Morven & I have just sat down on the bus from Aberdeen to Glasgow.
We arrived safely in Aberdeen, and were picked up by Richard. He took us on a scenic drive along the coast to Peterhead, where we stayed for two nights with his lovely family, who looked after us very well. Monica is an outstanding chef, and I very much enjoyed her Scottish breakfasts and the Monk fish curry. I am a new fan of Scottish breakfasts, and am looking forward to my next haggis (of the vegetarian variety). I hope I can find Vegetarian haggis in Adelaide!
We had lots of fun playing with their sons Ross, (almost 2 years) and Gregor (nearly 5 years). I read the Gingerbread Man story to Gregor. Ross doesn’t speak much yet, so he calls lots of things “dodo”. They are sooo cute we wanted to keep them!
Richard took me to see the local division 2 Peterhead soccer match against Queen’s Park, who happens to be the oldest soccer club in the world. It was a great match to spectate, but at the end I got really cold, so that night I had to go to bed early as I started to become really sick.
I also had a go on Richards big Honda sport bike. It’s a lot heavier than I’m used to so I only went close by around the local streets. Makes we want to go to a bigger bike, even if it does make it harder to slip through the traffic.
I also met Richards younger brothers Chris and Mark, Monica’s father, and Richards parents. The North-Eastern Scottish accent is so strong that I actually thought that Richards mother sounded more like she was speaking Arabic than English. If we both try really hard we can communicate, but it’s easier for Morven to translate for me! It is so true that Scottish really do have different dialects. I also met Morv’s Aunty Verena.
Morv’s Aunty Sheila took us for a long scenic drive to MacDuff, and showed us the “slum” where she lives. We went to see a massive Scottish Castle which Queen Mary once stayed in. I couldn’t believe the history between Queen Mary (of Scotland) and Queen Elizabeth (of England). From what I understand they were both latively devious, but I’m surprised that Queen Elizabeth actually beheaded Mary after imprisoning her for 19 years – bitch! I’ll have to read more about this later. Aunty Sheila then took us for afternoon tea at a really nice place where we enjoyed the most amazing hot chocolate and chocolate cake that’s ever existed.
That night we then stayed at Mark’s house in Aberdeen, as we planned a day ski trip in the Scottish Highlands. We got up there to find there wasn’t exactly a huge amount of snow, so we decided to go for a walk around to suss out whether it was worth it or not. So we caught a chair-lift up, and walked around and down. I was getting a run-up and sliding on my slippery shoes on the icy snow for several metres at a time, good fun! Morv stacked it in the mud and got mud all over her bum and leg, and when we got to the bottom she realised she didn’t have her camera, so we had a short (and successful) adventure to retrieve it!
Eventually we all got on the snow boards, and being all beginners we stuck to the baby slope. Mark switched to skis pretty quickly as he’s a good skier and wanted to try the bigger runs. Morven had a few short runs of about 10m on her snowboard, and was doing really well until stackIng it rather awkwardly on the cable pulley lift thingy, which you’re meant to put around your arse to get pushed up the hill but Morven’s just knocked her right over. I was secretly cracking up laughing as she lay on the ground, because I knew it was just her pride that got hurt. She then also switched to skiis, and managed to survive the rest of the day without stacking it thanks to me carrying her skis up for her instead of using the lift thingy, and helping her rember how to ski. So far in her skiing career, she has never stacked it when skiing on real snow! I got a few more snowboard runs in, and by the end of the day, managed to board the entire baby run without stacking! Quite happy with that for my first boarding experience.
On the way home we stopped at the Forbes Arms Hotel for a High Tea dinner, indulging in a delicious Lemon Sole. Mark introduced me to blackcurrant and lemonade, a good thirst quencher. We were all very tired so went back to Mark’s place to crash, and the next morning here Morven and I are, on the bus to Glasgow.