london bound

I have paused to consume a cheddar cheese, tomato & pickle bloomer (looked like a sandwich to me) labelled “Fresh”. (I'm glad I didn't get the other one.) This isn't Lufthansa so there is no wireless broadband on this 55-minute BMI flight to London, but we have achieved cruising altitude (my spell checker suggests “cursing” here) and the seatbelt sign is now off, so I can at least archive this for uploading when we're home.

What was Scotland? I have for years had a desire to go to Scotland. I'm not entirely sure just why, to be honest. It was just there, calling me. Well I have been. I am somewhat disappointed that, probably partly due to the weather we've had, I didn't see as much of the breathtaking scenery that I've seen in some photos of Scotland. I suspect also that much of the best views of Scotland are well off the beaten track, and realistically, trying to see a large swathe of the country in a week, we mostly only had time for standard scheduled beatings. Erm. However, we saw some lovely highland lochs, glens, and moors. Having done quite a bit of deleting of less good photos already, I'm left with 272 photos to enjoy. (Gotta love that digital workflow.)

The people we met in Scotland were warm and welcoming. Some of them were even Scottish, though it's interesting how many English people you find running B&Bs in far flung parts of this united kingdom. We had literally record-breaking rainfalls for August during this trip, the worst brunt mostly in Scotland. (Though worst hit was a small town in Cornwall which yesterday was virtually washed away into the sea in a freak flash flood, including 50 cars washed into the harbour, though incredibly no one died.) Despite the weather however, we managed to see the country and experience another place. I feel I've come away with a sense of Scotland, and it's a place I'd be happy to live. Admittedly, even with the rainfall it was around 20 degrees each day, not exactly year-round-typical for Scotland. Perhaps a winter there would give pause for thought. Nonetheless, here's to Scotland, a place of good heart and good people. You can come visit any time.

Postscript: We're home... It's funny to think that this big city London is now what I call home.