Had my first full day in Scotland today. Most of the time I spent in a conference room with a partner talking about potential synergies, overlapping capabilities, long term roadmaps, memorandum of understanding, and potential integrations. Yesterday, I had a little time after arriving, so I took the train to Edinburgh. The first thing I learned is the proper pronunciation which is more like aednbrough. A charming and quaint city, it's loaded with history and character. I didn't have a l0t of time and frankly was battling jet lag the whole day. Going there was a good idea because it kept me awake... mostly. I took one of the tourist busses. It was very nice weather, partly cloudy with occasional sun peaks. A nice cool breeze. Just my kind of day really. They were playing soft scottish traditional songs over the speakers in between tour guide comments. With the weather so nice and the cool wind and the soft music I just nodded off only to wake up to some 13 year old (by the looks of him) screaming "Hey wake up man!" while glowing with pride and a huge, ingratiating smile and taking particularly distinct pleasure in flipping me the bird. The bus he was on drove away and I nodded back to sleep wondering in which future episode of "Cops in Edinburgh" I'd be seeing him.
The train back and forth between Glasgow and Edinburgh is quite short, even with a few stops in between. Once again I nodded off and woke up to hear that we were at Glasgow station. I jumped up, half conscious, thinking I was going to miss the stop, only to see that we were at one of the intermediate stops. Turns out, Glasgow was the terminating stop and I didn't have that much to worry about anyways.
Scottish people in general seem friendly, helpful and jovial. There always seems to be a joke, unusual euphemism or sarcastic remark at the tip of their tongues. Just my kind of people. They also seem unusually homogenetic when it comes to their passions.
Soccer (football), rugby, alcoholic beverages, humor and Ivn Bru. My business associates today introduced me to Ivn Bru which rhymes with livin brewooo when spoken with the Scottish brough. Only later did I find out that Ivn Bru is now prohibited from import into the US. "Probably because of the orange color additives." Apparently it's also loaded with tons of caffeine. So, not only will I not be able to sleep tonight, but I have the beginnings of liver cancer to boot.
At dinner tonight, I ordered a hamburger. It was good, but they don't put anything on it. Just a bun and the hamburger. So, I asked for ketchup, mustard and pickles. The waiter came back with ketchup and mustard. But, they don't have any pickles. My hosts told me I probably wouldn't want pickles anyway given it means something different here. Pickled onions or pickled beets. Anyway, slathered on the ketchup and mustard and took a big bite. Suddenly my nasal passages were on fire. I wished someone had warned me about the mustard here! That little sniffle I had is no more! I’m sure when they saw me put on the mustard they were repressing a giggle and thinking “Let’s watch the yank internally combust!”
Glasgow weather reminds me a lot of Seattle or San Francisco weather. When it rains, it's so light that you can walk around in it and not really get wet. The fog is cool and chilling. Just my kind of weather. They keep apologizing for the weather here, saying it's dreadful or terrible. I just smile and say, "Just like home. I love it!"
As I was waiting to get on the flight from Amsterdam to Glasgow, I sat across from a young woman who seemed troubled. She was a bit teary eyed and writing a letter, paper or speech or something. Being bored and just who I am, I always try to guess who the person is, what her background could be, what she does for a living, where's she going etc. She was particularly compelling because she seemed so aloof and emotional. After a while, I glimsed her paper. It read "We are gathered here today to remember gran." Hmmmm. She's about to deliver the eulogy for her grandmother in Glasgow.
I asked her out of the blue "So, when do you deliver it?" It's always a risk asking such questions of people who have no idea who you are. But sometimes, and I felt some sense of empathy for her, it turns out well. She looked at me, smiled and said "Today, at 12:00" The flight was delayed, so not only was she sad about the loss of her grandmother, but she was stressed because the flight was delayed 15 minutes. It was an hour and 15 minute flight leaving at 10:15.
I asked her "Were you close to her?"
She smiled again and said with sad eyes "Yes"
I said "I'm sorry for your loss."
She said "Thank you." and smiled again.
As we were leaving I said "I hope things go well for you."
She said "Thank you and I hope you have a good flight."
I said "I'm Kirk, what is your name?"
"Sophie"
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