Crowbe

Summer yet in Scotland? Well not in Stirling or Glasgow. We missed the summer her last year because we ran out of work and ran back to England. This year I'm hoping we'll catch it, but as Billy Connolly says "There are two seasons in Glasgow: June, and the rest of the year". Turns out April was our summer this year, and today its 13 degrees and raining lightly. Like every 4th day in a Sydney winter. In fact the summer here is JUST like the winter in Sydney. But with less sun.

Spent last friday night camping and we chose a night of proper rain. By that I don't mean the usual "British rain" where it just mists slightly and everyone here runs for the brolly and cancels weekends, I mean rain where you'll get soaked within 5min. It it had been windy as well, that would've been the end of it. We found a magical spot next to a river in a glen surrounded by lush greenery worthy of a tropical rainforest. We all got wet straight away but the fire was big enough to dry one side of us off and a foot could be placed on the "hearth" until it was getting up a good head of steam. Then the rain stopped stopped at about midnight. Ahhh... Then 20min later came back harder than ever and I think it was the growing lake at our feet which eventually won over the glasgow banter and beers in our hands. A fantastic night overall. I think the most astounding thing about the whole experience was every one of the 20 there packing up everything in the gorgeous sunshine the next day and buggering off home. I wasn't the only one who wanted to stay, but I was the only one that would've. Gotta buy a tent.

Speaking of Glasgow banter it is an amazing thing when you can finally understand it. The guys on the weekend were from East Kilbride and all of them had accents so thick that no-one in Oz would understand them at all. Every single syllable has a different tone and the cadence and emphasis is also completely different. After 2 years over here I got 90% of what they were saying which was enough that you hardly ever had go "Pardon?" then nod as if you understood the second time.

In case anyone didn't know: We're engaged! Which is excellent. Less excellent is Jen being away for three weeks working in London. On the plus side, she's having a fantastic time working the 11hr days and having a laugh with the kids.