Homework for the Overactive Brain

Today's Quote--"Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me..."

Monday, March 24, 2003

 

T. From S.
Day 3, March 16, 2003
Loch Lomond

Happy March 16th...didn't get a chance to do Gongyo today, but hopefully sometime tonight we'll be able to. In Loch Lomond now--it's 11:30am and we can't check into the hostel until 3pm. The girls went for food and supplies--my bag is much too heavy to walk the 3 miles back to town--and then back here. I'd probably keel over. So they went and I'm staying with out bags--outside the hostel. It's very pleasant, I don't mind so much...besides they'll walk faster if they don't have to carry their bags.

So back to my observations about Glasgow since I didn't have time to write them all last night. There are a lot of arabs. We walked by the Glasgow Mosque, a very nice garden and beautiful buildings next to the River Clyde. Then in George Square (a place with about 15 monuments and large open spaces and 600 pigeons) there was a rally for Kurdistan. It is very interesting dynamics. Last night we went out for dinner at 7pm only to find that the entire town had shut down! Amazing, Saturday night and no food. Lots of bars, but none serving food--so we ended up eating at Pizza Hut. It was interesting. After talking with the waitress, it appears that everything is closed by 6pm, except on Thursdays when it's 8. Why Thursday?! Well, don't have to worry too much, just have to eat early--hence the girls going into town now.

I had a good sleep last night, though the sun's very first hint of ray woke me up early this morning. Couldn't go back to sleep, neither could the girls, so we ended up leaving early. Glasgow at 9 in the morning on a Sunday is all shuttered and quiet, rather deserted and ghost like. It was kind of frightening. A town so big, so deathly quiet. Though I guess eternal and excessive life is an American thing, insisting that people be up and working at all hours everyday. Perhaps the Glasgow way is better.

I'm being distracted by a small troop of people, dressed up medival like and rehearsing for something. I'm too shy and they look too involved to go over and talk. So, I'm sitting here, writing, occasionally watching, listening to the cars on the road, the birds in the trees, and the spattering of Scottish English that finds its way over to me.

I digress--so we went and got train tickets to Balloch. With excellent timing we got on the train and made it to Balloch by 10:30am. The ride was wonderful, it was a bit like the Long Island Railroad. Watching the aged track housing was interesting. Everything has a little bit more age to it than I'm used to, though then again I live in Aliso Viejo, one of the newest towns in CA--only 2 or 3 years old. Even track housing gains a certain character after 100 years. The views are great, especially once Glasgow faded away. Cows and sheep, fields, trees, and lots of fog. Though we did notice a lot of litter everywhere. It seems to be a chronic problem around here. The countryside is beautiful, though once everything begins to bloom I think it will be even grander.

There are sheep grazing around the hostel, though it's lambing season so we can't go visit them. I can see the loch from here, like a big, long lake.

Once we got into Balloch we trekked around, looking for the bus station (actually just a bus stop with a few maps) and ended up back at the train station to catch a taxi. Although 3 pounds isn't bad, doing it a few more times would kill our budgets.

The sheep have just moved, very close to me, all bahhing and looking at me. Some of them have blue spray painted marks on their backs, for ID I suppose. Several of them are using rocks to scratch their backs and legs--it's kind of funny. They look all kinds of warm and cozy in their wool, I'm rather cold actually! Sheep aren't that strange to me, but I'm very happy to see them for some reason. Reminds me of home, I guess. I'm tempted to take more pictures, but I won't it's only my 2nd day here, don't want to use up all my film. Anyway, enough about the sheep...

So that (3 pounds) and my heavy bag are why I'm hanging out here. I'll write before I sleep tonight with more.

Later

Sleepy and cold. The girls came back all right, about 3 hours after they left. The hostel is gorgeous, old and decently furnished. Right now, sitting in front of a fire getting ready to do a little reading before bed. I'm very sore and my hips and feet and shoulders hurt. I hope I'm able to carry my pack tomorrow! We ate in for lunch (well, I did) and dinner was some snacks they picked up in Balloch. We went to the loch for a bit, walking around and finally sitting and talking. Two swans came over and cleaned themselves about 3 feet away from us, very beautiful...I have a bunch of pictures of animals in Loch Lomond...Hmm, I need to buy and send out postcards. Well, the area and hostel here are beautiful, but after the peopole at Glasgow, it seems dead and boring..quite all right, we'll just enjoy the quiet and the fire. We had some more good talks today. Each time we just sit and talk, I discover something new. That is rewarding.

GL 9:01 PM