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| An Overview of My Scottish Journey |
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last update 02/15/00 |
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Temperaments unsteady, ale always a friend, want you to think they're unhappy, struggle of the Jack v. Andrew
MYSTICAL FIELDS,REAL LIFE TRAINSPOTTING, AN ITALIAN LOVING GENEROUS SCOTTISH ELDERLY LADY, MISTS OF EDINBURGH ON CLUBNIGHT, THE OPENING OF SCOTS PARLIAMENT AND OTHER TALES OF ACCOUNT for your engagement |
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| The White Pillars of Dundee: Shouting, Banter, and Reservations about life in a city that is "always covered in a seafog." |
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Introduction |
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I can't remember a time I didn't want to go to Scotland. When I was just a young lad of twelve, my father and I boarded a train for Newcastle. Once aboard, he told me that this train went all the way to Scotland. I remember thinking about what it would be like to see this place. My grandparents on my father's side were full blooded Scots. Perhaps this is why my dad mentioned the train's destination that day. Perhaps he just wanted me to increase my grasp on geography. Nonetheless, I held onto the idea that I might someday make my way over Hadrian's Wall and into that mysterious land. |
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a need to go |
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I don't know why I became so interested in Scotland at such a young age when everything Caledonian in my life was merely a once in a year occurrence in Savannah. The annual Scottish games were a chance to do some ultimate exploring because the event was held on the grounds of a 19th Century military fort. Bagpipes creased the young summer air as I played hide-and-go-seek with new playmates. As the discus toss followed the log throw and voluntary tattoo parade, I sampled weak representations of the national fare. Odd sausage and a type of farmers' pie was washed down with good ole' Coca-cola(tm). |
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I was out to discover a land my family left and tried to forget |
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My father spoke little of Scotland. The heritage he passed on to me seemed to be a sore within him. For several years I didn't question why he seems ashamed of his heritage. Disputes and death had separated me from my Scottish relatives and no one could tell me: why feel ashamed?, and most importantly, what about Scotland?
However, as I struggled to come to terms with my identity, I dove into my past, my heritage, to understand myself, and I saw how isolated Scotland had become from my heritage and past--how much I needed to reestablish a link with a country that had eluded me since childhood. |
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| I began to confront my father and mother and ask them questions about my ancestry. Amidst long standing desires to visit, my time with Scotland was growing near. It was time to go... |
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| Emotion transcending belief, I was on my way. |
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to an island, that I was truly growing to love. And within Great Britain, in that place called Scotland, tales and tribulations abound--of which I offer my account. |
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One never quite knows what to expect when they are aware that they are passing over the site of an ancient boundary. Such is my experience at a spot where fierce tribes once schemed entry into the gentler recesses of Northumbria. These people were the restrained by the English, or so it was attempted, but the Scottish would find a way around the wall again and again, earning their place in a land with heroes. William Wallace comes immediately to mind, and like a roughneck with a cause, my Scottish heritage screams out like the GNER train that is taking me through the Borders country. |
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| Beautiful countryside holds mystery. Buried treasures lay waiting in fields and on hillsides for which time holds ownership. Edinburgh sits comfortably in a valley and it sort of approaches the visitor in more of a fashion than the visitor enters the city. The view from the train is accompained by a chat with a Dundee lad who offers that both Edinburgh and Dundee "have their sights to see, but I've never seen them." Stonework captures the eye of a young man from the Southern states where works with stone are more frequently seen in Confederate war memorials. Such an abundance of stone there is here in Scotland's capital! |
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"Golf Sale this way!" Spanish immigrants alert passersby on Princes Street of such bargains. The Union Jack flies delicately atop the National Gallery of Scotland. |
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Places of stone, faces of stone...
Striving for change, a people deadlocked between heritage and harmony.... |
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The Scottish Nationalist Party has yet to convince many Scottish elders. As she made tea, a kindly elderly woman spoke of the SNP in her kitchen. "If Scotland gains her independence, I'm moving away....to the sunny Mediterranean," she joked. My host was quite an independent soul herself, at 72, she has mastered fluency of Italian, taken single residency in a large, wonderful house just outside Edinburgh city centre, and had just returned from Italy to visit a friend and his family, of whom I had met in Calais and was now accompanying. Antonio introduced me to Doris through the youthful misadventures of a free national rail card but no hotel reservations or little cash to speak of. Needing a place to crash, the wonderful lady offered her place to me, and not even knowing my name.
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"A Different Kind of Strength," says the Scottish National Party
A bus stop advert, South Bridge, Edinburgh |
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The reaches of the Royal Hotel of Scotland backdrop a man on a horse.
North Bridge and Princes St., Edinburgh |
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A dwarf-like piper fills a nook, disapproval of the camera urges a quid in the case
Edinburgh |
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A homeless man lets everyone know that he's a football fan and that he can sing
Haymarket Square, Edinburgh |
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A neighbourhood barber shop asks "Sirs" to follow the stairs above the W. C. Watt's Electrician Company, of whose electrics are limited to bedroom lamps
Edinburgh |
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"Reform or Revolution?" Various Socialist and Nationalist groups post bills on every available wall and lamp post.
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Return Home |
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Special Thanks to the following people who contributed to my wonderful travels in Scotland:
Ms. Foreman of Edinburgh
Mrs. Crook, and her son, Colin, of St. Andrews
Mr. Bulmer of Edinburgh, student at Uni. of Edinburgh
Mr. Gulledeti of Reggio Emilia, Italy, former student of Uni. of Edinburgh
The Lothian-Borders Police Department, Edinburgh
My mom and dad, for making the trip possible |
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