Home At Last

I'm back.  And I'm damned happy to be back!

I had a wonderful journey and I couldn't feel better than I do today!  While it was great to be away working on self-improvement, it feels far better to be home.

I feel like I accomplished so much but I realize today that all I really did was begin to accomplish things.  If I go back to smoking, I have accomplished nothing.  If you don't find me huffing and puffing (running not smoking) my way around the Charles in a month then I wasted two months in Scotland fooling myself.

I believe my lifestyle has changed but there will be no better test than being home.

I look forward to that test with open arms.

I thank all of you for being immensely supportive while I was away.  Your comments on my journal, your emails and phone calls helped make two months move along fairly quickly.  I am anxious to see all of you during the holiday season so that I can express my gratitude in person. You are all the best!

This entry ends my travelogue/journal.  I hoped you enjoyed reading it.  At times, it was difficult to find subject matter but when I ultimately did find the subject, the journal wrote itself. 

That's it for now, I remain,

Your friend,

Mike

 

One More Day

Finally, Christine and our families arrive in St. Andrews tomorrow morning.  The best part is when they depart on Sunday, I'll be going home with them.  It was be a gross misstatement for me to say I didn't like being here.  Just the opposite is true.  I feel like I have accomplished many things but none of them are worth a hill of beans if I don't follow through when I returm home.  It is going to require a more significant effort to keep up the running and keep off the cigarettes but I feel it is worth it.

My one observation from yesterday (nothing to do with Raisin Monday) is how can a restaurant serve a dish and call it pasta if there is no pasta in it?  Is this another fine example of the delights of Scottish cuisine? I ordered lasagne yesterday because I was craving some "Italian" food.  What was served to me was a casserole dish topped with cheese and minced meat hiding under it. What the ____, over. I need a good meal, thankfully, Kevin is preparing a feast for Thanksgiving.

All the best to all of you, I remain,

Marking off the hours till Chris gets here,

Mike

Raisin Monday

Trust me when I tell you, you've never seen anything, I mean anything, like Raisin Monday (for those of you who don't know what Raisin Weekend is, go back one entry).  I was semi-prepared for the lunacy because all day yesterday I saw students in various states of drunkeness throughout the town.  However, today takes the cake.

At 11:00 AM, the bell tower at St. Salvator's signals the formal beginning of the festivities.  At 11:01 AM, the Quad is filled with 600-800 students covered in shaving foam from head to toe.  I stopped by to see it ( as did half the town) and couldn't stop laughing.  Looking into the quad, it appeared to be blizzard conditions and oddly dressed people reveling in a storm of foam. It was like an outdoor Gallagher concert. There were students dressed as the Statue of Liberty, Chinese dragons, military figures, coneheads and men as women and vice versa.   Some were covered in Christmas wrapping paper, in newspapers, bath towels and plastic sheeting. Most of the students, were to some degree, grossly underdressed for the frosty morning.  Prior to going into the quad, the "children" delivered their Raisin "receipt".  I saw washing machines, ovens, tractor trailer tires, shopping carts, garden hoses, park benches, sandwich boards and a variety of other cumbersome objects.  It was a great way to start a Monday morning. I laughed till it hurt.

Last week for me here in St. Andrews and then, no journal entries. I'm looking forward to being home.   Hope you are all well.  I remain,

Wishing I was a student, not.

Mike

No Tour Guide Today

Today, I'm not playing tour guide.  My sense is that when I do, you lose interest.  I'll be honest, I can't resist.  There are so many wonderfully beautiful days here and amazing things to see and I like to share them.  Instead, I want to tell you about the wackiest weekend that is.  It's called Raisin Weekend and it begins today. We have nothing like it in the States although it's a type of hazing or a "rite of passage" for 1st year students at the University of St. Andrews.

The Raisin weekend tradition has been around since nearly the incorporation of the Uni, in 1410.  It works like this.  A freshmen (1st year student) is adopted by academic parents, a mother and father, who are always upperclassmen.  On Sunday, the "children" are invited to a tea party by their "mother", which in fact no tea is served but a prodigious amount of alcohol is on offer. (it's not unusual to walk through town and see a pipe and a funnel dropping out of a 3rd floor window with a shot sent down to a waiting child) Later, the children are collected by their dads and even more alcohol is imbibed. 

On Raisin Monday, the children are cleaned up, sobered up, and dressed by their parents in the most outlandish outfits imaginable.  It's like Halloween meets god-knows-what.   At the strike of eleven bells a.m., all the children parade through town and then file into the quad and basically make mayhem for 1 hour until the clock strikes again at the top of the next hour.  

There are many other traditions associated with this bit of nut-case behavior but that's it in a nutshell.  I suspect, I will be seeing students dashing through town nekkid tonight (if I'm up that late). By the way, it's called Raisin Weekend because the children are required to gift a bottle of  wine to each of their parents (olden days equivalent to a pound of raisins).  I should mention that one other tradition is that the parents give each child a receipt of sorts that could be anything in the world.  It's not surprising at all to see a child dragging a receipted bathtub down the street or something else that has been proferred illegally.  Yikes! And then of course, there is the foam fight.  It's not to be missed. Very stable town, St. Andrews is.

Any questions?  I remain,

Standing guard for Raisin Weekend,

Mike

Mine/Counter-Mine

Yesterday, I walked over to St. Andrews Castle to do something I haven't done since I was in my twenties.  It was such a beautiful day that after my workout, I wanted to stay outside and take a walk.  Once I got over to the Castle, I decided to go sub-terranean and explore the mine/counter-mine system in the Castle.  It is not something you want to do if you are claustrophobic or over 200 pounds.  (well, one out of two isn't bad)  The mine was originally dug by the Earl of Arran and his battery of attackers around 1546. Their intent was to dig under the foundation of the Castle walls and weaken its support.  The counter-mine was dug by the defenders of St. Andrews Castle in an effort to intercept the attackers and only had the sound of digging to guide them.  It is quite amazing while you're down there because the counter-mine wiggles around quite a bit and is very narrow (you spend most of your time on your hand and knees navigating it) while the mine actually feels like a cellar.  What a different world it was back then and it's exciting to think about while you're down below ground in close quarters wondering what it must have been like then.  To even things off, I climbed the 151 steps of St. Rules Tower to get a birds-eye view of the wonderful old town of St. Andrews and the North Sea. It is simply breathtaking on a clear, sunny day.

Welcome to the weekend, my next to last here.  Until tomorrow, I remain,

Chomping at the bit to return home,

Mike

St. Margaret's Chapel

Yesterday, I took the train from Leuchars near St. Andrews to Scotland's capital and one of the prettiest cities in the world, Edinburgh.  I was on a bit of a pre-scout mission for when the family arrives here next week to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Whenever I am in Edinburgh, I feel compelled to go up to the Castle and see my favorite building in the world, St. Margaret's Chapel.  The Chapel is the oldest building within the castle and also the oldest structure in Edinburgh, dating back to the 12th century.  It was built by David I for the royal family and dedicated to his mother, Margaret, Queen of Scotland who died in the castle in 1093.   This tiny building gives me goosebumps every time I go into it.  It has a stone vaulted ceiling but is only perhaps 10 feet high.  The nave itself can't be bigger than your smallest bedroom.  The separate altar area is also very small.  Whenever I walk into St. Margaret's Chapel, I find it difficult to speak in anything above a whisper because it's beauty overwhelms me. No description or photo would give this place it's due, you have to see it for yourself.

I'm off and running today.  Hope all is well with you at home. I remain,

With fond memories of St. Margaret's,

Mike

ps.  The answer to the two trivia questions - All the men in the world weigh more than all the women.  And Benjamin Franklin is the scientist/politician who invented daylight savings time.

Sand in Your Shoes

As the famous philosopher, Dick Grayson, once said, "Holy Heatwave, Batman."  Today's temperature is in the mid-60's with a stiff breeze.  When I arrived at the West Sands Beach this morning the wind was blowing the sand from the top of the beach to the shore.  It looked very eery and beautiful because the sand was 3-4 inches off the surface and it was constant.  Once you started running in it, it wasn't beautiful at all.  Afterwards, my shower floor looked like I took the West Sands Beach home with me.

Last night I went to the Drouthy Neebors Pub where they held a trivia contest.  Talk about esoterica.  Here's one of the questions, "collectively, who weighs more, all the women in the world or all the men in the world?"  (answer tomorrow) Granted you have a 50% chance of getting it right but, 1: who cares and 2: who weighed them? Here's another, (this one I got right) what politician and scientist invented daylight savings time even though it was not instituted until well after his death.  Here's a hint, he has a degree from St. Andrews University.  (answer also tomorrow)

My evening didn't end at Drouthy's.  I went late night exploring. My exploring ended when I had to hop a six foot high fence in someone's back garden.  I'm not sure what possessed me to do this last night but I did find a late night lamb kebab place that I wasn't familiar with.  Exploring has its rewards, ask Columbus.

Until next time, I remain,

With sand in my shoes and everywhere else.

Mike