My earliest memories of the U.K. are from a trip I took with my mum when I was eleven (earlier trips at ages one and three didn't really make it to my mental photo album, except for brief flashes of memories of being on the plane). Being away from home sometimes makes me a bit jumpy, and I'm the kind of person who gets easily scared. Mum, in contrast, can't get enough war history, so when I was too scared to go through Winston Churchill's underground bunker with her (complete with wax figures, which freaked the hell out of me), she left me with a bemused security guard so she could go round herself. We both laughed about this recently when I told her over the phone that I won't be going to Tower Bridge, and I won't be going to Madame Tusseaud's, and I definitely won't be going to Churchill's war rooms.
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| Fyvie Castle |
This time, I'm setting my own agenda. Somehow, this agenda has still led to me being creeped out, which is not helping me fight the insomnia already present. I visited Fyvie Castle today, and that has enough grisliness about its history to make me pretty jumpy and not likely to make it to sleep tonight. So while I'm awake, I'll catch you up on my doings. It's lovely when you're visiting people to be a part of their normal life a bit. Jill is working every day, and is going away for work to Edinburgh for the next two days, but Dad is in summer holidays at the moment so has kept his schedule pretty clear for us to spend time together. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I felt like being a bit touristy. So it's a nice combination of things that are a bit special and holidayish, and just hanging out at home. Yesterday we went to Inverurie to run some errands and go grocery shopping, and then went to visit a whiskey distillery at Oldmeldrum on the way home. It's called the Glen Garioch distillery (pronounced "Glen Geary"), and it's a cute little small one. The whole point of it was just to buy some nice unique whiskey as a present for Lucas, something you could only get in rural Scotland, but Dad and I ended up enjoying the tour and the tasting as well. And, shock horror, I tasted a whiskey that I liked!!!! So that was the present I bought for Lucas, along with some signature Glen Garioch glasses. Plus I now know some things about how it was made.
Dad went to work today, so I stayed in Fyvie and walked to the local castle. (I love how in the U.K. one has a local castle.) It was a lovely walk and I was lucky enough to get some good weather. The grounds of the castle are beautiful and there's a biggish lake. I've been to the gardens a couple of times before, but haven't gone inside. I got there today just in time for a guided tour, so I joined that and it was really interesting. Loads of old artefacts and impressive rooms and eight hundred years of history. I love history, but it also creeps me out a bit. Even without thinking about the ghosts of the two unfortunate ladies who were murdered in the castle for having babies of the wrong sex and wanting to marry a miller's son, thinking too hard about those people who have been dead for so long, sitting in that same enormous room, lit only by a few candles as the dark, serious portraits of their important relatives glower down from the walls...well, it gives me the heebie jeebies. I was planning to visit Oxford Castle when I go down south. Maybe I shall rethink.
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| Fyvie Castle Lake |
After Dad came home, we did a cryptic crossword together (a favourite shared pastime of ours) and had dinner with Jill and watched some telly. Nice bit of normalcy. Tomorrow Dad and I are going down to St Andrews, Friday visiting Loch Ness, and then more family arrive from England and the weekend of celebrations begin. The main reason for my trip here is happening on Saturday: Dad's getting ordained in the Episcopal church (what the Anglicans call themselves here). All bells and whistles in the Aberdeen cathedral. Dad is so much more high-church than I ever was, I'm sure I'll feel awkward and stand or kneel at the wrong time or something. But worth it to celebrate this important day with him!
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