The Scottish Story Continues

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Shock of shocks!! Today it rained in Scotland and in the words of the locals "it's chucking down". I suppose I should have spotted the obvious. The green landscape needs two things, sunshine, and we've had plenty of that. The second ingedient is water, and to get this green, lots of it! Well we got that today. A wall of water comes to mind. Pissing down is a little cruder, but apt. With it came a definite temperature plunge. The first time on tour, the jumpers came out. Bloody great. I was a little concerned that I'd carried this garment all around the world and it wasn't going to see the light of day.

Anyway back to our travels. We dropped Jaimee at the Dundee railway station on Saturday for her trip back to Newcastle. She is hoping to get two or three days at RAF Lucas, which is quite near Dundee. RAF Lucas is home to the A3 Tornado fighter/bombers. If that is the case then she will try to get more time with her Scottish family. We hope she is able to do that, as it is so important to make those family connections.

That afternoon Wilma and Pam took Bird and I to see the Glamis Castle, birthplace of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. A beautiful castle set in a huge estate. The castle can also be used by the public for such things as weddings etc (I suppose it helps pay the bills, doesn't it? The was also a craft fair being held in the grounds, so we took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping.

On Sunday we planned to go and see Sheila (Bird's cousin) in Perth. We had tried to see her at work on the way back from RAF Boulmer, but she'd had something fall on her foot and went home We spent a very pleasant day with Sheila and Donald (her husband) and we fortunate to meet Sheila's sister Fiona, who was up from Berrick Upon Tweed (great place names - just about as good as Whakarewarewa and Maungatoroto etc). Donald offered and Bob accepted his hospitality to have a beer. Half a dozen stubbies (each) later Bob handed over the car keys to Pam. A great afternoon spent with great people. Sheila and Donald are coming out to Oz in January and are hoping to come down to Victoria to catch up with family. So I've made the offer to Donald to meet my beer fridge whilst they stay.

Today, Monday, 31/7/06, we went back to Perth to visit the site of where James "Jock" Leighton (Birds dad) grew up and also visit the cemetary to see the grave of John Leighton, Bird's grandfather. Wilma came with us and we'd also arranged to pick up Linda (Bonethron), who would be able to show us exactly where the Leighton house stood. Whilst the house is no longer standing and it is now a commercial area, Linda was able to point out and tell us various features etc. She also showed us where John Leighton is buried in the Perth Cemetary. After that pilgimage we went back to Linda's house for lunch - Murray's pies and baked beans. A local delicacy I'm told and I loved it.

We then went to visit David Bonethron (Linda's brother) and he was able to talk about John Leighton and show us photos. From David's house we went to Pitlochary (we went there last week) to revisit the Heather Gem shop. Don't want to say too much about that as people will get ideas that we are buying things for them!! That is when it started pissing down. On our way back to Dundee.

So that brings us up to date. We'll probably do one more blog from Scotland before heading home. We do have 3 days in Singapore on the way home, so you will get more from there.

For the Revheads or just those interested in cars. Now I've said that people drive like maniacs over here. Most of the cars you see on the roads are small 1.3 to 2 litre cars and people push them like the clappers. On the freeways or "dual carriageways" whilst the speed limit is 110kph, they fly past us at around 130kph. I can't get over it. As I described it to the people at RAF Boulmer, it is more like low flying and driving. Anyway one bloke described his mate's car as "huge" - a 3 litre BMW convertable (nice). When I told this bloke that I drove a 3.8litre V6 Commodore, he just about fell off his seat and then when I told him that the Commodore was the most popular family car in Australia, he was astounded. Anyway so much for "yeah but ours is bigger", that's the stuff that the Yanks are into, so I'll finish off this for now.

Kia ora.

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