Christmas in Scotland
Myself and Astrid have been in Scotland for a few days. This was of course mainly to spend Christmas with my family, but also of course so that I could see some friends in Glasgow.
I’m not a big fan of Christmas, but this one was actually quite stress-free and enjoyable. Perhaps because I see all my relatives so rarely these days, I really liked spending time with them and of course enjoying my mum’s cooking. It was also an interesting introduction for Astrid to British Christmas traditions, such as crackers, plum pudding, and the like. We spent Sinterklaas with her folks a few weeks ago, so now the cultural exchange is complete.
On Saturday night we met up with Danny and then Chris in Glasgow, a slightly chaotic affair with far too much beer and whisky being consumed (on my part at least), to be sure. Still, always nice to experience old ways for short periods.
There was a third purpose for our visit. We need to buy a whole lot of stuff for our cycling trip next year, and recent changes in currency values mean that it is much cheaper to buy things in the UK as compared with the Eurozone. So it was then that we have been round various outdoor and bicycle shops in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and have come home with quite a lot of booty (and much lighter wallets in the process, unfortunately). Highlights include waterproof panniers, a stove that will burn petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, in fact almost anything, a high-tech water purification system, Gore-Tex shoes, socks that you can wear for a month before they smell, and other such innovations. Perhaps most important of all, I have some special cycling underwear. Sexy it is not (it looks like you’re wearing an enormous rubber sanitary towel) but pretty much essential if my arse is not going to look like one of those pink baboons after 10000km.
