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Seven things you might want to know about Scotland
Here I am on the other side of the world, an Australian ‘over there’. What have I discovered? Well…
1. The weather is cold
It may be late spring in Scotland, but there is still snow and we had sleet on the windscreen. Thank goodness I brought a jacket.
2. The roads are narrow
Very, very narrow.
3. You can park any which-way
Put you car on the kerb, facing whichever way you want. This is on the road, ‘ye ken, not in the carparks. And when you have an already narrow road, you might have to wait behind a parked car while the on-coming traffic goes past. And that includes double-decker buses with four people in them. (They seemed to run an awful lot of Very Large Buses through Very Small Villages and none of them had many passengers.)
4. The houses all look the same
In Oz houses are individual. Here, you get whole streets of identical facades with maybe a little bit of different paint sometimes. And they’re semi-detached, even when they’re built in a paddock.
5. The birds are boring
The most common bird here is the large seagull with the haunting cry, followed closely by crows. Oh, and a few starlings and pigeons.
6. The people are lovely
I love the Scots. They’re great, friendly, helpful people. Och aye!
7. It’s green
So very, very green apart from the iridescent yellow of the rape crops. And that’s so very different to the ancient, eroded landscape of Australia.
Summary: It’s great.
