I started the summer by visiting my gorgeous Scottish friend at her family's house in Glasgow. My main reason for going was because this particular friend had told several outrageous stories of Glaswegian partying. She had also lamented the injustice of living in a part of town which had an astronomical suicide rate - but only because of the Erskine bridge*, which is a veritable Mecca for the potentially suicidal. People who are NOT FROM CLYDEBANK come and make it all depressing because their own towns do not have bridges that are as high as this one. She is not in charge of coming up with things to say on the Glasgow brochure, but I was an easy sell nonetheless.
*I did not remember the name of this bridge, and when I typed "Scotland bridge" into Google, the suggested search filled with stuff like, "Scotland bridge where dogs jump to their death." Of course I could not let this phenomenon go unresearched, so we will here enter our first of probably many tangents. Apparently over 50 dogs have inexplicably jumped to their deaths as their owners went on walks and traversed the Overtoun bridge. Even the
Daily Mail has covered the story. There also seems to be a youtube video produced, acted in and voiced-over by one "dog specialist" with subtle self-aggrandizing comments like, "Dr. David Sands is the only one in the region with the expertise to diagnose the problem," and then it shows him completing experiments with captions like, "Dr. David Sands: Only One Who Knows What's Going On." His blatant dementia is apparent in the introduction to
his video, which I recommend not be watched before you go to bed. Skip to :23 to go straight to the "science".
AAAAAAANyway, I saw no suicides, canine or human, during my trip, and I was pretty happy about that. I did see lots of beautiful things, heard lots of barely understandable and inexplicably attractive Scottish accents, and drank lots of Scottish drinks.
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| Drinks with Luisaidh and her mates. |
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| A small boat just hanging out by L's house. |
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| Options. |
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| View from L's house. |
I was also treated to a hearty chuckle as I left Glasgow. If you are also from Dallas, where we routinely stay in triple digit temperatures for weeks at a time in the summer, you will understand the adorable hilarity:
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| Front page news: Prepare for the sizzler! |
I had an absolutely fantastic time in Glasgow, of course thanks to Luisaidh and her family. It was especially needed since I had just finished my teaching job in Tours and was already missing my fellow lectrices. However, I couldn't stay long because I had to move out of my French apartment and then immediately go on an African safari, which will be described in the next post.
***EPILOGUE***
Alert reader Luisaidh, from the Scotland fan base, has brought to my attention a very important piece of evidence in Scotland's defense.
