Monday, April 15th

Monday

I'm on the train to Montrose to start my few days of research.  Unfortunately, the Inverbervie Library  only opens for two hours each day but I'll just have to do my best.  Today it is open from 6pm until 8, which is a real nuisance as I will then have to get a bus back to Montrose.

Yesterday, we went back to Glasgow to see the Burrell Collection. There were some beautiful pierces but the collection was very eclectic and I skipped over a lot.  Jean asked her deceased husband's brother to drive us and it was good to have someone else to talk to.

So far, the trip has been fantastic.  I'm amused by some things: the Glasgow accent is very droll and I love listening to it.  Scots have a dry and black sense of humour which Billy Connolly explains in this joke: a policeman knocked on the door to tell a woman that her husband had been killed in an accident. "Are you the widow MacDonald?" He asks. "My name's MacDonald, " she says, "but I'm not a widow." "Oh, aye, I've got news for you," says the policeman.

Getting on the tour bus in London, the tour guide asked me where I came from."Australia? You speak English very well." Duh!

Scotland has some very old cities with beautiful sandstone buildings.  A lot of them are in a greyish stone which doesn't weather well.  Many of the shops in these old buildings are dingy and I suppose the National Trust stops shopkeepers from trying to bring them up to date.  We're travelling through Perth at the moment and it's a good example - magnificent architecture but shabby facades.  When plumbing was added to these buildings in Victorian times, cast iron pipes were attached to the outside. Many of these are now rusting through and it's not a good look.

Out of the window I can see a collection of allotments, all with their little wooden sheds and maybe a glasshouse.  Brits love their gardens and there as many pages on gardening in their weekend papers as there are on football. Jean and I went to a Garden Centre on Saturday afternoon for a coffee.  It was enormous, much bigger than anything I have seen in Australia and they sold everything from furniture to jewellery, as well as spades and compost.

The weather had been cold with a bit of rain but the sun is shining today and it's predicted we'll have double figures - that means 11 degrees Celsius.  Oh, joy!

I've arrived in Montrose and headed for the Information Centre to get a map to help me find my way around. But, of course, it's closed on Mondays.  No matter, I'll ask if I get lost. I stumble across Chapel Street which is where my B & B is, but it's closed too.  I ring the doorbell but there's no answer.  I had been warned that Scottish landladies are not always hospitable. No doubt there's an accepted time for checking-in and I'm probably a couple of hours early.  All I wanted was to drop off my bag so I could check out the sights.

There's nothing for it but to get back on the train to Aberdeen, have some lunch there and get back at a more acceptable time. The research will have to wait until tomorrow.