PLEASE MIND THE GAP: traveling North

while in edinburgh, laurel and I took a day trip up to the scottish highland capital of inverness. we took megabus all the way, laurel sleeping because she was getting the flu at this point and feeling quite ill, me staring at a fine-looking gentleman a few rows ahead or daydreaming out the window. throughout my travels, I continue to fall in love with people I don't even know. I've never even met. I don't even know who they are or what they are about, but I KNOW I am in love with them. I know that if I could just speak with them once, we would become soulmates. I should stop doing this. It's silly. But I won't. There is a certain ease in the distance you keep from not confronting a person, never interacting with them except through eye contact.

There were little kids on this bus too, and they liked to sing. The one right behind my seat was first singing MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This," followed by the Super Mario Bros. Theme and then "Who Let The Dogs Out," and also shouting "There's another castle!" when we passed a castle in the distance. It was a pleasant ride with all these people, families, children, cute guy with bed head, Laurel and I, riding through mountains of snow and no civilization.

Inverness was a quaint little town, with nothing else in sight but the mountains. There was, of course, another castle here, but it was very chiseled to house a courtroom today. I have some photos of the views from up near the castle, which I will put on the album for Edinburgh. We also witnessed some sort of drug exchange right near the castle. Strange it was here, and not Glasgow that we encountered this. I do not have a photo of that. We learned about the history of the highlands in a museum, and I wanted to go to Loch Ness to see the creature (it is a short bus ride away from the town), but Laurel was feeling too sick and said she'd get seasick. So we just wandered around Inverness for a bit. And here is where I come back to the notion of heading North that I mentioned before but never explained. From my experience, going further and further north means coming upon a people that is so in touch with its earth, with its land and climate. Living in the North means knowing how to deal with the bitter bitter cold and accepting it for what it is. It means keeping warmth inside and giving it out despite that cold. I felt an immediate connection with the people of Inverness because of this understanding. They were all so friendly, so 'down-to-earth,' so laid-back. They live in a beautiful place of mountains and lakes and snow and good people who want nothing but that. Some might wonder why anyone would travel so far North to live, away from the cities and the centres, away from the polluted air, but there is a special place in my heart for these people of the North. Actually, something I found a bit strange, there is a noticeably large population of senior citizens in Inverness, ambling around town with their canes. And they were the least annoying old people I've ever seen. They were full of life.

By the time we got back to Edinburgh, Laurel was miserable, I felt terrible for her. So we got quick food and headed to the hostel so she could sleep and get better. And next day, she did feel better. We went on a walking tour of Edinburgh with a great tour guide, learned a lot of interesting tidbits. Like in the 15th century, if you committed a crime, you would have to stand for an entire day and night with your ear nailed to the town crier post at the center of the royal mile, while people of the town laughed at you and poured things like the contents of their bedpans on you. Some people just couldn't tolerate it so they ripped their ear off to escape. brutal. Also, Edinburgh has been the home of J.K. Rowling, so Laurel and I ate in the cafe where she wrote some of the first Harry Potter books while she was too poor to afford heating her house. The people of Edinburgh are very proud of J.K. Rowling. And I felt that I was in a magical place in that city. Something about the architecture and it being up on a hill and the castle and the alleys I guess. I would like to go back there someday I think.

That evening, whichever evening that was, Laurel and I parted ways, she back to London, me to Dublin to visit Catie. And this will be continued in the next.

a few more photos: