Scotland, day 2: Glasgow.

We left the hotel after breakfast. Our hotel is up a hill. The streets go down here kinda like in Edinburgh. Makes for nice views.

Suburbs.

Squares.

We visited the Glasgow cathedral.

Next to the Glasgow cathedral is the Glascow Necropolis. Marjolein found nice smelling flowers on top of the bridge leading up to the necropolis.

The Necropolis is a huge graveyard established in 1833, where every single grave is a statue. Some more impressive than others.

There are a lot of statues...

Back in town we found the olympic rings in George square.

It was boiling hot.

We were s'posed to meet someone for dinner but he didn't show up coz he had the sneezies or something. Bit stupid. Had a nice dinner though with some old fashioned live jazz musi. Pity one of the musicians kept going solo as long as somebody clapped. And there was ALWAYS someone...

In the evening we went to a ceilidh (music/dance night). It was the end of the Piping live festival. We were a bit early ;-) The ballroom looked great though. It's a converted old market place.

The Vatersay boys played (one of them is actually a girl).

And folks danced.

I didn't dance myself because I didn't know any of them. But after paying close attention, I think I could manage one or two ;-)

Also the Lorne MacDougall Band played.

And people danced even harder. It was a fun evening!

Scotland, day 1: Glasgow.

Yesterday I passed my driving test and today I'm going on holiday! No time to pick up my license but I'm not in a rush :-)

Marjolein and I are going to Scotland for 2 weeks. We'll be hitting Glasgow, Harris and Lewis.

I ran in to Nijntje at the airport. She sends her regards.

There's a whisky shop as well and we had a look. I thought this was rather excessive.

Until I saw this bottle... There's a diamond in there somewhere...

Our aircraft.

We got to the hotel and luckily they had room for us! Our booking for 3 nights somehow got messed up and we were only booked for the last night. Luckily enough they found us rooms for the other 2 nights as well! Great start of the holiday!

We had dinner at the wee curry shop close to our hotel. It's a tiny little Indian resto where Marjolein had been before. The food was fantastic as was the atmosphere. Lovely dinner!

After dinner we walked in to town a bit. Glasgow ain't a pretty town I find.

Was communism here? I saw buildings like this in former yugoslavia...

We heard of a piping gig close by and had a look. Paid 15 pounds to get in, was s'posed to start at 10PM but it only started just after 10:30PM. I was knackered and not up for the noise so i wanted to leave which we did at 11. Have to admit that this guy was a good piper. He's from Spain, where a bagpipe scene developed independently from the one in Scotland. I didn't know that!

I got my driver's license!

In reasonable secrecy, I took my driver's test this morning at 8 o'clock. Only a few people knew.

I passed. Beforehand I was nervous like hell and I thought I hadn't made did when we drove back. But I did.

Now I'm incredibly happy :-)

My mom and dad didn't know and their jaws dropped when I told them. I was too late making the picture they were quite happy with the news.

For me it's a big thing in several ways. I'm 38 now so basically 20 years late. I'm catching up ;-) But I also got my driver's license in Australia which i had to give up after moving back. Not having a license here felt like a big step backwards. So I have caught up again with that crappy bit of my past.

I went to work in the afternoon.

Colleagues who had found out by then put up a funny sign on my door... Thank Paul, much appreciated! :-)

When I went home I saw the swan family. They're still complete. The youngsters are turning in to beautiful swans. Funny how one stays dark. I have no idea why...

In the evening I went out for food and drinks with Gerrit and marjolein. it was a fun evening and I did really need some relaxation as the last few days had been very stressful due to my driver's test.

it was a very good day :-)

The Vince

I worked from home today and forgot to make pictures. So I just took one of myself and that's what you will have to do with for today :-)

The worst pants in the world!

I didn't know what to think when I saw this on the ferry this morning. It's not a t-shirt hanging over her bum or something. It's her actual pants! They look like nappies! The worst thing is; they are s'posed to look this way! Big, big, very big FAIL!

This one if for my colleague Paul S. Enjoy!

My home bound ferry was transporting a disabled car. Loud music was coming out of it's mini speakers and they guy in it was pretending he was driving some hot piece. It was laughable...

Ruzzle

This is a new game called Ruzzle. I play it on my phone and it's fun. The only pity thing is that I suck at it...

The gnome house

I was dusting at 8:30AM... It needed to be done ;-)

Early arvo I went over to Marjolein. I put up a new smoke alarm.

There's a sickly dove on her balcony. It's left foot is hurting badly and it's feathers aren't great...

Then we walked in to town and passed the little gnome's house. He lives here. For real!

In town, Marjolein showed me this monumental tree. It's a weeping beech. Beautiful tree.

This is the tree on the inside.

Little flower.

We had dinner at the Indian place and a drink in town after.

The church.