give me some whole days to do the tourist thing and take day trips. I think I'll be going over to see Stirling Castle for sure, as it's only half an hour from here in Glasgow, and I want to make the trek out east to St. Andrew's as well.
Keep checking for updates on all that, and keep checking for photos, as I'm going to try to post some just now.
posted by gulldogg at 2:16 p.m.
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