Frog Blog

scotland was lovely, impossibly green, wicked friendly, exhausting. the four of us stayed with the same host family-- jeannie and jimmy. she works for a christian organization, he's a butcher who makes award-winning haggis. they had a lovely home and offered us a warm welcome. some highlights:

we had NO RAIN. have you heard of such a thing in scotland before? granted, P and i got hailed on in st. andrew's, but only briefly.

during a free afternoon in edinburgh, i slipped away from the group and had an hour of luxury at jo malone-- got an arm massage, learned about her scents, bought some nectarine honey perfume. i stank the rest of the day.

loved glasgow. has such grittiness to it, paired with some really swank fancy shops and amazing churches. caught a cold. drank tea incessantly.

fell in love with scone palace and its gardens full of peacocks.

marvelled at the fact that i could stop anywhere-- any shop, in the middle of the street, wherever, and ask for directions, ask a general question, anything-- and people understood me. and i understood them. such a small luxury. but it was strange how locals often deferred to me in conversation, as if the others couldn't understand english as well. even experienced a bit of anti-french on the first boat over. but think that was a singular incident only from particular person i was talking with. it was luscious to talk to people, turn on the charm, flirt my way into things.

totally want to move to st. andrew's. loved being a duck and all, but wish i'd known about st. andrew's when i was an undergrad. granted, i doubt i'd had the grades to get accepted back then, but it was the most beautiful campus, steeped in history and tradition and very harry potter. not to mention the GOLF!! the golf museum was a little wordy but i did get a hole in one at the mini practice put-put. and saw a bronze caste of ernie els' hands!

the boat to and from the continent was fine- smooth sailing the first direction, pretty rocky the second. thank god for bonine and pressure point wristbands.

some of the kids were these posing, snobby, spoiled brats who are all in desperate need of a good ass kicking. whining gets old, as does disrespect. but, all in all, no major catastrophes.

the best part was when the four of us and the bus driver dumped the kids and headed out to the pubs. guiness never tasted so good.

tomorrow i catch the slow bus to hell-- er, i mean, brussels, to meet up with family for two weeks of fun. time to switch gears. i fly to belfast at the end of the month for 5 weeks of travel in ireland and england before heading ... home. wherever that is!

not to forget: quiz night, aprons, bus buddy, storms, tea tea tea, york, sandwiches, coke, fish and chips.