OF SCOTCH, BEERS, ALES & "ENGLISH"
19:15, 12 Nov 2006 -
Landed in Edinburgh to the announcements of new security measures in European airports!! Not that it was necessary given the amount of pain and trouble all passengers were anyway going through learning it all out the hard way - no fluids, liquids or pastes in hand baggage!! A boring cab ride, followed by an equally insipid receptionist and there I was settled into my home for the next two weeks.
As I made my way down to meet the only familiar name among the list of colleagues due to attend the training course, the fun and laughter from Canada and more significantly, the Scottish of our instructor back then, echoed in my ears. Only I had no idea that the coming days would be far from nostalgic!!
To put it in very simple words, 15 nights went by in a haze of alcohol, punctuated by a weekend visit to Bath & Bristol!! I'll refrain from going into too much details of the 25 odd different types of beer/ale or the Scotch or the 6 different types of wine we tasted there; but suffice to say, at the end of the 2 weeks, there really weren't too many pubs or night clubs left in Edinburgh left to discover!! With a regular schedule of 7:30 hotel pickup, followed by classes from 8:30-17:30, back home by 19:00 and pubbing from 20:00 to 3:00, life did tend to become a little boring, only at times though!! Only that our conscience prevented us from abusing the phrase "Work hard, party harder" any worse!! :-)
For those interested in pics of the alcohol, check out my picassa album after 23rd of this month - http://picasaweb.google.com/Souvik.Adhya
Guess it would be more prudent to dwell on the unique aspects of the Scottish culture on this post!!
To start with the Scots do pride themselves on having a distinct history & culture from the British. The pride goes to an extent where they blatantly boast of speaking in a perfectly incomprehensible accent of what remotely resembles English!! Long live the Queen's English.
They are even more proud of their national dress ... why any normal man would want to dress in a checked skirt is beyond human logic but again, they are Scots!! And speaking of dresses, God help someone wearing a t-shirt praising England remotely.
They prefer living in Gothic houses and apartments a lot but if you ever decided to search for one to share with a friend, you might as well not even start. The usual single bedroom apt is meant only for couples, no friends or brothers or sisters allowed!! Not to exaggerate, an acquaintance of mine studying in Scotland had to pretend to be a lesbian couple with her sister, with common friends swearing to their heart felt love, just to get an apartment!! How much more sick can you get!!!
Last but not the least, the weirdness reaches a crescendo when they brag about the nice weather they have all year round, the weather in case being rain, rain and rain all year long!! How one can enjoy shivering in wet clothes day in and day out, again is beyond my comprehension!! But all the same good luck to anyone trying to make a true-bred Scotsman understand the concept of seasons & the summer sun!!
19:15, 28 Nov 2006 -
So with rain drenched 15 days of drunken stupor later, as I boarded my flight back to another crazy city called Amsterdam (which incidentally also houses me), the final impression of Edinburgh's rich history and culture (however weird that might be) seemed to be more attractive than the countries I had been to hitherto!! CHEERS .... hic!!
Landed in Edinburgh to the announcements of new security measures in European airports!! Not that it was necessary given the amount of pain and trouble all passengers were anyway going through learning it all out the hard way - no fluids, liquids or pastes in hand baggage!! A boring cab ride, followed by an equally insipid receptionist and there I was settled into my home for the next two weeks.
As I made my way down to meet the only familiar name among the list of colleagues due to attend the training course, the fun and laughter from Canada and more significantly, the Scottish of our instructor back then, echoed in my ears. Only I had no idea that the coming days would be far from nostalgic!!
To put it in very simple words, 15 nights went by in a haze of alcohol, punctuated by a weekend visit to Bath & Bristol!! I'll refrain from going into too much details of the 25 odd different types of beer/ale or the Scotch or the 6 different types of wine we tasted there; but suffice to say, at the end of the 2 weeks, there really weren't too many pubs or night clubs left in Edinburgh left to discover!! With a regular schedule of 7:30 hotel pickup, followed by classes from 8:30-17:30, back home by 19:00 and pubbing from 20:00 to 3:00, life did tend to become a little boring, only at times though!! Only that our conscience prevented us from abusing the phrase "Work hard, party harder" any worse!! :-)
For those interested in pics of the alcohol, check out my picassa album after 23rd of this month - http://picasaweb.google.com/Souvik.Adhya
Guess it would be more prudent to dwell on the unique aspects of the Scottish culture on this post!!
To start with the Scots do pride themselves on having a distinct history & culture from the British. The pride goes to an extent where they blatantly boast of speaking in a perfectly incomprehensible accent of what remotely resembles English!! Long live the Queen's English.
They are even more proud of their national dress ... why any normal man would want to dress in a checked skirt is beyond human logic but again, they are Scots!! And speaking of dresses, God help someone wearing a t-shirt praising England remotely.
They prefer living in Gothic houses and apartments a lot but if you ever decided to search for one to share with a friend, you might as well not even start. The usual single bedroom apt is meant only for couples, no friends or brothers or sisters allowed!! Not to exaggerate, an acquaintance of mine studying in Scotland had to pretend to be a lesbian couple with her sister, with common friends swearing to their heart felt love, just to get an apartment!! How much more sick can you get!!!
Last but not the least, the weirdness reaches a crescendo when they brag about the nice weather they have all year round, the weather in case being rain, rain and rain all year long!! How one can enjoy shivering in wet clothes day in and day out, again is beyond my comprehension!! But all the same good luck to anyone trying to make a true-bred Scotsman understand the concept of seasons & the summer sun!!
19:15, 28 Nov 2006 -
So with rain drenched 15 days of drunken stupor later, as I boarded my flight back to another crazy city called Amsterdam (which incidentally also houses me), the final impression of Edinburgh's rich history and culture (however weird that might be) seemed to be more attractive than the countries I had been to hitherto!! CHEERS .... hic!!
posted by Souvik at 5:44 PM
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