so that monday, i can't remember the date, catie and i woke up in glasgow, in susan's home, very very early, dropped catie off at the airport, then went into the city centre where my bus would leave from. we were a bit early, so susan and i sat and had a nice little chat at starbucks. we talked about jobs and what i'm going to do with my life after university. it was very nice, i felt like she was my aunt, not just my aunt's friend. then we said our goodbyes and it was a nice moment. she told me i should ring her whenever I'm in scotland next and that my dad must be very proud of me. i don't know if she meant for traveling or what, but it was sweet anyway.
I slept on the bus to Edinburgh and met my friend Laurel at the bus station (she had taken the night bus all the way from london). We checked in at our hostel which, I have to say, was really really great. much nicer than I thought, cool young workers, cheap good food, comfy beds. our bunk room had classy red wine-colored walls and themed sherlock holmes. nice. after we ate and locked up our things, we walked up the Royal Mile, browsed through the many plaid and cashmere shops and visited the castle.
I think the exterior was used in some of the harry potter films?
see the city
playground
we did a bit of shopping, got bored at the national gallery, went back to the hostel. we found out earlier from a lady at a music shop that the place next door to our hostel has good traditional live music, so we went to check it out. and it was more beautiful than i had expected. we left the rain to step inside a little bar named after the Hebrides, a cluster of islands off the west coast of scotland. inside this bar was a different world. a community of people, young and old, but mostly old, who are such close neighbors and spend their evenings together singing and drinking. laurel and i sat there watching them, drinking our tea, smiling, clapping. they asked us where we were from, why we were drinking tea instead of beer, and we all laughed. one guy who kept looking at me, acknowledging me like a new friend, pointed at my mug as he walked by and said "what is this shit?" said it was bad for the organs compared to beer. we smiled. it wasn't a rude gesture. it was like we had become close acquaintances without exchanging more than 4 words. i can't remember the last time someone used the word shit with me out of respect and common ground and friendliness and humour. how had we found this place?
it was so warm and toasty and there was a big circle of men playing instruments and singing from an old book of Scottish songs. it was mostly men singing, old buddies. they would add in and out of the harmony, some singing, some playing, some just clapping or stomping along. then it mellowed a bit, and out of nowhere, this woman who was quite younger, sitting with a man in the corner table (i thought they were just maybe tourists or there to have drinks and listen) began to sing this long sort of birdsong. she had the most beautiful voice, it was like an angel was speaking. and everyone just stopped and listened and then applauded and continued to the next song. she was obviously a regular in the group. i think we were the only people who weren't. anyway, it was a lovely evening. after the music, we had dinner at a pub on the royal mile and i tried haggis (a traditional scottish dish that contains minced sheep organs) and it was strangely good. It's always nice to sit down with someone and really talk while consuming something hot.
that's enough for this post i think.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment