The Rantings of A Madman

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Camille Singing on the Way Home from Holiday

Standing Atop Isle of Easdale

Bend it Like Camille

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I was beginning to doubt it’s very existence. But lo and behold it returned this weekend after a long hiatus. The sun is returning to Scotland. The long, dark, cold winter is wilting away by the day. Tomorrow will be 4 minutes and 31 seconds longer than yesterday. When I last wrote, the sun was rising shortly before 9:00 and setting slightly after three. Now each day is noticeably longer than the last and come solstice there will be approximately twenty hours of light per day! This weekend was ideal for the sun’s full-blown reemergence. It was set against a bright blue cloudless sky, something we haven’t seen since well, I can’t remember. This past weekend we enjoyed a four-day holiday weekend on the west coast of Scotland. I’ll tell you more about that later, but first I’ll share what we have been up to since our adventures in France.

The weekend after the Oregon crew left, the family spent some time recreating in the hills. It was good to be healthy again and get some fresh air. The week following that adventure Camille had her doctor appointment to have her hernia looked at by a specialist. Little did we know that would result in surgery the following day! Everything went well and recovery was smooth. Within a couple of days she was her old self again. I can’t say enough good things about “socialized medicine.” Since being here the family has had a total of three surgeries and nine doctor appointments. We have always been seen quickly and the staff has been great. I challenge you to take a guess at the cost to three non-tax paying foreign citizens? Nothing! The even funnier bit is that you don’t read editorials in the paper about how the non-citizens are destroying their country by driving it to bankruptcy. They have a novel approach here in the UK. They believe everyone should have health care and that you should offer services to society’s most vulnerable citizens. What a novel idea! When I explained to people here about what they could expect to happen to them in our country under the same circumstances, they were appalled and couldn’t believe what they were hearing. The concept of anyone not being able to receive the medical services they need at no cost to that person made no sense to them.

Something does make sense to them though. It appears no matter who I talk to they all agree on one thing. George Bush is an idiot and they can’t wait for him to be gone. Funny, they seem as excited as I do about the prospect. I did my best ignoring the American media for a while, but since primary season has started our elections are making the news over here and I have found myself sucked in again. The excitement that Obama is creating is wonderful to see and hear about. I only hope that his momentum carries him on to the nomination. His energy, enthusiasm, and common sense are so much what our country needs to recover from the devastation of this presidency. I can’t count the times I have been asked by someone, “but will Americans elect a black man?” and every time I smile as I steal Chris Rock’s line, “we elected a retard, didn’t we?”

That said, after the surgery we had a nice weekend with Jen, the other exchange teacher from Oregon. We spent the weekend hitting up museums and walking around Glasgow. The following weekend our friend Kevin and his wife Kamille flew over from Dublin. We went to college with Kevin. He moved to Dublin five years ago and has been here since. We had a great time. We hired a babysitter and had a wonderful evening bar hopping around the west end and enjoyed a nice curry dinner. The next night we made a great dinner at home and laughed at old and new stories.

This past weekend was great. As I mentioned earlier, I had a four day holiday weekend. We rented a cottage in the Argyll region of Scotland on the west coast. It was a great little cottage with views overlooking a wide valley that led down to the ocean. We headed out early Saturday morning on a beautiful drive along Loch Lomond and Loch Awe. Along the way we stopped and did a short walk along the beach and then took a hike on a ridge overlooking the ocean. After getting our exercise we headed to our rented accommodations. There we met the Stuart, Wendy, Lisa, Jerry and all their kids. After settling in we headed down to the water once more. Stuart was happy to show us around the place. He chose the location based on having gone there quite a bit in his youth. He was disappointed to see that the caravan he once rented was no longer tucked up on the hill, but his sadness was overcome when the electrical pole he tried to chop down in his youth was still there as were the ax marks to prove it. After a tour of the area we headed to “the barn”. The barn was the local pub that was accessed from our cottage by walking across a couple of hills, through a large sheep pasture and finally up a dirt road. It was a quintessential Scottish pub in a surreal setting. I loved this “wee pub” and regret I can’t spend a night there drinking pints with the boys from back home.

Sunday morning we headed out early to catch the ferry to the Isle of Mull. This Isle is considered one of the Inner Hebrides. The ferry ride was stunning. Views of small islands, lighthouses, castles and wildlife were a treat. Upon arriving on the island we strolled through the quaint village of Tobermory. It was a nice little village. After lunch, we headed across the Island to Calgary to make sandcastles at the beach. The white sand beach was beautiful. The only ingredient missing was hot, humid weather. People forced from this town during the Highland clearances settled Calgary, Canada. Afterwards we headed back to the cottage for a delicious curry prepared by Stuart.

Monday we woke up to a glorious blue sky and were determined to spend every minute of it outdoors. We all went for a nice hike in the early morning sunshine. Following that we went to the beach and played in the sand for hours. Utterly exhausted we were forced to return to the barn that evening to rest and enjoy a good meal.

Never expecting to see another day of sunny weather, we awoke Tuesday pleasantly surprised to see that the sun was still shining. We set out on our journey home with plans to take “the long way home” stopping wherever we fancied a bit of sunshine. The ride home was the highlight of the whole weekend. First we stopped at the Isle of Seil. This Isle is accessible by the only bridge to span the Atlantic Ocean (see pictures). This isle was amazing as was the scenery. In its heyday it was the largest producer of slate in the UK. That would mean more if you saw the number of slate roofs over here. From a small village at the end of the isle we decided to take the ferry over to the Isle of Easdale. To get the ferry you enter the hut and press a button that sounds a horn and turns on a light. Following that a old-weathered man emerges from his house and heads over in his very small boat, picks you up and takes you on the three minute journey to the Isle. Once on the Isle you can do the fifteen-minute loop trail that goes around the whole Isle and takes you to the summit of the Isle’s highest peak at a whopping 112 feet. I’ve attached a video of my 360-degree panoramic video from the top. Unfortunately, it doesn’t even begin to tell the story of just how special a place it was. I imagine life on this little Isle would be quite spectacular and challenging at the same time. You’d have to get along with your neighbor, that’s for sure!

After catching our ferry back, crossing the Atlantic Ocean and getting on the road again we headed to the town of Crinan for lunch. This small town is located on the Sound of Jura and looks at the Isle of Jura from its shore. This town is the beginning of a canal that allows boats to take a shortcut over to Loch Fyne. We had a nice lunch and then walked a bit of trail along the canal.

Following this we started home and stopped for lots of pictures along the way. It really was the clearest day we have had since we have been here and, as we got closer to home and were driving on roads we had driven before we were amazed by the breathtaking scenery that we had never seen. It seemed every new vista we took in was more impressive than the last.

All in all, another great month in Scotland and we have more to look forward to in the coming month. We have two separate trips planned to Ireland. We fly to Belfast for five days in early March and later in the month will spend four days with Kevin and Kamille in Dublin.

Go Obama!

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Photos

The Bay
The road from the cottage led to this bay on the waterfront.

Comments

[Hank]

Camille is a futball star!
What great pictures and videos! I wish I could have sat on a stool at the barn with you and stuart and jerry! Have the celtics and rangers played yet? missing y'all, hf

[Gino G.]

The Sun
The best thing about the sun returning to Scotland is that its closer to the return of the Broadbents. what a wonderful trip it must have been. The Gianfortis