Mill-ing About
Saturday 16 September
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After a quiet morning at East Lochhead, it was time to say goodbye and move on to the next Club. We were met at a nearby hotel by members of the Strathendrick Rotary.
Bill and I were taken by a Rotarian named Bill to the house he shares with Anne in Deanston - which is pretty far out in the country. Some great scenery and castles seemingly everywhere. (Which brings to mind the phrase I keep hearing: “you’ve seen one castle, you’ve seen them all”.)
After settling in we went on a quest to get me a sweater. At a wool mill in a nearby town we had out first encounter with a Highland Bull - this one was the mascot of the mill and rather large. Highland cattle have heavy fur that makes them look almost like sheepdogs, or a man wearing a very bad hairpiece, and Hamish was no exception. Bill snapped some pictures, but I had left my camera in the car. Sorry.
Bill loaded up on clothes at Hamish’s shop, and I got a couple sweaters at the next mill down the road.
Then it was off to the William Wallace Monument - a large stone tower on top of a hill right next to Stirling University. You have to walk up the hill, and then walk up into the tower on a narrow stair with barely room to pass anyone. The story of Wallace is laid out on written displays, an interesting re-enactment via a movie talking to a dummy that had an actor’s face projected onto it (you may need to read that twice to sort it out), and a guided audio tour on a telephone you could carry around. Fascinating stuff, and the view from the top was spectacular. The spot of the monument was chosen because this was where Wallace watched the English army marching toward the Stirling Bridge and devised his strategy for defeating them.
A quick side note about “Braveheart”: on one hand the movie is not loved by some Scots because it was shot in Ireland and has a non-Scot in the lead and takes some dramatic liberties. One the other hand it stays pretty true to the story and tourism to the Monument (and Scotland) has increased dramatically since it came out.
There was a “Room of Heroes” in the monument celebrating various important Scots from history, one of which is George Buchanan. He taught Mary Queen of Scots and her son, who became king. What we found most interesting was that the presentation made a point of the following: you were not allowed to lay a finger on royalty, so Buchanan would offer to tutor the peasant children in return for being able to beat them when he was frustrated with the Prince.
Anyway, it turns out this is his 500th birthday and a big celebration has been going on all week. We went to a Ceili last night as part of the celebration.
A Ceili is a party with dancing (there was also poetry and singing - I’m not sure if that’s a standard part of it or not). It was mostly Scottish “line dancing” with a couple waltzes thrown in. It was a great time! The dances were easy once you figured out the patterns and everyone was having fun. I kind of taught Adrienne and Melissa how to waltz, though it was more of a “Jason Waltz” than a “Real Waltz”. There was a copious amount of alcohol, so for the second night in a row I was a little wobbly-legged. Though the dancing helped clear the head, and today I feel fine.
Our host Bill allowed (made?) Bill wear his kilt to the Ceili. He was a dashing figure, and there is lots of footage of him getting dressed and dancing and drinking. The camera was on quite a bit during the Ceili, but I was dancing and not running it, so I can only imagine what I will see when I watch the tape.
Scottish language note of the day: “Water” n.: something that disappears when your host is offering you a drink. As in:
Host: “Jason, what’ll you drink?”
Jason (thinking about the beer and whisky he just drank, and knowing there will be more at the Ceili shortly): “I’ll have some water”
Host: “We don’t have water, what’ll you drink?”
Jason: “Gin and Tonic.”
Scottish driving tip for the day: someone needs to widen the roads a bit.