As you might expect, we have a lot in common with the Scots, but it is the differences that make life interesting and I'd like to share some of what we found. Number one would have to be, like here in Florida, not everyone you meet in Scotland is a Scot...in fact, it seemed more common, they were people that had moved to Scotland from somewhere else. Us, being the people we are, were bewildered by the many different accents. Pam was delighted, trying to guess where they were from and doing her best to imitate their accent while I backed away, trying to appear as if I had no idea who this strange person was. At the same time, most of them had fun trying to guess which part of the States we came from.
My takeaway was that it seemed everybody had traveled more than us. We'd laugh at words that were used differently, 'restroom' was an endless source of amusement until we learned to say 'toilet'. I was really hoping someone would ask me to look in the 'bonnet' so I could demonstrate to Pam how worldly I was, but that never came up, unfortunately. Petrol was pretty easy to figure out, but one scary difference was that they have color coded the gas pumps in the Petrol stations differently. Every time I stopped and somebody noticed my American accent, they pointed this out: Green is Unleaded and Black is Diesel....yes, pumping Unleaded petrol into a Diesel Campervan is a very bad thing.
Meanwhile, Pam was noticing some other differences. Girls loved fake eyelashes and lots of orange makeup. Pam thought it was the 'Kardashian' influence. There were a number of fake tanning places in Glasgow, and in truth, if you wanted a tan in Scotland that was the only way to get it. Pam was also getting into the designer coats she saw many of the women wearing. She was determined to get one, but the thought that it would be hanging unused in a closet forever kept her from making the purchase. I promised her that if we ever planned another trip to a cold climate, she could get the coat of her dreams.
We spent a lot of time before the trip, getting the ultimate apparel for the rainy cold weather, but as I had noticed by looking at the google street view before we left, most of the locals just wore tennis shoes, jeans and coats, although I did see few odd men and women of Glasgow seriously dressed for office work.
They live in really old houses. We saw very little new construction and I'm pretty sure everyone there is used to having a nice car, but no closet. The have nice fixtures in small kitchens, and often in campgrounds, the bathrooms were built into shipping containers. It was as if they have already embraced the tiny home concept. Pam tried repeatedly to ask locals about the age of their homes, but the people acted as if they didn't understand the idea that not everybody lived in 300-400 year old buildings. The other part of this was it seemed like everyone knew all about their ancestors...something we need to work on!
Of course, there are the things that follow us, no matter what country we're in. Everybody has cellphones and are glued to them, taking selfies, and hanging out at Starbucks. I swear that Glasgow had a Starbucks on every corner, and I may be actually under counting the presence of the coffee giant. Nobody has cream or half and half anywhere. No grocery store, no coffee shop, you just can't find it. On the other hand, their milk that is so thick, it kind of negates the need for cream.
Even though I was surrounded by all of these cool accents and people with fair skin and red hair, I still got "No Problem!" whenever I said thank you to a clerk. I had been hoping that we could have left some American things behind, but the internet and TV has long since solved the problem of people being extremely different. I probably had much more in common with a 64 year old sheep farmer up in the highlands than a 25 year old living in Orlando.
They live in really old houses. We saw very little new construction and I'm pretty sure everyone there is used to having a nice car, but no closet. The have nice fixtures in small kitchens, and often in campgrounds, the bathrooms were built into shipping containers. It was as if they have already embraced the tiny home concept. Pam tried repeatedly to ask locals about the age of their homes, but the people acted as if they didn't understand the idea that not everybody lived in 300-400 year old buildings. The other part of this was it seemed like everyone knew all about their ancestors...something we need to work on!
Of course, there are the things that follow us, no matter what country we're in. Everybody has cellphones and are glued to them, taking selfies, and hanging out at Starbucks. I swear that Glasgow had a Starbucks on every corner, and I may be actually under counting the presence of the coffee giant. Nobody has cream or half and half anywhere. No grocery store, no coffee shop, you just can't find it. On the other hand, their milk that is so thick, it kind of negates the need for cream.
Even though I was surrounded by all of these cool accents and people with fair skin and red hair, I still got "No Problem!" whenever I said thank you to a clerk. I had been hoping that we could have left some American things behind, but the internet and TV has long since solved the problem of people being extremely different. I probably had much more in common with a 64 year old sheep farmer up in the highlands than a 25 year old living in Orlando.
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