Our covid appointments were in Glasgow around 10am, so we went for a wee road trip into the city. As we drove closer to central Glasgow, we felt that we weren’t missing too much by quarantining in the countryside. It reminded me a bit of Belfast — a bit industrial and lots of bricks.
We rang the bell at the makeshift clinic and two kind ladies named Ruth and Jen let us in. We were the only people popping in at that time. They got us all set up for test number 11 (I think). Every test has been a bit different. This one was self-inflicted with guidance from Ruth and Jen. We had to swab both nose and throat. After making ourselves gag a bit, it was all over. Nicole states that she only understood about 40% of what our kind physicians were saying. I do admit, there were moments where I heard something to the effect of, “Oh, that’s is a wee *something something something something something* isn’t it?” It was a bit like watching some sort of sketch comedy with caricatures of Scottish people.
As we drove back toward the cottage, we noticed that there was some sort of bright orb in the sky. It was even causing us to squint our eyes a bit. This unusual presence got us very excited, and upon reaching the cottage, we immediately put on our boots and set forth into the countryside to take in the elusive sun.
With the heavy mist and fog gone from our previous walk, we could actually see things further than 30 feet in front of us and remark about entire fields that had previously been invisible.
Nicole had her trusty treasure map for reference. There was a bit of confusion as some lightly trodden paths diverged, but we were able to figure it out. As we scaled a ridge line, we could see across the valley and witness clouds forming rapidly over the hillside. A dense fog eventually overtook the area like a summer’s day in San Francisco.
We were able to see lots of sheep running around. Eventually they all formed a line and ran off quickly stage left without any logical reason. As we recorded video and snapped pictures, I could only think of Norman the other night remarking on how he finds it curious when people are taking pictures of sheep. The sheep are so common here, it’s of little interest to the locals, but we don’t often encounter them on the streets of Los Angeles.
Our trail eventually starting heading downhill. This was of slight concern because it meant we would have to do the opposite of this action during the return trip.
Eventually, our lightly trodden trail of grass and mud intersected with a more established trail — the West Highland Way. This is a proper trail that actually goes on for 96 miles. We did not venture on it for more than one. We had to get back for lunch, you know.
A little ways down the West Highland Way, we saw these Highland cattle, which are just brown cows (the chocolate milk kind) that have developed rather shaggy coats to handle the inclimate weather of the region.
The West Highland Way also intersected the John Muir trail. I would have never imagined that so many trails would be literally in the backyard of an Air BnB. After walking just a little ways down the John Muir trail, we turned around to head back for lunch.
Though we began with sunglasses, we had the sense to bring a jacket and hat because I had no faith in the sun actually staying out. On our way back, we ended up in some dense fog again, though it dissipated a little bit by the time we got back to the cottage.
Quarantining here in Scotland has not been that difficult at all. For antisocial types such as Nicole and myself, it has actually been quite nice. We haven’t seen anyone except our hosts and Ruth and Jen. This has made it easy for a celebrity couple like ourselves to avoid fawning fans.
We spent our evening doing a bit of damage control with our exit strategy to get out of Scotland. We were planning to take a British Airways flight tomorrow to London, as the London airports are the only way out of the UK at this time. However, when I was trying to list for the flights, I kept getting an error message. I contacted my own airline to inquire and they thought it was a glitch. As it turned out, British Airways had just canceled two of its three scheduled daily flights to London. This would mean we’d have to leave tomorrow on a 7am flight, that we might not even get on. This wasn’t ideal — namely because we had just washed clothes and had hung them over every chair in the cottage to dry.
The overly complicated change in flight schedules these days means we can’t connect flights in London without spending the night there. As we weighed our options, we found that it’s only $60 to rent a car here and drop it off at Gatwick the day after tomorrow. Given the out of control numbers of cases and high death rate in England right now, the train didn’t seem like the safest choice, so the great British road trip seems in order for tomorrow. We made ourselves a nice dinner to try and relax after the stress of making new plans. Again, a reminder to everyone — don’t make plans. It’s still 2020 and your plans are very unlikely to succeed. I hope Nicole made a nice playlist for the drive tomorrow.
passports & pepto bismol 