Haley

Glasgow

Well, it’s Tuesday night here in London at the moment and I’m meant to be in bed recovering from a lack of sleep! But it never works like that, does it? On the weekend Tanya and I regrouped and set off on further travels together – to Glasgow, where we met up with some friends (aka crazy Scottish guys we met in Brasil) and came back convinced that Scottish people are in fact, as they say, all “mad”! Haha, perhaps not completely. Of the ones I know, they’re all so fun-loving, friendly, accepting and have an incredible sense of humour which is great as they seem able to “have a laugh” at whatever happens. (Click below to read more and see some pics)…

First things first – the journey….ahhhh, what a nightmare! RyanAir might be good for cheap flights but when it comes to flexibility – don’t count on it! Tanya and I had an 8am early flight from Stansted London (which is an hour by train from central London) and so I had to leave home by 6 (in the dark), catch two buses and then the train going to the airport was late so we missed our flight and RyanAir would absolutely not allow us to check in marginally late even though we had no luggage. So we had to pay extra to get onto the next flight and then waited two hours for the check-in for that flight to open, lined up, finally optimistic that our prolonged morning had not been in vain, only to get to the counter and have them refuse me for not having the correct ID. They used to accept your Australian driver’s licence if you’re flying within the UK or EU up until just two weeks ago but now – oh nooooooo! I had my driver’s licence, UK young person’s rail card, said I would give them a stat dec, a scanned colour copy of my passport, all the details and have someone bring my passport out to show them if they would just check me in, but no. So after much protestation and huge frustration, we nearly turned around and went home but finally decided to try the two nice-looking young men on another desk (now c’mon, I know what you’re all thinking, it wasn’t like that, I wasn’t nearly in the mood for smiling and winking, and neither did I pull the tears trick, though it was close, I just flashed them some skin instead….just kidding!) Seriously, these guys were much more polite and helpful and suggested I could fly on a later flight still if I could get my passport. So we sent Tanya off on the midday flight and I had to catch the train an hour back into London, had Evonne meet me at the station with my passport and then back to the airport to wait a few more hours for my flight which eventually got to Glasgow at 6pm!! A VERY long 12 hours! But it was all worth it – Tanya had been able to do a bus tour of the city while waiting for me and after that we made sure we used all 24 hours that remained!

Davie very kindly picked us up from the station and drove us to his place where he also played host and had us stay for the weekend. I must say – I am still in shock, seeing a man iron his own shirt and cook in one day has me baffled – why do they teach that in Scotland but not in Australia? I think we should change the curriculum! One of the first things I noticed was that it was nice being able to sit in a private car again rather than catching the big red bus or a taxi cab. Second, being in a flat that doesn’t have 5 people living there, and third, the ability to park on the street or near your residence is a pretty big change from London. That evening we set off to celebrate one of Davie’s friend’s birthdays and Tanya and I found ourselves surrounded by about 15 beautifully dressed to impressed, stunning women, suddenly feeling like true backpackers again in our jeans, pair of “sensible” go-anywhere boots (without heels), rugged up with jackets and scarves while these girls looked like they were dressed for a summer’s evening in the city! We’re still not quite used to that clothes layer thing. Anyway, the whole group of friends were really lovely, so warm and welcoming and friendly towards us, again with a great sense of humour and what can I say?....the accent, ahhh….music to my ears! Though I’m sure I was frustrating people asking again what did they say and thinking it so funny every time someone said they were “a wee bit cold” or something like that. I love the standard “aye” means yes and “naw” means no. And “havin a laugh” means having a great time – which we did!

We spent the rest of the night at a club called (I think?) the Riverside which has an awesome set-up, basically takes the shape of an old warehouse room with wooden floorboards and small tables and chairs down each side with a bar at one end and all dance space in the middle and is used for whatever function is scheduled at the time. It reminded me of something from Cuba. Apparently they have highland dancing classes or something like that there in the afternoons, right before it’s transferred to a very cool club where the people were not at all pretentious, I found no attitude from staff or anyone else there.

It was great seeing some of the other boys from Brasil again too (Noelan, JP, Oliver, Rennie). It was hilarious when we realised they were completely spun-out thinking that it was just the biggest coincidence that we were in the same place, same city as them after last seeing eachother in Brasil (“Fancy seeing you at Riverside in Glasgow!!!”) until they realised we’d made prior arrangements!

On Sunday Davie cooked Tanya and I brunch (very hospitible indeed) and then drove us out to Loch Lomond which is a lake not far from Glasgow that looks freezing this time of year but is absolutely beautiful with smoke from the chimneys of nearby cottages drifting up to meet the clouds and mist settling amongst the mountains, beautiful red, brown and green mountains behind the town and the grey of the sky reflecting on the water. Once we got back to Glasgow we ended up in George’s Square which is currently set up with Christmas decorations, rides for the kids and an ice-rink which provided great entertainment. The three of us stood on the sidelines and watched so many kids scooting and skipping, slipping and sliding all over the place, falling in heaps caught amongst eachother, wriggling and writhing hanging by one arm from their father’s hand looking like they’re about to dislocate a shoulder, and bouncing hard on their butts then jumping back up and always laughing it off while we were in stitches thinking of all the bruises they might find the next day! It certainly didn’t mimic the scenes portrayed in the movies of people romantically gliding side by side, hand-in-hand to the sound of a soul singer somewhere in the distance! Rather, there was the sound of mechanical rides in the background, Mariah Carey’s Christmas album booming over the speakers, excited kids screaming and laughing, ice being chipped here and there as people fall over and banging as they run into the barriers! It wasn’t that they were all uncoordinated or anything, there were just so many people and little kids and it was really fun to watch.

And let’s just say, I was very excited about skating myself in London at one of the ice rinks they have set up around Christmas, picturing myself dropping a glove in the centre of the rink like Serendipity and waiting for Prince Charming to pick it up, only now I understand what the girls at home meant when they laughed and said forget it, that’s where they go to laugh at the people who skate there after work and make fools of themselves on the ice! Yes, it lends a lovely Christmas spirit to it! In truth, it all comes back to the ability to laugh at yourself and I think that’s one of the best lessons life can teach you.

Fortunately the trip home on Sunday night was much less eventful than the day before. It’s all so much easier when you have a passport on hand. And while it’s all well and good to travel on weekends with cheap flights to a multitude of destinations, trust me, no matter how early you think your plane leaves to return home, it leaves you feeling exhausted after the long link of trains, buses and planes to get back. I arrived home safe and sound about 11:30, completely wrecked and ready for a few hours sleep before a busy work week ahead, though also content at having had a great time away in another city, catching up with old friends and meeting some new, being able to share those experiences again with Tanya and at least at the end of it all, we were both looking at feeling wrecked at work the next day together!

Beautiful Loch Lomond

Beautiful people =) Davie, Haley and Tanya

The ice rink at St? George's Square

Posted by Haley at December 7, 2005 09:12 PM