Scotland I

Well, I'm in Scotland right now, Dundee to be exact, my friend Doug's parent's house to be exacter, and I'm sitting on their sofa in their living room to be even more exacter still.

Flew up on EZY147 last night (that is easyJet flight 147, direct from Luton to Aberdeen, the granite city). Pretty unpleasant flight to tell the truth. The guy in front of us was watching a DVD with his son about planes blowing up, which I wasn't nearly as offensive as the fact that he wasn't using headphones, and had in fact plugged in a set of external speakers. Having to listen to multiple explosions through cheap speakers with a lot of tinny-sounding treble and no bass and not seeing the actual screen, while sitting in the most uncomfortable seats in the industry and having to deal with the left over odors of my neighbor's Pret deluxe sushi set, did not make for a very good flight.

Then again, I paid £34 for it, so I can't really complain.

After we landed, Doug's friend Chris picked us up and drove us an hour to Dundee. I hear Scotland is a beautiful country, but it doesn't look any different from Sri Lanka in the dark. The roads seem nicely lit though (good street-level reflectors too), which might put it a step ahead of Sri Lanka.

Got to Doug's house, ate some food, watched some television and drank some whiskey. Doug's father asked me what kind I wanted. Now, I would consider myself to be in the early stages of novice-enthusiast when it comes to the whiskey. I know what big brands not to drink and I have a healthy disregard for Irish whiskey. That is all that can be reasonably expected of me at this point. I have a few favorites, but I keep them to myself.

I went to a Burns' night celebration a couple of weeks ago, and there were like fifteen whiskeys there, and I hadn't heard of any of them. I was about to ask if one of my favorites was there, but then I didn't want to be looked down on as the guy who drinks "corporate whiskey," the equivalent of the guy who listens to "corporate rock" when there is an obscure, poorly produced, cacophanous band of too-kool-for-skool hipsters who could ruin the experience just as easily, but then I wouldn't be giving in to the Man. (That last sentence was all about emotion, so I don't care if it doesn't read well... or at all.)

Anyway, I drank whiskey, and life was good.