My time in Scotland
At the request of The Illusioness here are some memories of Scotland.
I had visited Edinburgh in 1969 as I had joined the SO. I didn’t get to see much of the city though, as you can imagine. I remember grey…grey … and cobblestone streets. The buildings are grey, the roads are grey. And of course the skies. I wish now I had been able to really see beyond the confines.
My real experience of Scotland was when I blew Saint Hill with my new husband in 1970. He came from a small village called Garelochhead (village at the head of the Gare Loch) which is about 40 miles north of Glasgow I think. (I haven’t looked at a map in decades.)
It was a beautiful place. The village was crowded around the end of the loch, wee houses with boats out front, and surrounded by the mountains. Picture postcard beautiful, with snow showing almost all year round on their peaks. The first thing that struck me was the cold. Oh my God, it was cold to a young Aussie! I wore multiple layers and suffered badly and was told scornfully by the locals the only way to be comfortable was to aclimatise.
My mother-in-law hated me. I mean hated! Here was this young blonde Australian bimbo who had taken her adored son away from her. She always had pursed lips and she scared the shit outta me. She had been a single mother in a small Scottish village and raised him alone in the 50’s – that surely speaks to her personality! The fact that her son was a druggie (I found out after marrying him), a musician and had joined Scientology was apparently my fault as well.
Somehow we got by. I learned to shop in the tiny local grocery. We ate lots of canned goods and instant meals as I didn’t know how to cook, and she refused to other than a family meal now and then. But when she did cook it was glorious! Lots of haggis and turnips and mash, I loved it.
The only heating in the tiny hoose was a wood fire that also heated the water tank above it. So no hot water most of the day. When I washed clothes and hung them outside they tended to freeze solid. This was amazing to me and I’d go around knocking on them. It was winter btw.
I wanted to fit in, I had no intention of going back to East Grinstead, but it was almost impossible. I started having bad headaches and went to the local doctor. Within an hour my mother-in-law asked me if I was pregnant (and didn’t look pleased at the prospect). Apparently I had been seen by all the locals walking away from the surgery with a green form (diet sheet) that was usually handed out to pregnant ladies! Word spread fast in that place, the curtains twitched whenever I went out. It’s funny looking back on it now.
I loved to roam the local hills above the village. The views were so breathtaking, I can remember them still, and the smell of truly fresh air. I remember going on a picnic once, a great outdoor event on another close by loch. Terrific food, good company and a million bloody European wasps. It didn’t seem to bother anyone else..eeek, they were crawling all over the food.
Every afternoon at 4pm we had to go to my husband’s grandparent’s house for High Tea. This was very ritualised, with a precise number of cakes and tea. I liked them, they were very down to earth and only saw their grandson starting life with a new wife, unlike his mother. Then dinner was 8-9pm and that was a full meal.
There was a local Mission in Helensburgh, not too far away. I went there a few times with the intention of working towards getting back on lines, but I don’t remember much about it.
The funniest thing about my life in Scotland was that I started to mimic the accent.
“Och away wi’ya, ya daft wee hen” etc. It became so pronounced that towards the end of my time there my mother couldn’t understand me on the phone. I can still translate Billy Connolly quite well.
I finally had to leave after a year as my husband was bloody nuts and becoming voilent. So I caught a train south and went back to Saint Hill.
I remember that time with a mixture of nostalgia and awe at my own niavete. I must have been truly bizarre to the locals, like someone from another planet.
At least these days there is the net and info immediately available - and places like this board with fellow travellers.
:dance2: 
