Lazy Saturday

Well today was a pretty lazy day. Partly we were up very late last night working on the blog…then I had so much energy I read more of Clinton's book.

Then I did some research on web hosting and things we should do while we're here—Laurie did some calling around to the Embassy to see if there were any 4th festivities—no luck there. They weren't working on the weekend, can you imagine?

We have been trying to meet with the downstairs neighbors for a drink the last few days but we keep missing each other. Today was no exception. At Archie's suggestion, we did go across to meet another neighbor who has a very new baby and a cute 4-5 year old daughter. Very cute. They gave us some suggestions of places for dinner and we headed out to grab a bite. They told us it might be hard to find a place because Saturdays are the night to go out to dinner around here. They invited us to come by soon just to chat.

This was my first time driving on the right side of the road so I figured this might be interesting. Armed with my iPAQ GPS, we were set. We made it out of the very narrow street we are living on just fine and followed the GPS' directions easily to our destination. Parking was a bit hard to find, but we lucked out and found street parking in a very trendy part of downtown Glasgow. Parallel parking from the right was really fun! (Later I got to park in the road where we live which is just big enough for one car to pass in one direction!)

We found the restaurant just fine too. The food was the best we've had since we arrived. I had a steak and “fresh cut potatoes” with baked tomato. Laurie had some delicious salmon. We had a good time and toward the end we got to talking with people at the next table over. Three pretty Sottish women and a Scotsman. My guess is he was gay or just a very lucky guy.

Anyway, when Laurie went to the bathroom they asked me to take a photo and when she got back, we all started talking. They gave us some helpful travel tips about places to see and when to see them. They were really very nice. Turns out two of the women were sisters, the guy and other woman were friends. Before they left the offered us the rest of their bottle of wine, but as we had finished dessert and tea, we thanked them for the offer. I should note that the Scots we've met have been boisterous and these were no exception. They were off to go to clubs and bade us a good time with lots of Scots as kind as them.

We wandered around the pedestrian area near by after dinner and found that Glasgow is quite the party town! There were plenty of dance clubs and people just walking around enjoying the evening. We saw a street performer playing bagpipes which I thought was quite nice. They have a primal tone like a shofar, which is hard to resist.

Glasgow calls itself, Scotland with Style. The people are generally attractive, and there is indeed a lot of style around in everything from buildings to clothing. Nothing is ostentatious or overdone. Like the people, the style is fairly simple, friendly, and practical. By the way, Glasgow is filled with beautiful ironwork throughout the city. No doubt a benefit of their history in such crafts.

Around 12:30 we decided to head back so we can try to get to bed at more or less a reasonable time and not waste the day tomorrow. On the way back we saw more drunk people out having a good time. No one seemed to be particularly bothering anyone else—simply having a good time.

At one point, we saw a couple of girls dressed for clubbing. Somehow they had found a street broom and dust pan and had decided to clean the streets of Glasgow—which they promptly did right in the middle of traffic that was stopped at a red light. That was all in good fun until a bus came by and nearly hit one of them. “All in a good days fun until you get hit by a bus” I always say.

Notable driving tips:

• the lights go from red->yellow->green as well as from green->yellow->red.
• the road markers don't really differentiate lanes going in the same direction from those in the opposite direction. I haven't gained the wisdom of this yet.
• I entered my first roundabout tonight. This takes some getting used to but I can see them as useful.