6/1/2002 Glasgow, Scotland (Phill)
Okay, let me fill in the last week. I can't believe you guys are still paying attention, but the daily hits are still high.
After taking our day off last Sunday, we followed it on Monday with a trip to Edinburgh. Edinburgh, of course, is the tourist capital (and I suppose reluctantly the real capital) of Scotland. Although Glasgow's definately the center of culture, Edinburgh is a truely beutiful city. Towering over the entire place is the massive Edinburgh Castle. This was our first stop, so Fieke, Colin and myself all slogged up the massive hill to the gates. I didn't manage to talk them out of going in, since I was pissed off that the Adult and Student prices were the same (about $14 each). My cheapness didn't stop them!
As we walked in we walked past the two subtle statues of Scottish hero's. This is actually the exact place that Randall Wallace (writer of Braveheart the Movie) got his inspiration. Basically, as he walked in he asked the guide who this William Wallace (he claims its his ancestor) was and the guide explained the story of braveheart. Although I suspect the version Randall heard didn't contain the rather Holywood aspects that he later inserted. I mean, first of all the movie makes braveheart out to be rather nicer than he was. battles back then didn't exactly have the niceties presented in the movie and one of the big reasons Wallace was so successful was that he was a bastard (apoligies). It was a technique that worked, but probably didn't get him to hook up with the princess like in the movie. Well, we hope it didn't since the princess was around 6 years old!
Anyway, we toured the castle and then wandered through The Royal Mile, Colin and I checking out tatoo shops. Then off to some pubs before the weather started to turn and we all got lazy. So we went and saw the new James Bond film. C'mon, we saw the castle, that was enough! ;)
We had to run all the way back to catch our train which almost killed Fieke and Colin, they were pretty much passed out on the train!
We got back to Glasgow in time to meet one of my mates Robert for drinks.
Before I get to the next wee story, I should mention that Fieke is a very touchy, flirty person. Colin had of course been recieving the brunt of this for days and at some point Fieke and I had decided to play a joke on him. So there we are sitting at The Underground bar in Glasgow with Colin and Rob and we were about to put our plan into action. Rob had just met Fieke but had already began to feel uncomfortable as we elevated our pretend argument. It was a just a comment here and there, if I looked at another girl she'd say something and if she brushed against Rob or Colin I'd make a remark. Anyway, it was definately getting tense as Colin and Rob squirmed. I threw a bit of a fit and broke off to the bathroom as Fieke continued to flirt. After a couple of minutes Fieke joined me and we discussed the next plan. Meanwhile, Colin and Rob were apparently having a really awkward discussion trying to figure out if I was just joking with them (they're used to my sick sense of humour). Both these guys are particularly nice, really friendly, and still getting used to Fieke so it was pretty tense I imagine. So I come storming back to announce that Fieke has told me that she preferred Colin over me and I accused Colin of stabbing me in back. Before Col can deny it, Fieke's back and immediately kissed him on the cheek. It was terrible, poor wee Colin I don't think knew what to do. At the bathroom Fieke and I had written on a piece of paper that we were just joking and we owed him a lot of beer. The plan was for her to say she was going to leave and go find a hotel, as she left she'd drop the piece of paper with 'her number' on it for Col. Except when this happened Colin decided that the best thing for him to do was go to the bathroom! So he didn't get to learn it was a joke. So off Colin goes. It's not till he comes back that we tell him and apoligize, buy him some beer and he starts plotting his revenge. I'm expecting something big like waking up with no eyebrows!
Anyway, the following day we took it easy again. Do you think i'm just getting old? Incidently, my brother seems to think I have a receding hairline. No way! The other thing I wanted to do was take Fieke to a Whisky distillery, the one I wanted to go to was on an island called Arran. Unfortunatly, we woke up a bit late for that one, but I did manage to track down the Glen Goyne distillery which was actually only about an hour away. The tour was pretty good, we ended up drinking a few glasses of Whisky. Afterwards we had a long wait for a bus (I HATE not having a car) and headed all the way into Glasgow for dinner.
It's such a shame that Fieke was only here for a short time and that I wasted quite a bit of that on hangovers! There's so much to see in Scotland, but I suppose we did the bare minimum. Although I think Fieke and I were a bit relieved to be departing each other. Not that I've had anything but a brilliant time, but we had seen each other (and relied on the other) for almost 3 weeks. So there was definately ups and downs toward the end. We've promised not to talk until Saturday although I've already failed at that!
Today I actually managed to get an appointment to see a doctor and get my knee looked at. At this point Canada snowboarding seems off. Although I really want to go, I should probably figure out an alternative asap!
Posted by Admin at December 6, 2002 04:31 AM