Week 3 in Scotland

We returned to Moffat last Thursday, the day of the Referendum.  Maybe a little historical perspective from a non-Scottish person might be helpful here.

When I met Gordon way back in 1985 and began to get to know him, Scottish politics became a part of our discussions.  I knew nothing of the politics in Scotland.  I knew Scotland was a part of the U.K. but kinda thought of Scotland as separate.  Turns out I was right. 

So, there's a Labor Party, a Conservative party (currently in power under Cameron) and the Scottish National Party.  When people in the U.K. vote they vote for their party....not for the person.  After the party is elected they bring forward their leader.  Not that no one knows about the "head" of the party just sort of takes the pressure off the leader of the party to get the party elected instead of her/him.  Did that make sense?  I don't know.

Anyway, it's the Scottish National Party that brought forward the Referendum to secede Scotland from Britain.  Gordon, since I met him, has always been a supporter of the Scottish National Party.  I've endured years of "we're Scottish not British" - "300 years of rape and pillage by the English", etc., etc.  So now is the big chance for Scotland to once and for all take matters into their own hands.  Ahhhhh, if only Gordon could vote.  As I've said before, only currently residing citizens could vote in this Referendum which is very weird to me being a U.S. citizen and able to vote in ANY election or referendum based on the fact that I'm a citizen of the U.S.  Britain recognizes a British subject whether they have a U.S. Passport or not, but for matters surrounding the Referendum, you had to live in Scotland.  Do I think the vote would have turned out differently had Ex-Pat's been allowed to vote?  YES!  They didn't leave their country because they were happy did they?

So long story short, when Gordon arrived he was a YES voter but his and my thoughts on the matter gradually began to shift as we spoke to people here in Moffat and as we traveled in Ireland and Wales and England and listened to the news and heard the YES campaign people being interviewed.  The problem for us was, there were NO facts.  None.  And when YES campaigners were repeatedly asked questions like, "what happens to the pound and banking if we secede from the U.K." no one, not one had an answer.  They were pretty good at dodging answers though!  The Royal Bank of Scotland, really the only bank in Scotland, said they would move to London.  What would the currency be?  No one would say.  AND, it's not guaranteed that Scotland would get into the European Union.  You have to apply to the EU and it could take 10 years to get in.  Anyway, there were WAY too many unanswered questions to make an informed decision.  Passion is one thing, reality another.  As Gordon said, he's "got skin in the game" here in Scotland with two properties and who knows what would have happened to property prices. Now we're talking about our own pocketbook!

As we know, the Referendum went to the NO voters. I'll just add here what a frustrating experience it was to be interested in the vote and get absolute NO NEWS ALL DAY.  All you people in the U.S. know that polls open at what, 7, and from then until the polls close you get results updated continually throughout the day with news crews out at polling stations and reporters speculating on which way the vote will go ALL BLOODY DAY LONG!!!!  Here, there's nothing.  NO THING.  Not until morning after all the votes are counted, by hand!  There's no electronic voting here.  The Islands in the West of Scotland have to have their votes picked up by boat and brought to the mainland to be counted by hand after 10:00 pm.  So all night long I was getting up and turning the TV on to see what was going on and it wasn't until 6:00 am on Friday until we officially knew which way the vote was going.  What a waste of a good nights sleep.  If I had only known.

Here in Moffat there were no repercussions that we were aware of but in Glasgow that carried a YES vote, there were riots.  In fact, Gordon went down to watch local Rugby on Saturday and the game was called off because the local boys were playing the police whose team was decimated because of the Glasgow riots.  Game called off!

Well enough about that.  Gordon and I were exhausted upon our return from Ireland/Wales/England and spent Friday and Saturday doing laundry, shopping, in home cooked meals and recuperating from our 1,400 mile drive.  We took a walk up to the Moffat Well along the sheep fields and spied a funny cow who spent a good deal of time cleaning her mouth and nose.  She cracked me up!

 It was another beautiful and warm day.

This is a view of Gallow Hill from below.  We walk this hill every year only this year ALL the trees in the forest at the top have been chopped down leaving this very sad sight.  Boohoo

The fabulous petunias and begonias that I photograph every year.

Glorious!

On Monday Gordon and I researched a local castle that we've never seen and decided to take a short drive to go see Drumlanrig Castle owned by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch.  

The approach to the castle.....

 Turns out the castle was closed for the season even though their website said they were open as well as the sign out front.  We were none too happy.  However, it was a nice drive and the grounds are fabulous.  Some day maybe we'll see the Castle too.

The long driveway approaching the Castle.

And we have enjoyed some beautiful evenings sipping wine on our verandah just the two of us and with Maureen.

We had a lovely meal with Maureen and her daughter Stacy and Stacy's two daughters, Ella and Freya on Saturday evening.  Maureen popped over to return some dishes the other day at 5ish and the three of us sat outside drinking wine and gabbing, ordering Indian food and eating and gabbing until midnight on Monday night!

Today we decided to bite the bullet and do the annual trek up the Gray Mare's Tail.  After popping 3 ibuprofen, we headed out.   Another beautiful day though it was quite windy and a bit "fresh" (the weather people's word not mine) at the top.

The long staircase up....

A look back through the valley and the parking lot where our tiny car awaits

Lamby friends

A warning to dog owners....please don't WORRY the sheep!

A sweet, sleeping goat

The windy top at Loch Skee

The tiny white dot clinging to the cliff is a crazy goat across the waterfall

The crevasse looking back toward the distant parking lot and our little car.

The next few days will be busy.  We have to run into Dumfries tomorrow for a little home project shopping Gordon has been working on.  Plus our microwave blew up so we need a new one.  Can't get one locally.

On Friday we are having another dinner party here and looking forward to it.  Dinner date on Saturday night at Claudio's Italian in town and Sunday we are meeting Maureen and her granddaughters at the Sun Inn for Sunday Roast just outside of Edinburgh before Gordon and I head to North Berwick to spend a couple of days.  Gordon is playing golf with an old friend on Monday at Gullane Golf Club and I'm heading off for a spa day at Archerfield House Spa.  We'll return to Moffat on Tuesday evening.

This week has been very leisurely and we're getting kinda antsy.  Just a couple of weeks to go now before we head back to Pleasanton and I can definitely say we are looking forward to being home.  I miss our girls and the kitties and I miss watching our yard change from summer to fall.